Hi Everyone
I've finally sat down and started a journal of my trip to Houston this year. I hope you enjoy the adventures we had before and after the show.
It was fun chatting with Butterfly, Joshua, Tricia and Michael. I'm sorry I missed the rest of the RCTQer's that were at the show. There were some amazing quilts on display and a huge vendor's market that went on and on. I enjoyed speaking with Cathy Miller the singing quilter from B.C. If your guild has a chance to book her as a speaker you will have an enjoyable time.
I also had the chance to speak with Nancy Lee Chong from Seattle, she does amazing Hawaiian appliqué and her designs are great.
I bought a book from Freddy Moran, I was wearing my Mary Lou Weidman Hoochy Mama pin and she commented on it. She and Mary Lou get together and quilt every year. Her new book with Gwen Marston "Collaborative Quilting" is wonderful. I'm making my way through the 250+ pages. For $US19.95, or $CAD25.95 it's quite a bargain...mind you with the Canadian exchange improving you might want to purchase it in the US.
So here comes chapter one.
October 26th 2006, mom and I flew out from Vancouver to Houston. Arrived on time after a very turbulent ride through clear skies. 84F with thundershowers as we landed; they eased off as we picked up our car and headed west out of town along I-45.
In Sealy we stopped for a bit and then looked at an antique shop in Columbus. There were many interesting old houses with neat porches. I started to rain heavier, so we decided to get a hotel room; lucky thing as just after we got the room thunder and lightening put on a show.
The next morning we woke up to blue skies with strong winds. We drove around Columbus and saw the second oldest oak tree in the state. We also check out a few of the antique shops in town.
Heading further down I-10 we went into an antique shop in Weimar where I saw two antique quilts for $125.00. One was pieced and the other appliquéd. The appliquéd one had some lovely work, but was lumpy from being washed and it was quite badly stained on the back. The second quilt was nicer, but I liked the appliqué one better, but not enough to buy it.
In Schulenburg we found one of the many painted churches in the area. The ceiling looked like it was mosaic, but in fact it was painted. Next we drove through rolling hills with cattle ranches down to Victoria to have lunch at Fossati's, the oldest Deli in Texas. We found it four years ago when we came for the Houston International Quit Festival. While having lunch we asked if there was a quilt shop in town and were directed to Quilter's Patch.
Quilter's Patch
We continued to head south towards Corpus Christi and stopped at two antique shops and a roadside fruit vendor.
We arrived in Corpus Christi and drove south along the causeway. We stopped and looked back at the downtown area to take some pictures. We had dinner at Landry's on a boat at the pier. While we were dining, we watched Pelicans diving for their dinner. The sunset was pretty; there were an amazing amount of butterflies circling around us. Tomorrow we'll try and head over to Mustang Island and some of the smaller towns around.
The next morning we were woken by singing birds and drove up to Rockport. We went to an antique shop that was closing; the woman and her husband had spent time living in Calgary and shared some memories with mom and I.
Farther up the road we found Golden Needles and Quilts
We headed back to Corpus Christi driving by the beaches. At Brian's Antiques we asked about a quilt shop and they said it was closed, but he let me look in the phone book and I found The Quilt Cottage on Staples
Back downtown and drove along the shoreline almost to the Naval Air Station. We stopped to take pictures of some of the shorebirds. We then drove back downtown and found Whataburger, it is similar to In and Out Burgers in California except they originated in Corpus Christi.
Tomorrow we head down to Brownsville and see what that part of the state is about.