Just a little from my trip to Houston
I had a wonderful time in Houston last weekend! I learned so many things and had such fun browsing through all the booths with vendors for machine embroidery, fabrics, patterns, notions and so much more! Plus I enjoyed meeting and visiting with fellow quilt shop owners and quilters!
It all started early Thursday morning when my friend Elsie and I drove to Oklahoma City to catch a plane to Houston. With just a few minutes to spare after arriving at the airport (actually more like 20 minutes - more than we anticipated!), we were on our way. Just a reminder: no matter how much extra time you plan at the airport, always figure in more time! You never know when road construction may block the road on the way to the airport! Let's just say I was more than relieved to be on the plane and up in the air! :)
Friday was a long, but information filled day! I attended as many schoolhouse lectures as I could, running from room to room every 15 - 30 minutes to get in on the next class. It was so neat to see all the latest notions and fabrics and take in all the valuable information given. I have notes upon notes along with fliers to sort through and recall all of the info I received.
Not only did I gain lots of useful information, but I also found some fun fabric goodies to take home before the day was over! I couldn't resist some of the beautifully arranged fat quarter packs from Moda and Benartex, batik charm squares and fun notions! When I returned to our hotel room for the night, my tote bag was much, much heavier than at the beginning of the day!
Friday night was a short night since it was after 10pm when we arrived back at our hotel room and were out of our room by 7am the next morning. Saturday was another exciting day! *Just imagine* being in a room filled with hundreds of quilts just waiting for you to walk up and down the aisles and admire each and everyone!
The Quilt of Belonging was fantastic to see. You cannot imagine how large and unique this quilt is until you see it in person! The Quilt of Belonging is a 120 foot long x 10.5 foot high tapestry displaying 263 blocks from every nation of the world. It was absolutely astonishing to see so many countries displayed with their unique perspective. You can see more photos and information here.
That was the first thing that greeted my eyes in the quilt gallery and just beyond the Quilt of Belonging was row after row of quilts and more quilts! It would take two days just to go through each and every exhibit and study every quilt detailed inside. Unfortunately I only had a couple of hours to browse through the award winning and exhibit quilts! But what I saw was absolutely fantastic and stunning!
The rest of the day I spent walking from booth to booth, admiring the gorgeous displays and what I needed to purchase and what I did not need. Did you notice I typed "need" in there instead of "want"? Difficult decisions awaited, but can you imagine the fun of being surrounded by anything and everything related to quilting, plus hundreds of other quilters??!! That in itself is just plain exciting!
I did have a list to follow and some booths I needed to visit. Walking down the aisles, I tried to keep my eyes looking for what was on my list and not let myself wander too far away, but was it oh-so-hard! My mind was running (and still is!) with fun possibilities, but my feet were begging for a break! After hustling from lecture to lecture on Friday, Saturday was even more exhausting, standing and walking, looking at the quilts and booths!
Sunday morning was filled with the last minute booth stops I missed the day before and then we headed back to the airport for the flight home. I was never so glad to board the plane for our flight home and to see the lights of Dodge City greet us Sunday night! And you know what was even better? Being able to drive on familiar streets without traffic weaving in and out on my way home! Let's just say Houston traffic is something I am not used to!
I have lots more things and photos to share with you and I will over the next few days! But right now I am back to catching up on things in my sewing room...
It all started early Thursday morning when my friend Elsie and I drove to Oklahoma City to catch a plane to Houston. With just a few minutes to spare after arriving at the airport (actually more like 20 minutes - more than we anticipated!), we were on our way. Just a reminder: no matter how much extra time you plan at the airport, always figure in more time! You never know when road construction may block the road on the way to the airport! Let's just say I was more than relieved to be on the plane and up in the air! :)
Friday was a long, but information filled day! I attended as many schoolhouse lectures as I could, running from room to room every 15 - 30 minutes to get in on the next class. It was so neat to see all the latest notions and fabrics and take in all the valuable information given. I have notes upon notes along with fliers to sort through and recall all of the info I received.
Not only did I gain lots of useful information, but I also found some fun fabric goodies to take home before the day was over! I couldn't resist some of the beautifully arranged fat quarter packs from Moda and Benartex, batik charm squares and fun notions! When I returned to our hotel room for the night, my tote bag was much, much heavier than at the beginning of the day!
Friday night was a short night since it was after 10pm when we arrived back at our hotel room and were out of our room by 7am the next morning. Saturday was another exciting day! *Just imagine* being in a room filled with hundreds of quilts just waiting for you to walk up and down the aisles and admire each and everyone!
The Quilt of Belonging was fantastic to see. You cannot imagine how large and unique this quilt is until you see it in person! The Quilt of Belonging is a 120 foot long x 10.5 foot high tapestry displaying 263 blocks from every nation of the world. It was absolutely astonishing to see so many countries displayed with their unique perspective. You can see more photos and information here.
That was the first thing that greeted my eyes in the quilt gallery and just beyond the Quilt of Belonging was row after row of quilts and more quilts! It would take two days just to go through each and every exhibit and study every quilt detailed inside. Unfortunately I only had a couple of hours to browse through the award winning and exhibit quilts! But what I saw was absolutely fantastic and stunning!
The rest of the day I spent walking from booth to booth, admiring the gorgeous displays and what I needed to purchase and what I did not need. Did you notice I typed "need" in there instead of "want"? Difficult decisions awaited, but can you imagine the fun of being surrounded by anything and everything related to quilting, plus hundreds of other quilters??!! That in itself is just plain exciting!
I did have a list to follow and some booths I needed to visit. Walking down the aisles, I tried to keep my eyes looking for what was on my list and not let myself wander too far away, but was it oh-so-hard! My mind was running (and still is!) with fun possibilities, but my feet were begging for a break! After hustling from lecture to lecture on Friday, Saturday was even more exhausting, standing and walking, looking at the quilts and booths!
Sunday morning was filled with the last minute booth stops I missed the day before and then we headed back to the airport for the flight home. I was never so glad to board the plane for our flight home and to see the lights of Dodge City greet us Sunday night! And you know what was even better? Being able to drive on familiar streets without traffic weaving in and out on my way home! Let's just say Houston traffic is something I am not used to!
I have lots more things and photos to share with you and I will over the next few days! But right now I am back to catching up on things in my sewing room...
posted by Serena at 12:41 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home