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News from Houston

I have been home a week and am finally coming back to the real world!

My trip to Houston was FANTASTIC!  I loved every minute and would go again tomorrow if I could.  Everyone was so friendly, the quilt show was amazing and the shopping so tempting.

Ingrid Krapez from Pioneer Patchwork and I attended the Trade Market for three days.  On the first day we attended "Schoolhouse", a series of lectures especially for shop owners, teachers and others in the patchwork industry.

We had a choice of 22 different lectures and show and tells every 30 minutes.  It took us nearly an hour just to read through the day's program and make a time table of which events sounded the most helpful for the business.  Of course some we could not imagaine missing just because we wanted to meet the people giving the talk.

We met quilters Jinny Beyer, Eleanor Burns, Marti Michell. the girls behine Blackbird Designs, Debbie Caffrey, Cheryl Phillips and the Curator of the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum to name a few.  It was a fascinating and inspiring day.  We laughed a lot and were delighted with the information we received, not to mention the freebies!

Over the next two days we spent eight hours a day walking up and down the aisles of the stalls at the Trade Market.  There were over 2000 stalls!  On the first day we only did a few aisles and realised we would need to pick up the pace on the second day!  We found lots of contacts for great tools and wonderful patterns to bring to the shop at Pioneer.  Again, everyone was very friendly and so generous with information.

Before we left on our trip I said if I found an antique 1880s quilt with hexagons I might be tempted.  And I found one!!!!  And I was tempted.  I purchased from Cindy's Antique Quilts of Clinton, Oklahoma, the most glorious hexagon quilt top.

The quilt consists of many hexagons hand pieced (not over papers) in vertical rows.  The fabrics are from the 1860s and 1870s.  It is like a charm quilt with many different fabrics in blues, browns, pinks, reds and shirtings.  The hand stitching on the back is beautifully small and even.  A lot of the patches are joined to make a piece of fabric large enough for the hexagon.

The lady who made it was a beautiful sewer and finished the edges of the quilt with the half hexagons very neatly.  The overall look of the quilt is quite masculine and dark, which is what I love about it.  It is in perfect condition.  I do not think it has been washed.  It looks like she finished the quilt top and put it away.  How wonderful to speculate on why she made the quilt and why she did not use it.  It is 140 years old.

I plan to have Veronica Appleyard custom quilt it for me and use it on my bed.  Gorgeous!

Here is a photo of one section of the quilt.

Here is a closeup of the stitching.  I hope you can see it.

I will tell you more about my trip another time.

Regards,

Katrina x