AQS Saturday and the Challenge Quilt Project

AQS Saturday wrapped up fairly quietly. The Momcat and I checked out of the hotel and stopped by Hancock's of Paducah one final time (third time's the charm?) and again ended up having to talk each other down from the edge of the fabric abyss! Once that crisis had been averted with minimal damage to our pocketbooks, we headed back to the convention center to go through the rest of the show and the vendors! We finished up with one of the "All Star Review" sessions at 2:00. This session was probably the most disappointing part of the entire show. It was super super hot in the atrium where it was held, due primarily to the failure of the hotel to finish its renovations. It was also very crowded and not particularly well organized. I think we saw some interesting things, but this is one thing I think we'll skip next year. Especially as we had a 7 hour drive back yet, and hit rain in Chicago. But we arrived back at my apartment safely and spend Sunday sorting and organizing all of the goodies.

Here is the pile of all of our stuff! Friday (the kitten) is helping us sort it.

One of the coolest things that the Momcat and I did was to decide on a surprise challenge project! At one of the fabric stores where the fat quarters were $1.75 each, we picked up two sets of ten identical pieces of fabric. Our mission: to each make a quilt of approximately crib size, the top of which must be completed by Christmas. We were each allowed to purchase one additional piece of fabric and could seek outside consultation, but all work must be done on our own. Well the Momcat told me earlier this week that she'd gone and bought her other piece of fabric and was getting prepared to start her project! Well we couldn't have that!

So yesterday I went to Erica's to get my extra piece (and bought a few other things, too). Here's a sneak peak of what I'm working on. I can't show the whole thing until we both reveal our completed projects since the Momcat reads this blog (hi mom!).

This project is a challenge for me because I chose a pattern block to start with, but then had to figure out the size of the finished block and the math for that all by myself. (I know, life is tough. But this is a new skill for me). If all goes well I'm even thinking about adding a pieced border. I finished 10 blocks this weekend and got almost all of my fabric cut. I'm hoping to make lots of progress this week while the N-boy is out of town visiting friends. Now if I could just get the cats to cooperate a little bit more and not try to sit on my fabric/ironing board/cutting board or sewing chair things would be a bit faster. Ah, well, I can dream...