International Quilt Market

I know I know, I've been away from blogging for quite a while, but I do actually have a legitimate excues, or rather many legitimate excuses.  First, I've been doing a lot of events to promote my new book, A Russian Jounry in Quilts.  Second, I've been doing a lot of events to promote mt new book, A Russian Journey in Quilts.  :)

Back in September, I attended Quilting Around Chautauqua for I believe the eighth year in a row.  It was marvelous.  In the evenings, my friends and I had a Dwnton Abbey marathon because two of the four of us weren't really familiar with it at all, while the third hadn't seen the first two seasons.  Well, was I surprised at how great it was, although there were some historical glitches, but boy, were my eyes opened.  I'm looking forward to the next season starting in January.  Did you know that Downton Abbey quilt fabric will soon be available?  I've seen some of the ads in my quilting magazines and it looks very nice.  While at Chautauqua, I also did some book signings at my friend, Melanie's booth.  It started out rather slowly, but then a lot of people seemed interested.  Sold quite a few books AND met a lot of really great quilters!

One thing about Downton Abbey that really struck me was the overlapping of it with my new book, A Russian Journey in Quilts.  Downton Abbey focuses quite a few episodes about WWI in Britain and my book focuses on WWI in Russia.  Interesting connection between the two, I think.

Tomorrow I'm headed to my third International Quilt Market in Houston, TX where I will be promoting my book to the world, so to speak.  Looking forward to it, but nervous of course.  I'm also going to try to get connected to a fabric company again.  So we'll see how that goes.  Stay tuned.....if all goes well during the next five days, I might even have some time to blog about Market while I'm there and show you some of the cool things to see.

  I have a Schoolhouse lecture on Friday at 2:05 PM and a book signing at the Kansas City Star book at 2:45 PM.  Wish me luck.....maybe I'll see you there.

BACK HOME ONCE AGAIN

Isn't it amazing when you get home from vacation and then begin your life once again that it seems like you never went on vacation at all? I always anticipate that my vacation-feeling will spill over into reality for at least a few days, but I am usually wrong.

Three of my friends and I went to our annual trip to Chautauqua Institute in New York state. We stayed in our usual cottage, called Bee Haven. Every year, we leave a little something behind and this year was no different -- this year we left a one-of-a-kind throw quilt to match the living room sofa with appliqued bees in the corners. Of course, I totally forgot to take a photo of the finished piece, so you'll have to wait until next year.

The reason we always go to Chautauqua the third week end of September is to be part of the annual Quilting Around Chautauqua event. Every year, it seems to get bigger -- there were more than 800 quilts on display from local guilds and somthing like 80 vendors. A totally awesome event -- difinitely one to go to if you ever have the chance. Each year there is a guest speaker -- this year it was Jinny Beyer!

We love Chautauqua so much that we actually leave on Wednesday so that we can have a few days of quilt retreat with friends, sewing machines, lots of Jane Austen movies, and even our laptops before the hustle and bustle of the show, which is actually on Saturday and Sunday.

I hope you enjoy my photos!

I have a thing for pink cottages! The Bell Tower celebrated its 100th birthday this year! The front of the hotel!