AQC Wrap-Up

My mum and I went to the Australasian Quilt Convention/Expo this morning, and shopped up a storm! It's been the perfect day for the end of summer; warm but no too hot, and not a cloud in sight. We arrived about 15min before the expo opened, and there were people everywhere! This year it's being held at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne, which is a beautiful old building. While it advertised as having more room and therefore more stalls, I'm not sure that was the case. It was still quite a struggle to get up close to each stall, and the noise in there was amazing. I also found the seminar rooms to be a bit small; I had to sit on the floor! But anyway, pictures! I didn't take too many there, just too many people.

The building, viewed from the surrounding gardens:

I took photos of two quilts that caught my eye; one more traditional, one more bright and funky:

I set my self a bit of a budget for the day, and I think I did pretty well.

Two Honey Buns, "Sweet" and "Hello Betty". I was suprised by the price range for honey buns, anywhere from $29 to $45...

Five fat quarters, I think they are Moda's Summer in the City:

A cute piece of Mushroom patterned fabric, which I've seen on a few blogs. Not sure about the designer. Spotted it early on, and luckily it was still there when I went back later:

A couple of magazines I'd missed out on during the last couple of months, just $5 per copy (plus the table had big bowls of lollies!):

A bundle of jumbo ric-rac, because I can never find what I want, when I need it:

A pair of embroidery scissors, to use instead of my manicure scissors:

A Jelly Roll Quilts book, which I've been eyeing off for ages. They'd sold out, so it will get posted to me when they get more stock next month (and at no extra cost):

My mum bought me this quilt book, which I've admired on more than one occassion:

And I also bought a huge cutting mat (about 22 x 34 inches) which will make life a little easier.

All in all, a good day out. I don't think there was as much there this year; no one really had yardage, and there wasn't the huge amounts of charm square packs that I saw last year. There also weren't really that many jelly rolls, though there were a few of the Sweet rolls and Turnovers. One of the best bits is finding out about shops you weren't aware of...though that's not so good for the bank account...