I always come back with fabric when I go to a show. I purposely only bring cash so I limit how much I spend. ;)

It's a good way to not over do it.

Great post with lots of information! Thanks

I, too, buy what I can't find locally. We no longer have a quilt shop in town, so I try to find my needs at quilt shows. Then, I look at my wants. Usually I don't buy anything else.

I love creative grids rulers so I buy one everytime I go to a show. I have bought a few speciality rulers I never used. One from Deb Tucker that looked so easy at the time but not so easy now! I bought some Primitive Gatherings packs that are 3 X 3. Never saw those before. Wish I bought more. Patterns,scissors, Im a sucker for trinkets.

Wow! Some good ideas on how to limit your spending! Cash?? I never have cash, just use a card, but that needs to change. When you're out of cash, you're done! That darn card just makes it so easy to buy. I am an impulse buyer. That needs to change too! I have so many rulers that hang on my peg board that I don't even know what they are for! I usually buy patterns that I haven't seen anywhere. And books with patterns in them. I'll be going to Quilts Around Chautauqua the end of September, and my plan is to look, don't buy, unless it jumps off the table and begs me to take it home.

I just went to my first show this year in Texarkana Arkansas & Loved it!! Awesome quilts & their prices were much less than the LQS..It was a smaller show as I went to another one in Hot Springs & their prices were much higher but had more of what I was looking for civil war fabric for a Dear Jane planned. Would I go to another one? You bet!!!

These days I take a list. I have so many patterns and books I will never be able to make them all. I buy fabric that catches my eye and I know I can't find localy. I try not to buy books unless I can look at them. So if I see something online that look interesting I look for it at a show. And ofcourse there are the impulse buys. Its all fun. Looking forward to Long Beach next week-end.

I have purchased a serger. Southwest fabrics that i cannot find in the midwest. Large appliqué sheet, Aurifil thread...my fav!. Patterns that strike my fancy (and still have not used!). I love novelty prints so I find some fun ones along the way. Route 66, dogs, hot air balloon prints are favs of mine.

Sandy

Reading all these posts about making lists makes me feel very disorganized. I usually just buy what speaks to me, the things made up grab me. Sometimes that is not a good thing. I am now trying to destash some of those "speaking" things. LOL

This week end my Guild had a quilt show and I bought the newest gadget called a cling it is a magnet disc that you wear like a broach and can hold small scissors, metal thimbles, your needle, or pins. Now maybe I will quit losing these items as I do my hand work.

They will have good prices at the Atlanta Quilt show. Unless you have found what you want and need it now, I'd wait. I live in Arkansas and have kids who live in the Atlanta area, so I drive and don't have to pay freight home. I bought a Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0 at the show last year and I got a good deal from the dealer. If I had bought one used in the classes, I think I could have gotten a better deal.

I make a list of things I'm looking for and can't get locally and then I buy other things that I didn't know I "needed" until I saw them :) I've even bought comfortable shoes and chair rests in addition to sewing and quilting "stuff". All I can say is plan your budget ahead of time because you can spend a fortune.

Since the MQS in Overland Park, Kansas is in May, I have received my Mother's Day and birthday treat to visit my DD and the show at once. A few years ago, the show was on my birthday. Fun! I was admiring some of the continus line stencils. I lost my DD for a while and as we were leaving, she handed me a bag with more than a dozen of the stencils!! Sweet gal and great collection of stencils.............Aren't I lucky?

Went to quilt show in Crossville TN in June. Saw Pineapple Ruler and pattern on sale at show for $23. Didn't have $$ at the time. Cannot find it for sure not knowing exactly which one it was. Looked really slick from demo given. Want to kick myself now for not making myself buy it that weekend. Did anyone else on this board attend that show and know which one I'm referring to? Looking online there are several choices.....

I look for things that are new and different. No point in buying and carrying around things I could get at my LQS where I get a discount. Each year I find I'm buying a little less because there's just not that much that's new

I have never been to a quilt show so not sure what I would buy but I am sure I could find a lot of things.

Occasionally I have gone with a plan, like one year when I was specifically looking for cat/kitten fabric. However, mostly I look for unusual patterns and fabric, either in yardage of fat quarters. I usually try to get something a little different or unusual.

