Wednesday, November 4, 2015

I Was at Festival!

Have you ever dreamed of
running through a enormous warehouse and

having only five minutes 
to collect as many prizes as you could?
 That's what it was like for me last Thursday
at the International Quilt Festival in Houston.

I had one day to find the best vendors

and look at all the marvelous quilts on display.

To be honest it was a bit overwhelming,
yet totally exciting.
Running Man dropped me off at the
Convention Center and then
it was...Ready, Set, Go!

With such a limited amount of time
I had my planned list and the number of each booth.

First stop,
Somerset Patchwork & Quilting
and Karen Styles.
She was such a delightful person.
I was too excited to get a photo
of her and the booth, but
here's what I brought home.
It's her new line by Marcus Fabrics,
"Loire Valley".

Next,
Dutch Heritage
with Petra Prins from the Netherlands.
(I'm barely containing myself by now.)


Unfortunately,
she could only take cash or a check.
Otherwise,
 
I would have gotten a lot more
of these awesome chitzes.
I was down to digging for change in the bottom
of my purse!
I didn't get a picture of her either.
I didn't want to act too bush league.

There were wonderful antique
quilts to look at,
 

shops that many of us recognize from online,

and the free Mystery BOM
by Buttermilk Basin.
I mentioned to Stacy West
I was following along each month and
 probably a gazillion people had already told her that
but, she was so genuine in her enthusiasm it was
truly heartwarming.

Saw a few quilting celebs,

Ricky Tims passing something
secretively to this button guy,


Carrie Nelson, of Miss Rosie's Quilts,

Jamie Wallen who has lots of YouTube videos
on machine quilting,
 
Lynette Anderson,

and Lisa Bongean
of Primitive Gatherings.
(Stop #3)
Everyone was willing to take the time
to talk with you, or show you how to do a stitch.

I took quite a few picture of the quilt shows,
but I won't post many.  There's better places on line
to see the winners.

Ewe Are My Sunshine
by Janet Stone.
(The grand prize winner)

But here's what you do
if your husband that has tagged along.
You find the husband's corner.

and they can watch TV or take a nap.
In Running Man's case he went and
found a park and took a simple 16 mile run. :0)

And when you've hit the wall
you can literally
 go sit up against the wall
until you've regained your stamina.

I saw gals wearing matching hot green T-shirts
calling themselves the Psycho Quilters
and then these gals wearing matching hats.

I guess it was so they could quickly find each other
in the crowd.

It was a wild place at Festival.

With awesome quilts
Pennsylvanian Star of Bethlehem by
Mickey Beebe

 Deconstruction
by Victoria Findlay Wolfe

and
828 Valance Street
by Laurie Tigner

and
The Collection for a Cause
by Moda

Just to mention a few.
Phew!

Until Next Time-

35 comments:

  1. WOW! Going to this quilt show is on my bucket list--hope my dogs and wallet can keep up

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  2. It looks like you had a great time. I have been once and yes it takes all 4 days to see it all!

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  3. Doing Festival in one day is impossible but it's lots of fun trying. If you need more of the Dutch Chintz, you can get it from Happiness is Quilting either online or at their shop in Texas.

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    1. Yes, Happiness is Quilting a great resource here in the states. I've bought some chintz from them before. Thanks for the reminder.

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  4. Kyle - great rundown on the show. I have gone quite a few years ago and the excitement that you express in your post is like being there again! I hope to go back some day - it's an AWESOME show. So glad you got to be there!!! It is almost surreal! Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Looks heavenly! I attended twice, 2004 and 2009, and would like to go again in 2016. I enjoyed your photos!

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  6. ACK!! No WAY to do it in a day but looks like you did pretty good. I used to go every single year and take classes. It was awesome to stay at the Hilton next door--so much easier getting back to the room for a little rest. Haven't gone since DH passed away and don't feel like I'll want to again. But nice to see pix..the quilts are always the creme de la creme!

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  7. Wow, what a wonderful recap! I would LOVE to go someday! I suspect that if I tell DH that #1 there's a husband's room and #2 there's a fabulous beach nearby (Galveston), I could talk him into taking me. Now, if only we could coordinate Quilt Festival with the swim team schedule! ha!

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  8. WOW!! Incredible pics!! You done good! That chintz fabric that you bought at the Dutch Heritage booth was gorgeous!! I wonder if they have an online shop....??? haha


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    1. Oh, yes Petra does. Go to her website or Den Haan & Wagenmakers. I asked her if it was difficult ordering directly from her and she smiled and said, "No, the credit card companies just take care of all the money stuff of changing dollars to euros and you get to play with this wonderful fabric." Sounds like a deal!

