Back from Houston

I returned from the International Quilt Festival in Houston, last Monday afternoon. It was my first time there and it was amazing. It has taken me a few days to write about it and I'll probably write a little each day (or so) because I am totally exhausted!!
There was so much to see, so much to do, and so much walking and standing. I met my friend Pam there, she moved to Denver a year and a half ago. We stayed at the Hyatt which was one of the hotels that partnered up with the Festival. There was a free shuttle bus between the hotels, I think 5 different hotels and it made it so easy to get between the hotel and the convention center. The convention center was HUGE! We saw all the quilts, amazing, we saw all the dolls, amazing, we listened to lectures, amazing, we took some classes, amazing, we saw all the vendors. The vendors were actually interesting. Some of the usual ones that go to all the sewing expos and quilt shows. Then there were vendors who sold every kind of gadget known to man to make a quilt. Not being a quilter yet, I found all the different tools fascinating. We met 2 authors who write books that have quilting themes running through them. I only knew of Marie Bostwick who's books I have read. I love her books. We also met Alex Anderson. I remember watching her on HGTV every morning. I always admired her. She now has an online show with Ricky Tims called The Quilt Show - www.thequiltshow.com . I bought a membership to the show but they are in the process of updating their web site, so I'm going to wait a few days to join and check out the site.
It was fun to run across a booth whose blog I follow or just had different and interesting items, at least to me. I bought 2 really cute Christmas hangings patterns. One is of snowmen faces skewed on top of each other and the other is Santa and Rudolph in a Photo Booth which is hysterical. I hope to finish that one for Christmas, but I'm not hopeful. We're getting close to the end of our remodeling but have a little ways to go. I have my sewing machine in the dining room, so I can sew but everything else is stacked in the guest room so it is challenging. Speaking of sewing machines, I bought a new machine at the Festival! I couldn't resist. It's the Janome Horizon MC8900 and I got a killer deal on it, so what's a girl to do?

 Now I have 3 machines so I will be selling at least one of them.

Well, now on to the last thing for today. I wanted to show my doll entry for the Gypsy Challenge. This year's theme was Mardi Gras and it didn't have to be a doll. So I chose to make a float with a big jester's head in the front. The head was based on a Karen Shifton pattern. I painted the mask on the face and placed each rhinestone individually. His collar is made of loops of ribbons glued onto mat board and he has loops of colored chenille. That was made wrapping them around a pencil and glueing them on. The masks were hand drawn then cut out of mat board. And each one was decorated by hand (painstakingly). The purple mask on the left had sequins glued individually then a small bead glued in the center. The feathers were done individually. And the harlequin one I drew the design then painted on some glue for each section and sprinkled on glitter. Then they were all embellished. Boy, I had sequins and rhinestones all over my house!

 I'll be showing more pictures of the Festival in days to come. I have pictures of dolls and quilts.