Quilt Festival 2010

Mystique, by Sharon Schamber, $10,000 You can read more about it here and see a better photo. This week is Quilt Market and International Quilt Festival in Houston! BFF Virginia and I have been every year since 1986... together. If you check my blog in November or late October each year you can see old photos! These are just a few quick glimpses of some favorite things!

All my needs were met.

And isn't that what Quilt Festival is about?

We actually reached "overload" pretty quick!

We were at the point we couldn't buy another piece

of hand dyed wool!

Sad, huh?

Thank goodness for internet shopping!

We have business cards from all our faves!

You know how popular rik rak has become!

This ain't your grandmother's rik rak, honey. We even stooped down and bought from our least favorite vendor.

The one that doesn't price anything.

His clerks have to run and ask him.

You know who I'm talkin about.

....no, I didn't sit in a chair...

no time....

no time...

More tomorrow!

Gator 2

Pardon the interruption, but this post is for a few of my followers that are Aggies....

Aggies are graduates (and those that love them) of Texas A&M University.

I married an Aggie in 1976.

He was in the Corps, and was a Gator 2 and a Ross Volunteer.

Last weekend was the 50th Anniversary of Gator 2.

So we were there .... all weekend.

We are at all the home football games...

but you knew that...

He also participated in the Rally to the Guidons on Saturday which means the "old Ags" (corp) can march-in to Kyle Field again. So for the first time in 38 years, Dear Husband got to march-in..... along with 699 other old Ags that signed up. President Bush 41 was there, too! Of course, he and Barb (see her below) have an apartment on campus. His presidential library is at A&M. President Bush was recognized as the first Honorary Lifetime Member of the Texas Aggie Corps of Cadets Association

The Secret Service guys were pretty obvious in the crowd.

And ... as long as we are here...

a shout out to Kathleen...

We beat Texas Tech!

And when the Ags win, the Fish (freshmen Corps) carry the Yell Leaders

and dump them into the Fish Pond.

(you can click on these if you want to see better)

I considered doing an entire post on Visor Guy.

But then I googled him and realized there is enough on him out there already!

Yes, he is to our left in the stands each game.

Gig em, Aggies!

November Already?

Let's make good use of this month!

They seem to be flying by!

Acorns and Crepe Paper!

Those felted acorns Virginia and I have been felting.... well Virginia has the best acorn source! Her acorn caps are HUGE! I have tons of acorns at my house but as you can see in the above shot, her acorns are 4 times as big as mine! So it dawned on me that I should get some of her big acorns for my squirrels! Today I put the big ones out with a pile of little ones and waited. To my dismay, I was not present at the eating of one of the large acorns... so disappointed... but one is gone.... I am on High Alert tho! I will keep you posted on the ecstasy it produces in my squirrels! Just think.... they have NEVER seen acorns that size. And Virginia lives about 3 minutes from me. So as not to disappoint YOU... here is a craft we did today (Virginia and I)... not me and the squirrels.

It takes some practice... but they make nice favors for Thanksgiving!

You need crepe paper (sheets) cut into circles.

Gather the tops

after filling with candy or such...

then wrap floral ribbon around the gathered top

Make some spiral stems out of the floral tape by twisting it...

Some look better than others, huh?

For the professional ones...

Look here at our source.... Martha Stewart Halloween 2000!

It Bears Repeating....

1. Fall Leaves And Acorns, 2. Acorns and Leaves, 3. Acorn, Leaves & Berries necklace. , 4. acorns and laf, 5. acorns and leaves, 6. Leaves and acorns, 7. blue acorns, 8. Vintage Gold Link Bracelet with Leaves, Berries, and Acorns , 9. Oak Acorns, 10. 197/365 The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, 11. acorns, 12. acorn, 13. Autumnal things, 14. leaves and acorns, 15. Acorn and Oak Leaf Charm Necklace, 16. Acorn and Fallen Leaves

What's On Your Mantle?

It's "What's On Your Mantle?" day.... at least here...

I love my new gourds!

It's also the first time I've used my white flowers from Pier One on the mantle.

They have been all over the house... but never there!

I do love them!

Isn't fall the best time for decorating!

See my little felted acorns below....

I love those, too!

And those gourds!

They photograph really well!

...oh but wait...

there's something there that shouldn't be...

Could it be........

Christmas trees?

Surely not!

It's still October!!!!!!!!!!!

I believe it is!

Gasp!

A vicious Halloween trick, I suspect!

...or maybe it's some of those trees that were lightly bleached

a few posts back...

and they are ready to be packaged up in a

Christmas Inspiration Matchbox Swap?

Yes, that's it!

I added music ribbon to empty wooden spools,

cut circles for the tops of the spools,

and glued the trees in the spools (after removing the tree bases).

I also sprinkled glitter over them (of course)!

What's on YOUR mantle?

The QB5 Sampler Revealed!

They arrived!

I was in a stitching round robin with the "so-called" Queen Bee Five (QB5)...

The rotation on mine was...

I mailed to Margaret and she worked on it.

Then it went to Carole.

Then it went to Patty

and then to Nathalie to finish it up.

On Wednesday we had a timetable set for opening!

We all opened at the very same time!!

For Patty that was 2 p.m.

For Nathalie and I it was 1 p.m.

For Margaret it was 8 p.m.

And for dear Carole it was THURSDAY at 7 a.m.

Here are some close-ups....

above was done by Carole!

Don't you love the the little music notes!!! Just stitched!

The bird is fabric cut in the shape and applied...

And she dyed the doilies green to be the leaves in the tree she added!

Below you can see the initials in the tree trunk!

(me and my sweetie)

The bee was added by Patty on the rose...

The words were done by Nathalie.... she does great stitched words...

and a little crown!!

Margaret did the banner! I think she knows I really have a "thing" for banners!

Surely she knew that?

I love it!

I don't know who added the flower?

Who did that?

Below is some net and greenery from a lady's vintage hat!!!

Done by Patty..... of course!

And she did the row of felted hearts!

Love it!

Here is a close-up of part of my fence that I started my piece with... it's pretty primitive.

I stitched on an old napkin that belonged to my mother-in-law....

I sent another one of those napkins out on a different stitching round robin with 10 women....

I'll show you that one soon.... I need to add a tiny bit to it now that this companion piece is home.

Don't you love this new world we live in where we have friends around the world that share our common interests! I was a penpal growing up, but that took weeks or months to hear from people.

I love this time we are living in!