My design wall has been pretty much unchanged since a week ago, so I thought I would take you shopping with me for quilty things at the Des Moines AQS show.

We got back from the Des Moines show yesterday a little tired, a little poorer, but very glad we made the trip.  I did some shopping for items that I have bought on line before, but it’s so much better to see in person.

• King Tut thread.  One of the longarm sales reps was stitching on black fabric with a variegated pastel.  Gorgeous!  I mostly quilt with poly-wrapped poly or poly-wrapped cotton, and sometimes with all cotton.  Three cones of Superior’s King Tut went into my shopping bag (a jewel-toned variegated, a green variegated, and a nice neutral tan/taupe).
• Golden Threads pantos.  I haven’t added any pantos to my collection for a long time, and this was my opportunity to see the true scale and density of each pattern in person.  I bought four:  1)  Iron Gate by Keryn Emmerson (my fave designer); gender neutral design, quite open.  2)  Decaf by Sue Patten; tighter flowy pattern of ferns.  3)  My Favorite Leaves (5″) by Judy Allen; leaves and loops, looser design, really pretty.  4)  Clover Meadow by Keryn Emmerson; clovers, medium density, looks really fun to sew.
• Sewline Fabric Glue Pen.  A pen housing an approx 1/4″ wide stick of fabric glue.  The store clerk said it worked well for basting English paper piecing, and said it didn’t leave a residue or stiffness.  I am going to try it on my GFG quilt…we’ll see.
• TQM Products.  Susan Brown owns TQM Products, and they make a couple of pretty nifty rulers.  (Disclosure:  Susan is a FaceBook friend of mine, although I hadn’t met her before, and she was so generous as to give me a couple of her rulers.)  One ruler you have maybe seen before; it’s for efficiently and quickly cutting bias binding.  The second ruler assists you in sewing your final binding join in a nice diagonal seam.  I join my binding that way, but I have my own cumbersome made-up way of doing it.  I am excited to try Susan’s little ruler.  A big plus to her rulers:  she has the instructions on how to use them printed right ON THE RULER.  Smart.
• Miscellaneous stuff:  FQs of silk shantung for some whole-cloth experimenting (yummy!); We spent a LOT of time in Lori Smith’s booth.  I bought a pattern I may just drool over and never make, but I love it, “Chocolate: A Sampler Quilt“.
• Wool!  Wool is big this year, and I’ve avoided it in the past like the plague.  Really.  Til now.  I bought a couple of kits so I just need to buy some floss (probably), and hopefully have NOTHING LEFT OVER.  I am not going to go down that wooly path — well, maybe just a few steps, then I will turn right around and be a regular wovens quilter!

In the last week or so, the robins (and the occasional cedar wax wing) have been FEASTING in our little crab apple tree.  I’ve wasted spent a lot of time shooting birdie pictures through the glass.  A sample:

Wasn’t that fun?  We’ll have to go shopping together again sometime.  Be sure to visit Judy Laquidara’s Patchwork Times to check out what other quilters are doing.