Well, girls, here’s a new one, even for us!

While in Houston, we stayed at a very nice hotel, (Pricelined it!). It was also an old historic hotel, which means it was just a tad smaller than newer hotels, but very luxurious just the same. Let’s just say the bathroom was very cozy!

One morning we were kind of rushed to make it to the Quilt Market floor on time, so I told David: when I get out of the shower, you get in the shower, I’ll dry my hair and get out of the bathroom, so then you can have the bathroom and I’ll finish getting ready in the room.  OK, that’s the plan.

He jumps in the shower, I put my heifer leg on the toilet seat to dry my leg, and my foot goes TOTALLY….THROUGH….THE …..TOILET….SEAT!!….breaking the seat into large chunks, and landing my foot in the water!!!!

Well, I was stunned!! How did I do that? And what is that pain all up the back of my leg? Am I bleeding? Will I need an amputation? Oh, and HOW DID I DO THAT???

Oh! And how am I going to explain this??? Yes, how AM I going to explain this???? Well, right about then, David says through the shower curtain, “What was THAT noise?”

“Well, David, I just put my foot through the toilet seat!!”

“What do you mean you put your foot through the toilet seat?”

Well, this is what I mean………

Notice the large chunks of toilet seat floating in the water….notice the large chunks of toilet seat on the floor…..

I considered, for a fleeting second, of fishing them out of the water, then thought, really, that’s the least of the problems here.

So, first things first, I promptly took this picture and texted it to Erin and Kelly so they could have their laugh of the day!!

Then I did what YOU would do….I finished getting ready for the day!!!

On the way out of the hotel, I said to David, “You really need to tell the front desk about the toilet seat.”

Which is exactly what YOU would have done, isn’t it? So, don’t tell me I’m the only one who’s done embarrassing stuff!! What’s your story? Because I’ve got a whole lifetime of stupid stuff!!! Share?

Here are a bunch of pics from Quilt Market…sorry I didn’t post last night. The hotel WiFi was so slow, I could play a round of Solitaire while waiting for one picture to upload. Not good! So, here goes:

Above is part of Anna Marie Horner’s booth, lots of garments here!

 Again, garments and home dec are popular

 This pic shows some of the fabrics on her new collection “Crush”. Very yummy!!

Here’s a few pics from a new Applique designer from Australia.

I’ll post the name as soon as I find her info in the pile of paperwork from Market!

 This was just the cutest!

This fabric is from Benartex, new for Market, but it arrived in your fav quilt store just last week!! It is “Habitat” from Michelle D’Amore

Wonderful shades of black and taupe with white and a little green.  Love it!

This fabric caught my eye as soon as we rounded the corner! Yummy shades of greens with purple/plums, a little soft pink. Really nice!  Don’t you want to crawl in that bed? I did!!

Brooklyn Heights by  Kitty Yoshida

Fabric weaving:

upcoming classes!!!

 These fabric bowls are covered with Angelina fibers and tons of quilting. Gorgeous. Make one with me?

 Applique quilt in process by Liza Lucy…fussy cutting Kaffe for applique? Good idea, it’s perfect for this. We’ll bring in these patterns for sure, just have to wait for Liza to get home!

 New Kaffe books….

 New from Laura Murray Designs…stamps, PaintStiks, cut apart and sew back together…not so new after all!!

Stunning!!

 Another Paintstik Medallion…stamps!

Three Pot Holders! This is a cat, plus a pig and a cow!! Mooooo….

Tula Pink…very nice visit with her…..fabric is on the way!!

 Tula’s “Modern Alphabet”…

 look at this quilting!!

 Tula in the round!!

 New separating zippers….choose 2 colors, then mix them up! Cute!!

 The End!

The saying is: “a picture’s worth 1000 words” so here goes:

New from Marlous Designs, one pattern with three versions! Quick and easy, yet beautiful!

Amy Butler Soul Blossoms

Anna Marie Horner:

 George Mendoza, blind artist, with the Art of Possibility:

 Ty Pennington for Free Spirit:

 NEW!! Timeless Treasures Block of the Month in luscious batiks!

 Zentangle is now for fabric! Watch for a class in this very very cool technique!

