Did someone say Quilt Time?

First I've been properly scolded for not posting sooner but I haven't had much to write about. I know very unusual seeing how David and I are taking advantage of being empty nesters to the max lately. Friends of ours had a Halloween party that I went to while David went fishing with his buddies from high school a couple of Saturday's ago.  
And Pamela went to Las Vegas that weekend for long time friends

girls weekend before she gets married. L-R My daughter, Christine, Marlaina Bride to Be and Diana the mother of the bride. What happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas. LOL

And here I am with a quilter's dream of quilts. Well a quilter wanna be. So begins my quilting adventure.

A week ago Friday I took a day of vacation and went to the Houston International Quilt Festival. It's always so overwhelming when you walk into the George Brown Convention Center. The minute you walk through the doors you're hit with the buzz of excitement, color and textures galore. You can't ignore all the vendors. Row after row booth after booth of vendors with sewing, quilting gadgets, beads, lace thread, scissors, other types of cutting tools, tables, cabinets and scarves oh my. The list can go on and on. 

The look of the quilts this year was more on the artsy side which is okay 
but I still wanted to see
some of the more traditional quilts. 



My favorite display was the cow theme Play on the word








I did run across a guild member quilts hanging in the show. Three Cheers for Lyndy Spenser. How awesome is that?

 Several guild members were working in a booths at the show selling quilting machines or promoting Quilts of Valor.
If you want to see all my pictures from the day you can click here.

Now for more fun I became a Bossy Pushy Organizer of a Quilt Retreat of my own. I went to my first retreat last year and I loved it and I wanted to go on another one so I decided to organize one of my own. I sent out an email to many many folks to see if anyone would go with me and finally got my minimum number to go. The retreat was Monday through Wednesday but everyone decided to take advantage of an early

check in at Retreats by Margie in LaGrange for a small fee and drove up on Sunday. Some of us took in the Texas Quilt Museum where each quarter they feature a different type of quilt. This quarter it was Star Quilts. Then we went next door to the Quilted Skein where we found lots of bright and colorful fabric. Imagine right? And one wall was full of every color and type of yarn a knitter could dream of. I'm not a knitter but I was in awe of all the yarn. By going up on Sunday it gave us extra time to set up before the retreat actually began. 


Once everyone had arrived the girls corned me and hand me this bag.

That bag was filled with all kinds of goodies as a 'thank you' for organizing the retreat. I couldn't believe it. This was so awesome and sweet. What a great bunch of girls to spend time quilting, laughing, talking, and maybe enjoy an adult beverage or 2... We even managed to watch a movie that Monday and Tuesday evening. 

 No one wasted any time getting to work on an unfinished projects.That's why we came right?  Tuesday night some of us were having such a good time we were up until 2am quilting and laughing. 

One thing I didn't do and meant too was have everyone introduce themselves and 

• tell something about themselves
• and how they knew me and for how long

Of all the girls Denise is the one I've know for 21 years, and have been in a book club with 16 1/2 of those years. She is the one who helped me get started in quilting. Her mom Dolores came and helped Denise by sewing the binding on a quilt and some cutting for a Christmas stocking.

At the Guild Quilt retreat last year I met Janet, Cindy and Judy. They belong to the guild but with 300 members and me usually running around taking pictures I might not have ever met them. Janet also blogs where she shows off her many talents. Go check her out by clicking here.

Deborah is quilter/fabric artist. I know there's a better description but I'm drawing a blank. She dyes her own fabric. I met her at the Quilt guild and eventually by accident became her neighbor. 

Pat worked with me at the Middle school I worked at then she moved over to our central office, retired and I got lucky enough to take her job. She is also in the guild and we went to the same quilting bee.

Donna V. - I met her at the quilt guild and found out she actually works right down the hall from me in the district. And we've been friends ever since.

Then there was Sandy. She is from College Station. Sassy little thing trust me. LOL I met her on a Quilt Shop Bus tour last year where we hit 6 shops in two days in SW Texas. She happened to be sitting behind me when she noticed what I was reading in between shops.... Fifty Shades of Grey. Of course that got a conversation going and a friendship was formed. We email back and forth and she follows my blog.

And there was Donna M. well some of you may recognize her from Donna's Lavender Nest blog. I had never met her in person but knew she was a quilter and lived somewhere not too terribly far from Houston area so asked if she'd like to join us and her answer was Yes. Oh and guess what her favorite color is.....  So glad she made it and that I got to know her.

I had invited a wide diverse group of ladies but we all had one thing in common we love the act and art of quilting. I had ladies that I had either known for a long time or for a very short time if at all. Most of them met first time. 
We all had a blast! The fabric was flying and the machines were

humming. I was pleased that everyone got along and it was like we all had been long time friends.
Sandy and Pat were the first to finish a quilt top the first day.

We even had a special guest Ralph who wanted to join us at the retreat. But I told him he wasn't allowed inside and he might cause someone have a heart attack.
So he stayed outside on the porch. 

I was able to finish one quilt that I can't picture here yet, started 2 more, sewed up a pretty grocery bag holder to hang in the pantry for my daughter, complete my 2 year and 15 minute table runner, okay it was suppose to be a 10 minute table runner but it took me 2 years and 15 minutes. 

And I'm trying a new technique on how to make a double diamond book mark. I can't show the quilt picture of the finished quilt top until I get it quilted and mailed to the intended. But here's what I can show you if you Click HERE to see other pictures from the retreat

Check on Donna M.'s oops that's Donna V's quilted posted card that she was working on our last day. Looks a lot like the retreat.



Here's everyone before we headed home. Thanks Jim for taking the picture for us. You and Margie made our stay awesome.

The retreat was homey and our dinners were very tasty. 
Thanks to the girls we had plenty to eat for lunch and Thanks to

Janet who decided to become our Chef one morning and whipped up a yummy breakfast.
We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are going to meet up again in the Spring for another retreat. Plus we added a day. Gives us more time to get into trouble and complete more projects.

And guess how I ended my vacation. Got home just in time to head up to Main Street Crossing in Tomball with David to listen to Max and Heather Stallings. Love listening to Max sing. Heather chimes in with her alto voice and plays a mean fiddle.

Couldn't ask for a better ending.

So until next Blog....“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.  ~Linda Grayson   

Carla