Houston Quilt Festival Preparations

Schedule:

Wednesday 11/3:Antique Quilt Study with Bobbie Aug
Thursday 11/4: Unmarked Free-Motion Machine Quilting with Robbi Joy Eklow
Friday 11/5: Spend the day looking at quilts
Ribbon Rosettes & Pansies with Diane Herbort (evening class)
Saturday 11/6: EQ (Electric Quilt) computer design classes
Sunday 11/7: Orangez and Lemonz with Jan Mullen

I'm looking forward to each of these classes - I collect antique/vintage quilts and quilt tops and am very excited about my Wednesday class! I have a book written by Bobbie and will ask her to sign it. On Wednesday evening, the show will open for preview night from 5:00 pm till 10:00 pm and I plan to take lots of pictures while looking at the quilts.

I've admired Robbi's work for a long time - she is a contributor to Quilting Arts magazine. Her machine quilting style is very geometric. This will be a fun class. Also on Thursday, there is a group of quilters from the About.com forum meeting for lunch, and I want to meet them during the mid-day break.

Friday will be my "free day" - more looking at quilts and doing a little bit of shopping in the vendor mall. I'm taking a list of things I'd like to buy while I'm there. I also want to visit the long-arm machine vendors to watch their demos, and the Janome booth to get some more information about the machines I have just purchased this summer and fall. (I haven't gotten around to taking my free classes yet) From 6:00 pm till 9:00 pm, I have a class to learn wired-ribbon manipulation - we are making needlebooks.

I'm taking computer quilt design classes on Saturday. I've got the EQ5 program, and have yet to become "fluent" in its use. I have very high expectations for these classes!

Sunday morning I am taking a wacky piecing class with Jan Mullen from Australia. I was scheduled to take a class with her 5 years ago at Houston Quilt Festival, but had to cancel when Joe's mother passed away and I went home early. Ever since, I've wanted to have a class with Jan, and now I will! I'm taking a book for her to sign also.

My shopping list:

New book by Judy Martin
New book by Karen Stone
Timtex and Fast-2-Fuse (fabric bowl-making supplies)
Some light batiks suitable for backgrounds
Some black-on-black fabrics
Some assorted patterns that I've made note of
A locker hooking kit
A bag kit using pet-screening
Kaffe Fassett fabric to border a floral quilt
Civil war fabrics for my flag quilt
Thread grab-bags from YLI, Superior, Madiera
Felted wool for primitive penny rugs
Maybe some machine embroidery software/designs

Wow, its almost overwhelming to look at my schedule and my shopping list! This is the one major quilt event I attend every year - its the biggest annual convention in Houston. Really! In less than 48 hours, I'll be there! ***big grin***

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet....

Happy Halloween to all the goblins and ghosties. I only bought 2 bags of candy, and at 7:15 pm it appears the children have all gone home... its been dark for over an hour, and tomorrow is a school day, after all. :) Looks like we've got about 25 little Hershey bars and Kit-Kats left over. Darn, I guess we will have to eat them...

Today has been an interesting day, to say the very least. We went out for Sunday lunch, and found that our favorite restaurant has gone totally non-smoking from 11:00 am till 3:00 pm on Sundays. YAY! After ordering our salads, the waiter took an ashtray to the table next to us. WTF???? If my allergies weren't so bad, I'd just blow it off, even though I hate second-hand smoke. When our waiter brought our food, I quietly asked what the deal was with the smoking rule, and he got this "duh!" look on his face (yes, you did just give them an ashtray...) and said that he "forgot". He went and told the manager what he did, and she came to get the ashtray (what a little chicken that kid was!) Of course, it made the other table mad, but dammit, if smoking a cig between the salad and the main course was necessary, wouldn't we ALL do it? At least they could have gone outside and hovered by the front door, forcing everyone to walk thru their smoke. I seriously don't get the whole "smokers' rights" issue - how about my right to breathe fresh air? I still sneezed all the way through the meal.

Joe was teaching a scuba class this afternoon, so I entertained myself with a trip to Wal-Mart. I had a list - toilet paper, Alka-Seltzer Plus, dog food for Muffet, candy for my mom to hand out, and some sewing supplies for my quilt classes in Houston. I stuck to my list except for buying about $22 worth of silk flowers to take to the cemetery (which was a trip long-overdue). I was going to visit my parents and dogs after the shopping trip, but since the weather was mild and not too windy I took a side trip to decorate Cody's grave first. It was perfect timing - the summer flowers looked pretty shabby. I had 4 "autumn meadow" bushes, 2 sprays of maple leaves, and 2 smaller sprigs of purple and orange flowers. The bushes went in the vase, and the rest was staked to the ground in front of his marker. They really, really were very pretty. Since we are supposed to have snow next week, I'm glad I got this task done today. I'll go back about mid-December and put out the white roses and evergreen boughs for the time from Christmas until February. On the anniversary date of his death (this will be the 8th year!), I always put out a huge bouquet of purple flowers and scatter confetti around the marker. It isn't as hard to go out there as it was in the first few years; perhaps that is part of learning to cope. I really don't feel anything when I go to the cemetery any more.