I have been to Houston Quilt Festival twice. Went two days each time, and if I had not been so worn out I would have gone a third day. I have never seen so many vendors under one roof. The first year I had my heart set on a Roxanne Sterling Silver thimble. I spent the $99 and never regretted it. I hand quilt and it has really increased my accuracy. Also I buy hand quilting thread in many colors because I can only find white and off white at my LQS. I bought several stencils the first year and have used all by one of them. The first year a lady who does tiny gorgeous crocheted earrings had a display. I really wanted a pair of the earrings, but I had already indulged myself with the thimble, so I didn't buy. But the following year, I needed to buy a birthday present for my step-daughter, who used to crochet, so I did buy a pair for her. Maybe this year I will get mine. Jenny Doan at Missouri Star Quilt Co had demonstrated an eye spy quilt made with blocks that looked like jars. So I found a bunch (and I do mean a bunch) of fat quarters in prints of every imaginable fruit, vegetable, nuts, etc to 'fill' the jars with. Still haven't made the quilt, but have what I need when I'm ready. It is just so much fun to look at everything, even if you don't buy a lot.

I look for fabric that catches my eye. I look at the quilts on display in the vendors and if I like something I see, I will buy that pattern. Visit the demonstrations some vendors put on using a product they are selling like rulers or a new technique. You may see something that strikes you as making your quilting easier. It's fun to learn about what's out there. Have fun and enjoy the show!

I go to the Vermont Quilt Festival every year, and my budget varies. Some years, I can buy whatever I want, within reason. Other years, I have to be more focused. One year, I bought no fabric at all. This year, I allowed myself to buy fabric only to go with a series of quilts - all from the same part of my fabric stash -- on which I'm working. I have been collecting fabric for this series for eight years now. This year, I bought four pieces of fabric yardage, two yards each, a dozen threads I needed from Superior Threads, and several books. I told myself that if I did not buy much there, I could afford the order of sale thread from Connecting Threads that I wanted and have now ordered.

In 2008 and 2009, when the economy was so bad, the vendors complained that they did not make enough sales to justify coming back. Some refused checks as one check was a large part of their sales then and if it bounced, they were in trouble. The Aurifil dealer was skittish about taking a $300 check from me; it was a bigger sale than all their other sales combined that year. I think all the vendors did better this year.

Bargains on fabric or those special items that are not available at home. Actually I don't buy much. I just oooo and ahhhh and snap a few photos of my dream quilts.

I go to an annual sewing show. I always take cash, as much as I am willing to part with that day. That way I never spend over my budget. I never have a written list, but do check out the notions catalogue before the show, so I know what the current price is for things I cannot get locally.

I attended Hershey on Thursday and Friday. I went by myself and started with the quilts. They were very beautiful, but the ones that I really liked were the ones that were done by the children. I also thought that it was interesting that many were quilted on a home sewing machine instead of a long arm. I spent the rest of the day with the vendors. I was looking for a 6 1/2 x12 1/2 ruler because it was part of the class list for my Friday class (turns out I didn't need it and I didn't like it that well) I like the Omnigrids and it was a Creative Grid. I bought a silicone overlay for my machine that I saw demo'd but after the ladies I met at lunch talked about how great it was, I decided to buy one. I bought a pattern and stabilizers for those fabric leaf 'bowls' and a few fat quarters. I ended up buying a 2 yd piece of Kaufman's Effervescence because the fabric just caught my eye and I have never seen it before. I took a class and had a 2 hour break for lunch. I looked at all the great books that Dover had but didn't buy any. I had fun!

Well, I too love to find what grabs my attention. I sometimes get the new thing Shiva Paint Sticks, Angelica, or whatever. I buy limited fabric, usually fat quarters, and in something I haven't seen at my LQS. I have often taken classes at Quilt festival, and sometimes things are recommended in class as 'wonderful', (Kai scissors, etc.). Sometimes it is just a great place to be overwhelmed by this industry that has been spawned by our passion.

Understandable when the booths start at $600 and up!

If I am looking for a machine, I like the shows because most of the dealers are there and you can test drive every one of them in one place and they are usually discounted for the fair prices or as a demo machine still under warranty

I am off to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK next week. This year I have made a list which includes needles, 505, wadding, new cutting mat, and fabric to finish a quilt. I hopefully intend keeping to this list. No more being seduced by new fancy rulers,etc. I have been thinking for a while about a new machine (not that I really need one), so I might, just might, look at the machines.

I just like to look and see what is new and what I haven't seen before. I would rather wait and get it on sale unless it was something that I just couldn't live without !!

I look for fabric and supplies that are not available at LQS.