is for the International Quilt Show in Houston Texas.
2nd Place Novice quilt by Lilija Kostenko, Netherlands
The show runs for a week, and every day is needed. There is so much to see and absorb.
Pictures and memories from the 2012 show have had to sustain me, as I missed last year’s show. This year though, I plan to attend.
The show has everything; international quilts, like the winning quilt shown above, unusual displays, vendors, and more quilt.
Since the show is held the first of November, sometimes it runs into October and Halloween. That happened in 2012 and some of the vendors, to add a little more fun to the event wore “Halloween things.” Like this vendor with the spider on her head.
Spiders don’t stop us from quilting
I’m guessing they have fun and unusual displays every year. They certainly did in 2012. Ever seen a quilted Yurt? Goodness, I’d never even seen a Yurt except on television.
And another view
A quilted Yurt
The Quilted Yurt was the brain child, and work of Linzi Upton. If I didn’t live in windy Oklahoma I’d consider constructing one for myself.
One of the quilts on the inside of the yurt
Amid all the quilts is the opportunity to see live and in person a quilt mentioned, or shown on Facebook, or in a blog. Like this quilt, Anni in the Modern Quilt Showcase by Heather Jones, a quilter and blogger I follow.
In addition to seeing all the cool quilts, learning about new tools, and meeting new people is the opportunity to actually participate in the show. In 2012 they had a mug rug exchange. Quilters brought a mug rug to contribute, and took a mug rug home. Very fun to see even if I didn’t have a rug to exchange.
Aren’t they pretty. I especially like the egg shaped ones. The International Quilt Show in Houston is definitely on my list of quilty places to visit.
Have you ever been to the Houston Quilt show?
What would you enjoy most about going to the International Quilt Show?
What would scare you the most about going?
This month I am participating in the A to Z challenge. I hope you’ll visit some of the other bloggers following the alphabet with their posts.
Gardens are beautiful (especially if I don’t have to do the work). Flower gardens, those with beautiful blooms are preferrable to the all green of some gardens.
Maybe it’s the quilter in me that loves all the color, I don’t know. I do know that on my list of places to visit is Indiana to take a quilt garden tour.
Just imagine. Wondering around a flower garden inhaling the intoxicating scents of the different plants. Enjoying the riot of color as the patch of one color and flower met with the patch of another.
Why, it might even spark a different color combination idea, or plant the seed for a quilt design.
Enjoying time in the garden is always a pleasure and I’m looking forward to the day I can enjoy both quilts and gardens at the same time in a quilt garden.
Have you ever visited a quilt garden?
Have you ever considered trying to plant a quilt garden?
If you were doing a mini-quilt garden which quilt blocks would you try to replicate?
Today is for the seventh letter of the alphabet (G) in the A to Z challenge. Due to some family challenges I am a few letters behind. Stay tuned, I will catch up.
Location is the first consideration when planning a quilt show. You can read all five important ingredients for a quilt show here.
Your location will depend on where you live, and what is available to you. You can make almost any location work. Some may take a little more creativity, ingenuity, and even elbow grease. However, before you can begin scouting for the appropriate location there are three factors consider.
1.Indoors or out? Is your show going to be a one day outdoor event, or do you prefer an indoor venue? This will affect where you locate. An outdoor quilt show can be fun and successful, although you do need to have a contingency plan in the event of inclement weather.
2. Finances. How much can you afford to pay for the use of the facilities? For small groups a free location is best, as they don’t usually have a lot of money in their treasury. Some locations to consider for a free, or low-cost use are: school auditoriums if the students are on a break. Churches, often have a dining hall or activity center they are willing to have used for a quilt show. Town halls, or community centers often have a large open space perfect for a quilt show. Some farmers and ranchers have large barns or shop buildings that are empty, or can easily be emptied, during certain parts of the year, they may consider allowing a quilt show in their barn. The Clarita Amish Auction held the second Saturday in September includes a quilt display (before the auction) in one of the barns. Once your finances are established, it’s easier to narrow the location search.
Sometimes quilt shows are held in huge convention centers.
