The one where I upload a million pictures of fabric purchases

(Bear with me, this is a long post with lots of photos!)

So last weekend I spent two days at the Houston International Quilt Festival with my lovely mom and sister. We do this every year, but holy cow, I always forget how exhausting it is.  I am still recovering.  I posted a few Instagram photos last week while there.  

As usual, the Hilton Americas is gorgeous and we loved our room.  I wish I got pics, but I forgot.  Last year we had an AMAZING view of downtown Houston.  This year we got a view of the George R. Brown convention center roof.  Not as beautiful, but we could see the awesome new BBVA Compass stadium (which is all angular and awesome and inspires a quilt in my mind).

We will start with some of the beautiful quilts I saw on display:

Kati's Pixelated Color Wheel Quilt

Lee's Supernova

Let's move on to the HAUL.  Please don't mentally tally up how much I must have spent.  It was a lot.  But just know that I save bits of cash all year for this purpose, so it's not like I went into debt for this.  Haha!

First up is a FQ bundle of Comma by Zen Chic for Moda.  It's not out until February 2013.  This is the first time I've ever gotten my hands on fabric before it was released!  I'm super excited for this fabric, because all of it is very BOY friendly.  The whole line can be used for the boys in my life without having to pick out the more feminine prints.  Probably one of the few lines that I actually like EVERY print.  That's rare!  This is only half of the line, but I think I can make some really great stuff with this bundle. Purchased from the Janie Lou booth.

We always hit up the "It's A Party" set of booths at the front corner of the vendor area first.  It's just our thing.  They are filled with fat quarters as far as the eye can see (almost).  I like digging through them to find cute prints to add to my stash.  There are a couple of different vendors that make up this area, but I tend to buy from Graphic Impressions.

Here's a little FQ bundle of Frippery by Thomas Knauer.  Love this line.

Some Japanese prints.  I suddenly cannot resist Japanese fabric.  I don't know where it came from, but now I have to fight the urge to buy it all!  It can be more a lot more expensive so I better be careful!  There were some really really inexpensive scraps available at that shop as well (Bella & Flea Market Friends).

My stash desperately needed some low volume prints.  So I remedied that a little with some FQs.

Some pretty Madrona Road FQs and that nice text print yardage.  Sadly, the white text print was no where to be found!

I could not resist these half yard cuts of Out To Sea prints.  Narwhals and mermaids!!

Someone had all these salesman samples for sale at rock bottom prices.  They're the perfect size for scrappy stuff and little zippy pouches.  The little boy novelty prints will come in handy for my son's I-Spy quilt.  I am slowly but surely collecting little bits of prints for that quilt.

My sweet mommy got me these little snips for my embroidery bag.  She loves stork scissors, so she got me a pair as well.  Thanks Mom!

The woman at the Renaissance Ribbons booth gave me this 1 yard cut of Tula Pink Salt Water ribbon for free!  She just wanted me to like their page on Facebook, which I did.  I'm glad I stumbled upon this booth, because they have some great ribbon that coordinates with lines from Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, Tula Pink, Anna Maria Horner, and others!

And last but not least, my loot from the Houston Modern Quilt Guild meetup!  My door prize was a tote from Fat Quarter Shop with a BOOK in it!  I got ReSew.  There were so many fabulous prizes to be had in the drawings.  My mom even won a gift certificate to Intrepid Thread!  I also met Tammy from Karamat Sews among others.  I can't wait to get involved more with the HMQG at sew-ins and meetings.  Lots of wonderful ladies in that group.  Thanks to the HMQG and their sponsors for the meetup!

So there you have it, my exhausting post about my exhausting weekend at the Houston International Quilt Festival.  Do you need a nap now after reading this?  I know I do.  Here's to a quiet relaxing weekend!  Happy Friday, y'all!