CQA show, Surprise Purchase and Lucky Win

It's Spring in Southern California and the hills are green, lupine and mustard and poppies are blooming, the sky is blue with fluffy clouds.  I love it. 

How is it that blooming Oxalis is so much cuter in my decor than in the lawn?

We returned from our Big Bear vacation on a Friday, leaving the whole weekend still ahead of us.  I hadn't realized what a great plan this was!  No dread of waking up to having to work the next day.  I'll have to remember that on future vacations. 

The Camarillo Quilt Association holds a show every other year, at our local Fairgrounds--I purchased the charming 30's prints mini quilt above some years ago at their show.  Our guild was graced a booth for more Thomas Fire kits to be picked up and info on our project by members.  Several generous folks brought finished quilts to turn in, many more took kits.  My sister and I met at the door and she immediately bought chances for some gift basket drawings.  We were also given door prize tickets with our show entry fee and popped those into the draw container.  It was great to see so many of our members at the show (a number of whom are also CQA members).  We were visiting so much that I didn't take a single picture of a quilt, but enjoyed many of the traditional pieced and appliqued entries--many from Bonnie Hunter mysteries and patterns.  There were also some modern entries from our guild members.  I had a lot of fun in the boutique section, the CQA members are so organized, everything labeled and arranged so well, at discounted prices.  I hope they made lots of money.  

Except for the right bottom two FQ, these were all donated/castoff fabrics.  I also bought a small needlework frame.  I think the green  Thimbleberries yardage on the upper left will look great as a backing for a quilt I have in progress.  The ladybug print coordinates were all in different bins but I snatched them up as I found them, so cute. The two Kim Diehl FQ were purchased from a new vendor, Rag Doll, and we happily chatted about Kim Diehl love for a minute or two.  She also sells punchneedle kits and plans to set up an Instagram account for her business soon. 

During the show, Kathy was called up as a door prize winner--but handed me her winnings, a wool applique kit from Bits & Pieces.  Having another engagement for the afternoon, I left my sister at the show.  She called me later to tell me I had also won a door prize!  They allowed her to pick it up for me.  I was lucky to get it, as she coveted it. 

This is a Big-Mat Rotary Cutting Surface mat.  The surface is renewable and included a resurfacing tool.  It can also be rolled up for storage.   Curiously, I had recently purchased a small off-cut of this mat type while in Big Bear, as I had forgotten a cutting mat.  The mat information advises to only use sharp rotary cutter blades to avoid damaging the surface. 

Kathy's other surprise was that she bought a Longarm machine at the show!  It is an older model Pfaff Grand Quilter sold at a discounted price, 18" stitching opening and 10' long.  While I pictured her having to sleep under the thing to get it into her room, her landlord opted to put it in the Craft Room of her house, being nearly as excited as Kathy.  Yesterday we drove up to Santa Maria to get some lessons on the machine.  It has computerized quilting as well and does all the scaling for you.  I can see this being very useful.  It was a lot of information in a short time and I'm sure I didn't get most of it.  However, Kathy is undaunted and can't wait to have it in the house to play with.  Delivery is next week.  

Meanwhile, this past week I've been working on the House Block doll quilt. I had so much fun making these from my scrap and fat quarter bins and vow to make some for myself next.  The pattern was from the APQ Calendar from 2009.

The doll quilt's all finished now, but needs a label and to be mailed off this week before the May 1st deadline.  I'll share more next post.