A major event in my year is the annual Sewing Expo in Puyallup. The expo is always the first week in March and lasts four days. It's the largest sewing expo in the nation and quite affordable with an entry fee of $8 and a mere $3 to attend a class.

It is here that my daughter and I have learned many "industry secrets". For instance, we've learned to make EASY welt pockets and been introduced to lots of nifty tools. Corrie and I attend different classes and combine notes later. (Double your fun!)

We would attend every year, keeping up on what's new. If you're planning to attend you'll want to allow at least two days to fit in the classes you like. There are tons to choose from and a HUGE exhibit floor to browse.

This year, two booths in particular caught my eye. The first was a booth with dimensional quilts. I decided to make one of these quilts for each of my grandchildren for Christmas this year. Luke gets frogs, Grace will have bears and Ruth gets bunnies.

These are fun quilts. Part of an arm or leg is sewn in and the rest hangs free. The frog has a pocket in his belly. (The others didn't but I'm incorporating that idea into the other two quilts. The patterns are available at www.thimble-art.com

Here is a bit of info. on the quilt I made for Lukey (cute, isn't he?).

This quilt was made inexpensively using fabrics from Walmart. My quilt is in bright primary colors and green. I changed the pattern a bit and framed the frogs. I also added and changed the size of the frogs to cover and outline the top of his bed. The bugs and border cover the sides.

I stiple quilted around the frogs and bugs for extra strength as we know how little boys love to play with things! I quilted stars in the other blocks. This did take a bit longer than a normal quilt. I made all the individual pieces before assembling. The frogs are supposed to foundation pieced but I cut pieces for the background and simply pieced them.

Lukey's mom has given me the freedome to decorate his room so I will continue with this theme for birthdays as well as Christmas....he'll get a primary colored bean bag chair with his name and frogs on it, some from print pajamas and a frog bank! Can you tell I'm the kind of person that likes to plan ahead?

Next update, I'll share about the other booth that caught my eye.

Have a wonderful week!

JoAnn Gagnon

Find free sewing tips and projects at my website Bunkhouse Sewing!