A Road Trip!

I was thrilled to receive an invitation from my BFF, Belinda to the unveiling of the 2013 unveiling of the winning Barn Quilt Block at the Accuquilt Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.  Belinda was the 2012 Winner and her beautiful red, white and blue design held this billboard place of honor for the past year.

Upon arriving attendees were able to get autographs and photos taken with today's presenter which was Ricky Tims.  Here is Belinda getting her autograph.

Next it was off to the gallery to look at some of Ricky Tims' quilts and we took the time for a photo in front of the largest to commemorate our trip.

Then it was off to the work room that was absolutely wall to wall people with lots going on.  Pillowcases being made, machine embroidery being demonstrated as well as the Go Baby, Go and Studio cutters.  The walls were lined with products they sell.  From there it was a trip into the warehouse where a small shop had been set up for purchasing products.  Belinda and I both came out of there with some amazingly priced gently used "dies" for our cutters.

It was then out to gigantic tent set up in the parking lot for the presentation.  The speaker today was Ricky Tims who is an quilter, musician, writer and after the presentation I would say a comedian.  We laughed throughout his presentation.

After that we headed on out into the parking lot for the unveiling of the winning barn quilt block and then a fabulous lunch of barbecued shredded pork sandwiches, baked beans and coleslaw.  The festivities ended with the door prize drawings.  Amazingly the 2 Iowa girls who rarely win in these kinds of drawings both won!  It was rather funny as they held up the Go baby carrying case and Belinda turns to me and says you could use one of those.  I agreed with her and in the next second they announced my name as the winner.  Still laughing about that when 2 prizes later they say this winner is the previous Barn Quilt Block winner and announces Belinda's name.  She received a lovely Japanese Quilting book and some fabulous threads.  

We then took the short scenic route to the Quilted Moose (really the navigation system didn't know where she was sending us) as we needed (lets be honest) wanted some new fabrics to try out our new "dies".  

It was a day filled with friendship and laughter!  It was one of the best "Girls Wanna Have Fun" days ever!