Friends and get togethers

Every year or so, I travel to visit with a bunch of friends and have a long stitching get together.
I didn't go last year because I was new at the job, and although I could have, I didn't want to take time off without having accrued leave (we have an abysmal PTO policy), and I always feel weird taking time off within the first 6 months of a job... Even though I'm at the level where no one thinks twice, it just feels weird to me.

So anyway, I went to visit friends and had an absolutely lovely time.  We got some good laughs in, and other than a horrible trip home (I'm still waiting to see what Southwest says about that - I got home a day late! ), I'm very happy I went :)

So here are some of the goodies:

At Attic Needlework, I didn't purchase much (I feel like I'm pretty saturated now, and the things I'm really after haven't come out yet), but I did get:

Key to Home, which I'd really like to stitch and put an old key on (instead of the stitched one).   I'm also tempted to do them for all of the major places I've lived.  I won't, but it's a nice idea ;)   I do like the way the chart is made, there's a separate chart for you to figure out how to center your numbers (unlike some others that just have a blank line in the middle of the chart).

Judge Not by Plum Street, which I saw at the Silver Lining when I was at the Houston Quilt Show, but they were sold out of.  I was super excited to see this one!    I love the sheep on the top row that's up on two legs, he just cracks me up.

And another Sweetheart Tree -  Pretty Pyramid #2.   It's the only one I have (and the only one I saw).  I just love constructing 3D finishes.  So I grabbed it :)

I also bought a pair of copper scissors.  I don't have any that color, so why not?  Unfortunately I totally forgot to take a picture of them.

We also went to Mulqueens, and I gotta tell you, I LOVED that store.    They had tons of fabric, but even better they had TONS of notions, tools, threads (Aurifil, which is my favorite, is not one I see "in the wild" very often, and I bought two spools I knew I needed) and other stuff.   They also had a huge room full of used/older model machines.    I am saving up for a new (to me) machine, and if I was ready, I would have definitely gone ahead and taken one to be my carry-on :)

Anyway, other than some chalk markers (blue and yellow!) and a few other notions, I picked up fabric for a project.   I mentioned yesterday that I wanted to finish a cross stitch piece using Bonnie Hunter's Diamond Tile, and these are the fabrics, I picked up:

The white fabric on the end is actually a green/white grunge, and picks up the bit of green at the edge of some of the blended threads.   This finish will definitely not be something I would have chosen for myself, but the person I'm making it for will love it - and isn't that what really matters?

I'm super glad I found the fabric that matched so easily, and I look forward to getting that piece finished (this weekend?!)

I found new, better(!) fabric for my Hearts of America - California piece.   I keep buying new fabric for it, not really loving anything (but hey, at least previous versions have been "acceptable."
This one was in the BOGO bin, and it's perfect.   When I lived in California, I was a wee kiddo, and I remember loving my books, so I'll definitely stick to this one.

And this is the precut kit I posted partial pictures of yesterday.  I realized I hadn't taken a picture of it before I started sewing on the center tile, but this is what it looks like!    The example is what it looks like if you finish it into a 3x4 block solid piece, but there are tons of layout on the back (in case you can't lay them out yourself, I guess?)  I just really love the colors. It's also crazy easy to sew together.

And finally, we all got little gift bags from various friends.   Many people brought something from where they were from (I brought a Moravian Sugar Cake from Dewey's Bakery as well as Moravian sugar cookies), and our hostesses had great little gift bags with tools  that we won by playing "stitcher's bingo"  - it included a 2x2" and 3x3" acrylic blocks for checking your start at the corner, a snagnabbit, and other little things, and in my bag I got these two kits as well:

I'm so looking forward to adding this to my Mill Hill magnet collection.

And this adorable little ornament!

And for "one of those things that will be funny one day,"  I meant to bring some veggies with me on the plane to snack on (I'm trying to spend less money and airport food is SO expensive).  I brought most of them but managed to forget a container of cauliflower when I parked at the airport.    I was annoyed, but then totally forgot about it.   When I finally got home (a day late, and wearing the same clothes I'd had on for more than a day!), I opened my car door and gagged.    Rotting, hot cauliflower is in the top three most disgusting things I've ever smelled.   After throwing my backpack into the bed of my vehicle (90% of the stench was there) and blasting outside air on the way home (2 hour drive!) I made it home and took everything out of my car to either trash or wash.

