We now return to my regularly scheduled life.

My weeks of frenzied activity at work were followed by a half-week of intense & long-overdue cleaning at home. Then came the arrival of friends from overseas & 2 days at the Quilt Festival, followed by sight-seeing with the friends. Quilt Festival was fun. The exhibit hall was a mess -- construction inside & out, but that didn't hurt the beauty of the quilts. Inspiring -- and exhausting. The pedometer on my phone said I walked more than 13 miles over the days I was there. I didn't just walk, I also bought an insane amount of fabric. Trainers, forget the medicine balls & free weights, do you know how heavy fabric is!?! I'll say I bought the fabric to increase the efficacy of my walking workout.
You're buying this, right?
No?
Well, I can't tell you why I bought so much fabric. 'Because it was there' is the best I can come up with. Alluring stacks & bundles of pretty colors, all now trying to find a place in my bursting stash.

I also got another quilt top -- very cute & cheap -- my main criteria for vintage quilts & tops. A bright, cheery wagon wheel made in the late 50s to early 60s. It is small & I am thinking of finishing it up with big-stitch hand quilting. Across the aisle from my cute, cheap top was a finished quilt that was beautiful & not exactly cheap. It was slightly older than my top, probably mid-50s, a log cabin all made in cotton sateen solids with a few sateen prints added in, hand-pieced & hand-quilted. With the seller's permission, I took some photos, hoping images of this beguiling quilt would be enough. But I kept finding myself in the neighborhood -- just visiting, you know, admiring it. Then I found myself asking the seller if she would take any less.

Now, a chance to catch my breath. And to enjoy my purchases.

Fall back

I will be using my extra hour today catching up on housework & resting a bit -- & maybe a bit of sewing.

I spent Wednesday evening, all day Thursday & Friday at the Quilt Festival. I am foot-sore & sensory-overloaded! I enjoyed myself more than I have in recent years -- I don't really know why, can't really explain it. When my feet were run over by rolling carts, when my sides were jabbed by bulky bags, when the woman in front of me suddenly stopped to admire something cute or beautiful or whatever -- I just smiled & accepted it as part of the Whole Experience. The not-my-style quilts that I usually pass by with a nod & a yawn, this year I stopped to really look at & admire & learn. I felt more open to Quilts, Quilters, Quilt-making, than I have for a long time. It was nice.

I caught up with friends that I see once a year at Festival, hung out with other friends who I see more regularly, made a few new friends & deepened a relationship or two. I came away with a vintage string top that I am completely crazy about, 3 pairs of scissors, just a bit of fabric &, most importantly, a fresh perspective on who I am as a quilter & where I want to go with my quilting.

Where did the month go?!?

I know exactly where my month went:

First, there was 2 weeks of an all-hands-on-deck, mad house, work-a-thon at my job -- 8 to 12 hour days straight through (we did get Sunday off) slaying mastodons with our atlatls.

 

Not really, *that* exhibit was installed months ago, we were on to the next thing. :-)

After the paid work was over, I needed to do some serious house-cleaning for house-guests coming for Quilt Festival. I know you know what I'm talking about -- the sort of cleaning you only do when you are expecting company. I was sure my company wouldn't notice, or care if they did, but I felt better knowing it was done.


Louis says, "Food Lady, this is nice! You should make the beds more often."

I did nearly no sewing. All I did was finish my HMQG logo colors mini challenge & made a few more zipper pouches for gifts. (I think I'm beginning to feel more confident about my zippers.)

 

 

Then the 2 house-guests arrived -- a quilter friend from France & my MIL. And Quilt Festival!!! An exhausting good time! This year, I really enjoyed looking at the antique & vintage quilts being sold -- I even came home with one!





In spite of an oath with myself not to get any fabric, I managed to come home with some: a stack of Grunge, some vintage bits, plus some other pieces. 

 

Next, a trip to the airport with one departing guest & a route home over a very attractive bridge.



Then, relaxing bay-side with the remaining guest.



Then it was just me & Shug, tired, but with pleasant memories of the last week.
And did I mention that my quilt was hanging at the Quilt Festival!?!

Something old, something new

I've been plugging away at the HST quilting. It seemed as though I would never be finished, but then, suddenly, I was! Now I need to order fabric for binding before the Big Reveal.

I began quilting my jelly roll race top. I tried free-motioning it & hated what I was doing, picked it all out & regrouped. This evening, I've been trying something new & really like how it is going. But it is our HMQG challenge this month, so I can't reveal it yet either. (I'll show you the backing fabric -- I've had it for years; it reminds me of the artwork of Charley Harper.)



My Low Volume squares are idle on my design door; my Low Volume calicos are waiting for a brilliant idea to strike me -- I've been focusing my attention on the Jane Market bags & quilting.
I got a box of fabric in the mail this week -- I needed that like a hole in the head, but, hey, they were on sale.




And my Big News: Skirting the Circle has been accepted to hang in the IQA -- Quilts: A World of Beauty at this year's Quilt Festival!!!!! I am really excited -- I've never seen any of my quilts hanging in any kind of show. This will be quite an experience. The credit for it even being considered goes to Shug -- he was the force behind it & did most of the work, as the deadline came while I was last out of town visiting my Mom.
Thanks, Shug!!!!

Too much of a good thing?

Well, the Houston International Quilt Festival is nearly over. It was over for me at about 4:00, Friday afternoon. I had gone to the MQG Market Meet-up the Saturday evening before Festival began and was at the Festival all day Wednesday (in class until 5:00, then went to the preview until about 8 or 9 o'clock), Thursday and Friday. And I am BEAT! Talk about sensory overload!

Quilts, quilts and more quilts!
Fabric, fabric and more fabric!
People, people and more people! (These photos were made before the hall opened. Wouldn't we all love to walk aisles that empty!)





I had told myself that I wasn't going to buy ANYTHING, but of course I did.

These lovely, new (to me) colors of South African "indigos" -- there were more colors besides the usual indigo blue and browns, I just went for the pinks and purples.



I couldn't decide which colorway I liked best of these Kaffe prints -- so I got three of them! I think strips of these will give a quilt lots of movement.



These Japanese ombre prints were just too gorgeous to pass by.



And I have admired the fabric lines from Marcia Derse for a long time, but had never seen them in person. She had a booth with big bundles and a LOT if them came home with me. I see, perhaps, a re-interpretation of an Amish quilt.

 

MQG Market Meet-up

All I can say is, "WOW!"

What a crowd! What a lot of famous faces! What a lot of prizes! What a lot of FUN!

I am ashamed to say that even though I had my camera, I did not get even one photo of the event -- I guess I was just kind of over-whelmed and star-struck. The sponsors of the event provided SO MANY prizes that nearly everyone won something! I won a charm pack of Lizzy House's new line Outfoxed by Andover Fabrics. (Now I want *acres* of those three color-ways of the pearl bracelets -- so pretty!)



I try to limit my use of the word "awesome" but in this case no other word adequately describes the evening: AWESOME!

And we have another meet-up yet to come:
Saturday, 5 November
The Hyatt Lobby Bar
8:00 pm

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