Hotel tour of 2014 -- night 127

BYesterday was my last day teaching at Quilters Depot in Pittsburgh PA. The students were fantastic and the shop owners spoiled me. 

They brought me a genuine Primanti Bros sandwich:

It was as big as my head!

This shop was fantastic and I can't wait to visit my new friends again soon:

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 126

The folks at the Quilters Depot in Pittsburgh, PA (my hometown) are treating me like royalty!  Last week they thoughtfully emailed asking if I had any dietary restrictions so that they could plan lunches.  How sweet!  I jokingly suggested a menu of Pittsburgh foods, and they served them to me for lunch today!

Homemade pierogies:

and chipped ham:

These are "back home" type foods, and they have another surprise for me tomorrow!

This afternoon's class was a bit exciting.  There was a car accident right in front of the shop.  We saw ambulances and fire trucks and police and tow trucks.  It got more excting when one of the drivers ran away from the accident on foot.  The police were in the shop asking if any of my students knew which way he ran.  The folks in the other car had a small child and they all were in the quilt shop keeping warm until Grandma and Grandpa could come and pick them up.  Like I said, exciting.

I think that no one was seriously injured, so that is the most important thing.  The sound of brakes and cars crashing is always an awful sound, though, isn't it?

After work, I met up with my mother's cousin for dinner.  Her daughter and I are the same age, but only met a few times while I was growing up.  One of the best parts of traveling is connecting with family as an adult.  It's such a sweet time.

It was also a sweet dinner.  You'll never guess what I had for dessert:

I could only eat a few bites, so this just might be breakfast tomorrow.

I'm back in my hotel.  The photographs on the wall are of Pittsburgh landmarks.

I LOVE BEING A PITTSBURGH GIRL!

I have Found My People

Today I am teaching at Quilters Depot in Pittsburgh:

I feel so welcome!

I love being with folks who root for the right football team:

It's gonna be a great day!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 125

I checked out of Casa De Mom today and moved to a different type of hotel.

I was pleased when I opened the door:

I was confused when I saw the chair:

I had the same chair in a Holiday Inn Express in New Hampshire.  A quick internet search un-confused me.  My hotel is owned by the same company as owns Holiday Inn Express.  Phew!  I felt unsettled until I knew.  It's so hard to keep my nights, cities, and hotels straight!

I was comfy once I built my nest:

Quilt from home.  Pillow from home.  Quilt to bind.  Netflix on laptop.  Diet Dr. Pepper on the nightstand.

It's gonna be a great night!

Cleaning House -- with Thanks

Today another quilt of mine found a new home:

There was some "back art" involved:

A very sweet couple from Mom's church has been over-the-top helpful to her since Dad died.  I wanted to thank them in the best way I know... with a quilt.

I can't think of a better place for this quilt to call home.

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 124

Complaint:

Last night's hotel made me make my own breakfast:

The nerve!

They redeemed themselves by serving me homemade pumpkin log:

 

They are forgiven. 

I love when work travel brings me to where my family lives. Family rocks!

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage...

Then comes a baby!  And one less quilt in my sewing room!

A young gal from church is expecting a baby, so naturally, she gets a quilt:

This is a super-simple-throw-it-on-the-floor-use-it-daily-until-it-wears-out type quilt.

I apologize for the photo.  I rely on the sun for light for my photographs, and the sun is now gone until spring.  Be prepared for months of awful photos.

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 123

This is my last night in Houston. I'm both happy and sad to go home. I miss my home, but there is nothing in the world like International Quilt Festival!

My luggage was stuffed coming here so I am rather worried about making my baggage limit going home.

It's not that I'm a shopper, because I'm not. I only made one purchase at Quilt Festival:

This panel makes a fabric book for the smartest little boy I know. 

The problem with my suitcases are all of the free samples I got at Quilt Market. Pity me!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 122

If you have never been to the International Quilt Festival in Houston, you don't know that it's not about the quilts as much as it is about the feet.

There is a lot of walking and standing and walking, some more walking, and then some standing interrupted by walking.  A body can only enjoy the quilts as long as the feet hold up.

Today was my 7th day in Houston, and my feet are starting to complain a bit.

This is how my morning started:

I was resting up before my 5th class of the week.  I spent my lunch break the same way.

I am now done teaching all six of my classes here, and this is how my day is ending:

My feet are up again, and I'm reading my new quilt book.  This book makes me want to dig into my scrap bin at home and to start stitching!

Tomorrow, I'm walking some more as I have most of the day to see the quilts and check out the vendors.

These little piggies are going to Quilt Festival!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- Night 121

I spent another fun day at the International Quilt Festival in Houston today!

Twenty-fie Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteens, ALL FOR ME!

Listen to those babies hum:

I taught an all-day class called "Elephant Quilting" and my students were wonderful!

Speaking of wonderful, check out the awful food-court lunch I had to endure this afternoon:

Oh how I suffer!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- Night 120

Holy Smokes!  I have spent 4 months of this year away from home!  And to think that I still have two months to go.  Just... wow.

Anyway, I taught two more classes at International Quilt Festival today.  They were fantastic!  Just listen to those machines purr:

I spent the last two days in the Janome classroom with a fantastic educator named Latifah:

Tomorrow and Friday I will be teaching on my sweet Sweet Sixteens from Handi Quilter.

This quilt show is so busy and so full of fun that I don't get to spend any time in this hotel.  Pity me!

House Diet

With all of the quilts I've sent out recently, you'd think my sewing room would look cleaner, wouldn't you?  Yeah?  Well, it doesn't.  I'll keep at this "sending out stuff" thing and trust that eventually I'll notice a difference.

