Friday, October 29, 2010

Eighth Most Extreme...


"Satin String Star"
 Here is a picture of Kate's finished auction quilt; it is 12" square.  I really think it turned out beautifully and we hope it raises a lot of money for the International Quilt Association.  One year during the Silent Auction, she was ahead of John for a long time - he pulled ahead at the very last, though.

We have heard from John a couple of times today; he has been pretty lost in Oklahoma and blames the GPS.  We now know that the Ford Van will hold 33.6 gallons of gasoline; that is how close he was to running out of gas.  Too much excitement for me.

Okay, for the eighth most extreme thing we have forgotten for a quilt show, let me tell you about a Minnesota Quilters' show a few years ago.  Right at opening, we had some confusion with our neighbors on the right because they mistakenly plugged all their spotlights in to my power strip.  That isn't so bad except they didn't leave a place for my cash register and credit card swipe machine plugs so we had to crawl around on our hands and knees and get all straightened out under the table.  Then panic time quickly set in because the cash register would not work.  It whirred and churned and stuttered so I sent John to see if one of our vendor friends had an extra cash register and, unexpectedly, he found one. We were saved!  Later that day, I looked under the table again and realized that I had mixed up the power cords so the poor cash register was getting a lot more electrical juice than it needed and the swipe machine, not enough.  I felt kinda silly.

Flying out tomorrow with a good book and some knitting.  Have a great weekend!

Brooke

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

About PIQF and Texas Here We Come!

This nice article with great photos is kindly shared by CraftHappy, one of John's students at the PIQF.  The blog is "Told You Sew".  It looks like John was having a good time in class!

John Flynn’s Double Wedding Ring Class « Told You Sew!

Here are a few photos from the quilt show in Santa Clara.  PIQF is a really nice show with great quilts; hope you can attend sometime. 


We are packing madly for Houston; John leaves tomorrow, Kate and I are flying so still some time.  Hope you can come by the booth; we have LOTS of miniature pre-cut kits and even some miniature templates this year.


"Heart of the Storm" by John Flynn
Kate and I bought T-Shirts from the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative website to wear in Houston; we will be very stylish!  Kate chose one with all four quilts from John's team.  I decided on one with just John's contribution "Heart of the Storm".  Oh, and you can vote for John's quilt while you are on the Alzheimer's Art Quilt website, I know he will appreciate it! 

Please, please support this ongoing effort for Alzheimer's research.  Thanks!

Back to packing.  I'm thinking winter will arrive while we are gone.

Brooke

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

YouTube for You



Watch this cute and ambitious video which shows some of the 1,000 little quilts that will be auctioned off in Houston in two weeks.  This is part of Ami Simm's ongoing and dedicated effort to raise money for Alzheimer's research.  Watch for a little purple quilt in the first few seconds; John's contribution!

Brooke

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Ninth Most Extreme

Kate and I are busy this week cutting pre-cut kits for John's next two teaching engagements and for the Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara and for the International Quilt Festival in Houston.  John is teaching at both shows, so be sure to check for class availability if you are interested in his classes.  It will be a quick turnaround next week when John gets back from Utah and we pack the van to head out for Northern California. 

We got to "dog sit" last weekend.  What gentle, trusting creatures dogs are.  Kate's smaller dog knew that I knew where Kate was and when she would return, so she just kept close to me, hoping I would beam Kate down soon.  Moon, the bigger dog, is John's buddy.  We have a doll elinor peace bailey painted for John years ago displayed on our hearth.  Moon recognized it as John, and gave it a big kiss.

Home repairs are still on the agenda - I spent part of Sunday and Monday carefully moving around on a scaffold, painting window trim a bright red!  John cut grass all around the house and moved a brush pile so the roofers can work - they are supposed to come Monday.  We have another million daffodil bulbs to plant, or maybe it is only 500.  Have to try to fit that in between shows.

Speaking of shows, here is the Ninth Most Extreme thing we forgot for a show.  Our children were still in high school when John and I drove all the way to the Vermont Quilt Festival leaving my prescription medicine behind.  I guess we were in Minnesota when I discovered it was missing. That was an expensive Fed Ex delivery.

Enjoy a beautiful Fall, wherever you are.

Brooke