Take a Peek in My Shopping Bag

I love shopping at quilt shows - I try to make a point of purchasing only what I can't buy at my local independent quilt shops - I'd hate to take my business away from my local shops - they need us! With that in mind here is what I purchased:

I stopped by the Quilt Museum Store and found this beautiful ribbon - I've been wanting to make a knitting bag and I thought this ribbon would make a nice embellishment.

I have no specific purpose for this ribbon - I just really liked it.

Also stopped by the Renegade Shops on Route 30, across from the Host Farm Resort - a sanctioned AQS vending location. Loved the vendor from Maine - they had beautiful contemporary fabric. I bought 2 of these "cheater" aprons from Free Spirit - I've got 2 dinner parties this weekend - guess what I'm taking as a hostess gift?

The directions are printed right on the fabric. It even has a sew on pocket. Love the eyelet-like printed trim on the fabric.

OMG - I am in love with this fabric from Alexander Henry - it is a canvas weight fabric - don't know what I'll do with it but it's gonna be good.

Its called Birdsong.

The colors are so bright and vibrant.

I bought this Alexander Henry fabric from the same Maine vendor - they didn't have any of the companion fabric in stock - the quest has started - I've already been on line looking for any and all companion fabric - please let me know if you've seen it.
Now - what did I buy at the show in the convention center? Well - I didn't find any fabric that interested me - there was a lot of traditional fabric, lots of batiks, hand-dyes, and mottled solids - - I'm not really into any of the above. There was very little contemporary fabric for sale at the show - disappointing. I would love to see far more variety in the fabric vendors at the show.

I needed thread - and it just can't be more boring - I needed white thread. I love Aurifil thread - you can't find it anywhere in the local stores - so 2 spools of 50 weight white Aurifil ended up in my shopping bag.

I stopped by YLI - I use only YLI Soft Touch in my bobbin - I have it in many colors, but prefer using neutral thread in all my projects. This is the best cotton bobbin thread on the market, hands down. If you don't use bobbin thread - give it a try - you can fit so much more thread on your bobbin.

I didn't buy this thread - and no, I didn't steal it! I renewed my AQS membership and received it free - it's beautiful silk variegated thread. I've never tried Clover thread - heck, everything else Clover makes is great - I'm happy to give their thread a try.

Hmmmm, what do you think this is - - - if you guessed pinch purse hardware, you'd be right. My friend Kelly was buying some and when Kelly recommends a project you just can't go wrong. Take a look at this link to Pink Penguin blog to see a pattern for pinch purses - I'm going to give it a try next week.

ProChem was at the show - I bought a rain forest gradation kit - I love these kits - no fail dying. And I also picked up a dye kit to fix a dying project that failed last fall - I think overdying is more interesting anyway.
That's it - the shopping bag has been revealed. What did you buy? What did you want to buy but couldn't find?