Friday, November 12, 2010

Homeless??? Really now!!!


 I was asked I don't know how many times at Houston Quilt Festival....."Where do you live?"
Throughout this post I'm going to put up pictures of quilts I liked from Festival.
Usually not a difficult question eh???So this was my answer...
"I'm homeless...
wherever my car is parked....
that is my address for the day."

Awww...you should of seen people's faces.
I felt it was a better answer than Guitar Man
was giving.
He was telling people we lived out under the East bridge behind the convention center.

Kinda humbling ya know...
but when we told people of what
we have been through this last month...
doing shows almost every weekend...
having two weeks to get out of our house...
because the new owners wanted to take
possession immediately...
that we didn't even have time to fly
back here to Nashville..
to look for a place...
they understood...
and laughed.
Whew!!
On Saturday night though...
as we were walking to our car....
out by the bridge Ken was telling people about...
their in an alcove...
was a whole family on sleeping bags...
little kids and all...

It broke my heart.
And not a laughing matter at all.
This 'is' some people's reality in this day and age.
And really...
any of us could truly be in this same situation.

So I am sending a prayer out for 
all of those unfortunate precious people...


 And now I will  have to tell you about this show!


Every morning
first thing when Office Depot opened...
we were there with my laptop
and flash drive...
printing up patterns....
signs....

And then in the evening...
we were there late...
long after they closed....
still working on things.


And every day...
during the day...
we were at Kinkos...
upstairs at the convention center
doing more printing...
(We weren't the only ones!)
Because every day...
we ran out of some sort of pattern.

Then we were up til all hours of the night...
putting patterns together...
cutting down more fabric....
assembling Block of the Month's
that also had to go out.

This all on top of a 10-7 workday at the show.

I know...
I can feel it...
self-pity...
dripping down my cheeks!


But as usual it was the people who kept me going...
when the Starbucks wasn't doing its job.


For instance...
one darling little lady...
came up and watched me go through my demo
more than once.
I said to her...
"You look familiar to me..."
She said,
"Oh I know...I've bought all your patterns...
I just love you.
One night I stayed up and read your blog...
and couldn't stop...
until I got through the whole thing.
I'm always looking to see if you've
posted another one.
You really should write a book!"

Now she came along just at the right time.
I was feeling like nothing was as good as I wanted 
it to be.
I have no patience for running out of patterns...
etc
and was feeling pretty inadequate.

I told her that she didn't have any idea of how
she just made my day...
no wait a minute...
she made my show!!!

I know you are reading you sweet thing.
A big hug and thank you for taking the time....
to stop and talk to me.
You'll never know what your sweet words did for me that day.


Right before we started breaking down the show...
another adorable quilter walked into our booth
for the first time...
and started oohing and aahhhing...
all after Tory gave her a demo...
wondering why she hadn't heard of us before.

She then brought her sister back....
who both are having me design custom kits for them...
off of the Whimsy Lane.

Now ladies this is pretty humbling...
when someone trusts me...
to pick out all their colors...
sight unseen.

These are the things that keep me going...
when the goin' gets tough.


So this post is dedicated to all of my customers out there.
Thank you from the itty bitty teensy weensy
tips of my tippy toes.
I love you all!
Ciao....
John'aLee

Monday, November 8, 2010

We made it to Houston Quilt Festival

What a week!
Some of you asked for pictures of our booth...
and I was so scatter brained...
the only ones I got...
were of me and my little T-Bug...
with the booth in the background!
I look a little retarded here...
but apparently Tory took this one 
while I wasn't looking.

This is what I did....
from 10-7...for days...
demo, demo, demo!

So back to the trip...
we left Panguitch late in the evening...
only to drive a few hours...
before crashing.
The next day we drove until we reached
San Antonio...
I'm really good at putting my hands on my hips....and directing everyone!
Tory and I out in front of the San Antonio hotel...getting ready to drive, drive, drive again!

On Monday....
I was really hoping to make it to Quilt Market
for the last day.
But we all were just too pooped!
We decided instead to go to a French Bakery...
La Madeleine's

And just 'breathe' for a moment...
The food was to die for...

Tory....being Tory...


Tory...getting so bored in the car....she was reduced to taking pictures of my feet. And yes...I need a pedicure...badly!

We finally made it to Houston....
where the fun began...

