Kerryswainscottage

USA - Quilt Market

Our journey continued from New Orleans to Houston where we stayed for nearly one week. First day there was penciled in for a shopping day and that we did - arrived at the mall at 10am and arrived back at the Hotel at 9pm. Here are our purchases

 Sharons shopping

 My shopping

The next day we both joined a tour organised by Quilt Market out to a few Patchwork shops and to the new Texas Quilt Museum - some stunning quilts but most of us were a little dissapointed as it actually had no antique quilts in it.

During the trip we saw some terrific Halloween displays - here's just one to share with you - I just love the displays of pumpkins - the colours are great

Then it was time for Quilt Market - these are a few of the friends I caught up with

 Edyta Sitar from Laundry Basket Quilts - I fell in love with her and her designs last year at Quilt Market so it was great to catch up and see her latest quilts - they are truely amazing - I do stock all her books and patterns in store.

 The girls at Sweetwater were lovely - Mum and her 2 daughters - I loved their new range of fabrics - Reunion

 The clothing designs by Kay Whitt of Serendipity Studio have inspired me for a couple of years but with little time I haven't managed to make any of them - this is going to be the year I do - I just love the simplicity of them - keep an eye out - hopefully I find time to sew - I have some great fabrics in store that would make great clothing at the moment including a couple of voiles from FreeSpirit.

Hope you have enjoyed a little preview of Quilt Market - more to come

Kerry

 

Missing in Action

Thanks to all those who have been worried about me - over a month of no blog posts - slack I know but hey I have been rather busy - tripping around the world.

On the 20th of last month - I headed off to the USA to Houston to the International Quilt Market - this year I left Geoffrey at home and Sharon came with me. Our first stop in the US was New Orleans - no real reason I just thought it would be a good place to visit and it turned out to be a fantastic place. New Orleans has so much history which we both loved - we went on a Plantation tour which gave us an insight into slavery and plantation life - we did a walking tour of the French Quarter and learnt lots about the combination of cultures, went for a ride on a paddle steamer up the Mississippi River, ventured to our first game of American Football along with thousands and thousands of mad football supporters, ate Cajun food and drank cocktails on Bourbon Street, did a swamp tour where we spotted Alligators  living in the wild and listened to incredible Jazz music in Bars and on the street. Our visit to New Orleans was much more then words can describe - so many wonderful memories - here are a few photos to share with you all.

Oak Alley Plantation

A private Courtyard in the French Quarter

Our paddle steamer ride

Strange game this - we couldn't get over how many players, coaches and officals each team had - Wow

This place is certainly worth a visit - very entertaining

Music was everywhere

For anyone heading that way New Orleans is certainly worth a visit - the city of FUN

Next stop - Down town Houston 

Kerry