Saturday,my friend Sandi and I attended the Chaska Area Quilt Show. Of course, we had to stop at Gruber's to check out the bargain room as we traveled through St. Cloud. I needed to add a few more Jo Morton greens to my stash because I am running dangerously low. Have you noticed how many leaves are on the A Bountiful Life quilt? See--only 2 yards total! I had to get more of my favorite from the Crimson Bouquet line. The fabrics in the center look tan, but they are more sage-like. I also got to visit the Eagle Creek quilt shop in Shakopee for the first time. I found another Jo green (the one on the left in the photo) and resisted buying more since I am still trying to stay on my Fabric Diet (I didn't cheat too much!). The show was wonderful! I mostly take closeup photos of the quilting for inspiration, but there were several that caught my eye that I will share. We were wishing these two Pennies From Heaven quilts had been hung next to each other in the show. This brown version was very soft and pretty. The black version was very dramatic. They were both exquisite and the quilting on them was fabulous! I always love 30's influenced quilts. This one was part of the guild's I Remember Mama challenge. This one was so much fun--fans and hexagons and rickrack! All of the quilts were enhanced by little vignettes made up of antiques, etc. This display with a Kaffe Fassett striped quilt was especially effective. This is a small version of the guild's raffle quilt from their last show.You can check it out by clicking the guild link above and scrolling down a bit. That was a spectacular quilt--too bad my name wasn't drawn. This year's raffle quilt was inspired by Sue Spargo--the show's special guest. It was also spectacular and again, my name wasn't drawn. Even though there were tons of spectacular quilts, I was really taken with this humble brick quilt made from the quilt maker's leftovers of her husbands shirts. We were able to get back from our shopping in time to catch the Sue Spargo lecture on finding your creativity. It was very inspiring and being able to get up close and personal with her fabulous quilts was awesome. She is so creative and imaginative with her designs and embellishments. I've decided I really need to add some poison greens to my stash and Sandi is going to track down some Heishi beads to avoid appliqueing circles! Okay, I have to confess. I did cheat on my fabric diet BIG time. I bought this bundle of Jo Morton blues and browns off of eBay. Since I have a huge stash of blues and browns, I definitely did not need them, but I did want them!