Quilt Fest Fun

Today was my first day at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. Yay! So much to see; so much inspiration. B and I spent half of our time looking at quilts and the other half making a few purchases. Sharon Schamber won one of the top prizes so we went to her booth and spoke with her. I ended up buying a new hopping foot and embroidery needles for my longarm. Then it was off to the YLI booth to purchase some silk thread to try out on my longarm. Of course, I had to see my friends, Sandy and Richard in the Prodigy booth. At lunch time I met up with some of my fellow longarmers and chatted with them. At least two people at the table had quilts in this year's show. Ami won a 3rd place ribbon as witnessed in the picture above. The other quilt by Helen was very beautiful (although I forgot to take a picture of it . . . oops!) I think I was the only one who doesn't do this for a business. In reality I think I'm too afraid to take on customers. The pressure of getting it right for each customer is too much. I don't want to hear any complaining nor do I want to do any frogging for any customers. I want my own set of rules: you'll like what I do because it's going to be beautiful and if there are any mistakes at all, the customer will do the frogging! That's not unreasonable is it???!!!

I bought a couple sets of charm packs with the new Moda fabrics. I came home and played with them tonight and I wanted to sew them up, but I like just looking at them. I have two goals for next year: 1) go to Quilt Market and 2) have a quilt in the show. I think it's totally doable. I have lots of ideas; I just need to get serious and start stitching! How much vacation do I have again?! Not enough. In another year and a half, though, I'll get 4 weeks plus the 11 holidays. It's a good day job.

When I got home from festival today, I had to take a picture of my car door. The shadows were just right and immediately I thought "quilt" so I got out the camera and immortalized the moment.

Cat's Meow

Tada! This is B's first original quilt design! He designed and cut all the pieces out. I pieced the quilt and today I quilted it on the longarm machine. I think it turned out great. Yesterday I appliqued the two cats and felted the yarn in between the two. The quilt is a little heavier than usual due to the denim that was used. I will add the binding and then B will practice his slip stitch and sew the binding down on the backside. Stay tuned. I've loaded the next quilt (dog quilt) on the long arm and it's ready for me to start the magic!

I only have to work two days this week and then I am off on vacation. Yay! I'm headed off to the International Quilt Festival here in Houston so the only traveling I'll be doing is downtown which is only 10 miles away. It doesn't look like I'll make it to Quilt Market as I can't figure out how to get a ticket to get in. Oh, well. Next year. I've spent too much this year anyway.

Doggie and I did a two mile jog this morning and then took several long walks today. It's gorgeous here in "H" town. If only this weather could last. Forecast for later on this week is rain. Yippee!

Countdown to My New Stash

Next week is the International Quilt Festival in Houston. I am taking vacation Wednesday through Friday to go enjoy and salivate over the quilts. I enjoy looking at all the quilts and seeing both the technique and the quilting of the piece. I don't usually take pictures, but I'm sure my brain stores ideas that I will want to try some time in the future. A lot of the quilts have signs that say "no photographs", but inevitably pictures are always taken. My goal to get a quilt entered this year came up short, but it was a learning experience and I will start working on next year's quilt. I would really like to see a quilt of mine hanging in the George R. Brown Convention Center.

My new fabric stash is being shipped next week. Apparently the journey from New Hampshire to Texas is approximately six days so I won't actually take possession of my new 2200+ yards of fabric until the following week. I have been dreaming up ideas on what to do with all that fabric and let me just say, I'm going to have FUN with it! I have drawn up new quilt designs and I'm sure there will be plenty of new fabric for me to audition. I will be selling the fabric either on my new, yet to be styled, website, or possibly on Etsy or Ebay. It's an adventure and I'm up to the challenge. There is a small fear that this purchase is a scam, but I feel confident that it's all good.

Quilt Fest

The past several weeks I've been participating in my own personal quilt fest. I made four new quilts and finished binding five quilts. It feels good to accomplish something at night other than lie around and watch TV. Although I must admit, I do like a lot of television shows and I don't have cable.

Last weekend B and I went to the Bellaire Arts & Crafts Festival. I had nine of my quilts there and I did not sell a single one. Fortunately the lady whose booth I shared sold four of her quilts so I was happy for her. I sat there and finished hand sewing the binding on one of my quilts. I am donating two of my quilts to a silent auction this weekend. The benefit is for a 21 year old girl with cancer. This is the 2nd time around for her and I'm saying my prayers for her recovery.

I will soon be receiving the fabric inventory of a store in New Hampshire that went out of business. The decision to buy was made at the same time the market came crashing down. I decided that having the fabric was more important to me than the money. After I had mailed the certified check, I received my 9/30 statements showing my losses for the quarter. And these statements did not reflect the huge downturns in October. Oh, well, who needs to retire, huh?! If I end up homeless, I will at least have plenty of fabric to keep me warm. Always the optimist. Let me know if you want to buy some fabric!!!

Oddities

Let's just say that I just spent a week in Portland, Oregon. If not for reconnecting with my friend, L, after 15+ years, it would have been a totally disastrous trip. I was very happy to touch down on Texas soil and be back among the friendly folk. I wanted to fall in love with Portland and imagine myself moving there. B was able to go with me on my work trip and he was able to enjoy the scenery, but he too felt the coldness of the people. I had it worse as I was working with some very uncooperative coworkers who've never heard of the words "hello" or "thanks". Alas, the trip is over and I miss not seeing my friend. I hope to go back when I don't have to deal with my fellow workers. Yikes, that was painful!!!

Here's a sketch of my latest quilt. By the time it is completed it will probably have evolved into something totally different than what I am imagining right now. But I think the basics will remain the same.

I need to get some sleep. I'm having a hard time adjusting back to CDT.