We had to make kits...
I know...it looks like I have my child plugged into the wall....to get all I can out of her!
Meet Me In Paris Kits out of the Heavenly Peace line...
The little girl...
made kits, fabric packs,
cut down yards and yards of fabric...
as well as fat quarters...
to get us as ready for the show 
as we possibly could be.
Now this was a first...
I must admit...
making kits in a hotel room!

I've gotta run...
the BOM's must be in the mail today...
and we are hoping to make it to Nashville
by tomorrow.

I will tell more about the show
in the next post!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Bye~ Bye~ Panguitch...


So the guitar man is rippin' the bed out from underneath me...
he really did leave it til last...
so I would have somewhere to sit and finish this
Mystery Block...
And about that time my good friend...
Peggy 
walks in to tell us good-bye. "

"Peggy"....I beg...
"do you have room for me over at your 
B and B? I'll pay you!"

She looks at me disgusted...
and says...
"No you won't! Come on over...
I'll put a pot of soup on."

"Just bring me a bag of scraps!"

Gladly...it will be less to move I think to myself...
and here she thinks I'm doing her something nice??

So I head out to the granary
where the shoppe has been operating...
with....
one of those extra large leaf/lawn trash bags...
and start filling it up.

I showed up at her place...
rang the doorbell
and said...
"Santa is here...
with his bag!"
"Oh" she said...
"I was thinking a 'little' bag.

Not on your life girlfriend!

After a day...
I was so surprised to see all of her neat
'cut' piles!
Peggy is one of those who LOVES to cut!

She's also one of those special people
I feel blessed
to have had in my life.

I felt like a princess.
She set me up in a comfy chair...
with a good light...
so I could finish my block.

She went and put the soup on...
only after making me a cup of hot tea.

Ahhh...Chicken Vegetable soup...
with organic chicken,
homemade broth...
It had been so long since I had a home-cooked meal.
I've been without a stove or oven since February
if you can believe it.
(That's how I lost 30 pounds!)

So after seeing what she did with all the scraps...
I am determined to dive into the rest of my bins
from running a shoppe for 6 years...
and I'm going to cut tons of 2 1/2" strips...
and get it all organized.

The next day I wake up...
of course in a nice comfy bed...
(Geez...this really is the way to move...)

Peg makes me the most awesome Oatmeal!
She puts a jam spread on it after it is cooked
and tops it with fresh whipped cream!

"John'aLee"...she says to me...
did you know Roxanne and Debbie
are having their annual Fall Retreat over at Roxanne's?
I know they'd love to see you before you leave!"

So we head over there.
Now I just have to show you pictures...
Here's the front of Roxanne's house...
I walk in to this...
These are the newbie quilters...
Yeah..girls I think they are hooked!

9 Quilters...
in one tiny little house...
They were making good use...
of every square inch.
(This is Roxanne on the left.)
She had cut out all the kits for everyone...
1200 pieces I believe she said

(This is a quilt Roxanne's grandmother made.)

Debbie on the right has a cute lil house in Panguitch too.
The quilters divided up between the two..
for sleeping arrangements.

Now I have to show you pics' of Roxanne's house..
And this is how she houses her stash!

She made the adorable curtains.
One can tell "Fabric" is king in this household!
It's even used for decoration!


Her Kitchen...

Yeah...they had food...they had wine... 

Isn't this just the cutest?

Everywhere you looked...
there was something to feast your eyes upon.

There was even a 'pink poodle' bathroom!

Her and Peggy then decided...
they had to take me out back...

to the "girls" travel trailer...
where they spend all hours of the night....

giggling...
playing games...
Ready?

Adorable Chandelier...

Look at that 'Kotex' box in the right hand corner...
Roxanne asked...
"Really? Who keeps this stuff??"
She found it on Ebay!


And finally they just had to show me what Roxanne and Deb
toodle around town in...

And how does one get an invite?

All you have to do is tell Roxanne
how great she looks and something like...
"Oh by the way have you been dieting lately?"

What a riot!
I couldn't have had a better last day in Panguitch.

I meant to get a pic with Peg....
but she was off to a Halloween party...
I did get a picture of her in costume...
And a picture of where she hides her stash...

And here we are heading out...
Homeless...and to who knows where!

Til later...
and from somewhere else in the good ole US of A....

John'aLee