What a week! Last Wednesday — early in the morning — I flew to Houston with my quilt buddy from Phoenix. We had an amazing five days at Quilt Festival there: lots of quilts, lots of vendors. This was, I think, the twelfth time I’ve been there, and it was the first time I didn’t take any classes. That made for a more relaxed visit than usual, as we had all the time in the world to look carefully at everything. There’s always next time for more classes.
One of the things I was looking for was a demo of the coming EQ for Macs. Unfortunately, it simply wasn’t ready for a demo yet, but this sign gave me hope!
Naturally, I came home with several souvenirs, from the annual thimble for my collection to rulers and patterns. But, after looking at all of the displayed quilts, I fell in love with a series of Japanese quilts based on the work of Reiko Kato. While I’d normally say these quilts aren’t my style at all, I just couldn’t stop admiring them — especially the buildings on them — and finally had to purchase a book with many of the designs. They’re all appliqué (tiny appliqué!), but perhaps I can do something by machine for my own purposes.
There was a terrific lecture by Barb Vlack, an EQ and math guru, on the use of the Fibonacci sequence in determining quilt borders. I’m so glad I attended that one! She’s a wonderful speaker, using humor and a wealth of expertise to explain her ideas.
Susan Cleveland gave a little talk/demo on how to use one of her tools to make Dresden plate blocks. I really hadn’t ever thought I’d do a Dresden plate quilt, but her hints and tips made me rethink that, so it’s now on my list, along with a couple of other ideas.
My quilt buddy and I stayed at the Embassy Suites for the first time this year; we’d stayed at the Doubletree previously. This was a good move for us, as it’s much more conveniently located and has a few included perks we’ve had to forego in the past. We’ll do that again next time.
My flight home last night had absolutely no empty seats, but I plugged in my earphones and listened to music and podcasts until we landed. I’m unpacked now, but I still have lots to organize and find homes for — all worth it!
Where are the photos, you ask? I really didn’t take any to speak of. I’ve taken boatloads of photos there in the past, look at them once and then never looked again. So this time I simply enjoyed the looking and didn’t worry about the photos. You can find dozens of them via a Google search online, if you want to look. 🙂
3 thoughts on “Back from Houston”
O now I feel sad cos its so long since I went to Houston and even though I don’t quilt I miss the show and all the girls. I totally understand the not taking photos tho cos I have hundreds of quilt photos from over the years and I too never look at them again.
I think of you each time I go, Ally! If you hadn’t invited me that first time, I probably never would have made it there, and I do love going. 🙂
Now I feel sad cos even tho I don’t quilt anymore I do miss the show and all the girls. Glad you had a good time. I totally understand the photo thing too – as you probably remember I used to take hundreds at shows 🙂