My Name is Sarah

Friday, November 2, 2018

Hello Houston!

It's 5:00 O'clock in the morning. We are leaving for the airport. The Akron/Canton Airport is only four miles from our new house. That is really close. It used to take us more than one hour.

We love this airport because the lines are shorter and they are very friendly.

Look at this. I am outside. I had to climb up the stairs to get to the plane just like I'm a Princess. It's really windy up here.

I get to be the first one on. This is a tiny plane.

It's a little cold in here. Good thing my mom had my blanket in the medical bag.

Ok, here we go!!

It's so early it's still dark outside.

Where is Sarah? Lol!

Here I am!

Someone just put the hand sanitizer on. I do not like that smell. Good thing we have our scarves.

Oh that's better. The camera says we are flying over Dayton right now.

Haa...everytime we take a picture of our feet. Our shoes match.

Oh yea! We are heading down. I can feel it.

Yep, Lake Houston.

Bump! I'm always happy when the wheels touch the ground.

Ahh Mom, I think we have to go outside again.

Ok so this is a little scary. I just walked across this really narrow bridge from the plane.

Oh yikes. I've never done this before.

It's like getting off a ride at Cedar Point. I have to be careful.

That was fun. The sun is shinning in Houston.

Oh good. They had my chair waiting for me outside. Now I'm happy.

Mom!! Turn here. I see a sign.

It says Quilt Market. I saw it.

Here's another one. They must really be glad to see us.

This is me. Covering my face because there are always people smoking outside of airports. I hate it.

There is only one taxi here and my mom is going to scope it out. Nope that guy is a smoker. Blah!

But then she spotted the really nice looking Super Shuttle van. So she went over and sweet talked the guy into taking us even though we don't have a reservation. This van is so clean and the guy is so nice. He and my mom are chatting away.

Not me. I'm taking a snooze.

I remember this. That is the convention center. I've been here before.

Oh this is the best. The overhead walkway. We don't even have to go outside. That is good for me.

Ok here we are at the registration desk. This lady is so nice.

We have our name badges. Look it says Liberty Green Quilt Shop. Yep that's us.

We made it in time for a few Schoolhouse sessions. My mom took a few pictures and then her phone died. This quilt is in a new book called Scrap Basket Bounty by Kim Brackett. We already have it at the shop. My mom wanted to bring this quilt home. It's our colors.

And here is one from my friends Barb and Mary from Me and My Sister Designs. Hey I have a whole bin of their fabric. I love it.

All of a sudden my mom said, "Sarah I am so tired. I have to go back to the hotel to rest." Good idea. I have a plan...

Room service!!! My favorite thing about hotels. I had grilled cheese.

My mom had this. Creme brulee. She loves it. Then we took a long nap.

It's dinner time. We are at the restaurant in the hotel. We are at the Hilton Americas Houston. It is huge!

Just like this glass of milk they brought me. I can hardly hold it.

My mom is so happy. She ordered a cheese board for dinner. Look at it. I had salad and chicken with mashed potatoes.

My dinner came with dessert. I don't like it so much. So my mom ate it. She said it was yummy. Lok how cute that bowl is.

It's time for bed. See you tomorrow!

Good morning! It's Saturday.

I talked to my dad last night. He said order the room service so I did!

I am so happy. I love room service!!

Oh man. This is so good!!!

LoL! Look at this. My mom always orders a waffle. It's never looked like Texas before.

Ok time to get dressed. Now what should I wear today?

LoL! Our new selfie mirror.

We're here! This place is so big my mom says we will have to take a few days to see it all.

First stop is at blend fabrics, llc. Oh gosh they use little letters just like my mom. I like this fabric by Ana Davis. I think it would make cute pillowcases because it has little animals and birds.

Hey, hey! It's my friend Michele Merin-Campbell. She has a travel guide. It is called Needle Travel and she lives really close to us in Ohio! Check out our listing here.

You know how I love to sort buttons. Well look at this...Buttons Galore & More!

I love this timeline. It is the history of American Patchwork & Quilting.

They are the one's who have the One Million Pillowcase Challenge that we participate in.

"Mom, leave that bag alone. You can't take it home." Geeze.

My mom spotted these quilts. She really likes them...

...but I spotted the baby first. I love babies. He is only four weeks old. This is Annelise Johnson of Eye Candy Quilts. She has a great website.

Oh this booth looks really nice!

This is Heather Valentine and Amy Ellis of Inspiring Stitches. They have a really cute calendar that is a block of the month program. My mom loves it.

I love this. It is their credit card reader. It fits in my hand.

Ok we are all signed up. Wait for the details. It is going to be fun.