I headed back to town and spent the next 3 hours at my folks' house, brushing the dogs and visiting with my mom. Oh, the dogs need grooming so badly!!! Muffet (the collie) needs daily brushings, but my mom doesn't like to go outside to brush her if the wind is blowing (doesn't make sense to me....). Gracie has dandruff and I had to brush her for about 30 minutes to get rid of the flakeys. We decided to start giving her a fish oil capsule daily, just like Muffet gets. I hope this will put some shine in her coat. Goofy could use a bath and a haircut, but he looks so rakish when he has those bangs falling in his eyes and curly sprigs sticking out all over his coat. He's part Schnauzer and has such personality to go with his beautiful black hair. I'll call the vet's office tomorrow to see when they can get Goofy and Gracie in for grooming.

We still haven't had any more trick-or-treaters, so I think I'll run get us a little bite for supper - since we only ate salads and Joe spent the afternoon in the pool, we are going to eat tonight. Even though we are far from being senior citizens, I'm going to get a big burger for us to split (I know, that's what old people do...). When I return, I'll write about the preparations for the Houston trip. Its less than 48 hours away!

Its Saturday night, and I ain't got nobody.....

Well, not really. I just feel alone because the dogs are still staying with my mother.

I had knee surgery 8 weeks ago, and carpal tunnel surgery last week. Walking my dogs is out of the question, so they've taken up temporary residence at Grandma's house. Goofy doesn't mind being there, but Gracie is suffering from separation anxiety and is acting up. My folks are totally baffled by the things she does, simply because she is frustrated and anxious. (she is having potty accidents in weird places, and she mopes around) Poor sweetie. I have another surgery (on the other wrist) in 3 weeks, then we will bring the dogs home, since Joe will be around to help me walk them.... segue....

Last Monday Joe was put back on disability/workers comp due to policy changes at his workplace. Therefore, he is no longer going to work because they've "eliminated" light-duty. He thinks his boss is behind this, rather than being driven by corporate management. He doesn't want to stay home, but he can't do line construction work, so he can't go back to work. We both know deep down that when the 2 years is up (from the date of his accident) that he will be put on disability/medically retired. (we really need to start figuring out what this means...) He broke his back in June of 2003 when he was working storm duty in rough country. He was looking for a downed power line while riding a 4-wheeler ATV and flipped it while going up a hill. He had 3 vertabrae fused in August 2003 and has several screws, rods, and other hardware installed in his back. He's had physical therapy, a body brace, an electromagnetic bone-growth stimulator, and now has a portable TENS unit that sends electricity through his nerves to alleviate pain. His thighs are numb, but he has all his "functions" - hey, it could be a LOT worse.... The kicker is, he can still dive without any problems, as long as he puts his gear on and takes it off in the water. He can't lift or carry anything, and can't sit or bend over. That's why he walks so much - that is one of the two positions that don't hurt! In the past year and a half, he's lost 75 lbs. and is still losing weight. For that, I'm extremely proud of him.

We're changing our eating habits... we both eat breakfast, then we have started eating our large meal at lunch time. In the evenings, we have fruit and cheese or a bowl of cereal. Its surprisingly easy to eat this way, and we aren't stuffed when we go to bed at night. I haven't noticed a weight loss, but we both feel good, so it must be of some benefit.

Back to the topic of quilting... we're going to Houston next week for the International Quilt Festival. This event is like the Academy Awards of the quilting world. Its the biggest annual convention in Houston, and is also the biggest annual event in the quilting world. I try to go every year, because of the wonderful quilts on display and the classes being taught by the best quilters in the business. I've been planning and packing for a couple of days, now that we're down to the wire (depart on Tuesday 11/2). And yes, Joe's going with me. That was a last-minute change of plans. I asked if he wanted to come, since he didn't have anything else to do, and he agreed. He was just in Houston 2 weeks ago for a dive trade show, but he didn't get to visit with some of his friends before coming home, so he will have plenty to do while I'm at the show/in classes every day.

I think I'll write more about the quilt show tomorrow, when I'm a little more alert. I've been busy setting up this blog and trying to figure out how to post pictures this evening (not quite there yet...) and it is getting pretty late. I've heard two infomercials on the TV since I started writing this post, which means Joe was sleeping on the couch... it must be time for bed.

Don't forget to turn the clocks back one hour; daylight savings time ends tomorrow!