Houston International Quilt Festival 2013

For any of us who take the pictures on a trip this quilt will speak volumes to you.  I love what Noriko Nozawa had to say about creating this lovely piece.

 The colours in this quilt drew me to this display of winners of the Open European Quilt Championships.

 Skyline by Claudia Scheja has spectacular piecing, appliqué and machine quilting.

 Vrede by Corinne Zambeek-van Hasselet.

 The doves are lovely in their detail and stitching.

 Over de Muur by Elly Prins.

 Her birds remind me of the Dutch illustrator M.C. Escher.

 Her thread painting was lovely.

 Autumn in Berlin by Annelies Ghyselen.

 I liked the sheer green leaves that hung over the quilt.

 Lovely pieced motifs with circles and curves.

 The Berlin Bear by Marjan van der Heijden

 She used a variety of fabrics on this magnificent pieces.

Catching Beauty by Sylvia Kaptein.                                                                                                         

 She started with a cross stitch piece.

 Lovely applique and embellishments.

 Great machine quilting.

 Bruno is in Hoffman Heaven by Stephanie Diest.

 Such a lovely face.

 Sherri by Sue Bleiwess.

 Forever Friends by Jude Edling.

 Great silhouette in the background.

 Mendelssohn by Franki Kohler.

 Such mischief in those eyes.

 hahahalalala by Judy Chase.

 Firecracker by Virginia Greaves.

 Once again, some lovely fabric choices.

 Best Friend by Barbara Yates Beasley.

 Great fabric choices.

 Snow Buddies by Ruth Powers.

 What an amazing pair!

More yet to come.

My 5 day adventure south of the border...

I arrived at my destination to find this lovely king sized bed to enjoy after a rocky plane ride south.

 I walked down to the convention centre in 84F humidity and peeked through a window as things were being set up . Can you guess where I went?

 The next morning the rain was coming down but I went outside to take a picture of the welcome sign. Peek through the mist, can you read it?

 From the walkway leading to the convention centre.

 The building itself, is over 853,000 square feet!  More than 50,000 visits to this event.  The Houston International Quilt Festival at the George R. Brown Convention Centre.

 I went down to meet an Internet friend for lunch between classes prior to the opening event.  I was so glad to be on the bus route as I didn't bring any rain gear along with me.

 The view out my room when I got back.  You can hardly see the cars on the nearby freeway.

 Ten minutes later and things are easing up.

 Peeking through the windows again about twenty minutes before the preview night starts.

 People rushing in and enjoying the early arrival.  If you purchase classes you get to enter at 5 p.m.  The general public can enter at 7 p.m. the first night and stay till 10.

 Hey we're in Moo-ston!  Look at the collection of cows inspired by Out of the Box blocks by Mary Lou Weidman and Mel McFarlane.

There was a whole herd of these beauties on display.

 Most were made in the U.S. A.

 Some were dressed for winter.

 Some were ready for fiesta or enjoying the flowers.

Stay tuned for close-up of all these beauties and even more from a great show.