Fall Quilt Market and Festival 2012

 

Well, we are finally getting caught up since arriving home from Houston Market and Festival - both shows were great, thank goodness since we had so much trouble getting there.  Mike and I drove with all of our displays and merchandise in our 5th wheel. We allowed 5 days to get to Houston even though we can do it in 4 days (my idea - and I had to fight for it).   We took our little dog Bailey because she can't handle it when we leave her.

 

 

First 2 days went great - third day, we were driving through El Paso and had a blowout on the 5th wheel. Called AAA to come out and change the tire - only a 2 hour setback, no big deal.  Fourth day, we started out in Fort Stockton, TX with half a tank of gas - no gas station for 100 miles - we found one 13 miles out of our way in Iraan TX and ran out of gas in the driveway of the gas station (yes, blocking traffic). Mike had to go to 3 places to find a gas can, $25 later (which he is still complaining about) we put the gas in and the truck won't start - found out that when you run out of diesel you have to pump the gas through the line before you can start the engine, so Mike is covered with gas as it is splashing all over him while he is pumping the gas line in the engine (still blocking traffic).

 

Ok, we are back on the road (Mike reeks of gasoline) - still OK with time.  After about 2 hours we hear a loud explosion of air - another blowout?  No, a compressed air line in the engine blew.  Great!  call AAA again and wait 2 hours for them to get to us - we are literally in the middle of nowhere sitting on the side of the freeway with our little dog Bailey.  He finally arrives, brings the wrong tow truck for our truck and 5th wheel so it takes him over an hour just to hitch us up. 

 

 

 

 

We get towed to a service station in Junction, TX (after turning the wrong way off the freeway and having to make a u-turn in the middle of a 4 lane highway and getting stuck (blocking traffic).  Another hour.  Finally get to the service station and they have to order a part to fix the hose.  Closest part is 100 miles away in San Antonio.  It is 5:00 pm.  We have to camp in the parking lot of this service station and pay one of his employees to drive to San Antonio for the part the next morning.  Finally got back on the road about 2:00 the next day.

 

 

Ok, it is our last day of travel and we have to get to Houston so we can set up our booth the next morning.  We made it - 9:00 pm and the RV park office is closed - we camp in the parking lot. 

But, hey we made it!  Our booth turned out really cute and we had a great show.

 

 

 

We introduced some of our new designs - which did very well: 

Here is our new "Christmas Village" block of the month

 

 

"Gingerbread" candle mat

 

"Christmas Chain"

 

"First Snow" little quilt and snowman in a jar.

 

Our new designs can be found on the website:  www.farmhousethreads.com

 

The drive home was pretty uneventful except for another tire blowout on the 5th wheel and losing a hubcap on our truck.  Thank God for AAA.  We might try a different route to Houston next year.

 

 

 



 

 

 

The dust has finally settled from Quilt Festival in Long Beach, CA.  It was a great show for us - we met so many nice people and had a great time, even though Rhonda tripped over an empty bin during setup and tried to save her fall by grabbing a table on wheels - doesn't work - worse than the sprained ankle was the embarrasment, Mike was talking to Nick and Lisa from Primitive Gatherings and they saw the whole thing - don't you just hate to fall? 

Then there was Debbie's trip to the restroom to fill our vase with water for the beautiful daisies she brought from her garden.  As she was trying to fill the vase from those darned faucets with the sensors instead of handles, a man walked in.  She looked up and saw the wall of urinals and was horrified to realize she was in the men's room - the man didn't seem to mind and went about his business.  Typical.  We sure got a good laugh though.

We introduced some new projects in Long Beach, like our new book "Words With Wool". 

And our new candle mats "Trick or Treat" and "Crazy Christmas Tree"

And we started a new monthly project "Little Quilt Club", you can sign up to receive a complete kit for a little quilt each month.  Here is our first "Little Quilt Club" project "Harvest Pinwheels". 

Don't you just love all the fall colors?

And our new quilt "Christmas Memories" that did'nt get finished, but we took it anyway - it will be on the website when we get the center block embroidered.





Our next show is in San Diego at the convention center September 13 - 15, then we are off to Houston Quilt Festival - November 1 - 4.  More details to follow.

Spring Quilt Market 2012

Just returned from Quilt Market in Kansas City, Missouri.  It was a great show for us and we had several new quilt shops place orders for our patterns - yeah!!!!

We camped in our 5th wheel at Lake Jacomo in Missouri while at market - it was so pretty and peaceful. 

On the drive home we found some great old screen doors in Nebraska to use for display in our booth.