Pouch, Pizazz, and PARIS!

At this month's St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild meeting...Pouch swap!  Here's how my second attempt at a zippered pouch turned out:

My secret pouch partner Juli Ann graciously received this pouch, mistakes and all.  What a great gal!  And Carol drew my name; here's what she whipped up for me:

Nice, huh?  A neat little coin purse.  Thanks again!

So, one of my favorite features of the Guild meetings is the freebie table.  People bring in fabrics/patterns/etc that they think they have no use for, and hungry scavengers like me get to paw through all the goods.  Confessions of a bargain hunter: Truth be told, that's where I want to run the very second I walk in to the meeting, but I try to play it off very casually.  I nonchalantly walk by the table, making a mental list of the items that I crave, so that when the meeting is over I can book it and snag the items on my wish list.  Do we have to wait till the end of the meeting to grab freebies?  No.  But I am trying my hardest to look cool here, folks.

Speaking of looking cool...

A couple of months ago, I snagged a couple of early 1980s quilting magazines from the freebie table.  You know how I love old stuff; I couldn't resist.  As I flipped through the mostly black and white pages of old quilts and patterns, I stopped short.  Glowing from the magazine in full color was some of the most dumbfounding quilt work I've ever seen....quilted clothing (above).  If you want to look especially cool, maybe try out one of these looks.  I am particularly fond of the yellow quilted sun robe.  Just so many things to love on these two pages!  I can't contain myself!

Exciting news on our home front: We recently found out that we get to go to Paris for 2 weeks!!  We have never been overseas, individually or together, so it will be a grand adventure for us both.  I have been attempting to learn a wee bit of French by watching youtube videos.  So far, I have mastered one sentence: "L'homme mange le poisson."  It means, "The man eats the fish."  I am really hoping for an opportunity to use that sentence.  Maybe if I'm lucky, Hubby will order some salmon at a restaurant.  I'll stand up, point to him, and exclaim, "L'homme mange le poisson!".  An eruption of applause will follow.  And I will be paraded down the avenue, held high in my chair by all my new Parisian friends.  And I will be wearing a ravishing quilted robe with a sun on it.  And perhaps a matching yellow beret.

Adieu.