So my road to the hot place is clearly better paved today than it was when I last wrote that I was going to get to this post before Thanksgiving.  Sigh.  I’ll just say I cooked instead and the pie and gravy (not eaten together) were REALLY good.  But at long last here’s my post about International Quilt Market, a trade show open to quilt industry professionals.

Eli, Cross Country 2013 in the Dinner@8 exhibit Reflections

I only had about 90 minutes on Sunday afternoon and the same on Monday during the lunch break from the class I was teaching to visit International Quilt Market.   It is aimed primarily at shops who come to see what’s new and order inventory for their stores for the coming season from the various independent designers, fabric companies, notions manufacturers and wholesalers.  But other industry professionals (teachers, longarmers, authors, press) are allowed to attend, also.  There are many booths at Market that do not stay for Festival, so it’s a great time to network if you work in the industry as I do.

On the way in, I dashed through the exhibits (fewer people, easier to get from here to there quickly) and spotted my quilt of Eli running around the corner in the Reflections exhibit.   Jamie re-hung the exhibit so the quilts were in a better color-flow order for Festival (more pics in a future post), but I got this picture.   The theme was Reflections, and I vowed for once I would NOT be literal!  Instead, I chose to make this portrait of Eli, four years (and the same age) after I did the portrait of Joshua playing guitar.   I see reflected in him my father’s and brothers’ shoulders, brother Charlie’s forehead, Paul’s (hubby) athletic ability, my eyes and sense of color and taste.   Can you tell I’m proud of all my guys?

And I also spotted this…Two of Us , in the Inspired by the Beatles exhibit!

Two of Us, my quilt, is on the right. For the exhibit we were to make a square quilt (I think it was 24 inches?) with the title of a Beatles song but, due to copyright issues, no lyrics on it. I chose to make an anniversary quilt for Paul (then promptly told him he had to give it back to be in several exhibits, the life of a quilter’s husband!) with hand-drawn and collaged images in the center and a scrapbook style frame pf photos from the time I met him in west Africa, through our wedding and life overseas, the birth of our children, life in Maine,  to mother’s day in 2013. 

Then I made it to the floor of Quilt Market.   On the way to meet someone, I passed this booth and had to stop.  I fell in LOVE with these fabrics and quilts from the RiverWoods collection by Troy.  Hope they will be available locally or online!

Now isn’t THIS an eye-grabbing display featuring fabulous fabrics?

And

The fabric samples. Yes, I’ll take a yard of each!  Actually, I’d take a BOLT of that mango and pink!

A close up of one of those quilts:

That glorious color!

They also had this lovely sample in quieter colors…I’d love a bed quilt like that!

Blues beautiful sea blues

I’m taking a bit of a teaching sabbatical from Aug 2015 to late June 2016 to be home for every day of Eli’s senior year.  Maybe I can make some new bed quilts!

Booths to enjoy

One thing about digital cameras, you can take pics as you whiz by.  This booth was, I believe, part of the Westminster fabrics area (they print the Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics)…love the carpet, the kimono, the riot of color!

Then you see things I for one wouldn’t think to do…like black and white (by Jennifer Sampou) but that are fab!  That storm at sea is one of my favorite traditional patterns, and love this contemporary take on it.

But color wins out….I managed to pass by Jamie Fingal’s booth promoting her new line of fabric just after the closing bell rang…Jamie had already made it out, but I snapped a pic anyway!

Jamie Fingal’s latest line of fabric features pinks, greens, oranges….. LOVE IT!  I’ll tae a yard of most of these, too.

Tula Pink had a colorful booth.   Check out the fantastic Union Flag quilt on the left, the stylized alphabet quilt on the wall in the corner (above the pinked up Bernina on the table), and that arched doorway quilt on the right wall.   Maybe I need to make a Union Flag pillow for my living room chair to commemorate Eli’s and my trip this past summer!

And last booth pic,

What a profusion of pattern and texture.  I am pretty sure these are  Parson Gray and Amy Butler.  I just want to sit in room with those ottomans and funky old wood bits!

And no trip to Houston would be complete without at least a couple dinners at Ninfa’s on Navigation!  We can get lots of good ethnic foods in Maine, but alas Mexican is not among them, so I indulge in Houston:

My favorite dinner of taco, tamale, and enchilada with refritos and rice. And when the teaching is done, add a margarita or mojito! I started eating then remember the photo, so the tamale is already eaten!

Back soon (I hope) with more good stuff from Houston and England.

Hey…I just got a quick note, which I’m sharing here.  If you want anything from Interweave, click through with the link on the left and use this information:

The Quilting Daily shop is offering an additional 10% off purchases and free U.S. shipping, plus 50% off many items throughout the store. Some exclusions apply, but most of our digital products such as eBooks, QA Workshops, downloads and even some of our kits are included.

Among other things my video workshop is on sale, along with a bazillion other really good video workshops and books!   Use

CYBER10 to get an additional ten percent off.

