houston quilt show

last week while i was on vacation my friend S & i went to the houston quilt show at the george r. brown convention center. this is an international show & takes up the ENTIRE convention center! it took us 2 days & we didn't even see everything!!!

so many beautiful quilts, but these were some of my favorites -- i tend to like the old fashioned looking ones!

that last one was made in the 1800's if i remember correctly. friends & family wrote special messages on the blocks.

this one is appliqued -- of course it's a favorite because it's sunflowers & bluebonnets!!!!!

there were hundreds of vendors - some were so nice that we made instant friendships - like sue & sandi from "pink eyed sissies" and laural from "simply put." we bought a lot from these ladies!!! sue & sandi are sisters who make the most beautiful jewelry from antique cards or ledgers & optician lenses. we spent not only a lot of $$, but a lot of time with them!!! they felt like old friends!!! laural is the designer & owner of simply put - a quilt design shop she runs out of her home in california. i LOVE her stuff!!!! and she was such a sweet lady - she offered susan & me jobs!!!!!!!!!!!! hopefully we'll be helping her run her booth next year during market & quilt festival!!!! that would be so much fun!!!!!

she had this cute little sign in her booth:

i told her i would definitely write about her on my blog!! i've already made one of her projects!!!!! since this post is pretty long & photo-heavy, i'll show you the project i did here, but i'll do another post later about laural & her booth.

the project i did last night was the "tin pan pin cushion" --- it's sooooooo cute!!!!! i stuffed mine with lavender scented ground walnut shells. it smells so good!!!! it's so my style & i apparently have a little tin collection going on!! i have some other tins in my living room that aren't with these so they didn't make it into the picture!

here's the pattern:

and here's mine:

i changed mine up a bit -- i didn't embroider the words on mine, i changed out one of the fabrics (didn't like the pinkish fabric so i swapped it out for the blue/tan stripe, i attached my quilt block to the darker background fabric rather than the lighter - the darker is more "me".

that's the beauty of crafts - you can personalize it to suit your taste. this was such a fun project & it took me about an hour to complete, start to finish, & that's with hand stitching the dresden plate quilt piece to the background fabric.

i want to make a bunch more of these!!!! this one's sitting in my living room. i want one for my craft/sewing room & one for my bedroom & i wonder where else i could put them??!! how many tin pan pincushions can one have???!!!

my house smells fantastic!

i've got a double batch of pumpkin muffins baking & a huge crockpot of apples cooking for applesauce and all of this cinnamony wonderfulness smells delicious!

looks like i need to clean the oven!!!!

after a long weekend at the quilt show, a trip to bellville to pick up a pig (i'll tell ya 'bout that later!), working in the garage cleaning, painting & building a workbench, and another day at the quilt show, i'm going to spend my last day of this vacation sewing. i've got some christmas presents to make & a couple shirts to make for my sister plus a BUNCH of mending.........

and speaking of christmas - i don't even have a clue what my christmas cards are going to be!!! so many ideas & i can't choose one!!!

this has been a great weekend -- i hope to get lots accomplished today then i have to go to work tomorrow..............why can't i just be on vacation forever....or retire.....where's my rich knight in shining armor?????????????????????????

(i DID meet a man who owns a castle this weekend.....but he wasn't a knight!!!!! at least i don't think so...............)

link: newman's castle

this was a two-man job!

but since i don't even have one man, i did it all by myself!!!!

i've been wanting to make a workbench for a long time and today i did!!

first i had to clean up the garage a little & i decided to paint the wall behind the workbench. i used the "taupe" that i did the guest bathroom with.

before:

after:

then i sorted out the 10 pallets i had & chose the best ones for the top & the back. the front legs were made with a 2x4. i screwed them together & braced them with L brackets & some scrap pallet boards. i attached a piece of pallet wood at the top/back to prevent things from rolling off the back. the top pallet is solid boards on the top & bottom so it makes a good storage place for things like the level & tape measure, etc.

it doesn't look level in these pictures, but it is!!!

it went together pretty quickly and i think it turned out great!!! total cost under $5 for the L brackets!! it even has a light above it -- that was free - got it from one of the cubicles at work when we demolished several to make the conference room!

after that i cleaned up the rest of the garage & painted the "tool wall".......... it really looks nice!

before:

after:

(that jewelry box was a garbage day roadside find - from the next door neighbor!!! -- i have plans for the drawers!

i even have a fancy little shelf (that used to be on the front porch a long time ago) to hold my drill & circular saw! adds a nice "girly touch"!!!

wonder what my 1st project on it will be??

i'm pooped! it was a productive day & now i'm going to take a shower & go to bed (& because it's time change night, it's only 8:15 now!!)