Houston Quilt Festival is now done and gone till next year!

I didn't really get to go as much as I wanted too, but I did go all day Sat from 9am to 5pm. Yeah, my feet and legs were really tired, but I really had fun. The first day is always about checking out the Material Girls Doll Exhibt and shopping!

I helped put up the doll exhibt but had to leave before it was totally done - so over to the display first. It was great this year. So many of the girls in our club did really great dolls. You know you've seen a really great doll when your jaw drops open and you say "how did she DO that???" I now have a couple of girls in our club that I will have to pick their brains for their technique.

Then on to shopping! I put a limit on the amount of money I could spend and immediately broke that limit before the first 4 hrs. I stayed mostly to ideas that I already had rolling around up there in my brain but didn't have the materials to complete. Got all of the stuff for my secret sister doll for Material Girls that is due on Dec 15th - oh, yeah...I am that far behind! :-) It's even worse - I have two more dolls that I have to finish before Christmas!!! Anyway, I found some other goodies that I would never have been able to find other than on the web, so I bought those too! Of course I had to go to Beyond Beadery - OMG, they have the most wonderfull selection of beads and Swarovski Crystals that I have ever seen anywhere. This is where I usually stock up on my bead and crystal "stash" for the year. I can buy from their web site but the sparkly eye candy when you walk down the asile toward their HUGE booth is to die for! There is no way that I can get by that booth without dumping a good portion of the money that I brought with me. But, I also plan on that too, so they are usually the first booth that I go to. Can you tell that I am a Swarovski nut? Then on to Treasure of the Gypsy - of course all of us Material Girls have to go there! She helps put on the doll exhibt and has the coolest, most beautifull silks and trims - she even has some that are made only for her from women in China (I think). To bad she doesn't have a web site that we can buy from....only at festival is she available to the buying public in Houston. If you've never been to her booth and you are "in to" fabric or trims, this is a MUST! You will drool over her stuff! :-) After Treasures I kind of just did the wander up and down each asile thing, got some yarn and fibers and just had a really good time. Good thing I took the Park and Ride down...I collapsed during the ride back on the bus.

Then back the next day (but only for 4 hrs) to see the quilts and take down the doll exhibt. All in all it was another great International Quilt Festival here in Houston. Can't wait for it to come back next year!