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  9. Wow! what a fantastic day!! You picked great booths -- I'd have wanted to go to those too :0) I bought that Star a Day pattern but haven't started yet - I want to though. The Dutch Chintz you bought is gorgeous - I love it! I think I could spend a whole day going through those piles of antique quilts - I would love to unfold each one to look at fabrics, stitches and patterns. Maybe someday I can go see for myself but in the meantime thanks so much for sharing your experience :0)

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  10. Oh Kyle - What FUN you had! Do you think you walked as far as Running Man ran? I imagine you got in a few miles, for sure! Loved seeing all your photos - some of those gals who travel in packs make lots of fun for themselves I think. Great quilt show pics. I'm so envious you got to go, though I heard the weather was horrific?

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  11. Amazing to do in one day - your Running Man did 16 miles - you are the Running Quilter!!! How did you ever tear yourself from Petra Prins booth and Karen Styles Loire Valley grouping?? That is on my list to order.

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  12. I am so glad you got to go...it is quilting overload! I have gone twice, and I loved it both times!

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  13. You did a great job of showing what goes on for the average variety quilter at Festival. I used to think it was an event only for buyers, shop owners, and the celebrities of quilting. Looks like you did a fantastic job of packing as much into one day as you could. Great shopping! I especially like those Dutch chintzes.

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  14. I love your take on Festival. How nice that you could find someplace to go while Running Man satisfied his desire for a run in Texas! That was how this all came about, right? *LOL*
    That was brave to take it all in with just one day, but better one day than none, for sure!!

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  15. Wow, what a fabulous day! I definitely need to move this up my list of things to do. Is one day enough or did you think you could have used more time?

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  16. How very exciting! I'd have went crazy trying to make sure I didn't miss anything important! Good for you to make a list.:)

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  17. For just having one day I think you covered pretty well! I am drooling over your chintzes, sorry. Wow! I love that Ewe Are My Sunshine quilt!

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  18. It all looks amazing!! You did well to see as much as you did, you must have been running! I smiled at your photo of Somerset's stall. Their stall is one of my favourites to see at the Sydney Show. The dutch chintzes are gorgeous, and theyre in good hands, I know you'll create something wonderful with them.

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  19. I am so Lucky to have had the chance to visit a few times but unfortunately not this year. Being at QF makes me so happy, it is so exciting, so much fun, so energizing, so ....everything!! Love the booths, love the people, love the atmosphere. And love your pictures. If I had been there I think we would have constantly run into eachother. You show exactly what I love at and about the QF.Karen Styles, I love her designs. Am making the King George quilt at the moment and have bought the little star-templates. I love the celeb spotting and getting my picture taken with one if possible. And Petra Prins.... I live 45-60 mins away from her Amsterdam shop and almost 2 hours away from her Zutphen (her first) shop and especially the Zutphen one I love to visit. Because she is from The Netherlands when she is there she does not have the means to have people pay electronically. She is a lovely lady with great taste. Did you know she is the designer for the Quiltmania 2016 Mystery? Think it might be a medaillon quilt she is designing, those are her favorites. Thanks for all the pictures and would love to see what you will make of those Dutch fabrics.

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  20. Looks like you had fun! Love the new purchases. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the Karen Styles.

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  21. Oh my goodness, what a fantastic trip! So much to see and do. Thanks for sharing your photos. Hope to get there someday!

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  22. You made some awesome scores--maybe it's a good thing that some designers didn't accept plastic money--lol! It all looks wonderful and it's great that Running Man had something to occupy his time while you enjoyed the show.

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  23. That looks like your Stars and Baskets quilt on the far right in the last photo. Is it yours, or a similar one?

    I think I would have been completely overwhelmed with just one day. Making a list was a good plan!

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  24. Kyle you have captured all the fun of quilt festival -great post. Love the husband room!

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  25. Amazing pictures of the quilt festival!
    What a wonderful day you had!
    Thank you for sharing all these wonderful pictures with us!

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  26. The three times I have been there, I hit the vendor booths first. Viewing quilts second. Too bad you could not load up more in Petra Prins booth. What you purchased looks oh so wonderful. My last trip to Festival, I spent a lot of time sitting on those chairs along the outer edge. I knew then my Festival days were over.

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  27. So glad you had a nice time! I can sense your excitement. I find it can be sensory overload and you really crammed a lot into one day. More time on your next visit?

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  28. wow - you really give a great perspective of the show. A lot of IG and other photos are just close up of booths quilts.
    It looks like quilt heaven - I want to go!!!!

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  29. The quilts are wonderful -- and the husband's corner just made me laugh!

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  30. I love this quick run through of the show! You did a wonderful job of letting us know how it felt to dash through it and the excitment and thrill of it all. My favorite comment...I'm barely containing myself now. That would SO be me!! LOL

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  31. So glad you enjoyed your day at the festival, the shopping and quilts looked fantastic, thanks for sharing!

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  32. Hi, I love this post. I was able to attend the festival in Houston a couple of times but it's been a few years. I remember how exciting it was to see & do all the fun quilt admiring and vendor shopping. I would love to attend again sometime.

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