didn't stay in Vegas! Okay, some of it did, but I brought my fair share home. My soul purpose for this trip was to socialize. I've never been to Vegas, even though the majority of my adult life has been spent living within a 3 hour drive of there. Some health issues almost made me cancel but under my doctor's "don't tire yourself out" encouragement I went. While I didn't venture out of our hotel to sight-see I still had a wonderful time and I was lucky that my room overlooked The Strip, so I did get to see a whole lot of lights.

I only took 1 "make-it-take-it" class from Liz Turner-Diehl's booth and spent the rest of the time walking around and around the market, spending way too much money, talking until my throat hurt, hugging new friends and old, eating imitation southern baaaaa-b-q, and stitching in the lounge. Come Saturday night I was really worn out so decided to rest in front of a slot machine ;)

To my 2 roomies, Melissa and Darla, well, let's just say I'll never tell ;)

I'll post pictures later, because my camera decided to die on me, but here's the damage:

Blackbird Designs
Garland Fair (including fabric)
Sunflower Charms
Union Forever
Be Kind and True
Grand Old Flag
Strawberry Garden (including fabric)

Simply Old-Fashioned
Stitched St. Nick VI
Ever So Little #29 Fish
Let me add here that until you see these designs stitched, you just don't appreciate them. I've "thumbed my nose" at these on-line many times, but they're just wonderful in person!

Judy O'dell's Heavy Weights finishing book

Olde Colonial Designs
Friends
Teapot Fob and votive teapot
The teapot is a limited edition painted with a house that has the American flag on the roof. I've seen these online and had a fit when I saw them there.

Moonflower Designs Pearl Gem Heart Kit

Tokens and Trifles Confection (the triangle shaped ones)

Dinky-Dyes 28 ct hand dyed Jobelan for my Red Desert Scissor's Pocket by Cat's Whiskers I got from Market.
I also picked up a few things for an exchange partner (shhhhhh!)

Color-Scapes FQ 36ct Legacy

4 pieces of 40 ct "miscellaneous linen" pieces cut 9x11 or 9x10 (2 in the prettiest shade of pink!)

And, I found a new friend I wanted to purchase every single item in that booth and did a LOT of damage. I know she doesn't even know about my blog but I have to just post about Jan Gillette of Mimi's Attick Needlework Shoppe. I spent a lot of time talking to her over the weekend and she is a kick! She's the worst of enablers, though! LOL She had several different designers' items in her booth but I fell in love with Fern Ridge Collections.

Fern Ridge Collections:
Honeycomb
Dinner Time
Too Too Toile (my Paris inspiration piece)
Welcome to our World (I bought the needlebook kit, the small kit and the scrimshaw pieces for this - poor poor credit card)

There's still a basket and beaded scissor fob that I want to get, but the basket was available only by shipment, so I waited on the fob as well. I will probably be ordering Strong and Free, and Mardi Gras from Jan too.

They do have a website which I recommend you visiting for some true drool: www.fernridgecollections.com

Jan has told me of a wonderful stitch-together at a bed and breakfast that sounds like so much fun, and I'm going to think about it.

Another wonderful thing I did was spend a very long time talking to Sandie Vanosdall (The Sweetheart Tree) about her designs. Am I the only one who didn't know that she's been designing since the 60's and designs about 100 things a year! Yowzer! I'll never catch up. Her beauty and grace is very evident in her designs and from spending 5 minutes with her and I loved talking to her and hearing what some of her future plans were and how she goes about designing those gorgeous samplers and tweenies.

I was happy to get home and hug and kiss my Bandit. Husband had a surfing accident Friday morning that had him taking a trip to the emergency room and I was glad to get home and inspect him to make sure he was truly okay.

And now I have to decide if I'm going to be weak and let the arm-twisters talk me into Hershey.