Yes, I was floating all week. It was a fairyland of quilts and compliments. A beautiful hotel room and delicious meals I didn’t have to cook. An attentive escort and a sea of friendly faces.
Today I had to return to earth. We flew home.
I still had fairy dust surrounding me, though. I couldn’t bear to throw away the bouquet I was given at the awards ceremony, so I carried it home with me on the airplane. It was fun seeing the looks that were cast our way. We got several “Did you just get married?” comments. There were even a few quilters who recognized me while we were waiting in the TSA line at the airport. That was really weird!
Thinking back over the week, the people I talked to stand out in my memory even more than the quilts. Joanne Baeth was unfailingly kind to me throughout the week. Her quilt, “Great Blue Herons,” won The Superior Threads Master Award for Thread Artistry. My quilt was hung right next to hers at the show, so we had some nice conversations.
I enjoyed meeting Megan Farkas, too. Her quilt, “Sakura I: Hanaogi Views the Cherry Blossoms,” won The Future of Quilting Award which is given to a quilter under 35. Every time I saw Megan, she was full of excitement and enthusiasm!
Gail Thomas is a lovely lady who spent quite a bit of time talking with me. We discussed techniques and products and my lovely speech 😉 She had a really beautifully painted portrait quilt in the show which I enjoyed studying. It’s too bad she lives in Canada.
Bonnie McCaffery was spending much of her time filming VidCasts, but she still took time out of her busy schedule to talk. If you don’t know, Bonnie paints beautiful portrait quilts.
I got to touch base with Hollis Chatelain briefly, which is always nice. She makes the most amazing portrait quilts. She mentored Randall Cook, who I also had the opportunity to speak with several times.
Being at Quilt Festival is like a wonderful dream, but I confess I love being home.
If you haven’t had a chance to see all of the winning quilts you can go to the Quilt Festival website to see them.
Comments
3 responses to “Home from Houston”
I just read through all of your IQA posts and almost felt like I was there. That must have been incredible for you! What a joyful quilt!
So *that’s* why I didn’t see you the last couple of days at the show! Weren’t the bouquets amazing?
I forgot to tell everyone that the bouquets matched the quilts, too!