Festival Recovery and Little More Than Naps

Yesterday's trip to the Houston Quilt Festival was fabulous, of course.  The one downside: one day cannot possibly be enough.  I really wanted to see more.  I did see about two/thirds of the quilts. Having been before, I knew I'd have to make some choices, so I started my race with a strategy.  I looked at the floor plan and made my decisions--"In Full Bloom," "National Parks," "In the American Tradition," "Modern Quilt Guild" and so many, many more!

I just bought a double wedding ring die set from Accuquilt, so I was especially interested in how other quilters have played with the block.  Of course, I wanted to see all the really big winners (you'll be very impressed), and everything IQA sounded interesting.  Do you see the dilemma here?  

The only way to handle it, I've discovered from previous festivals, is to push myself through, eat a quick lunch and choose extra carefully in the afternoon.  We got a late start, had a later breakfast, and chose an even later lunch.  Apparently everyone planned to eat lunch at 1:00, because we stood in line for quite some time and had to wait for a small group to get up before we could get seats.  All in all it was truly enlightening and pleasant.  

We left late (why not since the whole day ran late?) and then decided to have gumbo at a niece's home, so our arrival was truly late.  Today I've been dragging around zombie-like but managed to visit the in-laws, do the Halloween shopping for the grandkids, and sew just a little.  It poured down rain the entire day, so there are still flowers sitting on the worktable waiting to go to the cemetery.  

Today has been rather long, even with the naps.  I say naps in plural because I tried to wake up and move several times, but it was really impossible.  I'm not sure how long I rested, but I am sure that it took most of the afternoon.  The sound of rain falling on the roof didn't hurt the situation nor did snuggling under my favorite quilt.  

As for the rest of the day: The in-laws are doing fine, the baskets and bags are all arranged for tomorrow's lunch when everyone should be here, and I'm close to finishing my customer's tie quilt. And that has been my weekend thus far. Not busy, but not boring and certainly the quilt festival was more than I had hoped for.  Enjoy the few pictures I've posted.  I am waiting till tomorrow to post more.  It feels wrong to post lots of pictures of a show that is still going on, so this is just a sneak peek.  

Happy Quilting,

New Etsy Listing--Kinder Mat

My niece, Stacy, of Stacy Burkhart Photography has been such a sweetheart about helping me to attract customers to my Etsy shop.  When she asked me a few days ago whether I could make a kinder mat for her son, Seth, who starts kindergarten this fall, I gladly agreed to make one for him.  She's a great photographer and has taken photos for me on several occasions, so this is a little way to return the favor.

Isn't Seth a cutie?  He's so ready for kindergarten.  But he needs a mat cover.  When they came for lunch last Sunday, we took him into the studio and let him pick out his own fabric for the cover.  His favorite color is green.....can you tell?  


He wanted this plaid but there was just a small piece of it and I don't think I can get more, so we had to choose another color.  He finally decided on solid green.  Since the two colors work so well together, I decided to applique his name on the front using the plaid.  She tells me he loves it.

My plan now is to make more of these and offer them in my Etsy shop. I'd like to have them available in a couple of ways: as custom orders in which customers can choose their own color(s), prints, closure and as ready-made covers that customers can simply purchase and have delivered in a few days.


Seth's cover is quite plain because that's what he wanted but I am aware that most youngsters today, especially girls, prefer the louder, brighter colors and prints available today, so I'll have to make a few in hot pink, purples, oranges, yellow and so on.

Of course, while out shopping today, I picked up a few yards.  Afterall, I mostly buy half yards and fat quarters these days, and there's no way I'm going to make a mat cover with a fat quarter!


What small projects have you been making lately?  

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