And yeah, my road to the hot place is better paved.  Obviously I didn’t get that post up before Thanksgiving.  More good stuff IS coming, I promise!

As usual, re-entry to home life after Houston is a whirlwind, as you might gather by the absence of posts here!  Joshua’s birthday is always just a few days after my return, so usually the suitcases aren’t emptied and put away before I’m shopping for birthday dinner and so on.  Life was complicated by the snowstorm which cancelled my flight from Boston, causing me to drive home in the snow in the dark in a rental car.   At least they cancelled flights early, so I got home not much later than I would have had I waited in  Boston for my connecting flight.  In the next few posts I’ll share International Quilt Market and Festival, but first, a little bit of home.  Since US Thanksgiving is in two days, and since there is nothing I am more thankful for than my family and home, let’s start here.

Getting up the driveway the night before I took this picture was entertaining. Our plow guy had to use his backhoe there was so much snow, and IT got stuck due to soft / not frozen earth and deep, wet snow. I left my car at the bottom of the drive and walked the last quarter mile uphill to the house. But it sure is glorious when the sun comes out!

Aren’t those colors fantastic?

Guess we should have taken the settee and rockers in a bit earlier.  They are now stashed in the garage!

The snowy front porch.

Then, pumpkin pie.  The shopping list for Joshua’s birthday always begins with fixings for his birthday pie, which is what he has wanted since he was about 10.  We’ve kept the “year” / age candles as the boys grew, and keep re-using them.  Joshua is now starting his third decade—how can he be 21????????

Thanks to Eli for getting the shot–mama delivers the pie. Yes, Joshua shared LOL, but we did send them home with the nearly half-a-pie leftovers, which I expect were gone by breakfast the following morning.  Notice he’s wearing the sweater Eli and I bought him in England?

Then I was sneak-attack with the camera.  None of them were thrilled, but what the heck.  I’m Mama, and I want pictures!

Ashley, Joshua being our goofball, and Paul on the sofa.

Eli, muttering because he knows I’m taking a picture, but I love this one!

And the next day, three fourths of the feline contingent:

L to R: Tyger, Hannah Chan and Zeus.

I’ll have a new post tomorrow starting with International Quilt Market.

Banners in the Quilt Museum, York, England. Other than these banners, photography was not allowed.  Glad I could snap there–they are lovely!

Saturday was our day to meet Hanneke W., an internet friend who lives near York.  Eli needed a sleep-in day, so I arranged to meet Hanneke at the Quilt Museum in York and then Eli would join us about lunch time.  As you might gather by our jackets, the weather turned a tad nippy and blustery that Saturday.

With online friend, and now in person friend, Hanneke!

We had a wonderful visit at the Quilt Museum, where we saw costumes from Downton Abbey including garments worn by the wonderful Maggie Smith as The Dowager Countess Grantham, aka Aunt Violet.   I want her wit, but being in the presence of her costume, alas, did not impart that skill!

The hostel was about a mile and a half from the old medieval walls of York, so Eli and I walked in each day

Our walk from the hostel to the old part of the city went down this road.  You can see the Minster (Cathedral) in the distance.

and then “home” in the evening.

Approaching one of the gates to the old city of York.

Entering the old city at Petersgate, which was founded in AD 71 by the Romans (or more likely, by them on top of a village already there).

Recently learned a fun saying:  The difference between an American and a Brit?  The Brit thinks 100 miles is a long way to travel.  The American thinks 100 years is a long time.  TOO true!

Just a short way down the street into town I found a stitchery shop with a quilt in the window commemorating the recent “stage” of the Tour de France that had come through in July.

One of the blocks from the Tour de France stitchery quilt.

Another of the blocks from the Tour de France stitchery quilt.

It was so much fun to meet Hanneke!  We have known each other for years through the QuiltArt list and more recently Facebook.  We met her daughter and husband for lunch, where they urged Eli and me to have dessert, so we decided to try Sticky Toffee Pudding.  In England, a pudding isn’t the same as the US custard-ish dessert.  Instead, it is a dessert, a sort of moist cake.  OH MY.  I recently ordered the dates and Black Treacle (sort of like molasses but without the bitter edge to it) needed for the cake and made it.  EVERYONE loved it!  YUM!  Good thing, as the recipe makes 7-8 servings, each (literally) about 800 calories.  This way if everyone eats it, I won’t eat all of it and weigh 800 pounds.  THANK YOU Hanneke and family for coming down to York for lunch!

Wandering about the pedestrian zone of old York. This city is absolutely stunning, picturesque, loaded with history, and not a hustle-bustle kind of frenetic place but one where you can walk, savor, enjoy.

Eli got up late morning and made his way into town.  On the way, he passed the York Museum.  Outside was a stand with wild birds:  hawks and owls.  So I promised after lunch we could go see them.  The owls ended up being one of the highlights of the trip for Eli.

