Jillions of Buttons

Jill Gorski, buttonnoliogist jill@jillionsofbuttons.com only offers products at shows. She does have a website where you can see the tremendous variety of buttons, books and other items she offers. We asked her what might be worth showing on our blog and the suggestion was two bands ‘Incomparable Buttons’, handmade buttons from Africa and those of designer ‘Cindy Webb’. Selecting something from the wide variety of each category was a challenge. If you don’t think the one shown here are particularly interesting go to http://www.jillionsofbuttons.com/ and be prepared to spend awhile to see just how much selection there is.

Event:
Orange County Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival, Oct 6-8 2011

Orange County Fair Grounds, Costa Mesa, CA

Trapezoid Non Slip Strip Ruler

2 ½” Trapezoid Non Slip Strip Ruler by Creative Grids. What a mouthful! But really the product is handy.

Saw this tool demonstrated at Ginger's Quilt Shoppe booth by Larene Smith (http://www.thequiltedbutton.com/id1.html). Not sure how new is it but it was the first time that we recalled seeing it. If you are a quilter you’ll understand why this is a great idea for cutting half-square & quarter-square triangles in addition to other shapes and strips. Go to the demo YouTube video and the instruction page at the Creative Grids website http://www.creativegridsusa.com/products.cfm?item_num=CGRSRTRAP&ref=c. Seeing it in use will make sense.

And please visit Ginger’s Quilt Shoppe site http://gingersquiltshoppe.com/ and encourage them to keep introducing good products.

Event:
Orange County Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival, Oct 6-8 2011
Orange County Fair Grounds, Costa Mesa, CA

Orange County Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival & Sugar Plum Festival Oct 2011

This year both the Orange County Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival & Sugar Plum Festival took place at the same location (Orange County Fair Ground, Costa Mesa) and the same days. It was a nice arrangement. The only drawback for the vendors might be that attendees with a budget may have spent before they saw all the booths. Best approach for patrons may be to walk both events and then go back to do your purchases. As always there are a wide variety of items and vendors to see. This doubling up of events makes for a really good day. Hope this happens again.

Wood is Magic Rocking Chairs

Located in the Fine Arts building at the Los Angeles County Fair, Pomona California Fairplex , Osvaldo and Michael Orellana are displaying some examples of their beautiful rocking chairs and other wood sculptures. They do show items at the fair annually. As with many fine objects photographs don’t capture the elegance, the items need to be seen close up.  Suggest you take time to get into the Fine Arts building and talk with the Orellanas and visit their website http://woodismagic.com/ see more of their creative carvings.

Shark Folding Bike

Folding bikes are not a new concept but they seem to be gaining a new interest. This year the Shark Folding Bike is being demonstrated at the Los Angeles County Fair, Pomona California Fairplex. It may be worth a moment to stop and talk to Derek and his staff at their booth.  If you aren’t going to make it to the fair you can email Derek at shark_bike@yahoo.com to find out more about this interesting item.

I did find a promotion video on the Shark folding bike at YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG_Ux_fxXF0 . Enjoy!



Los Angeles County Fair, Pomona California Fairplex

An annual event which has become one of the largest county fairs in the world.  Over the years the venues and format continue to change. There is a lot to see but the buildings do seem to have developed into a repetitive display of the same offerings by the same vendors in each building. So you do have to search for the new or interesting items.   It’s big, it’s always hot and it’s fun. Every year something shows up that makes it worth a day at the fair.

Fabric Jewels – Millefiori Jewelry

Another vendor at the July 2011 International Quilt Festival in Long Beach was Meg Hanna Rag Sky Art Studio.  The unique offering was millefiori jewelry created from fabric and yarn encased in a plastic like material. These creations where done with a proprietary process that result in beautiful objects. These pieces of art that can be worn or displayed. If you love fabric and color you need to see these creations. Meg Hanna’s studio website is http://meghannan.com/ . As with many of the items at shows of this kind the objects do not come across with the same vibrancy and elegance in a picture as they hold in real life. We really suggest trying to get to the next show or location where you can see these up close.