On the back floor boards, inside a reusable grocery bag, I found a pair of Bohin scissors I TOTALLY forgot about buying nearly a year ago! (at least it was a year according to the receipts!)   So I guess occasionally rotting veggies in the car isn't a total bad thing.

(And yes, after 4 runs through the wash, a soak with Nature's Miracle, AND a soaking in OxyClean, the backpack does not stink any more... sadly, it's one of my favorites and one I can't easily replace here on the East Coast, so I was very determined to save it!)

Not June WIPocalypse ;)

I was going to update with a WIPocalypse for June, only to discover that I have not made any progress on my WIPocalypse pieces like I thought I did (oops!)   Which, of course means that time must be flying if I made that progress a couple of months ago and didn't even notice!  haha.

However, I did end up sewing a bunch (I didn't mean to, I swear!), so I do have some progress to report beyond Zenia.

The first is the Diamond Tile block that Bonnie Hunter designed and can be found in the May/June ’18 issue of Quiltmaker.

I have a small mandala like piece that I would like to finish for a dear family member, but I didn't want to frame it.   I saw that block and thought it would make an excellent finish for the piece!   Unfortunately (?)   The center block is only 3" square (the whole thing is 7" square), and my piece is just under 6" so I had to spend some time mathing.

And then I decided to use some fat quarters I had originally bought for my quilted sewing books.   I think I have more than enough of those, though, and don't mind using it up.   So I did the mock up, discovered that I suck at mathing triangles (I misapplied the math of the short legs of my isosceles triangles to the hypotenuse)... I also figured out that even though I was trying to keep the proportions the same, I preferred the strips along the border of the center square to be a bit skinnier.  But I finished it, huzzah!  (and now I have my math right... but I only wasted one fat quarter).   Most of the fabrics are Tula Pink, so they're a bit busy, but I kind of love it...

My goal is to get the cross stitch piece fully finished this weekend (since my dining table is already trashed out with my sewing stuff).    I'll show it off when it's done because I know the fam doesn't read (if they even know about!) my blog :)

I'm tempted to make a few more of these and use them for a mat on my wine-bar/rack.... 

One of the things I bought in Phoenix at Mulqueen's was a pre-cut kit.   Cutting is my very least favorite part of quilting (heck, I think it's the only thing I don't like), so while I said "hey, let's just sew one step,"  I ended up doing half the the blocks!  They're log-cabins, so they're super easy and fun to assembly line sew.

I really like the colors for a summer table runner.  It's designed to be a tiny quilt or a foot of the bed thing, but I'll just play with the blocks to get them in the right configuration for my table.   The extras (if there are any) can just become other mats.

So that's it for my non-WIPocalypse, but hey, crafting!   I'm super happy to get back to my machine.   My only regret was that I didn't listen to an audiobook while I did it (I kept telling myself, "just one more thing and then I'll take care of [whatever] chores" haha).

First Paper Piecing

I totally forgot!  I also have my first attempt at (foundation) paper piecing.  I saw it in the Quiltville Facebook group and decided to give it a whirl with a fat quarter bundle of Halloween fabrics that have been hanging around in my stash.  I used the print out from Generations Quilt Patterns.

I can't wait to do more!  I'm thinking of doing a table runner with these fabrics.  Maybe I'll mix one of them up with more than three colors.

Oh, and just for giggles, I finally got my TV wall mounted.  It's on a articulating arm so that it can come straight out, or turn 180 in either direction (and tip down), but my favorite thing was installing an outlet behind it so I can hide the wiring.

Update! And sewing; and other reasons for not stitching.

It's been a bit since my last update, and part of that is because I haven't stitched.    Instead of stitching I've been mostly working on the house; though I did do a little sewing.

