Monday, August 24, 2009

What a Weekend!

ohmygoodness, what a weekend!

I left you in a hurry, on my way to Colorado. I had a hot date with Sharon and the Rocky Mtn Quilt Festival. I can't believe how much we fit into the 66 hours that I was there, but we did. It was absolutely amazing. A blog can't convey how much fun we had, but I can give it my best shot.

I arrived in Colorado Springs, shortly before noon on Friday. After a quick lunch, we visited Ruth's Stitchery, one of Sharon's favorite quilt stores. I loved the way some of the fabric was displayed. For some reason a show I'd heard my kids discussing (was it really called Pimp My Crib?) came to mind. If I were going to fix up my crib, this would be a great start! :)

Ruth's was followed by High Country Quilts, another great place for inspiration. I was starting to wilt (after all, I'd left the house at 3:30am), so we drove to her home. Talk about inspiration, how do you like the view off of her balcony? This is Pike's Peak.

Her husband Jeff cooked dinner for us. (And breakfast on Saturday, and dinner on Sunday!) Here they are just before we ate.

I didn't realize the picture had turned out so dark. Here's a better picture of the meal. Isn't it pretty? The pot roast was mouth-wateringly amazing!

On Saturday morning we were up bright and early, headed to the

We were among 2000+ people there on Saturday for the debut of the 2009 Hoffman Challenge Collection. Several of my friends were represented, and I thought you might like to view their pieces.

"Annunciation"
Karen Taber
Woodlake, CA

"Woodland Spring"
Lisa Ellis
Fairfax, VA

"Aethelinda"
Kristin Eilers
Lemoore, CA

"He Leads Me Beside Still Waters"
Sharon L. Schlotzhauer
Colorado Springs, CO

and my little lion

"Tradition Visits Heidelberg Castle"
Suzanne Kistler
Visalia, CA

While there, we were not only getting a chance to view some awesome quilts, we had the opportunity to meet some exciting people as well. I think I surprised the group who sat next to us at the lunch table when I asked if I could take their picture. I recognized Christine Brown, (the Executive Editor of American Quilter magazine), but didn't realize that she was accompanied by Sherri Bain Driver (the Editor of McCalls Quilting magazine) and Gail Valentine (the author of Mirror Manipulations). wow.

Christine Brown, Sherri Bain Driver, Gail Valentine

The day kept getting better, and ended with dinner with Kelly Gallagher-Abbott. Her son Ryan was dog-sitting Lucy, and she was definitely the center of attention. She's a King Charles Spaniel, and I hear that you do have to pay for all that cuteness. ;)

There is much more to tell, but Pete is waiting patiently for me to finish.

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of my purchases.........



And a bird'seye view of a California dairy.


It's good to be home!!!

7 comments:

Nina Marie said...

wow that sounds like quite the fun trip! I would have loved to seen that show. Your hair is so pretty down!! With you talking about the Hoffman challenge it makes me want to try to do it next year - thanks for sharing!

Quiltedtime said...

Hmmmmm........awesome embellishments!
I can't wait to see what you do with them :-).

Kay

Lisa Ellis said...

Wow. I love "He Leads Me Beside Still Waters" by Sharon L. Schlotzhauer. And your little lion turned our really well. Thanks for posting my Woodland Spring piece. What fun to see a preview of the challange. I will get to see three portions in Houston, Mid-Atlantic and Long Beach.

Quiltedtime said...

If Lisa is coming to Long Beach next summer, we should ALL get together.
How fun that would be!

Kay

Anonymous said...

What a nice overview of our weekend -great pictures. It was so fun spending that time with you, Suzie! I'm sure it feels good to be back home again though. :)

Colorado Sharon S. said...

Oops! Sorry Suzie, my comment above wasn't supposed to be anonymous. It was from me - Colorado Sharon S. :)

Unknown said...

I am glad that you have ag reat time. Linda Matthews told me that you had posted pictures, so I found your blog and wanted to say thank you. They all look really fanstastic.

Karen