Now for the finds…

When you go to a large show the first time, you are overwhelmed by the vendors and tend to go a little crazy. After attending several shows, you realize that for the most part, the vendors really have mostly stuff that you can get at most shops. Now that I have the show thing down, I like to look for things that are harder to find, more specialized and unique.

This show offered some great vintage booths. There was vintage kimono fabrics from Hiroshima, feed sacks from the 1920-1930’s, embroidery, chenille and all sorts of vintagy goodies. Other than a couple of necessities, these more unique items are mostly what I acquired at the show.

Chenille

Antique kimono fabric, Japanese fabrics and patterns

Bark cloth, 1930’s, 50’s and who knows about that grey one. I just liked it.

I also got a wonderful brimmed hat that was made of a red 1940’s-ish table cloth and dotted chenille for DiscoJen’s adorable daughter, Carolina.

When DiscoJen and the kids were visiting one day last summer, Carolina spied my tape measure that I had left on the cocktail table in the family room. She asked me to measure her. DiscoJen suggested that I measure her head circumference, because none of those cute hats for the pool and out doors fit her head anymore. So I measured it and was shocked at the size! Then we got the idea to measure my head (don’t ask why we thought to do that, I’m sure it was some wacky string of thought processes that lead us there). Low and behold, my head was only a couple of centimeters larger than the head of the 2 ½ year old child! I’m not sure what’s worse, her head being that big, or mine that small. I don’t think my head looks that small in relation to the rest of my body. Anyway, whenever I’m at the store and I see a cute hat for little girls, I try it on, if it fits, I get it for Carolina. You should have seen the look I got from a lady at Target one day in the children’s dept. I tried on a child sized sun hat, it fit and I exclaimed “sweet!” Boy, the look she sent me totally said “what a freak”. When I was at the vintage chenille booth at the quilt show and saw the hat, I tried it on and it fit! The price was ridiculously cheap too. I can’t wait to see it on Carolina. She’ll look soooo cute in it! I think I look pretty cute in it too, but not as cute as she will.

Is that a cute hat or what?


That’s about it for the finds. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I do!

The stray and some finds…

I was going to use this post to show everyone the wonderfuland unique things I found at the quilt show when I returned on Sunday for the vendor portion, but something interesting happened Thursday night that I thought would be good to share.

My wonderfully nice friend, dibbed "Aunt PittyPat" due to there being too many Pat's at our retreat and we needed to differentiate between them, stopped by on her way home from work to pick up her stamping stuff. We were outside discussing window replacement options as we have the same builder, but she built her house about 8 years before mine and their windows were due for change. The hubby came home, went in the garage and shut the door (the reason I mention such a mundane detail will become clear a little further on). I turned back to PittyPat, who was just getting ready to leave, and see a Husky running loose in the street; coming from between the house across the way that I know has 2 Huskies.

Bug and Methos, Christmas 2002

As I also have 2 Huskies, I am well versed in what you need to do when a Husky decides it’s time to run the Iditarod. In my multiple obedience classes with Bug, they told us to get the treat bag, call to the dog and then drop to the ground and roll around flailing and such to get the dog to come to you in their curiosity. Anyone with a Husky knows that the first thing you get is car keys. Bug has been clocked at 35 mph, by the time you get treats, she’s long gone.

I turned to PittyPat and asked her if she would mind driving me to the dog. The neighbors were all out in the amazing 70 degree and sunny weather, and all started chasing the dog (for the record, the wrong thing to do). PittyPat drove me over, but they had chased the dog between houses to the back of the block. Luckily the next cross street went around that way (our neighborhood’s streets are rather labyrinth like). We went around the corner; the dog was running down the middle of the street, straight toward us. I asked PittyPat to stop the car. I opened the door and jumped out of the back seat, left the door open, and started calling to the dog “want to go for a ride!” The dog came straight toward me, and jumped in the car. It’s the only thing that will get Bug, and it has worked for me w/almost all strays I try to help, except my Robbie. But that’s a whole other story.

Robbie smiling

As we drove the dog to my house, I checked her out for i.d., but she only had a collar, no tags. We passed the neighbors w/the Huskies, but it wasn’t their dog. I had figured out by then that it wasn't, because their dog is kind of a whack job. I called the hubby on PittyPat’s phone, he didn’t answer. PittyPat went to ring the doorbell, and was rather insistent in her ringing, no answer. We knew he was in there, we saw him come home (see how that tied in)! She went around to the kitchen window and called for him. Nothing.

I was finally able to get the dog out of the car (she didn’t want to leave) and actually got our garage keypad to work. It never works, so I was lucky this time. PittyPat made sure I was in, and went home. I think she was grateful to be done with the craziness. I went to the door to the house.

We have the “airlock” entry system in our house, for the exact reason of Huskies running amuck in the neighborhood. The laundry room is the path between the garage and house. We close the door to the house, with the dogs in the house, and then open the garage door entrance. The doors are not to be opened until the overhead garage door is shut. Complicated, maybe, but it is way better than your precious pup being squashed on the road.