And this happened:

Her name is Freyja and she was found as a stray.  We think she's ~6mos, and she's the cutest thing.  Mona wasn't very appreciative of her at first, but they get along fine and Mona even jumps around and plays with her once in a while (particularly in the yard).  I swore I wouldn't get a puppy, but wanted an older dog, and she's reminding me why, but she's too cute to stay mad at for long.   It wasn't until I was taking some photos of her that I noticed she has heterochromia (different colored eyes), and, well, she doesn't really let me stitch much ;)   She seems to have rottie and lab in her, maybe some terrier, and I'm hoping to do one of those doggie-dna tests just for fun.

We also replaced all of the (external) doors in the house, and I didn't realize that it did not include painting, so any time the weather is remotely decent, I'm trying to get the interior/exterior painted.  Some day, I swear, I'll get back to stitching.  I'm hoping to IHSW this weekend - we'll see.

But!  I did get a bit of sewing done.  I had to put my sewing machine away for a puppy shower/gaming party, but I think I'm ready to get back to sewing so I can finish off my Hearts Across America banner.

Here's my Tiles Quilt all bound and done:

Folded and looking quite nice on the back of the couch.  I'm super pleased with the colors, but I'll still be using the same pattern for another layer cake I have sitting around (maybe, there's another pattern I'm eyeing as well).

The back of the quilt; I wanted to use one of the little rosebud prints, but I couldn't find it.  This is using the Boundless line - the house brand for Craftsy, I was pretty pleased with the fabric.

And I used the Compositions jelly roll I bought in Vegas to make a modified Jelly Roll Race quilt.  Instead of doing the plain jelly roll, I split every other fabric and lined the wide strip with the skinny strip and then jelly-roll-raced it, just for fun, and I think it came out pretty well, too.

I really liked the map/newsprint fabric in the roll, so I found some on clearance and ordered it for the backing.

I'm thinking of doing a Carpenter Star pattern for the Ruby Fleur fabric and the Two Step for the Space Otters (spirit animals by Tula Pink) that I got at the quilt show.  It looks like I might actually pull off the "less unused fabric by the end of the year" goal that I had!  Now I just need to get around to stitching, or at least training the pupper to let me stitch ;)

Oh, and fun fact - I had another one of those mystery spam posts, turns out that it's because I had the "post from email" turned on, and they used that.   Which is also why I didn't get an email about the blog post posting; it presumed I sent it.  I turned off the post-from-email, and that shouldn't happen again.  I'm just glad I wasn't actually hacked or anything.

Girls weekend!

This past weekend was my annual sojourn to Vegas to hang out with some very wonderful girlfriends.   We shopped, we gambled, we ate, we laughed, we cried, and maybe had a bit of fun.

The two stops I always appreciate are Stitcher's Paradise - an absolutely fantastic LNS with a huge, awesome fabric room, and a back room chocked full of older and overstocked patterns and Quiltique, a really nice quilt shop.   I could probably live without going to Quiltique, but I'm always excited to go.   I haven't really found a quilt shop I like here, yet (sadly, my quilt shop in Chapel Hill closed last year).

I didn't purchase a terribly huge amount, and I'm happy to say almost everything was purchased with an actual plan ;)

Cross Stitch:

I purchased a bunch of tiny cuts for biscornus and other little projects I'd like to work on:

I (try to) do a biscornu for every year and stuff it with the previous year's ORTs as a keepsake.   I am a bit backlogged, in part because I try to find something I like.  Luckily!  I have plans to get 2016 and 2017's biscornus done, and I've already started on what I'd like to use for 2018.   I ended up picking up three Biscornu kits from Sweetheart tree to front load my biscornu needs :)

I'll actually be doing the Blackwork one for 2017's.

I purchased fabric for Mirabilia's Zenia, a piece I will stitch on this year (for the Year of WIPs, I was short a WIP, and decided to bite the bullet because I luff her :) )

And I also purchased Royal Games II (and the beads).   I will be stitching each one as a full card and hanging them in the game room (since I won't be reno-ing that room until later this year, it's no rush; I'm thinking of starting them in 2019).  Because of my FB break, I had totally missed that this one was being published!   I absolutely ADORE the Queen of Diamonds.

