My “Quick” Trip to Austin
This past week I made a quick trip to Austin, Texas for the Inaugural Quilt Con Show organized by the Modern Quilt Guilds. Yes, I actually drove 2, 614 miles just to go to a quilt show. I am one of those “queer ducks” that enjoys cross country driving.
Stevii and I left Tuesday morning and drove to Las Crusas, New Mexico. We saw lots of pecan groves that were just beginning to turn green. Wednesday evening we spent the night in Fredericksburg, Texas. Did you know that they raise Angora Goats on their ranches in the hill country of Texas? We saw more goats than cattle and even saw a few buffalo.
We spent Thursday at the show. Lots of quilts were on display and I am beginning to understand and appreciate what is a “Modern” Quilt. There were quilts with piecing but not necessarily repetitive patterns. Many of the modern quilters incorporate negative space in their quilts and they do a great job of quilting those areas.
Quilt Con invited their sponsors to participate by having a booth at the show. Some that I visited with were fabric or book companies such as Andover, Robert Kaufman, Marcus Brothers, Michael Miller, Moda and Stash Books. Each of them were offering either “make it and take it ideas”, giving demonstrations, offering product information to the attendees or photo ops.
We spent the day visiting with people we knew, looking at quilts, checking out the vendors, shopping and just having a good time. I enjoyed attending Quilt Con.
Friday we began our trip home. We stopped in Van Buren, Texas to have lunch at a Mexican Restaurant named Chueys, which had been a favorite stopping place for the late John Madden, the football guy. The building was painted inside and out with the brightest neon green, fushia, and orange. It really shows up among the West Texas brown scenery. We arrived home on Saturday. You can really cover the miles in West Texas with cruise control and an 80 MPH speed limit.
Now, I will have to work on the class schedules and other things for the January 2014 Road to California.
Carolyn
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What a quick trip to Texas! But so worthwhile! My in-laws are all in Texas and the drive is beautiful. I think it was a little early for the bluebonnets, though. Glad you enjoyed the show. Wish I could have gone instead of being stuck in Colorado in our snowstorms!
I hope you have thawed out by now, Bonnie. The bluebonnets aren’t due until the middle of April.