Wow look at this. Those are balloons covered in fabric.It is the 40th anniversary of RJR.

I like this booth. The fabric collection is called Betty's Luncheonette by Voilet Craft.

Here is Elizabeth Hartman. I love all her quilts.

Look at these Gnomes.

Her booth is always so well done. My mom loved the mushrooms. She said they reminded her of the 70's when she was in school.

I liked the bees. Her new collection is called Berry Season. It will be in our shop.

Oh you know we love Best Press. Look how cute these little shirts are hanging from a clothes line.

Wow what's going on here?

Now I see. It is Tilda.

Everything is so cute!

I especially love the dogs.

I am fascinated. Oh my gosh her website is incredible.

This is the founder of Tilda. Her name is Tone Finnanger. She is from Norway.

It's Mickey!!! Hey I saw you at Disney on Ice.

Then he showed me some of his best skating moves.

I told him he did a good job.

Camelot Fabrics has come out with a Disney collection celebrating 90 years of Disney magic.

This is Philip Stromberg from Camelot. He gave me this bag filled with all fun things.

We have been here for four hours and we are tired. So we are taking a break.

There is an arts & crafts show going on outside. But we are not going. I am too tired.

A little bit of dancing and then some pampering.

It's like being in a spa.

My mom said I was asleep and snoring in no time.

Ok stay tuned for the party tonight.

Here we go. We have to go from the Hilton to the Marriott.

Do you know what? Everything is bigger in Texas!

It's nice outside. Perfect weather for me.

We are here. That was a long walk.

We are here for the Moda customer appreciation party. The theme this year is Under the Big Top. Look at this...I have a tiger by his tail. Lol!

Nope. Not staying. I hate it. There are clowns in there. A lot of clowns. Big scary clowns. I do not like clowns.

So we are parking right over here. I don't want to leave though.

Some really nice lady came over and took our picture. I'm not leaving until I see Moda Mark.

Here he comes. He is leaping to see me!

Mark Pytel is our Moda rep. I really like him. He is so nice.

Ok I am ready to go now. I can't be in that ballroom. Clowns make me so nervous I shake, turn blue and tremble in my chair.

But before we go I am taking a picture with the lion. Grrrowl.

So my mom said since we were all the way over here we should take a stroll through the lobby of this new Marriott. So we did. And all of a sudden I have three new friends. Meet Kymberly, Emilia and Jessica. We had fun talking. I told them about my friend Kelly who works for Marriott in Cleveland, but she used to be here in Houston.

It's very pretty in here.

And then guess what happened. Jessica came out with chocolate chip cookies for me. That was so nice.

So it's getting late and we are heading back to our hotel, the Hilton. But first I spotted this railing. Jack, Jack...LoL, I am pretending I am on the Titanic!

Look at this. I can see down into Market from here. I see the Moda house. We are going there tomorrow.

I like these windows.

Here we are back at the Hilton. This wall is a waterfall.

It's very quiet. And I'm not even getting wet.

Time to go up for bed. My mom is addicted to taking this selfie in the elevator.

Ok see you tomorrow. Oh don't forget to set your clock back. I found this letter under our door.

Good morning!! It's Sunday.

Mom! Really!!

This is weird. Last night when we went upstairs there were hundreds of people in this corridor. Now it's just me.

No time for a real breakfast. We have an appointment to get to. We stayed up way to late last night watching movies.

This is Joy. She works for Moda. Last night she was a clown. She came to make sure I still like her. Of course I do!! And she is from Canton. That's where my mom grew up.

Ok It's time to get busy. I have to buy some fabric today. Moda Mark is giving me a gift. That is so nice.

Then he took me over to introduce me to Melody Miller. I love her dress!

She is part of something really big. It is going to be called the Ruby Star Society.

Next I saw my friend Corey Yoder. She lives in Ohio. And guess what? We were on the same tiny plane coming to Houston.

Look how cute her stuff is. We have a collection that will be arriving any day and then in the spring this new one will be coming. I know just where I am going to put it.

Oh this is so sweet. Chantilly by Fig Tree & Co. Do you know we have an entire Fig Tree room at the new shop. This will fit in perfectly.

Hey this is like Old McDonald had a Farm. That was the very first song I learned in sign language when I was a little girl with my trach. Lori Holt designed these quilts.

Oh it is my friend Jill of Jillily Studio. I am always so glad to see her.

Hi JoJo. That is her son back at home. I think he really misses his mom when she is gone.

Oh my gosh. It is Dumbo. On fabric. And Little Mermaid is coming too. I can't wait.

