Houston!

I just returned last night from my annual trip to the International Quilt Festival in Houston, better known in the quilting world as "Houston". It is always an exciting, altho exhausting time.  My sister, my usual companion, and I try to see EVERY quit and there are hundreds.  Some categories interest us more than others and we give much closer looks at the art quilts, but we still try to see them all.

Of course the first thing we do when getting in for the Preview Night on Wednesday is to find my quilt, if I have one there.  This time I had one in the Abstract Art Quilts, Small category in the Quilts, a Word of Beauty juried exhibit. My quilt is named Big Green Diptych because to me it is a big quilt, but it did not measure big enough to go in the "Large" category.

No ribbons this year, but the competition in my category was fierce with some very big names.  Even some very big names who did not ribbon, so I felt a little better.

Next we usually go check out the Silent Auction quilts to see my donated piece and all the others, too. This is a great way to get a small piece of art by some fabulous quilters at a usually very low price. Here are just a few of my favorites.

By Janet Steadman.  Her ribbon winner in the show was in the same style.

This Japanese man, Hiroko Miyama. always includes his dog and/or grandchildren in his works. He had more than one quilt in other areas of the show. His work is amazing! He won one of the very big prizes two years ago.

Kathy York. I've long admired her work.

Jane Sassaman in her recognizable style. 

That's mine, Succulent Succulents.

Noriko Endo in a break from her usual confetti quilts.  More about her and a bigger quilt in another post to come.

If you want to see all the big winners, go here. 

Be sure to click on any picture for a bigger view of all.  You don't want to miss any of the details.

I'll try to put up some more for the next few days, so please come back.  Much more to come.