I didn't go crazy shopping for quilt fabric, oddly enough, given the large amount of it that was available. However, I did find a few things, some of which were on my "I should pick that up next time I see it" list. One stop was Vogie's. I'd visited their booth last year before I got the quilting machine, and they had African sun-printed batik fabric both by the yard and as large pieces. I didn't buy it last year, but I've been thinking about it ever since. It's great to use for learning to quilt freehand, as there are branches, leaves, etc., to quilt the details in. So I bought two one-yard cuts of two different fabrics and a fat quarter of a batik that called my name.

Second fabric purchase was Graphic Impressions. I have bought fabric there before--I end up finding things at their booth almost every time they're at a show. However, you know I'm a bit addicted to dots, so the top one was a must. And I really liked the black and white, and I've been picking those up for a while now. They had lots more, but I was being very selective after remembering all the fabric I've posted recently.

My third fabric purchase was the largest, and most of them were cuts that were larger than fat quarters. J&A Stitches in Juneau, Wisconsin, doesn't have a store website per se, but they have this site and they sure had some fun fabric. For those of you who've been around for a while, that brown and turquoise floral on the right will look familiar. And as so often happens, I found a few farm prints.

I also picked up a book/pattern called O Holy Night, impressionist stained glass by Brenda Henning. It's lovely and maybe someday I'll make it!

But best of all, I was able to track down Texture Magic at Superior Threads' booth. I saw this online last week and immediately decided that I wanted to play with it. Here's the way it works: It's a thin polyester fabric--you mark your pattern on it and pin it to the wrong side of the fabric, adding batting between the layers for additional loft if desired. Then you sew along the marked lines--the closer you sew, the more textured the fabric will become. After it's all sewn, you steam it--the Texture Magic shrinks--up to 30% of its original size, leaving the fabric textured. I saw pictures of it on velvet and I've seen it in person on cotton. I can't wait to start playing around with it. As always, I'll post photos when I do.

So that was my adventure at the Quilt Expo in Madison. It was well worth taking the afternoon off.

To see the quilts that I photographed and read more about them, see the related links below.

Related Links:
5th installment
4th installment
3rd installment
2nd installment
1st installment