IQF

My cousin and her husband-to-be picked my up at the Houston Hobby airport last night, took me to dinner and then dropped me off at my hotel. I think "basic" is an adequate description of the my room, firm bed, clean towels and a 20" TV. Oh, and carpet.

This morning they picked me up and we headed off to the International Quilt Festival. I've been told it's the largest quilt show in the country. When we got in we met up with L, my cross-the-street neighbor with whom I walk most mornings. She had just flown in to Houston from a conference in Phoenix. We'll both be flying home on Sunday but on different airlines from different airports.

For many hours the four of us took in the rows and rows of quilts and aisles and aisles of vendors. My cousin and fiancé are not quilters but enjoyed themselves and found the displays fascinating. L would occasionally point out things about the quilts explaining patterns or techniques. For that I was grateful because I didn't want to seem too pushy about my craft and she's so good at explaining things without making people feel like idiots. Some of the quilts were absolutely stunning and awe-inspiring, others were whimsical and fun. Even the quilts on display in the vendors' booths were amazing.

I had great restraint in the vendor area, only bought seventeen and a quarter yards of fabric. I could have easily bought two or three times that. There was so much to see and look at and buy!

Jen and Stephen left around 2:30 for various last minute pre-wedding errands and fittings, and L and I stuck around for several more hours to see as much as wee could before we closed the show at 7:00. She took me back to the airport so I could pick up a rental car. I know what you're thinking: Why didn't I pick up one the night before? My Thursday-to-Sunday rental was $65 total. If I picked it up on Wednesday, it would have been about $100 more. I really lucked into a good special.

I made my way from the car rental lot back to the neighborhood where my hotel is on highways with hurricane-blown signage and found Kim Son, a Vietnamese restaurant and had dinner (see the post below for the review). When I got back to my room, I found I was locked out. The gal in the office couldn't find any reason I should have been locked out and let me in my room. She said they usually lock out folks for not paying but that didn't apply to me. Go figure.

When I eventually got into my room I dumped my booty out and visited with each of my purchases again. All in all, a good day with good people.

Ee-gads, it's almost 01:00 now. No wonder I'm tired. I'll add pictures to this in the morning. Goodnight.

Morning edit:


L is standing in front of A Slice of Life which won in the group category, each panel was made by a different person.



These little guys won first and second in the miniature category. First was Dancing Ribbons by Cindy Rounds Richards, I don't remember the name of the second place piece, and therefore can't match up who done it.



Aphrodite's Despair by Sue McCarty. I liked the machine quilting in this one.


Spirit of Mother Earth by Sharon Schamber won Best of Show, $10,000 prize.