Friday, November 5, 2010

Houston Quilt Festival Pics #1

Good Morning!  I'm going to start out by telling you if you didn't already know, that Blogger has made some changes to it's picture settings.  If you want to see any of these images larger, click on the pic and then you can also use the magnifying glass to enlarge it further.  OK!  On to better things-- 

Well, I saw all the vendors and quilts and walked all my feet off, but it was great!  Typical Festival--  Hard to get through the aisles with people crammed in like sardines.  But SO much to see!  They have preview night on Wednesday from 5 - 7 pm for IQA members so Linda (my PieceOCake friend) and I began our adventure then.  We walked in where the quilts were displayed and I, of course, didn't even glance at them since my mind was set on vendors!  As we passed by the front row, she said "That looks like one of your quilts!"  I turned and, sure enough!  There was one of my quilts hanging on the front row at Festival!

Before you get real excited, here's the story....  A few years back I spoke at Festival about feedsacks and when you're on the faculty, they always ask you to donate a small piece for the silent auction.  I had this little piece on the shelf so I had it quilted and sent it in.  Well, it was purchased by the gal who owns Quilts, Inc. and she had displayed it and some others under a sign saying "We're having fun at International Quilt Festival!"  It was still a kick to see it and I'm sure it'll be the only quilt I EVER have displayed at Festival!  So, of course, I had to have a pic taken next to it---


You never know who you'll see at Festival.  It's a great chance to schmooze with the stars.  Here's Linda trying out the APQS George with Pat Sloan.  Pat and I got to know each other when we were both designing fabric for P&B.  I do NOT know anyone who works harder than she does---


Alex and Ricky were there....


 Here's Ami Simms raising more more funds for Alzheimer's research.  Do you know that over $400,000 has been raised by her efforts?  Amazing!


This is about all you see.  People standing in line to pay....

I think if you'll look in the backgrounds of some of these pictures, you'll get an idea of the atmosphere and people.  It's an amazing experience!  Please consider putting it on your list of things to do. The last picture below is probably the thing I least expected to see here.  You just never know!


See you next time with pics of a few quilts that caught my eye~