International Quilt Festival 2009

Fearless Leader and I flew out to Houston veeeeery early Friday morning to attend the 2009 Quilt Festival. It was my first show (and first plane ride) so I was really looking forward to it (the show, not the plane ride).

Before I came to work at Create & Decorate, I worked in promotional advertising, and I always thought trade shows were wonderful opportunities to meet people in person, which in turn, I think, helps build better working relationships. FL and I were excited to meet designers that we have only corresponded with by e-mail or talked to on the phone, and to hopefully meet some new people as well.

There were so many wonderful things to look at! Not just beautiful quilts, but embellishments like ribbons and buttons, fun fabrics and wools, punch needle and rug hooking items, woven baskets, and jewelry.

I couldn’t take many pictures inside the convention center because designers were strict (understandably so) about their items being photographed. And okay, I kept getting distracted and forgot to. But I did manage to snap this picture (with permission) of part of a booth that was set up in a pretty cool way. They sold embellishments, jewelry, and odds and ends, and everything was arranged in color hues, which I love. This was the neutral section, my favorite:

The city looked pretty at night.

Also, our hotel room had a great view, and here is the night sky we sat and looked at for a long time (and I mean a long time: we had been up for 19 hours and were so tired that after the show, we plunked ourselves down and didn’t move for about an hour and a half. We are so awesome.)

We were hiiiiigh up!

On the way to dinner Friday night, FL and I came across this interesting (or strange, maybe even scary) chandelier in the hotel. I just had to share. Who dreams up this stuff?

Good morning, Houston! Even tired as heck, we could still appreciate a beautiful sunrise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a little park across the street from the convention center, so we snuck outside for a bit at lunchtime on Saturday. It was 75 degrees and wonderfully sunny, so we wanted to soak up as much Vitamin D as we could. (Give us a break; it was 36 degrees and snowing/sleeting when we left the big NJ. Gosh!)

The convention center looked like a cruise ship...

Buh-bye, Houston.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since all the exhibitors were so darn creative, it was really neat to see how all the booths were set up, and to see all the beautiful quilts that, really, are works of art.

We did meet some new designers and will hopefully be featuring them in the magazine soon, so keep your crafting eyes peeled for that.

Did anyone else attend the show? What did you think? Please share!