A Trip to Old Town Spring

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day in South Texas.  After being stuck in the house for about three weeks with allergies/bronchitis, I was ready to escape.  Haven't been that sick in years.  I told my DH that I was going to crack a rib, pop out an eyeball or have an aneurysm.  I might do all three, so just explain it to the EMTs when they got here.

So, my Son and I decided to take a trip to Old Town Spring.  There is a great Quilt Shop there, GRS Creations, with the most precuts I have ever seen in one shop.  Lots of fabric, too.

Then, I had to visit my other favorite shop, Lana Williams Gallery.  It is full of mixed media paintings and creations.  No photos allowed, but the whole shop is full of eye candy.  I own an awesome painting by Lana Williams and several custom made iron wall pieces made by her son-in-law.  It is on Preston Avenue in Old Town Spring, Spring, TX.

Time for lunch, so we headed a couple of blocks over to Wunsche Brothers Café.  This is what we found.  Not good.  Was looking forward to a chicken fried steak with cream gravy and lots of veggies.

 

Was told that Wunsche had a fire last month.  The website says closed permanently. So sad.

Wunsche is described as a haunted eatery since 1902.

 

Fortunately, I know about another fun eating place a few blocks in the other direction.  Hyde's Café, 26608 Keith St., Spring, TX.

 

 

About seventeen of us descended on Hyde's about the same time, so it took a while for our order to come, but it was good.  I had catfish and zucchini sticks and my Son had his traditional cheeseburger and onion rings.  I  think they can look forward to a lot of extra business this summer due to the closing of Wunsche. They may have to hire more cooks.

 

As we were leaving Old Town Spring, I spotted this sign and just had to take a picture.

 

Spirit Quest Home of Spring Ghost Tours

 

 

With our stomachs full, we left Old Town Spring and drove down 2920 about a mile to the Antique Gallery.   There are hundreds of individually stocked booths in an air conditioned building.  Air conditioning is always a plus in Texas.  It was 85 degrees yesterday.  Hot, humid summer days are on the way.  We spent several hours checking out all the goodies.

 

Antique Gallery Entrance

It was a FUN day and I enjoyed some time with my Son.  He is 23 yrs. old with a girlfriend and job, so I consider this a gift, with Mother's Day just a few days away.

2015 WHQG Show

As you can tell, I am a little behind in my blog posts.  I was so busy getting my four quilts ready for the West Houston Quilters Guild Show in March and time just got away from me.  Besides finishing the quilts, there were labels and covers for the labels, sewing on hanging sleeves, making drawstring pillowcases with clear windows to hold the quilt picture and information and filling out the paperwork for each quilt.  It had been six years since I had entered a show.  It is kind of like getting pregnant again, you forget how bad it feels to have the judges nitpick your hard work to pieces.  However, I love my quilts and I am the only one that has to be pleased.

 

"Diva Keys"

This was a strip exchange by the Monday Night Divas Bee.  Key to My Heart Pattern.  Quilted in sewing & quilting notions.

 

 

"Eclectic Mail"

Pattern that I saw at the Missouri Star Quilt Shop site. Made with the Tim Holtz line called Eclectic Elements.

 

"Sea Turtles"

Take Five Pattern.  Quilted in Sea Turtles.

"Texas Wildflowers Behind Barbed Wire"

Texas Wildflower fabric quilted with Barbed Wire Pattern.

 

Texas Wildflower Quilt

The Texas Wildflower Quilt top is finished. The last two borders were sewn on at my weekend retreat, at the Red Barn, in February.  It was the beginning of my" I am in love with ORANGE" phase.

 Finished Quilt 66" x 86"

6" Blocks, 2" orange border and 4" Wildflower border.

While visiting the "Needle Nest Quilt Shop" owned by Joyce Godfrey, I expressed my interest in several quilts being displayed.  Joyce gave me the sheet of drawings that the ladies had used for the pattern.  Joyce passed away in 2011, so I am dedicating this quilt to her memory.

Austin Area Quilt Guild Show

My Best Quilting Friend, Judith and I took a road trip to Austin, TX to see the Austin Area Quilt Guild Show.  On the way, We visited three wonderful quilt shops.  I took a lot of pictures, so I'll spread them out over several posts.

First, We visited Stitch Haven in Brenham, TX.

This is the front of the shop in quilt form, isn't it cute.

I found a few things that I needed.  I have large fingers, so I love these leather thimbles to sew on bindings and buttons.

Then we headed to Giddings, TX to visit All Around The Block.  From the outside, it may appear small, but it goes back and over several rooms.  Lots and lots of goodies.  I had to take a close up of the scissors on the shutters.

Of course, I found a few more things to take home with me.

The cupcake and sprinkles fabric is to make a "Less Than a Yard Dash Table Runner".  It is a free pattern over at honeybeequiltstore.com.  Fast and easy, check it out.  The stripe and brown border are to make a zig zag quilt without triangles.  The tutorial is by Crazy Mom Quilts , but links to beesquarefabrics.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-to-make-zig-zag-quilt-without.html.  I hope that I am doing this right.

We had lunch at Reba's and for our last shop of the day, Gerline's Quilt Shop.  Both in Giddings, TX.

This is a kit from Gerline's that will be mailed to me to make the Sidelights pattern below.

It was time to get ourselves to Austin, TX and the Embassy Suites just down the street from the Palmer Event Center.

We had a courtesy van to the Quilt Show and back.  Threadgill's Restaurant was a block away.  We never took our car out of valet parking.  The Embassy provided a wonderful breakfast buffet each morning.  We were so pampered.  A look at the quilts and my additional purchases at the show tomorrow.

BQ Quilt and Retreat Part 3

I spent three days with 23 talented quilters.  I thought you might like to see what some of them were working on.

Note the Black and White and Pink machine cover.  Jackie made it at the retreat after looking at one brought by one of the ladies . 

Isn't this pretty.  The white blocks are hand embroidery by the quilter.

This is a little blurry, but I wanted you to see the lovely batiks.  We had Sally Schneider as a speaker at our August Guild meeting.  This was her workshop the next day.

This is the BQ Quilt I worked on.  I finished the center on Saturday afternoon, then decided it was time for a change.  It still needs three borders.

This is my BQF, Judith, she decided to spend the weekend working on her stump work.  It is exquisite, I'll have to get a better picture for you.

Ruth had some issues with her machine and decided to hand quilt awhile.

This is what Ruth was quilting, isn't it awesome.

Selvedges sewn to prequilted fabric.  These are going into an item or two for the Guild Shop at our Quilt Show in April, 2011. A tote bag or machine cover were some ideas tossed around.