Summer Busy-ness

August is here!  Do you know what that means?  Yes, it’s hot outside, at least here in Houston.  But, that’s not what I was aiming for.  We’re a month closer to the Houston Quilt Festival!!!  And this year is a very meaningful one for us because there will be a special exhibit, displaying 75 of Mom’s beautiful quilts.  It will be a sight to see, and will probably bring tears to my eyes.  She’d be completely embarrassed, I’m sure, for there to be such a show of her talent.  This will be the first time that so many of her quilts have been hanging together, which is really exciting!  And, wow, it was no small task to get this all going.

Back in January or February, Quilts, Inc. sent us a note, saying that they were thinking of doing a special “Sue Garman” exhibit with maybe 20 or 25 of her quilts.  That number changed over the months, but the thought of having the exhibit stood firm.  Then, one Wednesday last month, I got an e-mail with THE LIST!  I was giddy!  Then, I read further and saw that they wanted to pick them up the following Tuesday.  EEEEKKKK!!!!  I called over some quilting friends to come help me sort through the quilts to see which we had, which were finished (or not), which needed sleeves, which needed labels, and which ones we thought were missing from the list.

Stacks of quilts...

 

And more stacks of quilts...

 

 And even more stacks of quilts!

 

That Saturday, the same ladies came over and helped Mary and I sew on five sleeves and thirty labels.  Holy moly!  That took us around six hours start to finish.  Thanks a million to Jerrianne, Cynthia, and Marsha for saving our hides!

 Mary and I stitching away on labels and sleeves.

 

Tuesday came, and a group of six women and one man went to work.  It was amazing to watch, and although I did get a little choked up watching the quilts go into boxes, I was impressed with the care that they took with each of them.  There were two stations set up, with large tables covered with clean white sheets.  They all wore white gloves, and they stuffed acid-free paper into the folds to help keep the quilts from creasing.  They also used long boxes to keep the number of folds down, and didn’t “stuff” the boxes, so the quilts didn’t get squished down.  It took twelve boxes total, and one big white van, to get them up to the Quilts, Inc. offices!

Twelve boxes packed full of Mom's quilts at Quilts, Inc. 

 

The next step was to write up all of the blurbs that are posted by each quilt.  For many of them, I was able to pull language from the quilt pattern or from this blog.  For a couple of them, I had to come up with something on my own, or use the phone-a-friend method and call a quilting buddy who knew more about the quilt.  We’re also going to participate in the Guide by Cell program, where Festival guests can listen to Mary and me and give a short little talk about a particular quilt… something extra that’s not on the written paper by the quilt.  That’ll be next week’s task!

If you haven’t ever been to Festival, it’s quite an event.  Thousands of quilters and thousands of quilts (plus lots of fun quilt-related shopping to do) all in one place.  This year, the Houston Festival taking place November 2 through 5, in the usual George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown.  If you have the opportunity, please come see the exhibit! Mary and I look forward to enjoying the show and amazing selection of classes.

On to other happenings...

I don’t remember if I wrote that my family sold our home and moved into Mom’s house earlier this year.  If not, well, that’s what we did!  Mary and I have been diligent about cleaning, clearing, and dividing, with only a few rooms left to go… the quilting studio being one of them.  What I wanted to share here, though, is that there was a quilt rack in one bedroom that I just adored.  In the dividing, Mary ended up taking it to her house, and I asked my husband to make me a duplicate.  I absolutely LOVE the result!  I may even like it more than the original!  The quilt that’s on it is an antique top that Mom purchased and quilting and finished herself. 

A work on progress by Mark...

 

 The finished product on the wall, and the original on the floor below.

Last, but not least, I have to share this adorable photo of our old dog, Jackie.  She’s as sweet as can be, but she also loves to find small spaces to cozy up in.  Usually, it’s in my closet, under my clothes, but I started closing the door because it’s not easy to get dog hair out of anything knitted!  She found a new spot in our gameroom last month… too much cuteness! And don’t worry – it’s not one of Mom’s treasures…

Jackie in her quilted nest.

 

Happy quilting, and we’ll see you in a month or two!

Jenny (and Mary)