This new zipper is sooo me! Diamonds are the zipper teeth! Cute! Now you can go elegant cas anywhere you go…a diamond studded zipper with jeans!!

 Well, those are about 12,000 words! How did you like Day 1 at Quilt Market?

Going to school is exhausting!! WOW! No wonder kids get all those breaks!! I started the day with a wonderful breakfast hosted by Michael Miller Fabrics, and got to sit with a bunch of friends: Carol Britt from Batiks Etc and Sew What Fabrics in Wytheville, VA, Cathy McKillip from Wish Upon a Quilt in Raleigh, NC, and Karen Montgomery from near Pittsburgh PA. We shared ideas over breakfast. Then the Swirly Girls unveiled a new “ClubHouse” program. The fabric from Michael Miller is gorgeous, and the ClubHouse plan seems like it would be fun! Might do it!!

Quilt Market School House involves 15-30 minute classes, and this year there were 167 offerings. David and I divide up the schedule, and compare notes afterwards!  Yep!! Some of the best Market finds are found by David!! He has a pretty good sense about not only color, but about new tools and notions.

My favorite School House was hosted by Kaffe Fassett, Brandon Mably and Liza Lucy of Westmisnter Fabrics from the UK.

We always buy a lot of Kaffe, and this Market will be no exception! I can hardly wait!!!

This quilt is in process by Liza….appliques are fussy cut from Kaffe’s large florals, which make it perfect for applique! Gorgeous!!

The quilt at the right is done by Brandon Mably, and features his contemporary prints! Very fun!

Well, Quilt Market floor officially opens tomorrow! We have a lot of work to do, but it will be fun, exhilarating, exciting and exhausting, all at the same time!!  How are we doing so far? We’ll keep you posted!!

This was my song for today: “Leavin’ on a jet plane….landin’ in Houston!!” And that’s what we did! It was warmer, but very windy today in South Texas! We are staying in an historic hotel in downtown Houston in the Theatre District. Very nice!

Tonight we joined some friends and fellow members of The FabShop Net. Each year, Laurie Harsh hosts a dinner the night before Quilt Market begins. It’s a nice beginning to a great weekend: we all met in the lobby for some snacks and demos (yep! We store owners like demos, too!), followed by a nice dinner. This year, we heard from three CEO’s who visited three quilt stores and shadowed the owners for a day.

We heard from Cathy Miller of Michael Miller; Rob Kreiger from Checker Distributors, and the CEO of Windham Fabrics, who shadowed owners  Carolie Hensley of The Cotton Patch Quilt Store, Jan Crane of Pennington Quilt Works and Kathy Seal of The Quilt Works.

Their feedback was quite interesting: basically, these three CEO’s of large corporations were amazed at the amount of work these three woman accomplished in a day! WOW! And I always think a quilt store is a pretty small job compared with others! See? It all depends on your perspective, doesn’t it?

Tons of prizes were given away, all provided by our vendors. It’s always fun to take home some freebies, some sample books and patterns. One shop owner won 16 bolts of fabric! How’s she going to get that in her suitcase??

There were a couple of women there with some Gee’s Bend quilts. Those quilts always amaze me!

What’s on the agenda for tomorrow? Breakfast with Michael Miller, School House all day, and dinner with a group of owners from the East Coast! Fun Day! Stay tuned!!

This is an old recipe, but yummy none the less! Our family always requests it for Easter, which often times is our daughter’s birthday celebration as well. YUM!

1 yellow cake mix

11 oz can mandarin oranges, do not drain

4 eggs

1/4 cup oil

Dump everything into mixing bowl and beat in high several minutes. Prepare 3 round 8″ or 9″ cake pans, flour bottom or use waxed paper for easy release. Distribute batter evenly. Bake at 35o degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cake tests done.

Cool 5 minutes and turn out of pans. Cool completely.

Frosting:

15 oz or 20 oz crushed pineapple, drain 5 minutes

2 small 3.5 oz packages vanilla instant pudding mix

16 oz Cool Whip (do not use Fat Free)

Mix the pineapple with pudding mix. Fold in Col Whip. Frost in between layers and sides and top.

Use a spatula to get all of it off the sides of the bowl so you can taste it!! Refrigerate after adding the frosting. It is best to make it early in the day of serving, or even the day before. Best when it’ cold!

