Quilt Market Day 2/3: It's All a (Gorgeous) Blur

I could write a hundred posts about Quilt Market.

Here are a few in my head:

"There's No Accounting For People's Taste"  (or "Things I Almost Wish I Hadn't Seen")

"So Cute I Could Die"

"My Life as a Glue Salesman"

"How to Make John from E. E. Schenck Deliriously Happy"

"All This AND a Fashion Show"

"I Have the World's Best Husband, So There"

"Quilt Market Survival Guide:  Pack Sandwiches Rather Than Clothes"

"Drooling My Way Through the Fabric Booths"

Well, you get the idea.  It is just quite the experience.

I'm going to post a few pictures and maybe a few words, but first a note about my one and only.

Let me just say this:

Last night David took the kids and their friends to the drive-in movie to see High School Musical 3.  I know.  He's a peach.  And then when they got home (late!), he had the girls bathe and then he put their hair in curlers (since the next day was Sunday).  Savannah (overcome by exhaustion) thought they should have been rolled tighter and yanked them all out before finally crashing into bed.  So this morning, David rerolled her hair in hot rollers.  And this is the man I am married to.  It is ridiculous how undeserving I am to have such a husband.  I cannot wait to get my hands on him again.

Okay, enough steamy thoughts.  Back to the convention center:

Another shot of our darling booth.  We opened an old-fashioned sweet shop for market this year...I told Jill that I could be the "eye candy." 

We are here selling Jill's amazing patterns and her new applique glue, which really just sell themselves.   I bet you had no idea I could sell glue.  And how. 

Here's a shot of Jill's sweet treats...yummy little pincushions that draw everyone to our booth...

Here's a picture of her sales pitch...I told her she might want to tone it down, so she took the dance number out.

This is John from E.E. Schenck.  I have never seen a man so excited about applique glue in my whole life.  This trip was worth it just for the look of delight on his face.  Could he be any cuter?  His look of delight was only matched by Jill's after he placed his first order. 

And at the end of the day we went to the Bernina Fashion Show, which was so much fun.  I asked some ladies to take our picture and they asked us how we could be so cute.  I told them it's a gift.  Well, it is.

I'll post more later.  These pictures are taking forever to resize and the other people in the hotel lobby are starting to clear their throats for their turn on the computer.

We are feeling tired, and happy, and blessed here in Houston.

Quilt Market Day 1: Something Out of Nothing

This is mostly for our men, who think we've fallen into some sort of quilting black hole (post some pictures, please...we have no idea why we've been abandoned and we need evidence, etc.).

But my two booth mates want me to come (right now!) and help prep applique leaves..."Make it short and sweet, " they said. "Just post the pictures." They don't know that the words are the easy part...it's the pictures that take forever.

Quilt Market is, well, remarkable. In just about every way.

Anyway, here's a picture story of our adventure in Houston:

After landing,

and car renting,

and garmining our way across the city,

we went to Hobby Lobby were they told us to have "a blessed day" when they checked us out.  (We're in Texas now people.)

Then a little more garmining to find (my lovely and talented aunt) Jill at a completely different airport.

Then a trip to Home Depot, where this man laughed at us for calling this a hack saw and trying to cut steel pipe with it.

You know he was wondering what three completely clueless women were going to do with 60 feet of electrical conduit.

When you go to Quilt Market with your lovely and talented aunt, I recommend packing a couple of extra sandwiches, because there is very little time to eat. We finally stopped for a sandwich at three in the afternoon, which was about 12 hours after I had been up. My blood sugar was a little offended...

 Everywhere we stopped we just kept putting more and more stuff into the car...evenutally I lost my seat.  But luckily I am "young and lithe."  (They disolved into laughter when I announced this out loud.  What's so funny?) 

 When we finally made it to the convention center, the first thing to do was lay the floor. Check out these darling tiles that I expertly layed. Seriously fine job, no?  I know.

There was all kinds of goofing off and redoing and rethinking and undoing, and load of duct tape and a little jerryrigging and then there was this...

(prepare yourself for something darling)

And then it was late and we were starving again.  So we headed for the car, which was almost hauled off by teamsters who were not pleased by the lateness of the hour. 

If you ask me, the chupacabra has nothing on a tired teamster.

There's more of course.  I haven't even gotten to "Sample Spree."  That's a post in itself.  And it will wait until tomorrow or so. 

My lithe body needs some rest. 

The end.

Nothing Short of AMAZING

Okay, it's not really my place to make this announcement...but I thought you should know that my sister Rachel ran and finished the Noble Canyon 50 K (32.9 miles) on Saturday in less than 8 hours.

I'm hoping she'll post all the details, but until then, I just thought the whole world ought to stand there with their jaws hanging open in utter amazement.

The race took place near San Diego, and the other day I was joking with her that if I left my house by car at the same time she started running her race, I could actually beat her to the finish line.  This is an astoundingly long time to be RUNNING.

I think she is nothing short of AMAZING.

And brave.  So brave.

And did I mention amazing?  That too.

Congrats, Rara.  You can do anything.  Period.