3. Accessibility. You want people to be able to get to your quilts to view them. Adequate parking is one consideration, if you use a farmer’s shop building, your customers need to be able to drive and park on his pasture, unless of course, the shop is located right next to the road. You want to avoid the need for people to park in the road, it’s not safe, and will deter some possible attendees from stopping. A nearby parking lot is your best option, if available. You also want your venue to be accessible to those in wheelchairs, with walker or pushing strollers. If stairs must be climbed, you’ll need to install a ramp, a temporary one if necessary, for those needing one. Most public venues will be wheelchair accessible, it’s just something to keep in mind. You want your beautiful quilts accessible to everyone who wishes to see them.
Questions:
1. What is the most unusual location you’ve visited for a quilt show?
2. What is the most difficult obstacle your group has had to overcome to have a quilt show?
According to the saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. ” But it is so much more. As I drank my tea on the porch this morning, soaking in the beauty pf God’s handiwork, I thought about what was beautiful to me.
The birds chirping and singing, add a beautiful sound to my world. The flowers blooming are beautiful to look at. The Honeysuckle growing on the pasture fence add a beautiful scent. The smell of fresh cut grass is almost intoxicating.
All of that is beautiful, but the most beautiful gift is time.
Time to help someone, time spent with another. Today, I watched my son sitting on the tractor as he cut the grass in the pasture surrounding my house. The little pastures aren’t big enough to bother trying to get a baler in them, and I don’t have any cattle to eat the grass down, so the tractor it is.
The gift of his time using the brush hog on my pasture was made more beautiful by the time spend driving to my house. My son lives over an hour away, yet he gave his time, on a holiday weekend to come and help me out.
Time. A beautiful gift.
Today I’m linking up with Lisa Jo Baker and Five Minute Fridays. Rules are simple:
1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.
Veering off of the A to Z challenge this morning to post my Five Minute Friday post. There was some thought of combining the two, but I couldn’t mesh After, which was the prompt word for the Five Minute Friday, and the letter E. I thought about Ever after, but naw, that was too much of a stretch.
Instead, I posted about embroidery for the A to Z challenge and wrote the following in five minutes for the Five Minute Friday link up.
AFTER
After the rain comes growth. Flowers bloom, ponds rise to take in more oxygen for the fish swimming in its depths.
After the rain comes fun. Splashing in mud puddles. Twirling on the still wet grass.
After the rain is good. What about after the pain? What comes after the pain?
Joy? No, not really. Joy does return to our lives after the pain, but the pain doesn’t bring the joy. Joy isn’t a result of the pain the way the flowers are a result of the rain.
Happiness? No. Like Joy, Happiness returns after the pain, but isn’t a result of it.
So what comes after pain?
Healing. Healing comes after pain.
Whether the pain is a broken bone or heart, both heal. Scars may linger, but the healing is the important benefit of pain.
When we’re in pain we think we will never again experience Joy, Happiness, or Fun. We just have to wait for the Healing. During and after the healing (sometimes healing takes a long time) Joy, Happiness, and Fun will find their way back into our life.
Went a tad over 5 minutes, but had to finish my thought. Linking up now with Lisa Jo Baker.
In case you don’t know, The Five Minute Friday is the brainchild of Lisa Jo Baker and some of her friends. Joining is easy, just:
is for Blocks. Most quilts are designed and sewn using blocks. There are those that don’t, but this is B day, so only quilts that use blocks are considered.
One of my favorite blocks, which happens to be a B block is the Bear Paw block, like these two:
Two Bear Paw Pattern blocks. Never quite understood why all four “paws” are so close together.
Although when I make the Bear Paw block, I don’t put all four “paws” together. I much prefer them to be separated by other blocks. Like this Bear Paw block that went in one corner of a grandson’s quilt, the other three “paws” went in the other corners.
One Bear Paw block. Set in the corner of the quilt with the other 3 “paws” taking up the other corners.
B is also for Boat, check out this fun tutorial from the Missouri Quilt Company:
Finally, there is B for binding, which is the most popular method of finishing a quilt. There is what I call the pillowcase method, sew all around three and a half sides, leaving a portion of one side open. Clip the corners, and turn the quilt right side out, pushing out the corners. Tuck in the open area and top stitch around the quilt. Ta-da. A finished quilt. Of course this only works if you don’t want the back also quilted.