2 large Cream Cheese, softened

1 can Rotele tomatoes with chiles

1 pkg dry Hidden Valley Rance Dressing

1 can Mexicorn, drained

Stir together and chill. Serve with tortilla Chips. YUM!! We first tasted this at a family July 4th celebration in Kansas when David’s cousin Kimmie shared this with all of us. It was reeeally good!

 This is an old recipe adapted for the Crock Pot:

In a large mixing bowl, thaw in microwave at 50% power for 5-10 minutes:

2 lbs frozen shredded hash browns

Melt in microwave:

1 stick butter

Add 1/2 cup finely chopped onion and microwave until soft; add to potatoes

Add the following and stir into potato mixture:

1 can cream chicken soup

16 oz sour cream

1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Grease the Crock Pot with the butter wrapper and pour in the potato  mixture. Cook on high 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. Turn to low for another hour or so until done. Serve 6-8.

How do you ever know when you marry a man that he will turn out to be such a good cook? I sure didn’t guess this about David. When we married, we combined households, me after raising two girls to high school and he after a decade of bachelorhood. We had a lot of stuff to combine. I had great Farberware pans, he had a great sound system; what else do you need? However, I also discovered he had a great set of knives! That should have been my clue. How did that happen? And more importantly, why? What young guy, never married, has or even needs, a great set of knives?

Well, David did! Because he cooks. And he cooks often and he cooks BIG! Take for example, tonight. Working at home all day, I was really hungry. (Took all the good food to work on Monday!) I looked in the fridge: cooked turkey slices from Trader Joe’s, and I found a new package of whole wheat tortillas. What would you say? Looks like fajitas to me! Saute some peppers and onions, throw on some cheese…call it dinner.

David just looks at me and finally says….”no, I think I want to cook something.” “OK, you saute the onions!” “No, I think I’ll cook something else…it’s a surprise!” I hate it when he says that!

So of course, first he has to get out his Rachel Ray cookbook and read. That takes awhile. I keep working. Then he starts chopping. Darn, we are out of celery. I offer to go to Krogers. No. I keep working. Darn. We are out of chicken broth. If you know anything about Rachel Ray, you can’t cook without celery and chicken broth. I offer to go to Krogers. No. I keep working, but getting hungry.

He has pumpkin muffins in the oven, they’re beginning to smell wonderful! I’m still working, but getting hungrier. Darn, we don’t have any shallots, pistachio nuts, celery or chicken broth. He picks up the keys and goes to the store. Boy, I’m hungry.

He’s now home, he’s chopping, using the new and expensive chef’s knife I got him for Christmas. He’s sauteing, stirring, reading, chopping, stirring…..it’s smelling wonderful!! He says he can use my help now. That usually means set the table and get the drinks! Dinner is ready!

Well! It smells wonderful, because here’s what he fixed: a wonderful dressing made with crumbled pumpkin muffins, sauteed onion, yellow squash, celery, tossed with chopped pistachio nuts, add some chicken broth, topped with turkey slices and a wonderful….ready for this??? A very light gravy with chipotle peppers!!

Kind weird, but very, very yummy!! Very yummy!!! We’re actually thinking about having this as a side for Thanksgiving dinner! Who would ever guess a small town Kansas boy would grow up to be such a cook??

So tell me, do you like to cook? What’s your favorite style?

Sewing spaces….some people use their kitchen table, some call them “my studio”, and then there’s a lot of spaces in between. As for me, we have a couple spare bedrooms since the girls moved out, so I have all my sewing stuff in the smallest bedroom in the house. David encouraged me to take the largest spare room, but, no I had to take the smallest one. I don’t know what I was thinking, but that’s the way it is.

My space goes from being totally organized and cleaned up, to a total disaster, eligible for federal funds for cleaning up tornado damage!!! Right now, it’s the latter. My sewing machine is even sitting on the table completely backwards, facing away from the seat! It would take me more time to clean it up than I have time to sew on any given day. Guess I’ll wait ’til a day off and hope the motivation is there that day!

So what does your sewing space look like? Does it ever look like mine? How do you get the time and motivation to buckle down and get it under control again?  How do you organize your space? Share your thoughts, please!