The alphabet post - NOLA and MQX

I am back from my vacation to New Orleans. We were there for the Womens' Basketball Final Four. It ended well for us, UConn Huskies fans, with our 8th Championship.  It was a rough season but the girls pulled it together when it counted.  We had a lovely time in NOLA. We did a lot of eating, some drinking and even went on a swamp tour.

We got back on Wednesday and I was on the road again on Friday to attend MQX (Machine Quilters' Expo) in Manchester, NH.  I went with my quilting buddy, Diane. MQX was back in NH after being in Providence for a few years. Believe it or not, there was  SNOW on Friday!

 We had signed up for two hand-on classes with the longarm.  Everyone had their own machine to work with thanks to Gammill. Our first class was with Dawn Cavanaugh on Friday and we were with Linda Taylor on Saturday.   I felt like I was back in school!!! My head hurt at the end of each day with all the stuff we learned. I soothed my headache with a glass of wine! 

 I bought a little bit of stuff which you can see here.  My major purchase was the Leader Grips. I had seen these on one of the Handi Quilter videos so I decided to check them out.  The hubby of the woman who came up with this idea was there doing the demo. I was sold after I met up with him.  I hate pinning! I usually end up stabbing myself. This system will make loading much easier and I won't be so reluctant to turn the quilt to do some lovely border work.

Diane and I, the "unofficial" quilt judges (wink) were not as impressed with the quilts as we were last year.  Here are a few quilts that really caught our eye.

For the traditional quilter, this is a Dear Hannah. 

 For the paper piecing crowd

 For the art quilter.  This quilter, Barbara McKie, takes a photo, prints it on fabric and thread paints. They are amazing!

 My favorite by far.  The center of the flowers are old jeweled buttons or broaches. The applique is fabulous and it is sooo cute.  See if you can find the earthworm in the ground!

This is out of the box for many of us. The quilting on the gold fabric was fabulous.  The beading on the woman and the train of her gown was incredible. 

I returned to work for the next three days and then headed out to my Spring Retreat (Thurs - Sun). It's a tough life ladies but someone has got to do it! LOL!  I got lots done at retreat and will share those pics once I upload them from the camera. Til, then, Quilt til you Wilt