Houston Quilt Festival was HUGE!! I had never seen anything like it, here's a photo I took from up above the show on the 2nd floor, this is only about a fourth of the entire show, and I took it Sunday afternoon, the slowest time...most of the time the crowd was shoulder-to-shoulder! They said there were 50,000 attendees, and I believe it! One day they even had to call security to clear the aisle from beside my booth, people could not even maneuver through the aisle. I wish I had a pedometer clocking the miles I walked this show...we stayed at the magnificent Hilton just across the street, and were able to walk back and forth from the hotel to the show on the crosswalks over the street. However, most of the time I was rocketing around 100 mph going from class to the booth to get food or coffee and so on. Amazingly, I only gained a couple of pounds, this with the all-you-can-eat buffet almost every night, not too bad. The buffet was always a social event, where you never knew who you would run into, from my home-friend Madeline from nearby Kernersville, to the sweetest teachers from the Silk Experience at Festival, Carla and J.J...I guess the most embararassing moment for me was the first day we set up at Market after driving through Texas that morning, lugging boxes and sweating all afternoon, who should join us on the elevator that evening but Kaffe Fassett. I was so distracted I forgot to punch in my floor number, and could not think of one clever thing to say, alas.
Anywhoo...here are some more quilt photos too, I learned when I got home that these all won ribbons as well. My favorite (and evidently everyone else's too) was "Innocence" by Hollis Chatelain from right here in NC, in her description she said she dreamed of this boy's face, and in his face were many other children in various activities...can you see the children she quilted? This quilt was absolutely breathtaking...and big, probably 5 ft. in diameter. Way to go Hollis - she won Viewer's Choice for this spectacular work of art.
