Well you didn’t think I went all that way and didn’t buy anything, did you?! I went with a pretty short list and I only bought a couple of things on it, but then a bunch of other stuff fell in my shopping basket and I wasn’t at all sorry.

For the most part I was trying to pick up things I’d not seen before – I don’t tend to follow all the new fabric releases the way I used to; I have so much already that I am long past the ‘shop every sale’ stage and far more into the ‘deliberate buying’ stage. I wanted to pick up some things off the back of the classes I took, which I hoped would inspire me in some new directions, and I think I managed that. I also got a couple of ideas for some secret projects that I need to work up, so we’ll see where they go. Finally there was some fairly heavy nudging from my shopping friends, who delighted in finding new stuff for me to buy ;o) Anyway, here’s what I came back with…

Llamas! These llamas were hysterical, and a pretty decent price, so they had to come home with me. No idea what I’ll do with them, but I’m thinking maybe carpet bag of some sort?

I got a fairly eclectic selection from the Eternal Maker – I went in there aiming for the pandas and polar bears (which I’d seen on someone else’s project on IG a week or so before) and then these other random oddments joined them.

These Harry Potter prints were a bargain. I haven’t gone out looking for them, but always thought if I saw any at a good deal I’d pick some up. Don’t ask me what I’m going to do with them…

Ghastlies! I love the Ghastlies, although you don’t see them often over here in the UK, but Cath spotted them and dragged me over immediately. I have some vintage Ghastlies from a couple of previous US trips, and these may need to be united for a project that will probably involve fussy cutting.

When Gingiber’s Merriment came out a while ago I started on a rather ambitious project plan. Which I had nowhere near enough feature fabric for. And then put aside because fabric didn’t magically generate itself. Anywho, this is her Christmas line for this year, so I bought some to fill in the gaps for the original quilt – isn’t it handy that her lines co-ordinate so well!

At Olive & Flo I picked up the the first of my list items – Alison Glass’ Christmas line (I’m a little worried about my apparently new obsession with Christmas in the middle of summer) Whilst I was there I also rescued some texty goodness alongside Mister Domestic’s new fabric line, Catch & Release, which I hadn’t seen before.

This beautiful fleece-backed sweatshirt fabric was on sale at the Higgs & Higgs stand. It was precut at 1m each though, so I got 2 in case I needed a mix and match situation for whatever the heck I make with it (because there also wasn’t 2 the same)

This was second on my list of things to get – Grunge for a very specific project. I actually brought 4 of these with me, but since they don’t have names on the selvedges they had to go on a wee trip to be compared to other bolts on the shelf (not at all awkward…) Funnily enough, most of it came from Kaleidoscope, which is my LQS, but somehow it was quicker to take these to Birmingham than drive 35 miles up the road to the shop?

Laminated cotton and cork, both good deals, both with no particular plan.

Coloured Kraftex and sari ribbons. These were part of my branching out into new things (or at least the sari ribbons were, I’ve tried the original Kraftex colours before)

Bag frames – these could go with the llamas? I’ve tried multiple tubular frames with different ways of joining at the hinges, but not these screw on ones before. They do look like they might be the easiest to use though!

I stopped at the Japanese Pavilion early on the Thursday – partly because my shopping companions were convinced they’d run out of all the exciting stuff in short order, and partly because it happened to be on our way to the first of the quilt galleries were were going to see anyway. The 2 packs in the top left corner intrigued me, they create some fabulous texture on the fabric they were demoed on, so I’m looking forward to finding the perfect project to use it in. For the rest, well I love The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai, so I picked up the panel with it and various related prints on it, and then I love the Japanese white on navy prints, so I picked up the wee multi-pack of them. Don’t ask about the buckles, no clue what I’ll do with them, but fun, no?

This was another enabler purchase, for which I shall blame both Cath (Cumbrian Long Armer) and Lou (Flip Flip Fabric Shop) for waving around in the Gin & Fizz bar one night, which meant that, mid cocktail, I just had to go and grab some. This Heat Applied Glitter Film came from the Tudor Rose Patchwork stand, and I think it might come in very useful with some of the patterns below.

I loved Sew Quirky’s patterns, so of course I had to help Cath when she wanted one pattern, and I wanted 2, by picking up the pattern pack for more or less the same price and sacrificing myself for 2 more patterns and a glittery leopard print bag. As you’ll have seen, Pandora’s already made it into fabric!

I saw Hadley (Mrs Flying Blind) talking about some Kallosphere templates she’d picked up at a local fair a couple of weeks before FOQ, so I thought I’d keep an eye out for them and see if any wanted to come home to me. As you can see, a few did, and I’m looking forward to having a play.

This was my last purchase, and entirely influenced by my steampunk class (well, the cogs were) I’m looking forward to having a bit of a play with these.