Saturday, October 18, 2008

What we did last weekend . . .

Seriously . . . is this not the cutest puppy you ever saw? Meet Maisy . . . our youngest.


And Boomer . . . he's so pretty, even though he could use a good bath after running around in the mud . . .


Erv and I loaded up the SUV with our two dogs and some extra jackets (okay, Erv loaded up the SUV) and drove up to one of our favorite spots to visit: Estes Park, CO, and Rocky Mountain National Park. Estes Park is a charming little town at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. That is where The Stanley Hotel is located.


The Stanley is where the inspiration for the movie The Shining was gleaned (eek!). The story goes that Stephen King wrote the outline of the story while staying there with his wife.

We are so fortunate to live so close to one of the most beautiful national parks in the country.



I love this shot . . .



And it was so pretty in this area (wish you could see this in person . . . it's so much prettier!) . . .




And this area was very cool . . . we were heading up Trail Ridge Road (the road that takes you from Estes Park, over the Rocky Mountains, to Grand Lake, CO). The road was closed further up, due to snowy weather. I really liked this shot because where we had pulled over, there was no snow on the ground. Then just ahead and into the bend in the road, the weather had changed.




I took over 200 pictures that day. And finally, on our way home before leaving Estes, we took the puppies to a dog park for a good run . . .


Friday, October 17, 2008

Houston International Quilt Market and Block-of-the-Month News

The International Quilt Market, which takes place in Houston next week, is such an exciting event. My dear friend Kari Ramsay, of Fresh Cut Quilts, will have her first booth there, so if you are a quilt shop owner or will be attending the show under other circumstances, please be sure to stop by her booth and say hello. She's a great gal who has some great designs, so please check her out and give her support for her first time displaying her lovely quits and patterns.

Unfortunately, I will not be attending this year's Market. But that's okay, as I have lots to work on. I'm talking with a fabric company about doing a block-of-the-month using their fabrics, then distributing the pattern through their sister company. I'll actually be reviewing the fabrics that will be out during Market, after Market. The next week will give me time to wrap up my ideas for this project, which I am very excited about. In addition, I will be hosting a block-of-the-month on my website. I should have the designs complete within the next 4 weeks, so this should be a fun one to participate in, as it will be ready to go on January 1st. Anyone can participate and if someone decides to join later in the year, the patterns will still be available. I will be charging a minimum (very minimum!) fee because I will be using a third party to deliver the blocks to each club member and the funds will go toward that cost. Using the third party should eliminate any delivery problems we had over the past year with returned e-mails due to problems on the receiver's end. I'll talk more about this real soon!

SuzGuz Designs will have 4 quilts at Market. I know we'll definitely have two, but I believe a third quilt design of mine will be in Quilting Treasures' booth. The 4th quilt will be in RJR's booth. Again, if you are attending, please ask to see our quilts in QT's and RJR's booths! Say hello to Donna for me at Quilting Treasures', and Beatriz at RJR's booth.