When the backside is also quilted, which is normal by the way, I do a backwards binding. Instead of sewing to the front side, or top, of the quilt I sew it to the back side. Then I fold the binding over the seam, it to the front (this is what most quilters put on the back) and pin in place. Those clips that look like hair clips work wonderful. Next I either top stitch it close to the edge of the binding or use a decorative stitch to attach it. That’s it, quilt it bound and finished. Not a method most quilters use, but it works for me.
“Dive right in.” How many times have we said or heard that? I don’t usually dive, I jump. There’s a difference.
Diving is calculated, thought about, and graceful.
Jumping in takes little to no thought, no calculating necessary, and is more clunky than graceful.
Both actions get us into the water, whether real or symbolic. Divers look at the issue, consider what exactly needs to be done, and the method best used before diving in and taking care of business.
Jumpers see the issue, have an idea what needs to be done, and jumps in without thinking about the hows.
This blog is an example of one of my jumps. One late night, or early morning, while visiting in a chat room someone suggested I needed a blog to share my ideas. Now, I’d heard of a blog before as a way to get my name out, but hadn’t really considered it. Here was the idea again. This time, maybe due to the late hour, my feeling of aloneness, or just because I’m a closet rebel, I jumped in and started a blog.
No consideration about what the blog would cover. No plan of posting. No idea of what I was doing. Just jump in and figure it out. As a result, the blog has gone, and is still undergoing, changes and revamping.
A diver would have carefully considered what they wanted their blog to look like, what information they’d want to include, how often they’d blog and many more questions. Those are the blogs that look good from the beginning.
Divers and Jumpers usually get to the same place, in the water. It’s just our method of entering is different.
Are you a diver or a jumper?
Linking up with LisaJo at The Gypsy Mama as part of Five Minute Friday. Rules are simple, write for five minutes on a prompt (I think I went over by a couple of minutes). Post what is written, no editing, no second guessing (good for jumpers, harder for divers). Link up at Gypsy Mama, read and comment on other posts.
Also linking up with Ultimate Blog Challenge. Trying to post daily for the month of January.
Jim Reeves, and other artists recorded a song, THE FARMER AND THE LORD. It reminds us there is always something for which to be thankful. You can hear the song here.
Last year I found Janice Tanton and joined her journey to list five things I’m thankful for each day. Thursday’s I’ll recap the previous week’s gratitudes.
Friday, January 4
Someone willing to write a blurb for my book My second quilting devotional is finished, and I wanted to add a blurb on the back from another quilter. Barb is willing to be that person. The sunshine makes the day brighter, my kitchen is clean, I’m making progress on making a sewing room and most especially I’m thankful for PeeWee and her help in clearing out the future sewing room.
Saturday, January 5
Finding new blogs, others’ blogs add variety, education and fun. I’m always thankful when I find a new one I enjoy. Five Minute Friday, the brain child of Lisa Jo at The Gypsy Momma and her friends. It’s where we write for 5 minutes about a subject she posts and then we post, no editing no second guessing. It’s fun? Courage found to do difficult tasks. Grandkids carrying on a tradition, showing in livestock shows, like their daddy and grandpa. Milk for breakfast cereal, because seriously, who wants to eat cereal and not have milk?
Sunday, January 6
Crispy potato wedges, I actually left them in the oven long enough to become crispy. I’m thankful for the patience and the taste. Policeman stopped me on my way home last night, I’m thankful it wasn’t for lawbreaking, so no ticket. Thankful he did stop me, to let me know my headlight was out, before it caused an accident. Grateful there are stock shows close enough to attend if I so desire. While the calendar says January, the temps say more October. Love and appreciate the lack of cold.
Monday, January 7.
I’m always thankful for the people in my life, and periodically I will list five of them for my daily gratitudes. Monday was one of those days. I met these five ladies through the internet and they have all blessed my life considerably. Amy Mullis is a funny writer. Really she is. Check out her venture, Stage of Life. I must warn you, it’s best not to have liquids in your mouth when reading her insightful prose. She is a fun cheerleader and has boosted me several times when I’ve been down.
