Houston Blues

Today I have the "Houston Blues" This is the first time in five years that my friend Karen and I will not be at Quilt Market. I had too many conflicts this year and so we won't be there to see all the glorious new fabrics and notions and all my friends and customers that I usually only get to see at Houston. We'll also miss going to Josephine's restaurant for fabulous Italian dinners.
This image is from my booth last year. The pink and brown quilt behind me is "Chocolate Chips" and the pattern gives directions for 3 different size quilts.
The quilt behind Karen is "Spin Cylcle" and is perfect for large scale florals and prints ~ super quick and easy too!

As always it was a great Market and we had a chance to visit with Mark Lipinski a bit even though he was overwhelmed with visits due to his debut of his "Katmandu" fabric line.
We always love seeing all the other booth displays, especially the fabric vendors. They always seem to out do themselves each year. I'm sure it was unbelievably stressful for Quilts Inc. this year to get things in place after being hit by hurricane Ike recently. But in true form, they always come through for us quilters.
The year before last, we were watching our own scary scenario unfold as hurricane Wilma was bearing down on our hometown while we were at Market. Karey of Quilts Inc. was kind enough to have a TV brought into the exhibit hall turned to the weather channel for those of us from Florida so we could keep tabs on the storm. Well, as it turns out hurricane Wilma it hit Naples and our brave and fearless husbands battled out the storm on their own. Of course we came home to no electricity for about a week, which meant cooking meals on a camp stove and showering in a motor home, but our husbands and homes were intact and we considered ourselves very blessed.
So I guess this year I will have to make due with viewing Quilt Market online and hearing all about it from my friends and associates and then make plans to be there next year so I don't suffer from the "Houston Blues" again. I think right now a healthy dose of quilting will help to chase the blues away. Where's my thimble, where's the chocolate?