Howdy from Houston 2

Yesterday was a busy day for us.  After breakfast Hennie and I managed to find a couple of caches in Downtown Houston.  It was pretty windy and a bit chilly but we found two geocaches.

Then it was off to the Quilt Fesitval to check out some of the quilts and hit the market stalls.  The quilts were absolutely stunning and it never ceases to amaze me the amount of creativity people have.  There was a good variety of traditional and contemporary quilts as well as some terrific art quilts.  Something for everyone.

Then it was time to go and check out some of the vendors.  There were the usually array of beautiful fabrics to choose from as well as new tools and the latest gadgets.  We spent from 10.30 till 6.45pm looking at quilts and shopping and even then we didnt make it to the other end of the building.  This gives you an idea of the sheer size of the Festival.

I even got my photo taken with Alex Anderson the host of the "Simply Quilts"show and now co-host together with Ricky Timms from "The Quilt show".

You can tell that I come from Singapore as I was the only one wearing a thick ski jacket!

Hennie and I found most of the things that we were looking for and at reasonable prices (compared to Holland and Singapore).  The choice is also HUGE here.







Today we spent the day with Glenda, a friend from mine that lived in Singapore and is now back in Houston.
She picked up us this morning and we spent the day checking out the craft shops including our favourite "the Hobby Lobby".  There is just no shop in either Holland or Singapore that can compare to the sheer volume and choice of what can be found here.

We then went for a yummy (but HUGE) lunch at the Texas Roadhouse.

Hennie,Glenda and I

After lunch we went back to Glendas house and met up with the rest of the family including a really smart dog called Blake. This dog is so smart it even closes the door behind him!
We had a wonderful day with Glenda and it was wonderful to catch up with her again.  Thank you Glenda!

Only two more sleeps......

Yes it is only two more sleeps until I go to Holland and then Houston to attend the Houston Quilt Festival and I am SOOOOOO excited!

I will be picking my friend Hennie up in Holland and then we will spend 5 days in Houston at the Quilt Festival.  We went for the first time last year and it completely "blew our minds".  The sheer size of the exhibitions and market hall was astounding.  I cant wait to go shopping.  (yes I know I hate shopping but this is different...this is quilt shopping...completely different!)

On another note, the darned quilt top is nearly done but that will have to wait until I am back from Houston.  It has been a really enjoyable course and am delighted with how the quilt has turned out so far.

Check out quilt university for more information on the courses they run.

Tonight we will be going out for dinner to celebrate my 40th birthday which was on Thursday.  What does being 40 feel like?  well its pretty much the same as 39!

happy quilting

Marianne

Just Do It!

It's time to get serious about this quilting thing!  The last week I have managed to get a couple of hours each day in the sewing room and today I was in there 9am on the dot!  All of this has paid off as I finally finished the Geisha quilt today.  The centre panel is from a Lonni Rossi pattern.

I even had time today to start on a new quilt:

Dark squares

Light squares

Whoops!  Just noticed a boo boo in the light squares.  Guess I will be starting my day tomorrow unpicking the mistake. 

Anyway for those of you who are surprised that I would be making something so traditional.... never fear, it won't stay that way!  Hint: I will be trying out my circle maker on my sewing machine.

My "Marina Bay Bridge" quilt is currently in NZ and has  been entered into the Wellington Quilters Guild exhibition which is on at the St Patricks College in Kilbirnie from 1-10 Oct. How exciting!

Marina Bay Bridge

Tonight I will be talking to my friend Hennie on Skype to try and decide what classes we will be doing at the Houston Quilt Festival.  The only problem is that there is so much to choose from!

Well thats all from me...happy quilting