Mariam Kobras was promoting her first book, The Distant Shore, and caught my attention. Who knew she was a quilter before she became an author? We have become good online friends and I’m looking forward to meeting her this year when she once again is in the United States. Her blog, Author on the Porch, often includes snippets from her books.
I “met” Lauri Rottmayer through Mariam. Now how strange is that? An author in Germany connects two Okies? Lauri makes me smile every time I see her tweets. One of these days she and I will meet in real life and have lunch.
Lisa Adams, is caring, encouraging, a mother, and a cancer warrior. I always look forward to seeing her posts. I worry and send up prayers for her when I don’t.
Those are just five of the awesome people I’ve met online. Hope you enjoyed meeting them too.
Tuesday, January 8
In Your Words Blog hop, a group of quilters selected a word for the year and made a small quilt/wall hanging featuring the word. It’s great fun, not only to see the words others have chosen, but also the many creative ways of expressing the words. Pretzels, the hard crunchy salty ones. Had some left from the holidays and enjoyed munching them. Technology that works, because often it doesn’t. Book signings, always thankful to meet others who enjoy reading and quilting. Also it’s a fun way to promote and sell my book. Fifth gratitude, finally, making progress on finding and establishing a routine.
Wednesday, January 9
I don’t often dream, or at least the dreams aren’t remembered, thankful to not only have and remember the dreams, but also the reconnection with those I love, even if only in my sleep. I love attending Toastmasters, and am thankful for the Atoka group that is only an hour away. Rain, filling the ponds, and adding much needed moisture to the soil. Having a safe trip, after dark and in the rain, neither are my favorite driving conditions, thankful the trip was uneventful. Red birds that brighten the dull winter landscape.
Thursday, January 10
Receiving cards in the mail, just because someone cared. The bills are all paid for another month and there was money to pay the bills. Places and people to visit or see, a reason to leave the house and be involved in life.
As Jim Reeves points out in the song, regardless of the down side, there is an upside, and always something to be thankful we have in our lives. Have you taken time to notice some of your blessings? Please share, either here or join us on Twitter, using the hashtag 5dailygratitudes.
Time to play catch-up. Again. Sometimes I think I play that game much too often. The last few days have been spent working on Christmas projects and writing, which left my little blog neglected.
So, today I will catch up on at least the last couple of days of gratitude. My list for the month is listed here. The last “thankful” post was for my computer, all computers, here.
Next on the list are, the internet, Ozzie (my dog), and trees. Here we go.
The Internet
Our connection source. The world has become much smaller in my lifetime thanks to the telephone, television, and air travel. These are all good tools to help us reach others, but they have their limits.
We only call, or receive calls, to chat and visit from people we’ve previously met. Seldom do we call a random number and strike up a conversation and friendship with someone.
The television is passive, we don’t interact with it and we view only what others want us to view.
Travel is expensive and time consuming. Whether we travel by plane, car, bus, train, or boat, there is a cost and time factor involved. Limiting how much we connect with others far away.
Enter the internet. We can meet others online. We can go to sites, and meet others with similar interests. I “met” several friends at Absolute Write (AW). We have writing as a common factor, but we differ in many ways.
I’ve even found quilters I visit and follow at the Quilting Gallery. Who knew people moved away from their sewing machines long enough to post their sewing progress online?
Then, of course, there are the social networks, Facebook, Twitter, and Pintrest that allow me to meet a variety of people from all walks of life. Online friends are an eclectic group, a more diverse group than can be found in any neighborhood, or social gathering.
The internet also allows me to do research for my books, or just for my information easily. The closest library to me is 15 miles and only open in the afternoon, my next choices are both 30 miles away. Doing research at the library requires planning (something I’m not good at), and travel. The internet allows almost instant (assuming it’s working) access to a larger research pool.
Of course, nothing is perfect and the internet has its flaws. Among other cons, the internet can cause people to abandon their real lives and families, that’s not good. But, for most of us, the internet has been a benefit and I am thankful to have it.
