Supreme Slider

I have been trying out a new Supreme Slider recently. I bought it in Houston at the Quilt Festival. It is a teflon mat that fit's in the bed of your machine with a little hole in the center for the needle to go through. It is designed to make the surface of your machine more slippery and therefore make free motion quilting easier. The back of the sheet is tacky. I think it uses static to stick, but I am not sure. It is very sticky. It didn't move, even when I forgot to lower my feed dogs. when it get's dirty, you can rinse it in water and the stickyness will return. Very impressive. I tried it with a wall hanging and it worked great. I also have been quilting a queen size quilt for my sister and I could not tell the difference with and without it. I believe tht was a result of the size of my quilt though, not hte fault of the Supreme Slider. It's just hard to move that much fabric through a machine. All in all, I was happy with how it works. I have given you the link to their site if you have any questions.

Houston Quilt Festival

I have just come back from the Quilt Festival in Houston, Tx. The quilts were absolutely amazing and inspiring. I went on Thursday and on Saturday. I heard a rumor there were about 53,000 people at the show. It didn't seem that crowded most of the time though. There were people there from all over the world. I met a few of the ladies staying in my hotel that came on a bus from Iowa. I walked from the train with a few women from Virginia and Maine. Everyone was extremely friendly!

Every possible type of vendor was there. not just fabric and patterns, although there were quite a few of those. I was surprised by the number of booths with embellishments, beads, trims, paints, buttons. I knew they would be there, but there were so many. I was pretty good and bought just a little bit of this and a little of that. My favorite finds were some fabric for a quilt for my sister that is getting married. Black Batik is very hard to find. I also thought I would try the fusible stabilizer for turning applique. I'll let you know how it works out.

If you plan to go next year, I would certainly plan a few days. I did not have time to get around to all of the quilts on display and I would have like to have spent more time shopping. Of course wouldn't we all like more time for that.