We are back in Austin, at Frances and Greg's. Doing laundry then packing,
And dinner being cooked by # 1 Grandson, Chris.
We fly home to California early in the morning.
It was a great Quilt Show, Great TQS Dinner, and seeing people met before
and meeting new TQS members for the first time. Fun, fun.
Margarita from Auburn, CA in Austin TX for one more night.

Dang! I missed all the show and tell! Please post pics.

I am home with wonderful memories of my 1st IQF! Thanks to Deb & Clara for starting such a wonderful project for freindship with the exchange, to Margo for keeping us all blogging and posting so much information, to Shirley my new fond quilting sister and room mate in Houston and to the Amazing Eight who shoed us what friendship and ingenuity can do. This was such a wonderful experience I am sorry I didn't go years ago. Thanks to Ricky, Alex, Justin and John for all you do to make TQS the best quilting web experience. Now I must unpack all the wonderful new supplies I bought!

Frances, I'm sorry I didn't get to see your quilt! Mike and I started talking to Justin and the time flew by. Please post pics when you can.

Wanda, thanks again for arranging such a memorable dinner. I was so nervous about meeting everyone that I almost didn't show, but I'm glad I did. We had a great time and even Mike can put names with faces now.

I'm going to really try to come back next year, but if I don't-I'll see you all in 2013!!!!!!

Ricky's concert was the perfect ending to one of the most wonderful weeks of our lives. Thank you to ARJJ for starting this community-I now have friends all over the world.

You all missed a treat! Frances's work on this treasure is incredible! I can't wait to watch it progress!

Franceslovesfabric wrote:
Frances, I am sorry that I couldn't come to see your quilt. Mom and I went to her very first quilt class this morning followed by Libby's Luncheon. Please post some pictures up when you can. I would love to see them. Clara

in the blog archive:
[url]daily-blog/133-slideshows/14285-join-us-at-the-tqs-booth-in-houston[/url]

bakereliz wrote:
We were glad you were made it for at least most of the evening, Elizabeth! You will find a pattern for the TQS badge here:
http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/images/projects/10017_tqs_badge.jpg

And here are some pictures of badges from the 2010 Festival: [url]daily-blog/[/url]

Wanda, thank you for making the arrangements for dinner for all of us. This was my first year to attend and I really enjoyed meeting everyone. Margo, thanks for bringing your quilts for us to see. They are even more amazing in person. Margarite, I really enjoyed seeing your show and tell. Your fabric really makes the blocks come alive. Some day soon I hope to start on my Dear Jane quilt. Thanks again to Debbie and Clara for all the work they did with the HST exchange earlier this year. Many friendships have blossomed because of it and it has become a very memorable time in my life. Dawn and Barbara, thank you for organizing the gifts for Debbie and Clara. Rosemary's handmade boxes are lovely and Dawn, you did a terrific job putting all of the blocks together. It has been such fun the last few days at Festival and I can't wait until next year.

At the TQS dinner in houston, I noticed quite a few people wearing what looked to be quilted TQS name tags. I didn't have a chance to ask about them. Is there an official pattern somewhere? Thanks.

I had a great time at the TQS dinner! Thank you, Wanda, for organizing it. I wasn't there long, as I arrived a little late and had to leave early, just after introductions. There was so much laughter, I really hated to leave. But my son, who lives in Austin, called at the last minute. He was passng through Houston and wanted to meet for dinner (so I ended up eating dinner twice that night!). I only make it out from California to see him once a year usually and I'd already had my yearly visit with him just before Festival, so this was a surprise opportunity to see him again that I could not pass up. Family trumps friends MOST of the time, yes? Anyway, I didn't get to know all of you as well as I would have liked. I'll just have to be more active on the forum and get to know you that way. And--there's always next year!

Wanda,
Sorry you were not feeling well last night, I was looking forward to seeing you again. Thank you soooooo much for arranging dinner, it really is a great time. We have come a long way from that first dinner, by the way, I remembered Sue Garman was with us also. I agree, TQS means so much: friends, support group, all the good times along with the bad times but a great group of like minded people. Hope to see you at the 1pm meeting and Thank you again for bringing us together, Pat

Thanks Debbie! This is why TQS is so great! We all have a common interest that literally makes our hearts soar. We are like minded quilters who love to get together and see each other. It's like instant friendship with each of you when I meet you. At TQS we share in each other’s lives, "the good, the bad, and the ugly"!! We've shared births, weddings, those wonderful teenage years with our children, and we have grieved with each other over deaths in our families. It's events like the SOTTS that really pull us together because we are working on a very common goal. Thank you for helping to pull more of us together...516 of us, is that the right number?

I really want to apologize for having to leave early. I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to spoil all the fun everyone was having.

Keep quilting,
Wanda

DebbieWolf wrote:
Well said, Deb!

Wanda, thank you for organizing this event since our very first dinner with only 7 people! YOU ROCK!