And Away We Go

Mere days after returning from the Jekyll Island birding trip I headed off to Houston for the International Quilt Festival for the first time.  That's one of the holy grail type events for quilters world over.  My friend and I stayed at the Hotel Icon in downtown Houston.  It is an old bank converted to a hotel and only blocks from Minute Maid Field where the last game of the world series took place the night we arrived.  

I had my first experience of using Uber to get from IAH to the hotel and it was a good experience.  So was the return trip.  Both vehicles were nice and clean and the drivers were very careful. 

As any quilter knows, the Houston show is a humongous vendor mall with a quilt show attached!  Not really, but it does seem that way at times.  We started our visit by heading to the vendors and spent hours working our way up one aisle and down the other, contributing to the economy as we went.  It is amazing to see so many quilting tools and supplies in one place.  It's also a good way to see new products and  how they are used.  As we headed out for the day, we stopped at the parcel desk and had them pack up and ship a box home for us.  Next day we were considerably more restrained and simply took those purchases back with us to the hotel.  Of course, I had stuffed another bag into my suitcase "just in case", you know.  It did come in handy when we were packing up to come home.  I wound up with some of my friend's clothing in the extra space in my suitcase and we split our purchases between our carry on bags.  We began our viewing of the quilts that day as well and returned on Saturday to spend the day looking at quilts.  I truly did enjoy the trip but its one of those things that once done doesn't appeal to me much any more.  We'll see. 

First Place -- Alphabet quilt & quilter

There was an exhibit on endangered species that I adored.  

One of the major displays was Sapphire meaning all things blue.  There were dozens of quilts in blue and white from tiny to huge. 

This pig quilt was totally fascinating due to all the beads and other embellishments that truly make this quilt what it is.  

One of my favorite moments came when we visited the  Material Obsessions booth and met Australian designer Wendy Williams.  I love her patterns and have several.  I'm actually working on one of them right now.  What a treat to see the designers themselves in the booth interacting with the customers rather than someone hired to do it for them.  Wendy, Kathy Doughty and John Doughty were a refreshing treat.  

Needless to say, we walked our legs off every day and returned to the hotel totally beat.  Thankfully our hotel shuttle picked us up and delivered us right back to the hotel door whenever we wanted them.  The next order of business after delivering our packages to our room was a tall glass of wine.  I found and enjoyed a cabernet sauvignon which I believe was called Stonybrook.  I'm still on the trail trying to track it down sufficiently that I can have a local beverage supply house order it for me.  I plan to call the hotel bar and ask since the admin offices haven't responded to my email inquiry.  

Enough for now.  There's more to be shared  soon.   Y'all take care. 

Galavanting, again.

Where does the time go?  I cannot believe that today is November 12 already.  Thanksgiving will be here shortly and then Christmas just four short weeks following.   Mama always said that time passed faster as you got older and I surely believe it, now. 

Oh, I had the best time recently at two quilting retreats, back to back.  Yes, ten days in a row of quilty fun.  First up was a trip to Blairsville, Georgia where we took in a lovely quilt show. 

I love this purple and white Hawaiian style quilt.  One of these days I'm going to be brave enough to tackle something like that, maybe a bit smaller though! 

In addition to the quilt show, we just had to do a few touristy things.  One of the girls had never been to that area so we just had to show here around.   We went over to the flea market in Murphy, NC looking for occasional tables for the cabin.  Have you ever seen anything so gorgeous in your life as this table?

And, lucky me, it was placed right beside my bed. 

And, we got lucky in that the quilt show was being held at the same time as the foliage was putting on a real show.  Here's the view from the porch outside my bedroom. 

And we just had to spend some time downstairs on the swing where we had this view. 

As we were doing our running around, we saw a flock of gorgeous turkeys. 

And there was a herd of deer.   You can see only a few here, but I think we counted about fifteen of them.  

Every turn in the road provided a breathtaking view. 

On one of our days, we decided that a picnic was in order and we found a lovely park for just that purpose. 

Now, I was on that trip with quilty friends and we did, indeed get some sewing done.  After we'd come home for the day, somebody would handle cooking supper and we'd commence sewing, which continued until the wee hours of the morning. 

There might have been a little laughter mixed in there somewhere, too.   Oh, what a good time we had.    

After parting ways with those girls, I headed on over near Birmingham to meet up with my other quilting retreat buddies.  I must admit that I don't have a single picture from there, but we most certainly did have a good time.  As I've said before, some of the girls come from all over for our retreat.   So, I spent another five days there, sewing and talking and laughing.    I was truly and well tuckered out when I finally got home. 

Y'all take care. 

A Visit to Vermont Quilt Festival

A friend and I went to the Vermont Quilt Festival near Burlington a couple of weeks ago.  It was a lovely show, with lots of quilts on display and about 80 vendors.  Truly a quilter's heaven. 

Duffer by Patty Williams of Plessis, New York, was the Best Miniature Quilt. 


Bonnie Hunter was one of the instructors at the festival and her quilt called Pineapple Crazy was on display.  Wow, all those little strips and pieces!!!   Follow the link to Bonnie's website where you can see the quilt pattern in all its glory.  It is in her new book called "String Fling" which should be out soon, if not already.    Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville

The quilt which won as Best Machine Quilting was just spectacular.  Not only was the piecing just wonderful, the quilting was beyond glorious.  I can't believe I didn't get a better picture, but perhaps you can get a glimpse of the intricate stitching. 

Here's a bit better look and you can see a bit of the quilting.  

This was made by Marilyn Badger of St. George, Utah.  If you use the enlarge feature on your screen, you can see the name of the pattern that was her inspiration, as well as the kinds of thread she used.  It is made of both cotton and silk fabrics.  And, there's lots of crystals on it too.  It truly was deserving of its award. 


Another quilt that really intrigued me is this one by Carol Newbury of Troy, New York. 

The tiled look is achieved by using raw edge applique to stitch small strips of fabric, thus creating the slanted coloration. 

All in all, we had a great day.  Everybody needs a good quilt show once in a while. 


Y'all take care.  

Hometown Quilt Show

Last weekend I went back to my hometown to a quilt show.  It was the first show  by this guild and they did a great job, I think.  Was fully as good as any show I've been to, albeit a little smaller. 

 One of the best surprises was to find that a childhood schoolmate and friend has become a prolific quilter!!  She had several quilts in the show and I was delighted to see her again after so MANY years.

King sized Jacob's ladder quilt

Those are 1 inch squares in the Jacob's Ladder quilt made by a husband/wife team.  Oh, my, the work put into that quilt. 

I think my favorite of the show was this Courthouse Steps quilt made by Bette Haddon from men's ties. 

Over the years, I've seen a number of quilts made from ties, bit I think this once is the best I've seen.  Of course, it doesn't hurt that she does exquisite work on all her quilts. 

In addition to the numerous large quilts, there were lots of minis also.  I've never tried to make a mini quilt as I'm intimidated by all the tiny pieces.  They are beautiful to see, though. 

Suddenly, here in the middle of this post, I'm having difficulties uploading more photos.  Aggravates me something fierce when this happens.  Let's try again.   No luck.  I'll be back later to see if I can edit this to add the other pictures.   Grrrrrrr!!!!!!


Wow, I was able to come back in an add pictures.  


Y'all take care.