I received an invitation to accompany a friend to the
Houston Quilt Festival this week and stay as a house guest at her daughter’s
lovely home. What a treat it was.
I was so busy absorbing the sights and sounds of the event
that I took very few pictures. This
prize winner, however, took my breath away.
I didn’t come home empty handed by any means. I made two purchases, both of them
extravagant.
For several years, I’ve wanted to see if I could find a
really good fitting thimble. My hands
are small and it’s not that easy to find ones that are comfortable.
Here is what I came home with. This thimble is made by TJ Lane. It is sterling and has a lifetime warranty. The price hurt, but the thimble feels
wonderful on my hand.
And, this little girl followed me home too. For some time, I’ve wanted a retreat/workshop
machine with a good blanket stitch. I
love my vintage straight stitch machines.
They are still my favorite for piecing, but often they don’t meet
workshop requirements. The machines I have that do meet those requirements are heavy, bulky and difficult to remove from
their cabinets. After lurking at the
Janome booth several times and peppering the representatives with lots of
questions, they reduced the price three times to one I was willing to
pay.
Good thing hubby is at the ranch
for a few days and I don’t have a lot of commitments this coming week.
I’ll use the time to make friends with her
and consider re-homing one of my vintage machines to free up storage space.
The trip to Houston was fabulous, but exhausting. I’m not used to big city traffic (thankfully my friend handled the driving), the crush
of humanity, and sensory overload that you encounter at Festival. If offered another chance to go to Houston, I
would grab it in a heartbeat; but I’m looking forward to some recovery time.
5 comments:
What a great opportunity to attend the Houston Quilt Festival. Lucky you making two extravagant purchases - those are the best kind, when you aren't going to shop. Welcome Home!
Oh what fun you had! I'm so glad you were able to make a trip like that. Nice purchases too.
Wow, you got to see it all I bet. I do understand the sensory overload---after being down for 6-7 months this year, a trip to Joann's was overload for me:) You got some goodies and a new machine. You deserve the ease of handling it for all your workshops and sew ins.
Such varied assessments of the show! I think it depends on how small/quiet your home environment is as to how the "crush of humanity" is dealt with....even for such a brief time. Margaret Gunn's quilt certainly created a stir and garnered many deserved accolades! Finding a workshop machine seems to be a challenge for many. I usually bring my Juki 2010Q......a "boat anchor" for sure but I so love her speed, thread cutter and other perks that I can't comfortably sew on anything else. The blanket stitch is on my Bernina 440.....an expensive "ornament" that is seldom used of late. Happy sewing!!!!!
Oh..wow...so much fun. Lucky you and a great machine to boot!!
Enjoy
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