This is what she really looks like :)  She wanted to be a beautiful scarecrow and not a cutsy scarecrow.  So we have a little bit of both here.


Here is the little one from the back.

 Now on the other side of the spectrum is my little Astronaut.  His take was a strong confident I-walk-into-danger-unafraid demeanor.  Astronauts are pretty much that awesome.


Oh Geez, where did I get these kids?  I can't believe their little minds sometimes.  This is what he really looks like.  He is a goofy smiling kind-hearted soul.  But he definitely has both characters inside that little body.

See... a little goofy.

I feel so incredibly blessed right now in my life and I am so grateful for what I have.  I hope that we continue smiling no matter what we have to face and stick together.


It's all fun and games...

Until it's not...  I think she almost got a beating, good thing her negotiating skills are top notch.

Just a little pic of the photographer :)

And one more for the road!

Even though I am exhausted and I have fallen asleep twice today I still HAVE to share about our trip before too much time goes by -

WEDNESDAY - 
So the list worked pretty well to get me prepared for Market.  I was able to have just the right amount of decorations and everything fit pretty well in my suitcases (I did have to sit on them to close but they definitely closed).  We got to Houston and had an exciting ride on the Metro Bus where we saw a little bit of Houston on the way.  Below is a pic of just after we got to the hotel and checked in.

THURSDAY -  
We were super lucky to make a trip to Galveston with our wonderfully amazing and sneaky Betty (she surprised us when were being picked up, we were so shocked and excited) and her daughter - Jennie/grand daughter - Sharee /great grand daughters.  We were so spoiled with a dolphin show and a ferry ride.  The splash is one of many attempts to catch the dolphins in action.

The company was AMAZING!!  My friends Andrea, Crystal, and Katie were able to come along.  Here we are on the ferry.


We also got to go to the beach and stick our feet in the sand.  Katie is super brave with a crab in her hand.  Then Andrea is in the back ground just sitting in the water soaking up the sun (which is her FAVORITE HOBBY).

It only took a minute for Katie to make it out into the water and she ran as fast as you can run... in water.

The downtown of Houston has a great group of stunning sky scrapers.

Then the hard work began.  We headed down to set up the booth which took a couple of hours.

It all turned out pretty cute and it was fun to see all of the quilts posted all over the booth.  Can you believe all of this fit in two suitcases?

Katie's idea for a polaroid was a fun touch.  We had cute signs to hold which was our craft Wed night in the hotel room.

Katie made the super cute Rotary cutter.  It as my favorite decoration.

FRIDAY - 
Then the next day we got another day off to enjoy School House and Sample Spree.  Here is Katie and Crystal getting all amped up from the excitement.

Then here is the chaos of Sample Spree inside.  Also, here is our booth-neighbors in the cute Yellow Aprons.

Katie got a quick pic with Chef Eleanor Burns among the chaos.

So don't tell our husbands but we were bad... real bad.  Here is all of our loot together.  So much fabric.

We got to meet wonderful people through out the whole show.  One sweet sweet lady was Kathy Schmidt.  We loved her so so much we each bought her fabric and then took a photo shoot with it.  I can't tell you how fun it is to meet people and to be so impressed with their kind hearts.  It is always locked in my heart how sweet they are and I won't ever forget.


Speaking of kind hearts... Sweetwater's mother and daughters team missing a few -

 another sweet heart... Amy Butler -

And ALWAYS the most kind sweet hearts... Kim and Kris -

SATURDAY/SUNDAY - 
Then Quilt Market started!!  My sweet amazing incredible friend outfitted me in these coated jeggings!!  WHOA!!

Here is the view out our room's window.

Here is one of the author's we were so lucky to meet.  I have to say that I was so so so impressed with her book!!  I can not wait to make some super cute Clothes for my favorite niece!

Here is Crystal next to a Fig Tree quilt with her matching manicure.

Andrea won our best dressed of the trip nominated by Katie and second and third by Michelle and Crystal.  We all had our matching aprons which were handy for all our pens and essentials we needed for the business side of things.

MONDAY - 
Then all good things come to an end.  Katie and Andrea headed home in the early afternoon and  Crystal and I closed the booth down and headed frantically to the airport.  We made it in plenty of time with plenty of laughs.  It was an amazing experience and I feel so lucky to have all these memories and to be inspired by all the people that are in this Quilting Industry.  So I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into our trip.

And then our heads were in the clouds and they continue to be... we still haven't come down yet.

And, just like I promised, Here is the "Skinny" for our hallway.  I think that it is the PERFECT size to hang in our hallway.  It definitely is a great surprise to see from my front door.  Now I need a whole new collection of Skinnies?  This reminds me of fashion dilemmas right?  Don't they always pose a waterfall of problems??? YES!  Anyway ;)


The quilting on this runner wasn't anything spectacular but today's quilting did stand out for the one specific reason - I did not have one problem.!.  I managed to get my tension under control after a couple of months of struggling with it.  There is nothing like a little self-doubt and frustration to set you back a bit.  I have to admit that I was getting a little perturbed by the whole situation.  So thank goodness I had a good day today.


I didn't LOVE the background quilting in the Fall block but I think that I am just a little out of practice for creative backgrounding.  I can do the simple stuff no problem but I have regressed a little bit in the creative smooth part.  I was aiming for leaves blowing in the wind.  I am going to make a point to get some of that creative smooth back.  I haven't had the time to put into long-arming as I would have liked.  It is because of all the misc sewing I have been doing lately.  On the positive side - at least I have the other kind of back grounding down.


Also, I was able to get another thing checked off my list today as well.  I made another Sweet Diaper Bag (available in my Pattern shop tab #2) to take to Quilt Market with me for my exhibit.  I love this vinyl and my roll is seriously depleted. There isn't much more I can make from it :(


I got my label on the inner pocket.



All of the inner pockets turned out so nice.  This bag was very enjoyable to sew this time.  Even the changing pad was a snap.

One of my favorite parts of this bag is still the gathered top.




Next thing to tackle is booth decorations!!! EEEK :)