Quilts! Donations! Supplies! Oh mY!

It has been awesome! 

Yesterday a long time friend donated a large box of new shirts from their embroidery business! They are mostly mens, but a great variety.  I hadn't planned on bringing clothing more than coats, but like my friend who lost everything, say yes to everyone's generosity, so I did!

I spent the afternoon organizing them by size so it would be easier to give away what was needed.

Also, I want to tell you a funny story. Several years ago my brother asked me for a quilt for his condo in Seattle. So I gave him an option, he chose a quilt, and that was that. Well, fast forward several months, maybe a year or two and I was very confused about where a specific blue and white quilt went. I was completely baffled, until my next visit to Seattle! LOL 

So now, because this is a record of my quilting I am documenting the quilts I am bringing to CA so when and if I start to look for them, I'll have a record somewhere!

 This is a quilt I made for my dad and it worked its way back to me. It is the one quilt I am bringing that can be for a man. (Pattern from Bonnie at Quiltville)

 I washed my quilts before packing them up and although I put in color catchers this one came out a bit more pink than it went in!

Wendy donated her Gwennie medallion and it fits perfectly in this bag, which can also be used to store clothing, etc...

If you had planned on sending Honey Run Quilters fabric, please hold off. They are overwhelmed at the moment and need to get organized. They are accepting quilts and pillowcases and do have a need for rulers, rotary cutters, mats, thread, pin cushions. 

I was going to post an IQF finale, but I ran out of day and opted for this easier post.

And here is my Instagram post for the week.

Make it a terrific weekend!!

Working and Playing at IQF

Many of you have mentioned volunteering at IQF. It is a lot of work. When I was recruited that was the first thing that I was told! Work comes first!! (right Barb?)There are a lot of volunteer opportunities during the show in a variety of capacities.  I volunteer  in the education department and the entire team has jobs that help make your experience at classes, lectures, bus tours, and special events run smoothly.  (As a teacher or student, we are there for you!)

Last year I helped with bus tours, this year, Jill, on the right, trained me on the first day  and then let me go after that. My roommate, Sue, was working bus tours too and I think we made a great team. We had the early bird shift (6AM to gather everything we needed) which was difficult coming from the west coast and pacific time zone.

Lack of sleep and we could all get a bit rummy! These aprons are so darn adorable too!! <not!> But they are a great visual for folks looking for the bus tour departure area.

Here is our 6:15 office in the Hilton parking garage.

 Lest you think it is super glamorous, here I am marking new irons with the bright yellow tape and a Q. That way we know they belong to Quilts inc ed office.

Here we are sprucing up the education office with quilts. This one made by Barbara Black.

While checking in a lecture, can I please staple these coupons on? Of course I can! 

Irons in- that means going around the 3rd floor and collecting irons we have set up in the hallways. Irons in, Irons out..... yes, it gets done all week long! (not necessarily by me or just one person) 

With the George Brown Convention Ctr spanning 11 blocks and 1,900,000 square feet sometimes trying to use the stairs to get you where you are going leads you to some odd spaces... 

Along with my tour I also took a 3 hour class with Maria Shell. Quilts inc is a for-profit business so we pay for any classes or tours we take. (we work but can take up to 1 1/2 days of classes)  Maria's quilts are very recognizable.

click to enlarge

The class was, "Color; Its Relative" It was her first time teaching it and it needs a bit of work. There is a wide variety of quilters (beginner to advanced) in the class and it is a hard topic. Unfortunately it was the student with the "art degree" that brought her down the rabbit hole asking asinine questions and made the class not as good as it could have been. I think a good teacher can control that a bit more, and do it in a nice way. What do you all see in the photo above? Looks like houses to me... nope! They are chairs. maybe that's why I don't "do" art quilts! LOL 

She shared with us her way of choosing fabric for her quilts. She uses the red plastic thing you look through and the black and white feature on her phone to make sure she has enough contrast. Her way was tedious and I think so much depends on what you are making the quilt for.

If you are making quilts for a book to support your livelihood than that is so much different than why the general population quilts.  It would completely take the enjoyment out of it if I had to compare every fabric in every block to make sure there was enough contrast, make sure the fabric isn't "dead" (her terminology- dead and alive fabric) Maybe that is why our scraps seems to multiply overnight! LOL LOL 

I'm obviously intrigued by her work because I bought her book! 

One other lecture I worked and enjoyed quite a bit was with Cindy Grisdela. 

Look at this quilting- a different quilt pattern in each color/section.

So interesting!!

I bought her book too! 

I'm pretty sure you won't find me making any art quilts soon, but I can always learn something from them!

So you can see, we worked hard....

 And played hard (within reason because we had to get up so early!)

Our hotel was always a welcome sight, knowing a hot shower and  my bed was waiting for me!

BTW, This is the Embassy Suites. 

Such a welcoming room! That is my bag on the right including my clothes and all my purchases and my roommates bag on the left! Her extra suitcase she brought!! 

Thanks for tagging along with me! Friday I'll finish up with more quilts from the show although I'm sure you've seen plenty online.

I hope ya'll are having a terrific week!

LaGrange/ Texas Quilt Museum Tour

In Houston I opted for the Texas Quilt Museum and quilt shops tour. I had to go earlier in the week because many buses left later in the week and I was needed to work, not play. Here we are - Let's go!

This was our first stop and the employees looked happy to see us at 8AM!! The coffee was hot and cookies and snacks were plentiful.

I saw a lot of Laura Heine quilts and patterns, so many in the different shops I thought she may be from Texas. Turns out she isn't! This is so adorable! Love the background print.

Even with a bus of 50 it didn't feel overly crowded. 

The tour guide gave us just enough information to make the time pass quickly, but not so much that we were all falling asleep!! Next stop LaGrange and the TX Quilt Museum. 

The garden next to the museum is not crooked...just me! hahaha Loved that wall of painted quilts.

Look at the library! If you had to do some research, this would be a great place to dig in!

I took a sneak peak into a drawer of swatches that Mary and Joe Koval had donated. This is a little cheater cloth. The exhibit was Kaffe quilts and no photos were allowed. I've actually seen quite a few of his quilts at shows and only stayed in the museum about 10 minutes.

 The Quilted Skein was right next door and was tops! It had all kinds of fabric I like so I spent a bit of time in here.

 We were encouraged to explore the historic square including the courthouse. What a lovely piece of history!

I know my courthouse doesn't have a water feature. 

This reminded me a bit of the mystery house in California! I wonder where that goes?!

After a leisure amount of time around town we were to meet for lunch. You could come earlier and order wine or beer. It was a cool old building and the food was top notch!! The business owners use this room for the tour group but they have a little restaurant in LaGrange called Bistro 108. 

Next we went to a country church. The countryside is dotted with Painted Churches. I think this one may have been a calmer version of some of them. 

Considering the town this is in is very tiny it is a beautiful church started by Czechs/Bohemia immigrants.

I had heard about Buc-ees when I went to TX for the Victoria quilt guild lecture. I heard about it but never stopped, until this bus tour!

It's a store, gift shop, deli, food, gas station, rest room all in one that is HUGE! 

Don't they say everything is bigger in Texas??!

So, the beaver nuggets were the "must try" Buc-ees treats. Debbie said, yeah, if you want to gain 5 pounds! LOL 

One more shop before heading back to Houston.

Bless these employees!

I met some wonderful ladies on this tour and if you are one of them and are reading this, please email or leave a comment! I had a really fantastic time and would recommend signing up for a bus tour if you have time while at the quilt show in Houston!

I hope you all had a wonderful relaxing weekend. I know I did.

Let's make it an awesome week!