I Like #278

 It's been a whirlwind week here.  My mom and I drove down to Houston to spend two days at the International Quilt Festival which as always was really inspiring.  I gave a lecture on my 3D work and led two tours of one of the SAQA exhibitions.  Mom and I had a lovely time walking through the quilts and booths and ended with sore feet and lots of inspiration. I didn't take very many pictures, but here are a few.

There was a whole exhibit of Zena Thorpes exquisite applique quilts that I loved.  Lots of her pieces were inspired by illuminated manuscripts which of course I love.  They're all quite big with the most amazin teeny-tiny turned edge applique.  This piece was inspired by the Book of Kells.

Bee Sewcial had a fantastic exhibit of their modern bee quilts, I think overall it was my favorite special exhibit at the show.  They led a walk-through and it was great to hear from all the quilters in the group and hear about their process.

Frank Klein, a major art quilt support and collector, had a show with selections from his collection at IQF.  Two favorites from that group were Pat Bishop's Owl

And Naomi Velazquez' 3D piece.  I loved the way she colored (dyed? painted?) the batting so that it becomes an integral part of the design.

There were tons of amazing quilts in the judged show, but one particular favorite was this hand appliqued, hand quilted piece by Japanese quilter Hideko Kawai.  I love all the fish and undersea creatures and I love that they all have little creatures appliqued inside them!

On Saturday afternoon we drove back to Dallas so we could spend Sunday with my sister celebrating her 40th birthday.  We had a wonderful day, playing games with the kids and hanging out, and then in the afternoon we played an (unlicensed) Harry Potter murder mystery game.  It was so fun,  we all had to dress up and act our characters and figure out who stole the philosopher's scone.  I was Luna Lovegood and Mom was Professor McGonagall.  It turned out Becky's friend who was playing Moaning Myrtle was the thief.  Everybody got really into it and we had lots of laughing.  Afterwards we had a birthday party for her and all in all it was a great day.

I also kept on with the catching-up-on-blogging this week, sharing a post about my second Ice phase diagram quilt.  Read more about it here.

I left Spooky with a house sitter while we were gone and took Blue to Becky's.  Unfortunately early Friday morning all three pups (Blue and Becky's two) were sprayed by a skunk really bad.  Becky and Andrew had to bathe all three multiple times which is such an awful task, especially with Blue who just hates baths.  He's still a little stinky, but she really got most of it out.

It's such a special thing to be able to spend time with my family.  I'm always so grateful for the opportunity.  Coming back early Monday meant that this week at work has been crazy, but I'll be home this weekend (mostly) so hopefully I can get caught up a bit.  Hoping you have all had good things this week!  Click over to LeeAnna's for more things to like!