Houston!

I had the most amazing time at the International Quilt Festival in Houston last week.  It was my first time there, and I was in fiber heaven.  My mother, who is also a quilter, came along too, and we had a wonderful girls week out.  We even made time to visit my son, who lives in Houston, and as a result we were spared those drab hotel meals I heard so many attendees complain about.  Every night we went to a restaurant that was featured on one TV show or another.  I had no idea that Houston was a culinary destination, so all the good food was a surprise bonus!

This was just a tiny section of the huge convention center.  I told myself I didn't need to buy anything because I have enough quilting and mixed media supplies to last the rest of my life.  HA!  I'll give you three guesses on how long that resolve lasted.....

I took a wonderful class with Leslie Tucker Jenison and Jamie Fingal on Friday.  We were about ten students in all, and we spent the morning playing musical chairs, collaboratively painting two canvases. Here are the final products before we cut them up in the afternoon (I am the second on the left):

We were fascinated by our hands:

Here are some detail shots of the canvases.  I love the random exuberance!

In the afternoon, we divided the canvases and made mini quilts.  Mine is the one with all the triangles on the second row, right side.

On Saturday, my mom won a spot in Make It University's Sketchbook Challenge class (I enjoyed the chance to sit down for an hour)!  Here she is having fun and learning about monoprinting on gel plates:

I'll close with a picture of my mother's latest quilt.  This is a Ginny Beyer pattern that she tweaked to suit her own taste.  She has been a sewer all her life, but only recently decided to make quilts.  I have to say, I am in awe of her skills!