Crazy Quilt Retreat part 4, friends, shopping and such

Shopping.....
Okay, I'll admit it, I am a cq shop-a-holic. Every year I PROMISE myself that I will not bring home more cq goodies, that I have enough for 3 or 4 lifetimes already. But then you see the stores, the cute displays the vendors have set up in their rooms. Oooooo...look at that, I don't have one of those....oh, I could use that in my next project! As the saying goes, "Resistance is futile!" Here's a sampling of the goodies I couldn't live without.

The beads came from International Bead Market, a great Omaha bead shop that is not too far from the hotel in the Rockbrook Village shopping area. http://www.rockbrookvillage.com/shops/merchant/45.html

On the left, beautiful hand dyed goodies that were available in Mary Anne's class. On the right, beads from Sherrill Lewis's Bead Ranch store, and on the bottom threads from yet another vendor. I just love using Caron threads for needle tatting. A huge bag of threads and fibers I purchased at the auction. This will keep me busy for a very long time!
Fairy packs purchased from Kathy K and Donna J's store. Simply stunning dyed laces from Kathy K, painted buttons and vintage lace from Donna J. Both Kathy and Donna blog about their crazy quilting:
http://cathyscrazybydesign.blogspot.com/

http://donnascrazyart.blogspot.com/
Hand dyed trims, vintage images and beads from De Crow, owner of Diva's D'este. The cd and lace were gifts from De. Let me just say that if you love vintage images, De's online shop is THE place for you! http://www.divasdeste.com/shop.html De has both cd's and high quality printed image sheets (paper and fabric) in her shop. http://www.divasdeste.com/index.html

One of the wonderful things about crazy quilters is their unending generosity. I was so fortunate to receive gifts from friends I've made at the retreat over the years. Here are just a few that I took pictures of. Hand dyed lace from Donna J, a Victorian lady from my roommate Martha Green, and pretty fabrics from Freda.
More gifts from Donna. Painted buttons, embossed velvet and velvet ribbon.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Seeing old friends...

And making new ones...

I'm already looking forward to next year's retreat!