Holy CPA!

I did it! I finally passed the last part of the CPA exam. I nev-a, ev-a thought it would actually happen. I've spent the last few months really buckling down to try and finish. I was going to be losing one of my scores in December, so I was trying really hard to get it taken care of before then. And it actually worked! I'm not actually certified yet... that'll probably be a couple (or few) months. I have to turn in more paperwork and get employer letters and wait for processing, so you know how that goes... don't go asking me for tax advice yet. Or ever probably, since I don't do taxes :)

I want to give a HUGE thank you shout out to all of my friends and family and especially the Hubs. I don't know what I would do without all of you and your encouragement and support the last few years through grad school and the exam, especially when things weren't going according to my Type-A plans. (Hello 6 month self-imposed testing timeline turning into 18 months when I couldn't pass anything.)

Here's to more fun and being laid back and more sewing and blogging! I've been making things off and on (people don't stop having babies when you have no time to sew) and will start posting about those. I have pictures, but haven't even looked at the pictures, much less blogged about it. And I'll treat you to a few pics from the vacation we took last week, too!

Again, thanks so much to everyone! I love you all!

K

Edited to add: If anyone wants to send me some congratulatory fabric, that would be great!

Quilt Market... part tres

Here is finally my last post... I'll try to give a run down of the booths and pictures....

From Julie @ Jaybird Quilts' new book.

The Kona booth and new colors.

Julie's booth... love her new all of her quilt patterns.

 Shannon Fabrics' booth. I really want to just roll around in the floor in their booth and stay all day. Everything is made from minky and they have the super-cushy floor tiles, which is heaven when you've been walking all day. It's also heaven on just a normal day, too.

Abbey Lane Quilts has two new books out. One for babies and the other that does include how to make those cute wreaths! I also purchased the Lucille pattern and it's in process at the moment :)

Simply Color by Vanessa from V & Co. These are going to be great! They're great colors and will be good for blending with other lines... and there are ombres!

Quilts in Bonnie & Camille's booth.

Kate Spain's new line, Cuzco. This is going to be another good one. Great colors and patterns!

This is from a new Moda designer, Zen Chic. Again, I love the saturated colors and it's just so different (in a good way).

One of my favorite quilts at market from Green Bee Patterns.

Amy Butler's new line, Cameo.

Bari J.'s new line for Art Gallery, Lilly Belle, which was a sample spree purchase :)

And the last one is turning out to be one of my favorite collections! Sarah Jane's Out to Sea. She has way more pictures on her blog since I failed to take more. I am loving the hot pink and navy colorway and think it would make the most adorable nursery (I even have paint colors picked to match: navy and white stripe under a chair rail and one wall hot pink above and the rest aqua). This will come in handy since I'll be having kids soon (hahaha, not really). I am considering hoarding buying enough of it to make nursery bedding and decor from whenever I have kids in the next 5 years. If I do that, I'll jinx, won't have a girl, and still won't get to use it. Dilemma. I will be investing in the embroidery patterns, since I "taught" myself over Memorial Day weekend.

So that, in a nutshell, was market! Can't wait for next year!

Winner!

Sorry I'm a day late! We went camping so I didn't have internet! The winner of the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway day is number 269!

Jeana said,

JeanaMay 22, 2012 6:28 PM

thanks for the chance - this is so generous!

Thanks to everyone that entered!

Quilt Market: Tula Pink

So I'm a big Tula Pink fan... who's not? I bought Parisville as a gift for myself when I graduated with my masters. I bought some Prince Charming when I passed a CPA exam section. I just ordered more (I decided I needed a bag from it). We'll see if that is a congratulations or condolences gift when I get another score this week. This was my first time getting to meet Tula. (She wasn't in Houston in October, but was there at my first market. I was just tardy to the Tula party and didn't talk to her then.) She is so nice! All the designers are, I just get nervous before I talk to them... and then end up usually not. She reminds me of my friend Molly that I made these for.