I also bought a bunch of DMC.   I realize I could've gotten them for cheaper from a local craft store, but I only needed a few to fill in a few holes where I didn't quite have everything for a project or two (a skein here, a skein there :) )

And here's what I got from Quiltique:

If you ever go with me into a fabric shop, you will quickly discover that I have an utter weakness for precuts, especially jelly rolls.   Welp, this jelly-roll was half-off, and it's in my beloved monochromatic grays, so I had to have it.   I'm thinking of a wild and crazy colored backing after I make it.   And I'm going to cut some of these strips in half so that I get a strippier looking quilt.   I think it'll be fun (in years if I ever get around to it ;) )

I grabbed a couple of fat quarters; the evergreen looking one is for my Hearts-Across-America wall hanging, I'll use it for California.   I like it a lot better than one I picked up earlier (I was never sure I really wanted that one, this one felt right).  And that gray.  Because I like it ;)

I bought these fabrics (FQs) because I just thought they were beautiful.  I plan on making a topper for my Lane chest (next to the bed).   I bought a couple of yards of the backing fabric (way more than needed) because I love it, so pretty!

IS IT NOT GORGEOUS

 I also bought a yardish of fabric to back a spring themed table runner for the dining room table.  I'm so determined to end the year with less (unused) fabric than I started with.

So that was my fun for the trip.   A few things purchased, nothing over the top, and I'm pleased with everything.

My Christmas table runner

I posted the gifts I had created for the inlawseseses a while ago,   While I was working on them, I took scraps and turned the scraps into a table runner for me.

I'm quite happy with how it ultimately turned out.  Now I'll have a table runner for the next holiday season!

MOAR BOWL HOLDERS!

Probably a little ridiculous to keep posting these, buuut, I probably don't care what people think about it. ;)

I made another set of microwave bowl holders, only this time they're for me!  I was so excited that I took pictures before I even cleaned up the chalk lines, haha.

Tiles quilt top is done!

So I stayed up wayyyyyy too late on Saturday finishing up the quilt top.  I thought it was about 2 hours earlier than it was when I looked at the time and realized that maybe, just maybe, I should have gone to bed a couple of hours ago... oops.

But I got it done!   The only downside was that I thought I had already purchasing backing material for it, but I had not.  I do have binding for it, so I placed an order on ye olde craftsy (where I bought the kit) for a few yards for backing.   I like this kit/material colorway, so instead of driving to the quilt store (not so close to home), I went with the "send it to my front door" option.   Likely, it'll arrive while I'm out of town, but that's OK, I'll be ready for it when I return (if so).

Excuse the bad lighting, it was nearly 2am ;)

I really like the taupes and greys, they work well for my mostly-grey living room and should provide sufficient camouflage for the ever-present Mona hairs.

Just because I'm doing things...

I've been working on my throw/lap quilt every night.   I'm starting to getting a bit tired of it, but I wanted it to get done before the next absurd cold snap next week.

Although really, I've set a deadline that I'd like to get it done before I play the Darkening of Tristram event on D3, and I'd like to do that now. ;)

Wednesday Night:
I finished the first of three parts/strips for each block, and then I was deciding on the pieces for the next strip (these blocks are essentially three asymmetric strips, the first of 4 fabrics, the second is 2 and the last is 3).  I'm trying to keep any of the blocks from having the same two fabrics in them.   I think I will succeed with all but one block (I hadn't tried to do that yet, so it's not like I couldn't have, but I'm not ripping the seams to redo it, I think it's fine).

Thursday Night:
I had two of the three strips sewn together.  I sewed the two pieces and then the two strips.  This was my successful(!) attempt to get the last three fabrics on there so that I had no two fabrics the same in the final set (with the rest of the block).   There will be 20 blocks total in this quilt, so it took a bit of space to make sure I could see everything.

