Back from Quilt Market and Festival

I went back to Quilt Festival after Quilt Market in Houston, TX. Both take place at the George Brown Convention Center in Downton Houston. The place is huge. There is no way to possibly see every thing in one day. I spend a total of five days there and I skipped a few areas.

I did take some more pictures.

This was one of my favorites. There was so much detail and the minature quilts were darling.

This was the line checkout for the Primitive Gatherings Booth. I attempted to go through the booth once. It was really crowded.

Back view. Yes, back view...

Front view of quilt. I took a class Show Quilts, From Start to Finish Beutifully-Longarm Demo/Lecture given by the two ladies ( Linda Taylor & Cheri Meineke-Johnson) that made this quilt. The class was on how to make a show quilt. They explained their process. Cheri makes the quilt top and passes it on to Linda. Linda does the Quilting. Then Linda gives the quilt back to Cheri to complete. Cheri does the binding and embellishments. Both gave tips from start to finish on making a quilt. I really did enjoy the class. There was a lot of information given.

This is the Penny Rug I finished from another class I took. It was given by Kathy Kansier, Pennies from My Heart. This was a fun class as well. In addition to the project, she discussed topics such as dying wool, fusibles, felting wool, history of wool & rug hooking, and designing your own penny rugs.

Happy Halloween

I thought this one would be appropriate to show today.

Quilt Market

This was my first year to attend quilt market.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD!!!

It is definitely what I expected and more. 

School House was:

Informational

 Busy

 NonStop

 Fast Paced

 Dangerous (Rolling Carts!!)

Sample Spree was:

Fun

Entertaining

Shopping

Not something I stood in line for 2 hours for. More like 5 minutes.

I did get to meet alot of people. I wouldn't even try to begin listing them at this time.

I, also, viewed the exhibits and took a few photos.

I'll try to post a few at a time.

I always take alot of pics.

Here a few of the photos I took.

I tried to get the credits, I apologize in advance if I have overlooked someone.

Closeup view. The details on this quilt are amazing! This quilt is all done by hand. Note the tiny rectangle tiles (all appliqued on) and the french knots.

This one speaks for itself.

Learning to make a quilt

This is my youngest son. He has been asking to make a quilt for himself for several months now. He has been through my fabric stash numerous times, picking out the ones he really likes. He has followed me through fabric stores and pointed at his favorite prints. I told him we would sit down and I would teach him how to make a quilt. After asking me numerous times to teach him, I found sometime to spend with him & completely focus my time on teaching him. I quickly realized he was not ready to make a project that required a significant amount of time. And, his sewing skills were minimal to zero. So, we decide his first project would be a potholder. He drafted his own design and picked out his fabrics. He liked using the rotary cutter (And I was a nervous wreck). He was given a lesson on safety. Repeated numerous times. Then he was educated on batting. He used cotton batting and insul-brite. Also, he learned about 1/4 " seam allowance.  He played around with the decorative stitches, and I let him be creative. I told him it was his quilt/potholder, his design, and he could do whatever he liked with it. For the border, we kinda cheated. He wasn't ready to learn to do it the "correct" way per quilt police. He never once asked me to finish it for him. After he finished he said, "That wasn't as easy as I thought it would be." He has proudly showed it off to anyone who has been around to visit. I haven't heard anything else about him making a quilt for his bed. Personally, I think he did a great job!!! And, I am very proud of him.

Tessellating Stars

This is a quilt I completed last week for a coworker. Her mother passed away a couple years ago & she asked me to make a quilt using her mother's clothes. The pattern is called Tessellating Stars.

Front of the quilt

Back of the quilt

The quilt label was made using computer printer fabric

Busy Stitching

                          
                         For a weekend project, I stitched up this key holder to hold these keys.

These keys are very precious to me. They are actually functional and not for decoration.

They lock/unlock the cedar wardrobe in the photo above. This wardrobe was a gift from my grandfather. He gave this to me at a special occasion in my life, and he was so proud when he brought it to me. A lot of love and labor went into this wardrobe. He was a carpenter by hobby. Although, he did not build this piece,  he did restore it back into a beautiful piece of furniture. This is one of those things in which there is no price tag for it. I will treasure this forever!!!!!!

My cabinets have been installed. Now I can get myself organized.

( I think my DH is glad  his work here is done.)

This is a block of the month quilt from JoAnns Craft Store that I have started. I am on block 9.

Ok!!! I couldn't get the pic to stay rotated upright. I rotated it before uploading, but for some reason it didn't stay that way. Any suggestions?

 This great design is by Gail Pan.

Her blog is http://gailpandesigns.typepad.com/

My friend @ http://maisieandtheboys.blogspot.com/  let me know about them.

Thanks Marina

Check out her blog. She has stitched up some beautiful work! 

During the move into my craft studio, I have rediscovered unfinshed projects. This is one of them. My goal is to finish this one by the end of this year. I do recall why it was put aside. Every square is stitched and the background behind the lady/children is very challenging due to many color changes.

This angel was stitched in four months after the birth of my first child. It was kit by Dimensions. It has been framed and now resides on the wall in my studio.

Moving In...

My craft studio is finished (well, almost). And, I've started moving my things into it. I'm too excited to wait!  It will be a few weeks before the cabinets are installed. Then it will be complete. 

This is the progress I've made on my cross stitching.

These are the Dresden Blocks. I have started putting them together. I am appliqueing them to the blocks. Due to the hand-stitching, the process is going a little slow. So I started on the next project below.

And, I am nearly finished quilting it. This was a quick project & it was fun to do.

The last two weeks ...

Cedar Siding has been started on the front.

Sheetrock being installed &wiring in progress.

                                      
                                                                   The view from inside.

WIP- I started cross stitching this April 3rd, 2010.

 I have started sewing the Dresden plates together.

And, I have a few more to go.

P.S. These are the new trophies my husband brought home form the BBQ competition. His team placed in all 3 catagories & were the Grand Champions.