Creative Weekend

This weekend I attended the 15th annual Creative Stitches and Crafting Alive for the first time.  There was so much to see and learn.  Having never attended, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  I packed a notebook, my camera, a snack, some water and hand in hand with my husband, sauntered into the show.  Five hours later... and in no particular order ...  (1.) I had made a luggage tag,

which was really an excuse for me to try out the newest Janome home sewing machine.  My own is 20 years old and as much as I love using her, it was a treat to try out the latest and greatest updates from Janome.  I played around with embroidery stitches - check out those "shoes"!

Having spent the bulk of my sewing years on a Janome, the Horizon felt quite familiar as some of the best features have been kept through the years and improvements have been added.  My favourite being the AcuFeed System .  Fabric (I was sewing through 2 layers of denim) feeds evenly, and quietly (quite different from the walking foot attachment I have to use on my older Janome).  There's many more features I like, but I won't make this post  a machine review. ;o)

(2.)  I found some wonderful deals on quilting necessities...

fabric that I needed...

and fabric that I really, really wanted.

(3.)  I enjoyed seeing the quilting competition entries (here's a sample of some of the gorgeous creations - I apologize for not having the names of the artists, sadly the names were not displayed.)

Here's a couple of close ups to show the quilting details, which were amazing....

Most of the entries featured intricate machine embroidery which was incredible.

I was drawn to this cute appliqued quilt.  Check out the sweet dresses hanging on the clothesline in the center of this quilt.

My photo of this quilt doesn't do it justice.  The entire background was a rich black and each embroidered block was in a different colour.  It was so striking.  I had no idea just how advanced and popular machine embroidery has become.  These quilts inspired me to learn more and I'm grateful to Kerrin at the Pfaff booth for spending so much of her time showing my husband and myself the possibilities for creative expression using software and a Pfaff embroidery machine.

(4.) The icing on the cake for such an inspiring, creative day was getting to try out long arm quilting on a TinLizzie.   Oh, my!   What a treat!  Guess what  I've added to my sewing wish list?  ;o)

The time spent at this show flew by.  Originally, I thought I would take in some of the classes, but as it turned out, I was fortunate enough to have enlightening information passed on just by asking questions at various booths.  I'll be marking my calendar for next year's show and saving up my pennies for the great deals available there.