This is what my life has felt like lately...We got back from The International Quilt Festival and Market in Houston last week and are still barely on the planet. I was the only one that managed to avoid a return home cold...so far anyway. Houston went well. Market was busy and a very good show for us. We met great new people...Tina Givens is clearly one that you would like to have living on your street for coffee dates and fashion tips! Learned about "Sample Spree"...loved our bed and breakfast and happily watched the Red Sox play baseball!

We broke down our booth from Market...the wholesale portion of the program and taught a class that night. I hit the exhaustion wall the next morning, swearing that I wasn't going to teach anymore...I want to thank the women (seen above) that were in our house class that morning. They were all, willing, loving and competent individuals that helped me move thru that day!

Festival was very busy! I did this 3 hour Mixed Media thing with 12 or so other teacher types, each with their own table. 300 or so women came into the ball room and spread out and took seats in front of the tables...every twelve minutes the groups moved clockwise around the room, and we the teach types repeated our twelve minute show...15 times...whew...

We ran out of things every day and Midge moved what was left around our little store. The weekend brought a number of talented , smart girlz to our booth. They loved making things, knew what they liked and were very inspiring!
This is Katy Wiggins and she brought us three amazing little creatures. One of their dresses is the opening of a balloon.

Katy's mother Mary is quite the creature herself, and the mother of Cordelia...Now, Cordelia has her own blog and one of the dolls living here at Artgirlz World Headquarters insisted on going to Houston to live with Cordelia...I hope that she is happy. Anyway, thanks Katy for our great present!!! Keep up the good work!

Then there was Lizzie...she managed to make it into many many make and takes in the Mixed Media section of the show. She showed up on the weekend with her self modified jeans...cut below the knee with bright orange skirts stitched onto each leg...we were able to introduce her to Traci Bautista when she came by to say good-bye...she is another one with able hands and a bright mind.

Finally there was Linnea...I can't put my hands on our book that has the correct spelling of her name, but she was another one that warmed our hearts! I was wishing that we could get these lovely young ones together to play with materials and share their skills and teach them new things...She had saved her money to shop with us.
We set her up with a few extra goodies, introduced her to Pokey Bolton who came across with a free magazine! It was very inspiring to meet this young crew and we look forward to seeing them next year!!

We were exhausted by break down time...not to mention that the Patriots game was blocked in the Houston area.
Sue and Al took a little break and went to a sports bar to see it on the dish tv...We made it home safe and somewhat sound.



While we were gone we had two nice articles published. Bernina published an Artgirlz article in the recent "Through the Needle". It features directions for a cloth box that was made for us by Linda Willis. Thanks Linda!


Kalmbach Publishing just put out the Winter 2007 issue of "Make It Mine" and includes a bio and pics of some of our altered clothing. "Make it Mine will help you update your wardrobe and home with quick, simple projects. Embellish ready-made items, combine materials for new creations and get suggestions on how to make it from scratch with this new magazine."

Al and I are off to Chicago tomorrow to attend a Bernina Teachers Conference...we are looking forward to having time to sit at a machine and learn some new things!!

Stay calm!