We went to both of her schoolhouse sessions. One was for her book that is out and the other was for her fabric lines. Both were great. I really like hearing about the inspiration behind the lines. Here are pictures from both schoolhouses.

She also has super cool fabric labels printed for her lines.

Nightshade quilt backs.

Quilt with Voiles from the new Birds and the Bees line

Here are a couple in her booth.

I didn't take the camera off manual before I gave it to Mom :(

Can you tell I like this quilt? Quilting by Angela Walters, of course!

Aaaaand... we stalked her first book signing on Friday and got copies of her book! It's ah-mazing. Go buy it. Now. I'll wait.

We went by the publisher's booth a little early (we didn't want to miss out and not get one) and made it in time for the book signing before hers, so we got two books :) More on the other later. We also made Tula's Instagram feed!

Me and Tula... BFF.

I love getting to meet fun people! It makes me all that more ok with the ridiculous amount of money I spend on fabric to know that I'm supporting all these great people who do what they love!

Quilt Market: Schoolhouse

This was my 3rd time to go to Market, but the first time we've done the Schoolhouse Series.

Side note/Back story: We usually just go to fall market in Houston so we can drive and save some money, however we are not going to be able to go in October. My sister is pregnant with my second niece and is due in October. Initially, they were thinking the due date would be around the 13th, which is no problem since Market is the last weekend of the month. After their first doctor visit and sonogram, her due date was changed to officially be October 21st, but she was measuring to be due October 27, which is the day market opens. With my first niece, she went a week past her due date, so we were pretty sure we'd be missing market. We were pretty bummed because it's been a fun mother/daughter thing the last couple years (well... mother/daughter/other business partners thing). But that week Southwest was having an airfare sale and we found one hotel room for the Thursday night of market, so we booked it! My mom's co-owners skipped out since we were flying and they could still go in October, so it ended up being an actual mother/daughter trip!

Back to reality... We always drive to Houston the day of Schoolhouse, so we hadn't ever gone before, but I think it was well worth it! Yes, it is kind of a sales pitch, but you get to pick which ones you want to hear and the sales pitch is more by the Author/Designer/Etc., and about how you can use their book/fabric/product in your shop. And they show you new stuff that's not out yet :) We knew of a few we for sure wanted to go to and just randomly picked others where nothing really stood out. My favorites were Tula Pink (we went to both of hers) and Angela Walters. These next couple posts, I'm probably going to sound like a rabid stalker/fan of both of them, but how can you not be?!?

Other side note: I did a horrible job taking pictures of almost everything. A lot of these were with my iphone because I was too lazy to get out the real camera, and then once I did I was either far away or there was horrible lighting or I just don't know how to work it. That's what I get for not listening to my husband every time he tries to show me, but I wasn't about to call and ask him again :)

Back to pictures.

The first schoolhouse we went to was for the new book by Emily Herrick, Geared for Guys. This has been going around the bloggy world for the last few weeks, so I had heard of it, but didn't really pay that much attention. Her quilts were great!

This was my fave! The picture really doesn't do it justice. I think this would look awesome as a color wheel!

This pattern was designed by John at Quilt Dad.

Like I said, horrible pictures. But anyways, I think these are great, simple designs to use for quilts that aren't fussy and girly.

Next, we went to the class for a book called Simply Triangles by Barbara Cline. All of her quilts looked so complicated, which is so not my thing, but they really aren't. The are all based on a triangle pattern and a lot of them were strip pieced. She also used a netting overlay to add some of her color variations, which I never would have thought of. I would have just bought different fabric.

We also went to Angela Walter's session for her new book, Free-Motion Quilting with Angel Walters. This is definitely going on my to-buy list when it comes out next month. FMQ terrifies me. Especially on my tiny Bernina. Here are some of the quilts she brought.

I want to be her when I grow up.... I'll be back soon with more pictures! After looking through the rest of them, I'm going to break this out into a couple of posts. I think Tula Pink may be getting her own!

One last picture before I go... Eleanor Burns was handing out bags while we were waiting in line to go to sample spree. We thought they were pretty funny :)

If you're looking for the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway, go here!