Phew, I’m exhausted! I traveled to Cincinnati over the weekend for the International Quilt Festival. The location change from Chicago worked out great for me because my family lives in Cincinnati (which equals a free place to stay and lots of cousin time for my kids)! Cincinnati has a fun riverfront and my kids enjoyed spending time at Sawyer Point.

We started the weekend by visiting the Fabric Shack. Pretty much, you can’t go to Cincinnati without visiting that store. My sister (hi Rachel!) is just getting started quilting and I gifted her Elizabeth Hartman’s book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork. She is going to make a pattern in the book and purchased some great Laura Gunn fabric to get started.

While we were at the Fabric Shack, they were having a tent sale. Jackpot, right? My sister picked up some fabric on clearance and said “these are pretty colors…” and I about fell over. She was holding Tula Pink Neptune honey bun which is pretty hard to come by now! And there were two of them! She was very nice and let me have both (after I practically grabbed them out of her hand. LOL).

Saturday my mom, dad, sister and I went to the quilt show. Yep, my dad is a trooper and even went Thursday on preview night with my mom! There were lots of beautiful quilts on display, although no antique quilts like last year. That was a bit of a disappointment. But these were a few of the new quilts that caught my eye.

Marcia Derse was personally at the show again, selling her beautiful fabrics! You may remember my post about seeing her last year and loving her designs and colors. She was super sweet this year and gave me a sampler of her fabrics to give away to a lucky reader! More on that below. She also had an awesome display of her fabrics in her booth, seen as the first photo on this post. Here are some photos of her booth – I’m on the left, Marcia is on the right. Try not to stare directly at my arms, they haven’t seen the sun in 7 months.

++ Update: For those in the Cincinnati area, my mom just visited a quilt shop in Loveland called The Quilter’s Studio and they have a ton of Marcia’s fabric! ++

There were lots and lots of fabric booths. I was scouring for out of print fabrics or fabrics I had only seen online and wanted to see in person. Including these amazing Kaffe Fassett stripes.

Here are my sister and I at the only booth I saw with a few Japanese imports – including some Heather Ross Far, Far Away I and II. And Echino. That was unexpected and exciting.

For those that like my bag, I purchased it on Etsy from Aunty Cookie – GREAT shop!

Overall – it was a successful weekend. Here is my loot! It includes a couple out of print Heather Ross prints (the dots and unicorn), the Neptune honey bun, a new piecing foot with a guide for my Bernina, some Park Slope fat quarters for $1, a couple bundles of Kaffe stripes, and more starbursts – because really, you just can’t have enough starbursts.

Now for the giveaway – if you made it this far! One lucky reader is going to win everything you see below: a Neptune honey bun, a fat quarter of dots from Heather Ross’s Lightning Bugs and Other Mysteries collection, and the beautiful sampler of fabrics donated by designer Marcia Derse.

All you have to do is leave a comment! I will pick a winner Wednesday evening. Good luck everyone!

Comments are now closed. Picking a winner!

Wow – 285 entries. I think that is a new record over here! The winner, chosen by Random.org, is #21 – Julie.

Julie said “What great loot! I wish I could have been there! I love your bag too I love all things Tula Pink and joined the quilting game way too late to get my hands on Neptune, thanks for the opportunity to win these goodies!
”

Congratulations Julie!

I broke out the colored pencils this morning to start planning my quilt vision for my new Gerta fabric by Marcia Derse. Normally I sort of fly by the seat of my pants but there is a great new Flickr group completely devoted to quilt planning and brainstorming. It definitely inspired me to think ahead. The more I start creating these blocks on paper, the more I think this is going to be one beautiful quilt! Maybe planning ahead will even save me time in the long run.

Don’t you love finding a new, original fabric? There was one booth at the Chicago Quilt Festival that really stood out to me compared to all the others – Artist Marcia Derse from Sylvania, Ohio.

Isn’t the display fabulous – not to mention the fabric!

Marcia and her very kind sister (who lives in Chicago) were working the booth together and had SUCH a great energy to them. As soon as we walked in they were very kind and showed us the fabric and explained how Marcia creates her designs. Honestly, what a difference it makes to talk to the actual designer and see the love and pride she has in what she is creating.

My mom and I both bought her fabric which made us laugh because we have such different taste but both loved this line. There is just something about buying something so fun and original. Really, I can buy Heather Bailey anywhere – but this fabric is special and I can’t wait to make something beautiful out of it.

I’m going to be combining it with some bright white. Does anyone want to suggest a pattern? I have a few ideas in my mind, but want to do something big enough to show off those great patterns.

Marcia sells her fabric on her website. Definitely check it out!