International Quilt Festival

  David and I went to Cincinnati to the International Quilt Festival Friday.  We spent Thursday night at our oldest son's house, but didn't see him much as he was working alot of hours. 

   Friday morning we got up and found a Dunkin' Donuts where I got a muffin and David got some blueberry donut holes.  Then we headed to the big city. 

   The Festival was held in the Duke Energy convention center and David, as usual, drove right to it despite the fact he has never been there before.  I don't know where he gets his sense of direction and being able to find places, but I am never afraid of being lost when I am with him.  Me, another story.  My father, who also suffered from severe directional disfunction like myself, and I got lost once in a campground two rows over from where we were camped.  True story.  David still laughs about it.  I always say I could not find my way out of a paper bag my sense of direction is that bad.  If I don't have someone to tell me where to go, I can easily get lost.
 
   I didn't mean to ramble, but I get easily distracted too.

   Once at the convention center, we got in line with a whole lot of women.  I tried pointing out all the men to David, but there were very few.  He doesn't mind going to these things with me.  In fact, I sometimes think he enjoys them even more than I do as he likes to talk to the vendors. 

   It was a quilters paradise.  I had died and gone to heaven.  Everywhere I looked I saw fabric and quilts.  So for the next three hours we walked around and looked at all the booths.  There were 350 vendors there selling all kinds of things to tempt us quilters, plus there were embroidery vendors, shoe vendors(I will tell you about one of them later)  quilt machine vendors, and there was even one booth with vintage tablecloths where I made my first purchase of the day.

   I was shown cutting boards, cutting tables, rotary cutters, and every gadget a quilter might need.  Some we really don't need, but were offered anyway.

   After walking for hours we went upstairs where the food court was and got in lines for our lunch.  I got a chicken penne pasta.  There was a girl with two pans on a stove and as quick as you made your order she would whip up the pasta dish you wanted right in front of you.  Mine was so good.  I imagine she make hundreds of pasta dishes the one day we were there.  David got a small Larosa pizza. 

   After lunch it was back to more walking and looking, but I was getting really tired and my leg hurt.  We passed a booth where they were selling shoes for people with joint, hip, foot and every other kind of pain.  I decided to try a pair of shoes on.  The man spent alot of time trying to get a pair that would feel comfortable on me and I finally ended up with a pair of sandals that look like Birkenstocks.  After walking around in them for a while I really began to feel better and I have been wearing them today and my pain is very minimal so maybe they are working.

   We had not even gotten to the show quilts and it was getting late in the day and we were both tired so we did a really quick buzz through them.  There are some really talented people and also some really weird people who make quilts.  My favorite was one that had Volkswagen beetles in 70's colors all over it.  It brought back happy memories when we had our little blue beetle.  Wish we still had it.

   With all the hundreds of people there I saw a lady I knew who use to come into our shop. I never thought I would see anyone I knew in that crowd of people.  Then we were walking down one aisle and David said, "Is that Carol?"  Carol being my very best friend in school when we were growing up and we are still friends to this day.  It was!!  I never thought I would see one of my best friends in the world in Cincinnati at the quilt festival.  We talked for a while about old times.  We hope to get together later in the summer to have dinner and talk.

   Now you may wonder what I bought at the quilt festival.   Or maybe you don't but I am going to tell you anyway and you will be surprised.  I bought one vintage tablecloth, a pair of sandals and three packages of the cutest pins I've ever seen.  What?  No fabric?   Nope not one piece.  But guess what?  On our way to Cincinnati on Thursday we stopped at some antique stores and I got several yards of fabric.  We spent some time in Madison and I found a store that sold bath salts and homemade soaps.  It smelled soooo good in there.  I could smell the store from a block away.  The lady who owns it makes all the salts and soaps herself.  If you are ever in Madison, stop in and check it out.

   It was a fun two days.  Since we won't be taking a vacation until fall, we plan to do a couple or three of these little getaways this summer.  Sometimes I think they are more fun than a full blown vacation.

  Hope you have a great weekend.  I will be teaching the two and three year olds at Sunday school tomorrow.  Pray for me!  Bye.