Red Deer Quilt Show photos

There were so many good quilts at the show on the weekend - here's just a few more photos!

Red Deer Quilt Show

Gorgeous colours

Yesterday and today was the Quilt Show in Red Deer....since we were in the neighbourhood we decided to take it in...well, I took it in while Fred went to test drive some cars...and then joined me for lunch and a quick tour around the centre.



Wedding Dress Quilt

There were plenty of gorgeous quilts on display.  This one was made from old wedding dresses  by a multi-generational quilting family - grandmother, mother and daughter - the detail was exquisite!  Another prize winning quilt.

This isn't the largest of quilt shows, but it did have some good displays, provided lots of inspiration and many good kits for sale!  I could have spent a fortune...but only picked up a few things I had been lookng at.


Quilt Store Displays

 Do you attend quilt shows?  If you do, do you look for special deals?  Do you take in the teaching seminars?  There were many women (and a few men) picking up a number of purchases, you could pick out the experienced show attendees - they were the ones that brought their own shopping bags on wheels for their great finds!

Quilts on Display

Sewing in Circles

We drive from Edmonton to Calgary on a regular basis.  And along the way we often stop in Red Deer - to grab a tea for me, coffee for Fred.  Sometimes we top up the tank with fuel and if we have a bit of time I love to pop into another one of my favourite shops - The Red Deer Sewing Centre.

That brings me to add to my list of "things I love in a quilt shop"!  Okay so it isn't really a quilt shop - it's a sewing machine and supply shop.  First of all - they know my name.  I feel like I have a connection there, like I'm important to Karen (the owner).  She's patient and knowledgeable.  She spends time in helping me find what I'm looking for or takes the time to show me something new.

As I've continued to add feet and attachments for my sewing machine this is the place that I keep returning to - they have an excellent selection and if it isn't in they will order it for me.  I've even taken a class or two here.  This week I spent some Christmas money in acquiring a circular sewing attachment.... hmmm, never thought I would want to sew in circles!!

There's a couple of quilt shops I've decided I'm not returning to - they have hurried me out or given every indication that I'm in their way.  I've never had that feeling at The Red Deer Sewing Centre.  Customer service is what's at hand here...and for me it makes the difference.  In this day of on-line ordering I could probably be a quilter and never enter a store.  However quilting has a community element to it, a sense of working in a world where people share a particular passion.  Finding a store that understands that is both satisfying and adds to the joy of the journey.

Did I ever mention she got me hooked on an embroidery machine?  More on that another time.