Bonus shot of my Janome 405.  My grandmother bought it for me as an intro machine back in 2003 or so, when I expressed interest in sewing.  We were at the repair/sales shop picking up her machine (getting a tune up) and when she asked the repair guy what machine he would suggest, he mentioned this one.  And damn if it hasn't been a workhorse.    I would like to get another machine with a longer throat sometime, but I'll never give this one up.  The crazy stuff I've sewn (a lot of it VERY heavy duty) through has amazed me, and this little guy has only had/needed one tune up the entire time I've had it.  I just keep her oiled and she's happy.

I think I'll finish sewing the blocks tonight, whether I sew them together is another story;  knowing me, I'll stay up too late to get it done.  I have plenty of audiobook to go through, so at least I'll keep myself entertained.

#WIPWednesday

I threw together a quickie rug mug from scraps last night.
I was cutting the first 20 blocks (it's a lap quilt made from 40 layer cake pieces) and realized that the leftover scraps would make a cute little piece.

Christmas/Sewing update

It's been a while since I blogged, but not a lot of crafting has been going on.  I've been working on the house some, and just generally trying to survive the holidays.   And to be honest, seasonal-affective is a bear, y'all.

Back in early November, I went to the Houston International Quilt show and bought some Christmassy fabrics to make into table runners for the inlaws, and lo', they were done on time!

They are similar (inlaws being exes, I had to make two), but they're different.   My only rules when I was pulling the fabrics were that I couldn't do two gold/white or red strips in a row, but I just pulled randomly.   These were way wider, so I trimmed the strips off and I'll be making a table runner for myself from the left overs.  I'm binding it now, and I'll share later (too late for Christmas decorating, but that's OK, I wasn't in the "Christmas spirit" this year anyway).

And here are some close ups, I just quilted it in the ditches:

The other thing I made for Christmas were these microwave bowl holder things that seemed to be everywhere at the quilt show.  They're super easy to make and useful for using up a bunch of material that's been hanging around for whatever purpose I originally bought them for.   The kicker was to make them using cotton only.  I wanted to make Christmas themed ones, but all of my holiday fabric has metal in them (oh, and don't forget to skip the polyester thread if you're lazy AF like me and tend to not change out the threads on the machine after doing garment sewing - hah).  I used the tutorial from happyhourstitches.

That last one is using my CalamityWare bowls for measure.  These bowls are a bit smaller than I'm used to, but pretty deep, so I was very happy with the scale.

That's about the sum total of my fun-time.  I'm planning on staying in this cold, cold weekend and just reading through the Taltos Series by Steven Brust (I have not read them in a long time!) to take it easy (with some homemade eggnog liberally spiked with bourbon or rum).

I think my next sewing project is going to be the Tiles High Society quilt from craftsy.  It's a really easy block pattern using layer cakes that I'm looking forward to. I saw the fabric and knew it would be perfect for my living room.   I'll have to think about whether I want to get it finished before the really nasty cold sets into the area next week.  There nothing like relaxing on a couch with a warm blanket, fire in the fireplace, and books on the ready.

The other big project was widening the tv-niche above the fireplace so that my 55gal would fit in it.   I got a new Eheim canister filter so I could do a bit less filter maintenance on it, and I also did a fair bit of re-scaping, and I spent some time changing up the driftwood to make a statement piece.   I'll get some fissidens in the future for that,  mostly, I'm looking forward to my amazon swords growing back out (the move and subsequent 6months in a bucket was pretty rough on them - they're in the corners and behind the driftwood).

No fish, yet, as I'm letting it cycle (why it's still a little cloudy there - that was a couple of weeks ago).  It has a fluorite base capped with pool sand, and of course the plants and driftwood.   The two bags of "stuff" are my biological media from the old filters, so that the tank can cycle and settle quickly.  I'm thinking about adding in the fish (tomorrow?  next week?) to see how it's settling.  The ammonia/nitrate/nitrite levels are where they are supposed to be, so I thin it's safe, but I have a feeling my 20gal (where the fish are living now) is suffering from Old Tank Syndrome, and I'd like to get that healthy before I transplant my gouramis back to the 55gal.

So much for those stitching plans (I'll be back for the WIPocalypse round up).

Oh, and here's my Longhorn Santa on the porch after just a wee bit of snow a few weeks ago.

