Busy time at Festival!!! It was a fun and exciting second day! Got up and over to the Convention Center at 10 with about 30,000 of my closest quilting friends! From what I heard, last year there were 60,000 people at Festival! I believe it after seeing the crowds on Friday! I met people from all over the world-Australia, Brazil, Japan, France, India, Germany, the Netherlands and some that hardly spoke any English so I couldn’t tell where they were from! And there were more motorized scooters than there should be allowed in any enclosed structure! They should at least have turn signals and brake lights and have to pass a drivers’ test before they are allowed to drive those things! You could barely move down some of the aisles of the vender market but not nearly as many people in the actual quilt show. I was really surprised! I couldn’t wait to see the stunning quilts but I did spend some time checking out the retail booths! I always thought that most people came to see the quilts but it was abundantly obvious most people were there to shop! I also noticed most of the booths were geared to the more traditional styles of quilting and more primitive style quilting products than I thought. Not a whole lot of contemporary (Kaffe and Amy Butler style) But then again the crowd was definitely older. Speaking of Kaffe I did see he and Brandon walking past the Craftsy booth as well as Paula Nadelstern, Ricky Timms & Alex Anderson. I know I saw more quilting celebrities but I’m currently brain dead!
The people here from Craftsy were amazing! They have done such a nice job and I hope their first appearance at Houston will bring in lots of members. They really have a lot of new and interesting classes in the pipeline. I think it has a lot of potential and I have enjoyed taking their classes more than I thought I would! I did try my best to help spread the good word!
This morning I got up to find a text on my phone asking if I would be interesting in taking a class! Of course, I said “yes! And by the way, what is it?” It was a thread painting class with Nancy Prince. I had never heard of her but have always wanted to try thread painting. It was a good class. I learned a lot and developed enough confidence to try it when I get home. I have a piece I started a few years ago in a class with Patricia McClouglin that I’d like to complete with some thread painting.
Tonight Tamera, Rick, Hailey, Jenn and I went out to dinner at a good Mexican restaurant that was recommended by someone sitting with Tamera at lunch. It was a great
recommendation and the margarita was especially appreciated at the end of the day. Okay-sorry it’s sideways. Someday I may become computer literate!
I’m back in the room now and packed for the flight home tomorrow. I haven’t even gotten into what’s going on with my parents while I’ve been gone. I’ve got to finish packing and get ready for facing reality tomorrow. I’ll try to post tomorrow night, depending on what goes on with my parents. I’ll also try to post some more of the pictures from the quilt show.
Villagequilter 