Preparations for festival workshops always overwhelm me. The lists are so specific and often so excessive. Somehow, we never use half of what the instructors include on their supply lists... But preparation is also the difference between chaos and readiness.

So every year it is the same. I obsessively select my fabric... Gather my supplies... And shop for more than I need because it is one of my favorite parts!

And then- I torment myself at the last minute making quilt sandwiches and cuts...

And every year- I mutter under my breathe... I will never wait until the last minute again... (And then the cycle repeats). So why did I expect this year to be any different?

I flew in to Houston on Monday and the quilt fest has not stopped since!

I actually have my own hotel room this year. My dear friend was unable to join me...
& I switched over to the Hilton attached by walkway to the convention center. That bridge has made a huge change in the festival experience and I am never going back to the shuttles between hotel and convention center again!

My first event was the Iron Quilter Challenge. It was so much fun to watch the teams compete for a 2 hour quilting frenzy to make a quilt topper for the coveted bedazzled iron trophy!

Pam Holland's team: "Pammy's Possums"

This Possum centerpiece was painted at event!

Charlotte Angotti's Avenger's

Marti & the Cut-ups

John Flynn's Fly'n Fabrikas

Marti Michelle and the cut ups!

Pammy's Possums final pinning to design wall

With the exception of John Flynn's Fly'n Fabrika's...

all teams completed & presented their toppers

The official marble vote

I even won a door prize and ran in to members from my local guild!

VICTORY!!!

Charlotte Angotti (Angotti's Avenger's)

My very first days of workshops were

FANTASTIC FREE-MOTION MACHINE QUILTING with Philippa Naylor

I learned soooo much!

My free motion skills are poor- So there was plenty of room for me to find my place on the learning curve!

We started with swirls... And moved on to hearts and flowers...

I loved learning different ways of trapunto.

A layer of cheesecloth

was basted to the fabric to create the channels.

Next you insert wool to create the raised accent lines

*****

For this piece we traced the pattern,

double batting it and sewed outline.

Trim to the seam to create the raised trapunto finish

*****

And finally...The dreaded feathers... Always intimidating for me...

We started out drawing 3 evenly spaced lines to create feathers...

followed up on narrower

later we explored feather patterns in shapes

and adding to open space

Two days later... Exhausted, I was quite proud of all I had accomplished.

swirls... hearts and flowers...

trapunto & feathers...

My Thursday workshop was

Jumpstart your Creativity with Barbara Olson.

Her turned edge multi pieced puzzle style of applique makes me gleeful!

We needed to bring at least a dozen fabrics that made us smile...

Each pattern piece is traced on a fusible... to be cut a part & later "edges turned" and sewn in place

I absolutely love this project and it will become my

November "Lovely Year of Finishes" goal

Myself, Barbara Olson, & my flourish

Later that night was the Quiltapalooza IQA fundraiser with a pajama party theme. I posed with the Target pj gals... All who happened to buy same pjs at Tarjay...