International Quilt Show - Houston

This past weekend I went to the International Quilt Show in Houston with my friend Melissa.  I've been a few times in the past (when I lived in Houston), but decided to take a trek back to hang out and check it out.

There were many, many pretties, but unfortunately, they are also kinda strict on pictures.  It's understandable, most quilts can be deconstructed by people who are good quilters.  I am not an awesome quilter, so I did take a few pictures, but mostly just bought a few things.

We didn't get into the actual quilt show area - it took us an entire day just to walk the floor, and we didn't feel like coming back the next day.  

Fortunately (?) the 'Stros were kind enough to win the World Series, and there was a huge parade downtown as well.  The George R Brown Convention Center is just down the way from Minute Maid Park (the baseball stadium/park), so the parking/driving was a bit of  a mess, but the attendance was lighter than Thursday (we're spit-balling the idea that people either went to the parade instead or just stayed away from downtown).

We got to look at quite a few things and venture into the booths and there weren't too many problems with bumping into people.

So here's my haul and/or entertainment:

One of the things I suck at with regards to fabrics/sewing, is changing colorways.  It's funny how easy it is for me in stitching, but quilting breaks my little brain.  So I found this pattern I liked in another color scheme and took a picture for reference (not that I'd use the aquas, but I like the idea better than the original).

These are two quilts I just really liked.  I'm not sure I'd do them, though.
The "Wrented" one just gives me a giggle, and I found the preponderance of raccoons somewhat surprising at the Festival.  There were a lot of raccoon quilts, but I really liked these guys best.   I thought they looked like they might mug you for your Christmas prezzies.


This quilt I straight up bought the kit for... Ok, I didn't.  I thought about it for an hour or two and went back to it, hoping it was sold out because I really love the colors in it.  It's in a very different color way than the pattern (Poppin' In).  I loved it in the hot pink and I have a great place to display it in the Lady Lair.  Plus, I thought the kit was more than reasonably priced, especially because I wouldn't have to go hunting for the fabrics myself.
It was at a booth that sells those crystal bits, and while they were really pretty and sparkly, I won't be embellishing my own quilt.


Oh heck, here's the pattern from the interwebz:
There's a "Poppin' Out" pattern that is it convex instead of concave, and I nearly bought that one, too.

There was a booth with a lot of pincushions: Cats, Mice, Dogs, Pigs, etc.   They came in pretty small and fairly large pieces, and I just loved this mouse so I got it.   He's huge.  And all mine (and added more than a little weight to my overly burdened bag!)

I stopped by the Missouri Star Quilt Company booth, because I had to.  If you haven't been to their site, or checked out their youtube tutorials and you're into quilting (or want to be), they're my favorites.  So easy and not annoying ;)

This is Tula Pink's "Spirit Animal" layer cake.   I just kept saying "SPAAAACE OTTERRRRS!" because they make me laugh.  I have absolutely no idea what to do with it, I just wanted space otters.

I didn't pick up much in the way of fabric, because it's heavy, and to be honest, I wasn't seeing a whole lot that was so unique I had to have it.   Plus, the quilt show is a little pricey and I come from a state with tons of quilt stores (and FQs that are typically 0$.50-1.00 cheaper)

But there was a nice place that had really pretty metallic fabrics, and I thought these would make a fun table runner for Christmas:

The very first large purchase (so clearly my camera roll isn't set to chronological) is this quilt, Weeds in the Sidewalk.   They had this one displayed and I HAD to have it.  They had it in the pure black and white, and another with a yellow splash of color.  Melissa is a bad person and found the very last kit and presented it to me.   And of course I bought it.   At least it will go well with the white fur from Mona.

Oh heck, I'll stick them in here, too:  The two colorways.  I think the yellow is pretty, I just like monochromatic designs a lot more.


And then we stumbled upon a shop that does a lot of dish towels and pot holders and the like
A lot of them were really cool, and a lot of them were also Texas themed.

