Sewing & Quilt Expo, Kansas City, MO

Jena and I went to Kansas City to do some genealogy and while we were waiting for our plane home, we ran over to the sewing & quilt expo. It was so fun. There was lots of fabric from Vogue and France and wonderful clothing and textiles I wasn't allowed to take photos of. But I did get a few with permission of some wonderful venders. This little jacket and the quilt below were at a darling booth full of glorious fabrics from Material Mart. Their website is www.materialmart.com and they are in Midland, MI if you're in that neck of the woods.

Many of my girlfriends are becoming grandma's again and I thought this quilt was a darling idea. You can get the pattern at Material Mart and I think it's the cutest idea! And could be adapted for a girl or a boy very easily.

I don't know a dang thing about wool, but have always wanted to do something with it. Nedra has been doing beautiful things with wool for years and my new friend Gale also does the most beautiful things. I loved this booth! I bought a kit from Trish Harriman that makes her own patterns and there wasn't a thing there I didn't want. I bought a darling little kit to do something for Christmas and she hasn't even made the pattern yet. She was incredibly generous to let me photograph her booth. The website is www.attic-heirlooms.com and all the patterns are original to Trish Harriman. She is in Portland, ME and is super talented.

I don't recall what booth I saw this quilt in, but I thought it was so charming and could use up a lot of scraps. I'm so amazed at how many talented people there are in the world.

The booth that made me absolutely crazy was at Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods. You have no idea how wonderful their displays were. They only allowed me one photograph and asked me to specifically tell you not to move it or blow it up, etc. She has to be protective of her products, but she has the best displays I've ever seen. All the trims, buttons, laces, etc. are all color coded and it is straight up eye candy. It's owned by a Susan Gower's and you can find them at www.NiftyThrifyDryGoods.com and her trims are something to salivate over. Further, she has the most stunning jewelry made from scraps of old victorian velvet quilts with bits of crazy quilting on them. I wanted about 100 things there. I did get a red and pink trim that I plan to use on a Valentine quilt that I've been wanting to make the last couple of years. Now I think I'll be inspired to get started!

Just as we were ready to leave the Expo and head for the airport we came across these wonderful quilting strangers who began to talk to us about the bras that they purchase from Susan Crampton. Now I don't know about you, but I've never launched into a testimony with a stranger about my bra before, so I was interested in what these women had to say! They went on and on about these bras and how we had to try them on and how different we would look. You probably can't tell from my photo, but trust me, you would not need to use the word "support" when describing my bra needs! Susan Crampton walks right over and begins to talk to me about how it looks like the "life was sucked right out of me"!! Oh, it was hysterical! The funniest part was describing one of my daughters who is more endowed than the average and explaining how she plays college basketball and would love a bra that could 'hold things together' better. Susan begins to strap this sports bra on the outside of her clothing and is Very well endowed! This bra has about 17 hook and eyes and she straps it on and begins to jump up and down. This thing is like a bullet proof vest!! I couldn't believe it...all was steady and staying in its proper place. (You should have seen the man who had to run the booth across from us watching this entire event occur !)

Susan calls herself a "Bra Paramedic"...saying she 'rescues breasts from sagginess'. Then Jena and I walked around with stickers on our shirts that said, "I took the Perk & Lift Challenge". Oh, it was so funny. In all seriousness though, if you ever need a bra or need more support, Susan is a true professional. She took awesome care of us and her bras are everything those strangers cracked them up to be. Visit her at www.susanthebralady.com (Susan is on the right in the photo below.)