The hubby had not closed the door to the house when he went in, so when I opened the door to daintily bellow for him, the girl dogs were there going crazy to meet their new friend. I told the hubby to get the dogs out of the laundry room because I needed help. He asked in a suspicious tone “Do you have an animal out there?” I said “YES AND I NEED YOUR HELP!” The reply - “Shit.” Of course, he has no room to talk; he does the exact same thing. We can’t help ourselves. We help dogs in need. It’s how we got Brave Sir Robin after all, and that was all his fault. Well, to be honest, it’s how we got all of our dogs really. And it's how my sister gets her cats. It must be genetic. Oh wait, I rescued her first cat for her and made her take it. I guess it's all my fault.

I asked him to get the leash and bring it out, then go shut all the shades and curtains that show the backyard. He grabbed the leash and came into the garage, looked into those blue eyes, saw that wagging tail and went all soft. She was a totally sweet dog. I took her around to the yard and let her run about, sniffing to her hearts content. The girls were inside going bonkers. He was going to let Bug out to say hi first, but Daisy the Dinglehopper wormed her way through the door. She’s such a weasel. He brought Bug out, but held her back while Daisy introduced herself to the dog. They did ok together. Bug was howling up a storm.

Daisy Dinglehopper

Now anyone who has seen Huskies in a group with other dogs knows that they are little breedist dogs. They prefer other Huskies over other breeds, and will ignore non-Huskies if there is a Husky around. Through my obedience and agility classes with Bug, I noticed that it’s really more of an artic breed thing. She will take a Malamute over a retriever any day.

Bug and the Husky got on well. They started to wrestle, which always sounds like they are killing each other, but their postures were friendly enough. She was so happy to play w/another Husky! Methos is too old now and hasn’t wrestled in a year or two, so she’s resigned to Daisy Dinglehead being her only entertainment.

I went into the house and called Adopt a Husky, then the village police to see if anyone reported a missing dog. They had, and the description matched the one we had. The man was over in about 2 minutes, so I knew he lived close. We talked to him for a bit and found out the dog was not micro chipped. I explained to him that it’s worth the $30 investment, because the authorities are required to check for it. If the dog doesn’t have it, they can and do put animals with out it down at anytime, for any reason. Not to mention that when you have dogs like Huskies that can run 35+ mph, who knows how far they will be before you find them, if ever. They hubby told him to get tags for the dog at the very least.

I wish I had taken pictures of her, but I forgot in all the excitement. She was very pretty and sweet.

I left the hubby to talk with him as I was late for my friend Marla’s spa party. It was great to go to a spa party, relax, drink “Mad Housewife” wine, meet new people and get pampered. A fitting end to the day, don’t you think?

That was longer then I thought it would be, so I’ll save the finds for another post.
Vicki

And sew it begins...

Hi and welcome to my new blog! I had been hemming and hawing about blogging for quite sometime, but decided it was time to dive in. As my profile indicates, I'm an avid quilter. I read countless quilting, sewing and cooking blogs and can't wait to join the community of crafty bloggers.

I think an appropriate place to start is the wonderment that is the International Quilt Festival! My dear friend, DiscoJen, and I go every year. This year we went after work on Thursday night. I think this may be the best show yet. The photo above is a detail shot of an quilt with the most amazing machine quilting on it. I forgot to take a picture of the sign describing it, so I'll have to be sure I do when I go back on Sunday. There was an entire section of hand pieced, appliqued and quilted quilts that were astounding. I simply don't know how these women do it, much less how they manage to create more than one in a life time!

I should give a disclaimer here, I hate handwork, so I may be more impressed due to this fact. I do feel that binding looks the best when it's hand tacked so I have my quilt guru, Karen, finish the binding for me. The woman is amazing. Her tiny little stitches are perfect, and she can finish a twin size quilt while watching a movie. It is rather ironic that I dislike hand work so much, as my mother is an award winning needle pointer.

Back to the topic at hand. The "Fresh as a Daisy" quilt by Melinda Bula was incredible. I was looking at the quilt in awe when DiscoJen called out from the other side, "Vicki, that's the back! You have to see this!" Sure enough, it was indeed the back! How amazing is that! I mean, the backs are always interesting, but rarely are they a whole other quilt unto themselves!

The Back:

The Front:

Isn't it stunning? There was such a variety of styles and techniques, there was really something for every quilter. Every quilt show I decide I really want to go on a quilting tour of Japan. I have noticed that the Japanese quilters are really inspired. Their use of fabrics, original patterns and style is just amazing.

I also got to see the "Late Date" quilt by Pam RuBert. I love her sense of humor. Her blog always amuses me. http://pamdora.com/blog/ The quilt was great. There's so much detail that you see in person that you don't in photos. I would love to see an exhibition of the rest of her quilts. The sushi restaurant and the Tower of Babel quilts look really amusing.

I could go on, but I will spare you all. If you get a chance to go to the show, you should not pass it up. I hear they've added a show this year in Long Beach, CA, as well as the original in Housten.

Happy Quilting!

Vicki