A Schoolhouse Day in Houston!

The view of tall sky scrapers through my humidity streaked window yesterday morning before heading over to the convention center to start the big day of schoolhouse presentations.

Such a gorgeous day, the weather is absolutely perfect.  Of all the things to love about the great state of Texas, the month of October is at the top of my list.

I spent close to 4 years living here and it is always great to come back and enjoy those things that I appreciated while I was a resident.

Wonderful people, beautiful autumns [when the humidity has LEFT for a season!] Tex-Mex and BBQ!

The show floor was still busy with set up yesterday, so there was no seeing of quilts in the quilt show area. 

Vendors were working at a frantic pace to set up booths and get everything ready for the infamous Sample Spree last night.

I took this little photo of the busy bees from the viewing area up one level:

A quilty wonderland in transformation!

I pretty much stayed away from this area too, my only foray into the set up area was to make an emergency Starbucks run for some quilt friends who were setting up their booth.  I was happy to oblige! 

Since I had some time to visit and wander, I caught up with several folks for photo opportunities!  I apologize in advance for the abundance of “oh another photo with you in it!” that is about to be posted here, but as this blog is my journal and my scrapbook, these are memories too sweet not to save.

Fellow C&T Author John Kubiniec is here!

So nice to finally meet you in person, John!

Remember, we just did his blog tour and giveaway for his new book A New Spin on Drunkard’s Path!  We’ve known each other for years online, and yesterday I  got to actually hug him!

Stephanie & Christa!

If you listened to my podcast on Modern Sewciety, Stephanie is the power behind the podcast.  I am featured in episode 101 . You can find my episode HERE. And when you finish listening to MY episode, there are 100 more for you to choose from for your stitching and listening pleasure.

I’ve been following Christa Watson as @christaquilts on instagram, and she is such a fun gal with a lot of energy not to mention fabulous ideas regarding everything quilty.  So fun to meet you in person, Christa!

In the midst of this was my school house presentations!

No, I’m not yodeling!  I was presenting my C&T playing cards and encouraging shops to just stock them and put them on the counter and watch them fly out the door.  Hopefully they will.

I was up to the mic right after Allison Glass presented her new temporary tatoos.  Too too much fun.  I think I need to go home with some.

The afternoon presentation for the Addicted to Scraps book and the Essential Triangle Tool went extremely well.  And this star struck girl had none other than Becky Goldsmith as quilt-holder-extraordinaire  holding my quilts while I did my schpeel.  I’ll never wash them again.  LOL!

And then *I* got to the the holder while Paula Nadelstern did her presentation.  I got to hold PAULA NADELSTERN’S QUILTS?

What a day!

Oh yeah.  Cloud NINE.  Or TEN.  OR TRILLION.

Funny of the day?  Folks came to my schoolhouse brandishing their paint chips for this year’s En Provence Mystery!!  HA!!  There will be lots of mystery fabric shopping happening through Quilt Festival.

Two Aussies and Two Yanks for lunch!

With me are Linda Collins, Jo Morton and Maree St Clair.  Fun times, ladies! 

Side note…what is this?

I saw this coming off the elevator, and to tell you the truth, I can’t tell if it is art?  or if someone just peeled something off the wall and hasn’t replaced it with anything yet?

Get me to the quilts..I like those better!

How did we fill the evening?  Nachos over drinks at 5pm with Linda Hahn and her co-hort Debbie!  Then off to a Mexican dinner [yes, it’s Texas,  It’s a theme!] with Mary & Joe Koval, Petra Prins and her lovely sister, Di Ford and her hubby!  Fajitas for 7 never tasted so good especially since we ate it outside on the patio to live music.  Awesome.

And the evening wasn’t over.  Back to the hotel at 8pm…meet up with Charlotte Angotti for a chin wag and MORE catching up!  I hadn’t seen her since we taught together for the Las Vegas retreat in August of 2015.  Lots of changes have happend in the past year and we caught up on EVERYTHING.

As we were each going our own separate way, I bumped into none other than Gudrun Erla and we had to find another place to sit and ALSO spend some time…

Long day and still smiling!!

I had caught Gudrun in the hall just before we were both doing schoolhouses in different rooms and we had pledged to try to spend some time together and fate had put us in the same place at the same time again.  So good to see you, my friend!

The problem with Quilt Market?  It’s just not long enough to be able to see everyone you want to see and meet those you haven’t met yet but have always wanted to.

Today is just beginning and it is going to be just as full.

But before I throw myself into it I just have to share with you this funny sent to me by Mary Kerr forwarded by her friend Donna DeSota,  a fellow Schiffer author of Inspired by the Beatles:

What happened yesterday???!!!

Bonnie Hunter announced the color palette for her annual upcoming mystery quilt, as shown on paint chip cards from Lowe's.

When I ran to get mine, going 70 mph on Braddock Road, what I found there was a stampede of crazed quilters all grabbing, lunging, sobbing, clambering to get a set.

It was frightening. It was despicable.

And me? I was right in the middle of the pack, loving every single minute of it.

Feeling alive and energized and loving the camaraderie Bonnie brings!

Oh this is so hysterical!  And it makes me so happy that it brings happiness and anticipation to others as well.

This quilt is the backdrop for today’s inspiration!

Vintage baskets quilt found in North Carolina.

Because yesterday I was such a BASKET CASE!

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

This was the best advice I was given yesterday. And it also applies to everything we do in life as well as our Quiltville Winter Mystery coming up quickly.

Just begin!

Have a great Saturday everyone!

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