If you paid a modest sum to help support the wildlife and rehab group, you could hold the owls. This one is an Asian Wood Owl.  Did you see that, a HAPPY teen.  Yes, methinks working with animals is a good future for him!

The owl is getting acquainted with Eli (wearing a gauntlet), his handler helping.

Petting the owl. SO soft!

There were many hawks and owls, about 8 total.  I must’ve taken 100+ photos–resource imagery.

A little owl.

Barn owl.

LOOK at those stunning feathers on the barn owl!

Great horned owl. I realized later that I can spot myself reflected in his eye…I’m just to the left of the sky, holding up the camera!

That Asian owl. Glorious!

Then we went to the York Museum.  There is a place called Jorvik that is described by some guide books as a bucket list place for Brits to visit, by others as “Disney version of Viking  York.”  It looks to be a great interactive, history-based place for families.  We opted for the greater range of real artifacts at the Museum.

This  urn is of an African Style said to have been introduced by Emperor Septimius Severus circa 300 AD; this may resemble his wife. WOW!

Not the best photo, but actual leather shoes from Vikings, circa 1000 AD.

Embroidered woman’s cap, 16th century.

And LOOKIT these massive antlers!  Horns of a Gian Red Deer, which went extinct about 7000 years ago.

Standing underneath the horns, looking up.  They are probably 10 feet wide?

Nose piece from the York Helmet, an Anglian warriors helmet circa 1000 AD.  I love the design work.  Probably an inch wide.

The Middleham Jewel. Described as “the finest piece of medieval fold-working ever found in England” discovered near Middleham Castle, dates to 1450-1500 AD.

What a day! My only frustration is that I didn’t take the time to sketch then (can you imagine a teen waiting an hour for mom to sketch?  I couldn’t either.)  And I haven’t made time since I got back, either…..I MUST SKETCH!  So much esign inspiration!

We trekked back to the Hostel, had a remarkably good dinner there and I had another Pimm’s.    The next day, Anna!  Another internet friend, another day in the old city.

Well… the garden sure doesn’t LOOK like it has had work done.  As a matter of fact, it looks like we’ve done nothing.  But there are 86 tulip bulbs and 300 daffodil bulbs in the ground!

Planting daffodil bulbs on our “meadow” (i.e. a place we don’t mow). I told Eli, Paul, Joshua and Ashley they looked like a road crew: standing around looking at a hole, holding tools, one maybe working….

On Saturday I started in on planting the tulip bulbs near the house.  All the bulbs in fact are fragrant.  I picked Angelique, Tacoma and another variety that is a pale yellow peony style (12 of each) and in landscape (ie smaller, less expensive) 50 (!!!) Orange Princess, this incredible orange with pink and green stripes.  I figure I can get some help deterring the deer from walking Widgeon nearby.  Ahem.

That comment galvanized them (Laughing here!)–they were a huge help. With my arthritis in my wrists and hands it would have taken me forever rather than 90 minutes to plant 260 bulbs! THANK YOU family dears!

Then Joshua and Ashley came over and we had a belated b-day celebration for me (we had to wait for the bulbs to arrive) and planted daffodil bulbs.  Joshua, Paul and Eli dug about 17 holes; Ashley and I planted.   Then, Joshua fixed an awesome mac and cheese with about six kinds of cheese, oven-roasted grape tomatoes, fresh basil, bacon….can you say heavenly?  Finally, I had fixed sticky toffee pudding, which is this delectable English cake-like dessert with sauce, served with vanilla ice cream.  SLURP.  A lovely family day.

Now every spring when I look out on our hill and see the bulbs, I will remember this day.  Of course, the bulbs are on about 1/9 of the meadow, so I’m thinking we may need to make this an annual event for several years.  I’ve always dreamed of having an entire field of daffs–how happy can a garden get, to be filled with daffodils?

Eli brought Widgeon out, so I decided to get down on the ground and take a photo from pug’s-eye-level of him and the view. Except he immediately galumphed over to me….

and this is the shot I ended up with!

A happy, wild-eyed pug ready to smooch his mama (that would be me)

Then today I planted the last of the daffodil bulbs, 25 for near the deck/entry, and transplanted a peony.  We tried to kill a baptisia plant near the peony  so that we could SEE the peony and deal with the VW-Beetle-sized baptisia shrub and failed spectacularly, so I’ve decided if you can’t conquer it, move the peony!

Widgeon looking regal and dignified. Well, he thinks so. Then we all crack up because he is so funny! Can you say LOVE THE PUG!

Now to enjoy the winter blizzards and blinding beauty of snow, then endure mud season, and finally wait for spring to spring and see how the bulbs look and smell.  Joshua and Ashley will be receiving a fragrant bouquet (provided they bloom!).  And I can tell you if those Orange Princess tulips are as glorious as they looked in the photo, there WILL be dyeing of fabric and a quilt of ginormous tulips!  I promise I’ll share garden photos in spring!