Houston's International Quilt Festival

Damian’s mom and Aunt Vicki came to stay with us again this week during their yearly rendezvous to Houston’s largest convention. Really, at over 60,000 attendees it is THE largest and I can attest that it's international as we sat with ladies from Australia and New Zealand for lunch. Kris and Vicki were at the George R. Brown Convention Center taking classes all week, and Eden and I decided to tag along with them on their last day. (That is, after Damian got home from his 12.8 mile run. Just because I typed that doesn't mean I am encouraging. Impressed, maybe a little. Encouraging? Most definitely not.)

I went a couple of years ago (to the quilt show not running...well, yep at least that long), but I forgot the magnitude of the show. The best word I can come up with to describe it is overwhelming. Anything and everything that has to do with sewing or crafting can be found at the show. Well, I guess things not so related like the hair removal thingamajig I got can be found there too.

I bought a couple of products that I was really impressed with. One was the Bonash 007 (bonding agent), another was Lickety Grip (conditions fingers for better grip & control), and my very favorite is…unmentionable because it just might end up under a Christmas tree near you. There were a couple that I wanted to buy, Fabric Organizers II & Art Glitter, but showed a little restraint. Definitely worth a look if you are into sewing or glittering though.

Last summer, Kris helped Eden make a quilt. Eden picked out all the fabric, did all of the cutting and sewing (with lots of patient supervision that I can NOT fathom…it must be a grandma thing), and even used a long arm machine to quilt it herself! Pretty impressive for a six year old! They wanted to bring the quilt to show it to one of the ladies at the Festival. Well, one turned into about ten different opportunities for different people to sing Eden praises.

Eden couldn’t keep the smile from her face as people told her over and over what a brilliant job she did. One thread manufacturer told her she deserved an award and gave her 4 spools of glow in the dark thread, another asked if we would let her put her picture on her website, another gave her a package of crystals.

The most impressive encounter we had was when someone insisted that she show the famous-in-the-quilting-world and has her own tv show, Alex Anderson. She didn’t disappoint. She followed suit making such a fuss over Eden’s quilt. She told her she would be famous someday and to stick with it. Of course Eden had no idea who these people were, but she felt so S.P.E.C.I.A.L. nonetheless.

We quickly covered aisle by aisle of the convention center and made our way to the actual quilt display. It is hard to understand all the thought, preparation and time that go into these quilts. Some of them I sat in awe of how they were created. $10,000 was awarded for the Best of Show quilt, which looked like it could sell for more than that. My favorite was the quilt made by three sisters of themselves. (You can click to enlarge.) It was a great day, and I am so glad I left my to do list, piles of laundry, and stacks of clutter at home and took a day just being inspired by the creativity of others.