Long time, no post...

Happy Halloween!

So, I left my DH and DS at home to continue working on the house while I went down to Houston to the International Quilt Market and Festival from Thursday-Monday. (For those not interested in quilts, scroll down and you'll find some info on our house projects.)

On Friday, my sister and I and a friend of hers spent the day attending 14 different 15 or 30 minute classes. These classes were to introduce shop owners to new techniques, new books, new fabric lines, etc. The three of us picked out our favorite classes and went our own way until we met up for lunch. After lunch, we again went in different directions to more classes.

These photos are from a class on knitting fabric into squares that you can then incorporate into your quilt. This photo is actually using yarn to knit the squares. The squares are then quilted with different designs. It was a very interesting effect...(click on photo for a larger view)

The solid squares in this quilt were also knitted, but they were knitted using 1/4" strips of fabric. This was also a very interesting effect...
This class was on spiral quilts and introduced a new book that the teacher had just had published...
There were also classes on purse-making. I attended 2 of these. My sister went to one of them with me and ended up winning the raffle in that class. She was given the new City Bag templates from Nancy Zieman. Very cool! These are some of the purses from the other purse class I attended...
On Saturday (all day) and Monday morning we went to the vendor area and had the opportunity to see all the new items that are on the market now. There were lots of freebies and much walking, and we had a great time.

Later Monday morning and early afternoon, we walked over to the Quilt Festival area where there were many amazing quilts on display. Here are a few of my favorites...

This one won a first place award, I think. Most of the quilts hadn't been judged yet, but this one had a large ribbon next to it. Here is a close-up of the horses...
And here is the info about the quilt...
This chicken was fun, and very beautiful!
Here is the quilt info...
Another beautiful quilt - I think it was done by the same quilters as the horse quilt...
Detail of the wings...
And info on the quilt...
This quilt made me think of "Critter", a donkey who lives near Teresa, a fellow blogger and quilter...
Here is the quilt info...
This one just cracked me up!
Here is the quilt info...
So, with our kids grown, I was missing our pumpkin carving tradition, so I bought myself a pumkin and carved this jack-o-lantern this morning. In case you can't figure out what it is, it is window panes with 3 ghosts peeking out (top one is upside-down)...
Our lawn has come in nicely. This was the first area that DH planted and it looks like a real lawn now!
This is out back, the second area that he planted. It's also looking pretty good...
This is how it looks near the pool. You can just barely see the grass starting to come up. It may not grow anymore until Spring, but at least it has taken root...
The areas on each side of the driveway haven't sprouted yet...
And this area beside the garage still hasn't been seeded yet...
We had a load of topsoil delivered today.
It will be used to fill in these last 2 areas between the front door and the garage...
DH has been working on the HVAC system. He added a more efficient air filter unit and a whole house humidifier.
DH and DS also closed up the pool while I was in Houston. Next year I think we'll close it up before the leaves start to fall...
There - I hope my blog is happier now that it has been updated, and that it no longer feels like it's wearing week-old socks (see October 22nd post comments). :-D

I'm getting ready to go on a baking spree. It's time for the election day bake sale at church and I'm planning to bake apple pie, almond apple braid, caramel crunch, funfetti cookies, pumpkin pies, banana bread, and buckeyes (peanut butter balls). Yummy!