The show

It was an overload of quilts for me on the weekend - I spent a couple of hours doing white-glove duty on Saturday and then went back Sunday to pick up. White-glove duty is phenomenally boring in many ways - you wander around slowly saying variants of:

• yes, isn't it amazing, there is a lot of work in that
• please don't touch the quilts
• I'm afraid there is no food and drink in here
• she quilted it first and then went over with gold paint and a roller.

But, you do get to have a good look at all the quilts, and even better, you get to have a look at people looking at the quilts: where they stop, what draws them in, which ones their eyes just glance over, and which ones stand out. It is quite different to the way that I look at them. If I've seen something 100 times before - like a Baltimore, or a traditional block in traditional colours - then I generally won't inspect it further no matter how well it is executed. And I really only get drawn in by quilts when I can't figure out how it's done, or I want to decide what exactly I really like about it. If it's gorgeous for obvious reasons, then I glance over it, even though I might really like it. But viewers without a (slightly obsessive) quilting background will spend most time with the ones that have the most work in them, or that appeal to them immediately, without fail. It's interesting. The travelling exhibition of Bernina Best in Show always had crowds (up close! don't touch the quilts!!!) - but those quilts were all pretty amazing.

Here I am with Work-life Balance. Actually the name was worryingly appropriate in one way, because the words made everyone tilt over slightly. But no-one completely unbalanced. 

I went into the vendors stalls briefly, but it was very crowded and I was fed up with being on my feet, so I didn't buy anything. I had a quick look at the rulers but I can get them on-line any time. And I also managed to squeeze in a fancy restaurant dinner for my birthday - no kids! yay! - this is the dessert which was like a doughnut with a jelly in it.... but the gourmet version not the dodgy corner store version. Absolutely delicious.