I recently sent this quilt out into the world:

I made this for my daughter's friend.  She has an October birthday and loves Halloween.  I'm sewing through my Halloween fabric stash and made this quilt from my Squared Away pattern.

Happy Birthday!  Enjoy your Halloween quilt!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 119

I was awake bright and early, fighting Houston's impressive rush hour traffic to go and teach my first day of classes at International Quilt Festival.

A I unpacked supplies for the class, I realized that I might just have a problem:

Admitting there's a problem is a first step, right?  I, Debby Brown, am a Talenti addict.

I enjoyed my students ever so much!

Their smiles and excitement are the reason that I do this job.

I had students from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand today.  A truly international day!

I think I must might do this again tomorrow!  (Dear students, I promise I will show up for tomorrow's classes).

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 118

So sad.  Today was the last day of Quilt Market.  The folks in the quilt industry are the finest folks in the world and I can't wait to see them again in Minneapolis in May 2015.

I saw some fun things at Market today.

I saw these lovely pillows in the Red Rooster booth:

They were designed by the super-talented John Kubiniec.

I saw a quilt that I quilted:

This was in the Gen Q Magazine booth.  It was published in the September issue of their magazine.

I saw this fantastic quilt at the Kaleidoscope Kreator booth:

It was quilted by my lovely and talented friend Teri Lucas.

Now that I'm back in my hotel, I'm still thinking of quilts!

Check out my bedspread:

I love this quilting life!

Bi-Lingual

Did you know that I speak more than one language?  No?

Well, I'm fluent in Australian.  I can understand every word of this commercial:



Can you?

If you would like to learn to speak Australian, and maybe learn some quilting, too, you should consider coming to the Australasian Quilt Convention.

It is my honor to teach there for the third time in three years.  This is an outstanding show with outstanding quilts, outstanding quilters, and, truth be told, outstanding food.

Class sign-ups begin this week.  Hope to see you there!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- Night 117

I just spent one fully day at Quilt Market:

Some days at Quilt Market are good, and some days are very good.  Today was one of the latter.

I'm back in my hotel room tonight, but it doesn't look like a hotel room,  It looks like a UPS depot.  I have boxes of quilt kits for my Quilt Festival students and I have suitcases full of supplies that weighed exactly 50.0 pounds each:

I'm looking forward to Quilt Market again tomorrow, but I'm not looking forward to rush hour in Houston nor lugging these boxes into the convention center.

I tried to hit the bottle tonight once I got to my hotel room, but apparently my fridge runs a wee bit cold:

Maybe my Diet Dr. Pepper will thaw by Thursday or Friday?

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- Night 116

I am in HOUSTON!!!!  WooHoo!!!

Tomorrow I go to Quilt Market to see what is new in the industry, but today I spent traveling and then at the Handi Quilter reception.  I'm a bad blogger because I took no photos at the reception.

I got this book out of the library to read on the plane:

I'm going to read a bit more before turning in.  Maybe I'll have sweet dreams?

Commitment Issues

I often hear that so-and-so "lacks commitment" or has "commitment issues."

While I don't lack commitment, I certainly have commitment issues.

Once I read a book or start watching a TV series on Netflix, I am totally committed.  This month's commitment issue is:

I just finished watching 9 seasons on Netflix, and then logged into Hulu (free!) for the first four episodes of season 10.  SCORE!

I watch (listen) to these shows while I am quilting.  I've been quilting a lot lately (Hello?  Houston?) and still have a bit more to do.

Now I am a commited girl looking for a new series to commit to!  What series shall I watch next?  I like inane crime dramas and despise comedies.

Spreading More Love

I am sponsoring a new quilter by giving her quilt kits to get her started.  I make the kits from leftover bits in my stash and patterns I have used and trust.

This new quilter is sewing up a storm and already finished her first two quilt tops.  I put together another kit tonight:

These are some of my happiest fabrics and two of my favorite quilt patterns.  I'll let my young quilter friend choose which pattern she prefers.

What are your favorite patterns for young quilters?  I'm sure my quilter friend will need another kit soon!

Organizing -- Day 12

I have a large sewing room; it is the size of a two-car garage.  I know this because it is directly above my two-car garage.

Even with a large sewing room, the space is still limited.  One problem I have is storage.  This is a large room with no wall space; all of the would-be wall space is windows, a fireplace, and a sliding glass door.  It is very hard to put shelving in front of doors, windows, or a fireplace.  I sneak a skinny shelf in, here and there, but they are over-full and need to be re-organized.

I have interests other than quilting (gasp!) and they overflow into the sewing room.  Today's problem involves my cookbooks.  I love to cook (and eat) and I have a lot of cookbooks.  My kitchen has limited storage space (none) and the cookbooks are taking up precious shelf space in my sewing room.  It's time to fix that!

My dream was to contain all of my cookbooks on a single shelf:

Dream realized!

If I hadn't opened a cookbook in a decade or more, it was time to go.  If I looked at a cookbook and remembered the one recipe inside that I used, I copied down the recipe (with my personal changes) and let go of the book.  Fortunately, my library is having a used book sale this weekend.  If you live near me, you should definitely check it out; I hear they have a great collection of cookbooks for sale.

Most of the cooking we do now is based on recipes found on the internet.  How on earth do I store all of those printed pages?  I tried organizing them into a binder, but I was never able to keep it up.  I recently pulled out an old accordian file and labeled it to my liking:

This is working so far.  I can easily file each new printed recipe without needing a hole punch.  I can make as many categories as I like and change them easily by re-labeling the pocket.  In my system, "zucchini" is it's own category!  Anyone else have tons of zucchini recipes to get them through "drowning in zucchini" season?

I need to get to work on the rest of my shelves, but they are full of quilt books.  I'm not emotionally prepared to deal with those yet.