How about you? How has the internet impacted your life?
Next up on the list for Saturday is Ozzie my little dog.
Ozzie was a ‘gift’ from my little granddaughter Paisley. He was her dog. Mom and dad had their hands full with their jobs, Paisley, livestock, and the new baby on the way, they needed a new home for Ozzie.
Paisley, of course, did not want to get rid of her dog. However, she was willing to let Grandma Nin take him, for awhile. It’s been three years. Now, she’s okay with him living at my house.
Ozzie may be four years old, but he’s a little like having a two year old in the house. He gets into everything that is within reach. Drop a pin cushion on the floor, or just forget and leave it on the ottoman and it’s his. I’ll be running the magnet over the entire floor to pick up pins, and gathering up what’s left of the pin cushion after he chewed it.
It’s common for him to hear, “Ozzie, what do you have?” Then he tilts his head and gives me that innocent, ‘what are you talking about?’ look.
Ozzie loves people. One year my dog-sitter was unavailable so Ozzie attended the Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc. (OWFI) conference with me. He loved all the attention from the other writers. Amy Shojai shared a video of him playing which Paisley enjoyed watching.
Ozzie makes me smile and I am so glad he’s in my life. Thank you Paisley. Do you have a pet?
Finally, for today, trees are on my list.
I’m lucky to live in Southeast Oklahoma which is full of trees. I can’t imagine living in a place without trees.
Right now the wind is blowing, hard. Not tornado hard, or hurricane hard, but hard enough to rock the chairs on the porch, and blow unsecured items around the yard. The trees buffer a lot of that wind. Sitting in the security of my house the wind howls and sounds horrible. The trees however, stand their ground.
In the summer the trees offer shade and relief from the blistering heat. I’m often the last of my friends to turn on the air conditioner, because the trees surrounding me help keep me at a comfortable temperature.
Although I no longer climb trees, in my youth I did. Today the trees remind me of that time when my brothers, and neighborhood friends would climb the trees. We climbed and hid among the leaves, creating our own worlds high above the real world and our parents below.
In the winter, the trees offer refuge to wildlife, and the bare limbs remind me that spring and new life is coming.
So, there you have it. I’m almost caught up, and three things I’m thankful to have. What about you? What are you thankful to have in your life?
I know that sounds strange. But, I’ve a passable cook, when I cooked cooking for my family I enjoyed the challenge of preparing something nutritious, tasty, and economical. Cooking for my family was almost fun.
In recent years, there wasn’t much challenge or fun in cooking for just me. My plan had been to cook a meal that would feed four or six and freeze part of it for a later date. Sounds good. Right? Problem was, I just couldn’t find the interest in cooking.
Instead, I ate fast food, or convenience foods, not healthy at all. Now, I’m cooking more. I’m beginning to enjoy cooking so much I’ve started a 60 by 60 challenge for myself.
I’m going to try sixty recipes by the time I turn sixty. As I try them, I’ll be posting them here. Since I have plenty of time, recipes may show up twice a week.
An interest in cooking is a tasty thing to be thankful for, don’t you think? What are you thankful for today?
As promised yesterday, here’s my list for November. Since I missed the first five days, I’ll be including them as the month progresses.
1 – My children and the rest of my family.
2 – Friends, physical friends, online friends, those nearby and far-flung.
Yes, I know, I just listed our five senses, but I’m thankful for each one and didn’t want to list them all together.
20. The rain.
21. Creativity.
22. Special days.
23. Routine
24. Change
25. Fresh food
26. Laughter
27. Health
28. Transportation
29. My husband
30. Pictures
As I mentioned yesterday, here, Melissa the Williamette Valley Wonderwoman has a list of items to be thankful for daily and her list can be found on her blog. Some of our gratitudes are the same but we each have our items we are grateful to have in our lives. What about you? What makes your heart sing? What are you thankful to have or experience?
is for Blocks. Most quilts are designed and sewn using blocks. There are those that don’t, but this is B day, so only quilts that use blocks are considered.
Nita Beshear - A Patchwork Life 