My stomach was growling. So we found a place to eat. I had salad with turkey and ranch dressing.

It was so good. My mom had a baked potato with cheese and bacon.

After we were done eating she sent our friend Marc Jacobs a message to see where he was. He was in the Dill Button booth with the President of Dill. But he said he could leave if we needed him to.

Yes we did. I want to order this fabric from Michael Miller. It is designed by my friend Tamara Kate.

So Marc said, "Sure Sarah we can write that up for you." So he did.

And I got this really nice bag with a fat quarter bundle inside. How lucky I am!

Oh this is pretty fun. Pinkerville by Tula Pink.

My mom loves this quilt! The pattern was designed by Sharon Mcconnell of Color Girl Quilts. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.

I found the books. We really like Martingale books. My friend Jennifer Keltner is the Chief Creative Visionary.

Ahh mom..."There is a donut on this Christmas tree."

"Oh this is Alison Glass. I love her fabric," my mom said. Andover. Hmm...that's a company we need to get some more info on.

Oh I really like these bags. They are design by Jessica VanDenburgh of Sew Many Creations. We really liked her booth. Well it is almost 6:00 and we are out of time! We will have to come back tomorrow.

Oh my gosh it is dark already so the fountain lights are on. This is called Wings over Water. It is pretty cool.

It's a little muggy out here. I think we better go back inside.

What in the world...some man is in our selfie. That's a little strange. He works for a fabric company so we had to tell him all about our shop.

We needed a snack. So my mom gave me money and told me to go get whatever I wanted. Do you see me? I am in the cooler.

Well that was fun. I got cheese crackers and apple juice.

LOL! Look who is in my chair. She went over and got Starbucks. Now she won't be able to sleep tonight.

She is out of control with these pics. And I have the coffee!

Here we are. This is our room.

It is a mess. Quilt market stuff everywhere!

Here we are working on this blog. Tonight I am telling my mom what to type. Sometimes I do the typing. Not tonight. I am too tired.

I really miss my puppies. And Grandpa. So my mom said, "Sarah why don't we call them." So I got out my cell phone and called them.

Grandpa had Jackson and Nicky bark for me. I loved that so much. See you tomorrow Puppies. I am coming home.

Good morning! It is Monday.

Lol! You knew this was coming. We are heading downstairs for breakfast.

There is a Starbucks in this hotel. And I love their egg sandwich. So we got them.

Oh this is so good. Do you see that Minute Maid apple juice. I got it last night in the gift shop. I knew we were coming here today and I wanted Minute Maid. Do you know why? You will see...

Oh here we go. We have to go up to level two to get to the overhead walkway. We really never have to go outside. That is good for me.

So we started right where we left off yesterday. This is Jessica Vandenburgh behind me. Her collection is called Gypsy.

Oh my gosh. It's just like being back at Girl Scout camp.

Another Christmas tree! This fabric group is by Amanda Murphy.

I went back to place a big order of buttons today. This is Lisa Hagenman from Buttons Galore & More. She liked hearing about how much I like buttons.

"Mom, I really like this quilt." "That is a nice one."

Oh it's Valori Wells. And look who is here too. Jennifer Keltner. It must be an important meeting. I think I will join them.

Some of this fabric has birds on it. I really like it.

Next stop is at Camelot Fabrics. I was not leaving Houston until I came here and ordered Disney fabric.

Oh my gosh. I am in love. They have Little Mermaid too!!

This is my new friend Steve Haupt. He knows all about Disney. And fabric. He is the President of Camelot Fabrics.

My mom said I can have the table closest to my quiet room for a whole Disney display. This is going to be so awesome! We picked fabric so perfect for pillowcases. The little kids are going to love them!

A few weeks ago I was sorting Auriful thread in the shop. So my mom said I had to meet Alex Veronelli. He is like Mr. Auriful. He was so nice and funny too.

This is Trixie, It's a cute fabric line by Heather Ross for Windham.

Well that's about all the time we have for Market this year. I have had such a good time.

Oh wait. One more very important stop. We have to stop at Sue Spargo's booth. She is not here at the moment but this is her family. Do you know she is in Green, Ohio too. Yes! We are very close now.

There is something special about Houston. They also have the International Quilt Festival. It is a huge show open to the public. Here are two of the quilts hanging. They were made by Carl Hentsch from Saint Joseph, Missouri and quilted by Teresa Silva.

I can't show you all of them because there are hundreds. And some of them even have tags that say no photography.

I can show you this one though. I really like all the little houses. It is called Student's Village and was made by Cecilia Koppmann and 70 of her students in Buenos Aires in Argentina. That is so cool.