Weekend trip to our first International Quilt Convention in Africa

On Friday 4 of us ht the road to the big bad city of Johannesburg to visit our very first International Quilt Convention in Africa.  Now I stressed long before the time as I am quite satisfied with the hand I've been dealt but if I could change just one thing, it would be to have a sense of direction.  That little inner magnet people are born with.... I did not get one.  DH explains it best when he says "just because she found Pick 'n Pay today, does not necessarily mean she'll find it tomorrow" and that is truer than most people believe.  Here we stopped for brunch along the way, traffic, signs to read and follow still manageable but that was just the quiet before the storm.

f.l.t.r:  Karin, Me, Iessie and Angie (Karin's daughter)

Once we eventually found our lodge with Angie's help, there was no time to rest my stressed body as I wanted to visit my sis and mom in Centurion, so off to the Gautrain Karin and I went.  Now taking Karin along anywhere only confirms that more people than just me were born without that magnetic direction guide but at least I'm never alone and lost.  We are both lost!  At the train we basically had to remember 2 things, where to get off and on which platform to catch the next train.  You guessed it; we got off at the right place but just couldn't remember whether we had to be on platform A or B.  So we followed the crowd and they obviously knew where we were heading as we actually got to Centurion.

We only got back to our lodge after 11 pm dead tired but then next morning we were up early to experience the convention.  Clever this time, we contracted a taxi driver to take us to and from wherever we needed to be, so a lot of stress relief doing it this way.  I didn't take too many photos inside as one can never be too sure whether it is allowed or not.  I could unfortunately not take any photos of the quilts but heck these were stunningly beautiful and I thought a good mix of techniques to suit everybody's taste.  The best part of any festival and this convention is meeting up with old friends and seeing familiar faces.

After shopping as if we don't have shops in Bloemfontein Karin and I had time to explore the rest of Emperor's Palace which somewhere over the weekend was called Caesars Palace and Gallagher Estate!!  The bottom line being, we were not in Bloemfontein!

From my point of view our very first International Quilt Convention was well executed and done in a professional manner.  The people who did courses enjoyed it thoroughly and I enjoyed the vendors and variety.  I have so many new toys to play with!  A huge thank you to Angie who took over the driving back home.  Karin and I vowed that in future contact with Johannesburg will be done via the post unless Angie can come along and chauffeur us through the city traffic.