I had a wonderful time in Houston this year attending Quilt Market and Festival. If you've never been to the International Quilt Festival in Houston you should put in on your bucket list. It's my favorite show and I've missed being there for a few years. It was so nice seeing old friends and making new ones.
From the minute you reached the downtown area of Houston you knew something special was taking place.
The George Brown Convention Center is immense and the show covers the entire building - all three floors!
You can expect lots of wonderful new things to appear in the online store and during the upcoming Twelve Days of Christmas celebration. I shopped Quilt Market with you in mind! I can't wait to share what's coming up during 2015! It's going to be a very busy time around here.
The quilt festival is always preceded by quilt market which is only for business owners and designers. I exhibited at the markets for many years and it was fun being on the other side of the aisle again for this show.
Once market was over it was time for the 40th Anniversary International Quilt Festival to begin!
Barbara Black used the Just Takes 2 patterns to create her quilt, Red and White - By the Numbers. It was the quilt chosen as the centerpiece design to celebrate this years 40th Anniversary Ruby Jubilee Quilt Festival. Her quilt was on all of the signs, the show book (yes, we know it's up side down), the tote bags and just about everywhere the show was mentioned.
The red and white quilt exhibit was stunning beyond words. I won't even try to describe it - I put my pictures together in an album for you to look at. You can go through them individually, page by page but each page will work as a slide show too if you want. They're not neatly organized but if you waited for me to find time to do that you'd never get to see them so I hope you don't mind.
[See image gallery at sentimentalstitches.net] .
We couldn't have done it without Edith and Marie, our talented helpers. Here we are ready to celebrate Halloween. We wore our twinkling pumpkins and had some great candy in the booth to keep the shoppers from getting hungry while they made their way through the hundreds and hundreds of booths.
It was such an honor to meet so many of you when you stopped by the booth to say hello (Bonnie Hunter, I'm sorry I missed you). Meeting everyone was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. Your kind words, hugs and requests for selfies make what I do even more joyful. If I missed you at this show I hope we'll have a chance to see each other sometime soon. Maybe at the upcoming Quilt Festival in Chicago in March 2015!
There were 2000 quilts on display at this year's show. Trust me that's just mind boggling. There were several other displays of dolls, miniature quilt shops and other exhibits too. I didn't photograph everything, and in some exhibits photography wasn't allowed. Many of the quilts I saw were most likely once in a lifetime opportunities I'm so grateful to have seen them. Here's another album of some of my other pictures. Once again, nothing fancy in their presentation but I hope you'll enjoy looking at them.
[See image gallery at sentimentalstitches.net] .
My fur babies were mighty glad to see me when I got home and here's Zoe snuggled under the Just Takes 2 quilt while I finished sewing the binding to the back side of the quilt. Yes, that was after the show and yes, I knew I hadn't finished it.... It ended up being more fun leaving that section unstitched.
There are so many more stories I want to share about the trip but they'll have to wait until later. After all those photos I imagine your head is spinning with inspiration but if you've stuck with this post to the end you deserve a prize!
Leave me a comment telling me which quilt was your favorite and on Monday or Tuesday when I'm at the quilt retreat in Shipshewana I'll draw a name and send you one of the show totes!!!