First off - I grabbed their very last UT dishtowel.   Of course they were the first school sold out ;)

And then I grabbed these three pot holders - sorry they're a little fuzzy.  I thought they were all cute, and I got duplicates to give out as Christmas gifts as well:

We swung by a shop called "Treasures of the Gypsy" that I remember from even my first quilt show in Houston.   The show sells 'exotic' fabrics and dolls (and patterns) by Arley Berryhill.  His blog/sale site is here.    Treasures... doesn't have a website, and it's full of really cool soft-sculpture dolls.  My only complaint is that the owner can be really rude sometimes.   They could also improve their signage re: not touching anything, because they're soft sculptures, people touch, and their signage is crappy.  More than a few people came away from that shop muttering/talking about 1. rudeness and 2. the need fore better signage.

*ahem*

Anyway, I saw a doll with a raven's skull, which I would have loved to purchase, but was priced for more than I was willing to spend. 

And I had bought a lot of the patterns for the dragons back in the day and they were lost or stolen, or who knows what, so I was looking to replace them.  But you know what?  I suddenly didn't feel the need to really sew them, and then I saw the firebird:

You can check out more/better pictures here - scroll down - (because again with the no picture taking), which I highly recommend.  I'm looking forward to using fashion fabrics - dupionis and jacquards to really make this special.  I love it.

And I also grabbed this six image panel - part of Fabric Fiesta by Dan Morris.  I'm thinking about cutting and sewing it into a long panel as as a dining room table runner, and embellishing them.  If there's a panel left over (size, y'all) or something, maybe I'll make a super blingy, embellished wall hanging.

And finally, a couple of patterns - this one is a sloth pattern;  I have a lot of friends who are obsessed with sloths, so I thought I could make a single panel Sloth Pillow for them - the pattern is fairly easy and straightforward and I think it looks like fun.

And the last of the quilt patterns - "God Bless Texas"
I've seen this one around quite a bit, and I was happy to grab this.  Fairly easy again, and I think fun for a smorgasborg of fat quarters.  I think I'd go with something other than white for the background because that section of the "supposed to be white re: the flag" is already so close; maybe a nice light blue.   It's hard to see in this photo (or the pattern itself), but they've actually quilted the Alamo, roses (presumably yellow roses ;) ) and other Texana into the backing.  Quite pretty.

I went by the Silver Needle, but sadly, they did not have what I was looking for in stock.  Their booth was in an odd location and seemed kind of small this year, but it's been a while since I've been there.

We also swung by the Bohin booth (on purpose!) and in fact, had cash in hand because they do not take cards.  I bought a few packets of needles - I usually buy them in bulk but have not found my bulk needles to take with me to Houston, and I grabbed a pair of bunny (er... "hare...") scissors.

They also had some hand made scissors for more than $500, but I managed to stay away from those, though they were STUNNING.

So that was the one day quilt show extravaganza.

The next day we swung by ABC Stitch Therapy, a stitching store on the NW side of Houston (fairly close to where I grew up, actually, though they weren't there back then).    They are pretty close to where 3 Stitches is, but since I've had nothing but bad experiences at 3 Stitches, I never darken their doorway any more.

Everyone was super nice at ABC, and lo'!  They were having a Primitive Hare trunk show.   I really LOVE her designs, but I know I'll never get around to stitching them, so I haven't bought a lot.

But I did find this, which I think would be perfect for the kitchen:

While I was at it, I went ahead and grabbed Dog Pile from Ink Circles, which I've been meaning to grab for a while (I always try to purchase from Brick and Mortar stores, and tend to get my yearly's wish list at the get together every year at Stitcher's Paradise in Vegas, but since I was here...)

I found this older Sweetheart Tree April sampler - I was actually looking for a biscornu to grab me, but this did instead :)

And my last grab was this:
They had different gates, but I liked this one best of all.  And it fit within my rule which is now: "Will this work with any of the mountains of fabric you already own"  haha.

So that's my Quilt Show weekend extravaganza/purchasing fest.  It was a lot of fun, and I hope to go again in the future (though not as soon as next year).

And one last final thing:  The scrap metal sculpture I picked up at the grocery store.  Because who doesn't need a longhorn santa that you then have to figure out how to transport home ;)