Counting Down to Houston

A week from now, at this time, I'll be jockeying for bathroom space with 2 other women in a Houston hotel room, anxious to get back to the vendors at the George Brown Convention Center to see more of what I had an ever-so-fleeting moment to experience the night before, at the Quilt Festival Preview.

I'll have my hands free and not have to worry about keeping track of my purse because I'll be wearing this uber-cool modified badge holder around my neck. The idea came from a member of my quilt guild who was so very kind to meet me for lunch and share her knowledge of the Quilt Festival jungle with a Festival virgin. Patty said to leave the purse back in the room, slip the cellphone in your pocket, the vitals in a badgeholder and leave your hands free for shopping. (Patty gave me lots of invaluable Festival advice...thank you Patty!)

I happened to have a spare badgeholder in my office from our Hawaii meeting, so I brought it home, used my new 606 fusing spray to iron on a scrap of South African indigo, made a little mini notepad for the front pocket where I could jot down notes about photos I take, or fabric I want to look for later and sewed on a really neat metal button that has been in my button stash for the last 30 or so years (got them when we were living in St. Thomas from someone who had picked up embellishments on their travels to Tibet and other exotic places).
Stuffed some of my business cards in the back, made sure my stack of bills fit comfortably in the zipper pocket, and I'm ready to go.

The little bow was a necessity when I accidently touched the cord with the iron while fusing on the indigo. Who knew it would melt. It certainly feels like the rest of the badge holder, which come to think of it, I couldn't identify it's 'fabric' content. Anyway, it's just a fluke that the bow happens to match the pen (pink and gray), though I could see where you might think that I had to go out and buy a pen to match. :)

Off to work (though today is a telecommute day, so going to work requires me to close the blog and open the connection to the office network. No need to change out of the slippers). Lots of details to take care of before my weeks' vacation. Unfortunately, I've got to work this evening at the merchandising job, but that means I'm free tomorrow night.

Hope to get the convergence quilt finished (borders are on) and posted shortly. Daughter is walking in the 3-day breast cancer walk tomorrow, so she'll be bringing the grandpup over and spending the night, as one of us (the hubs, you certainly didn't think it would be me) has to get up and leave at 5 a.m. to get her down to Nationals Stadium tomorrow for a 6 a.m. check-in. We'll both go down to the Lincoln Memorial for the closing to pick her up Sunday. Better get all my quilting done before then!