Road Trip! - Gems of the Desert Quilt Show in St. George

Last Saturday a group of us quilty gals from the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild met up for a road trip to St. George.

I'm one of the two ladies in the back row who like we have a super novas exploding from our heads. I'm on the right and my BQF Vicki Ruebel of orchidowlquilts.com is on the left. We're both standing on our tiptoes, cuz we're not that much taller than the gals in the front row.

I really enjoy going to quilt shows. It settles my mind about quilting. I'm always wondering if I am really a modern quilter.  My friend Christa Watson (front row center) is completely modern. If you've seen her patterns or read her blog (Christaquilts.com) you'll agree.  Me? Maybe not quite so much. I'm never sure.

But whenever I attend a quilt show, it's the modern quilts that appeal to me. Like this one by Draza Esplin:

Or this cool hexie quilt by Florence Green:

And probably my favorite, this mini by Doris Claude called 'Pop Art'.

 

 So maybe I fit on that modern quilter continuum after all.

From the Dixie Center we headed to Superior Threads, which is also in St. George. But made a pit stop at Chik Fil A for some yummy chicken sandwiches and waffle fries. I haven't eaten at a Chik Fil A since San Antonio, two moves ago, and I'd forgotten how good it is.

 Although I've used their thread, I'd never been to Superior Threads warehouse. Vicki assured us it was worth the trip.

 Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming. Shelves and shelves and shelves of thread. All different kinds and all different colors.  Vicki is a long arm quilter and she knows her thread so I took her advice and tried to be decisive. After doing 90% of my quilting in black or white for the first several years, I'm trying to build up a collection of good quality, colored thread. Still it was hard to know what to buy.

Then we headed to the fabric side of the building. 25% off for quilt show weekend sweetened the deal and I stocked up on some solids. Here is what I came home with:

A grand total of 33, 500 yards of thread. Whew! That is a lot of thread. I hope I like those colors! And it's a good thing I just ordered a thread cone holder so I can start using up those 6,000 yard cones.

 If I had been smart I would've taken the thread into the fabric store with me or bought the fabric first and thread second. But I guess pretty well.

 I got home about dinner time, all jacked up on Dr. Pepper and shopper's high. Having spent way too much thread money, eaten too much Chik Fil A, and enjoyed myself throroughly!