Can you smell it? No, not the fine fragrance of glass cleaner on the screen of your phone or computer, but the scents of the season. We’re talking fall, y'all! That means a coolness in the air, crackling fires outside, hot cocoa, sweaters when you take them out of storage, and that damn omnipresent pumpkin spice everything.

But over here at Festival HQ here in Houston (where “fall” means anything under 80 degrees…) we’re smelling other things. Like…fabric. And the plastic of pattern bags. And the freshly vacuumed carpet at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Because International Quilt Festival will be back from October 28-31!

The 2021 Houston Festival will be the first in-person show that we’ve produced since the 2019 edition. So, so much has changed in the world since then. And we realize that even for this show, things won’t truly be “back to normal.” But we are thrilled and excited about being together with our Quilting Peeps again. And better behind a face mask or face shield than not at all!

In this issue of Friends@Festival, you can get the scoop behind one of the show’s most anticipated special exhibits—this year’s Cherrywood Challenge which pays tribute to the life and legacy of Princess Diana (and the color pink…lots of pink!). You’ll meet Troy Murrah, someone with a last name familiar to many class attendees at Festival, and how he’s making quilts out of a decidedly different material with his Built Quilts. Swiss artist Beatrice de Wit shows how she changed a personal difficulty into something positive with United in Quilting. And finally, we have an insightful interview with YouTube and business sensation Jenny Doan of the Missouri Star Quilting Company. She is sharing her life story in and out of the art form in a highly-anticipated new memoir!

But whether you’re able to join us in Houston from October 28-31 (with classes beginning October 25 and Preview Night on October 27) or not, we hope that you enjoy this issue of Friends@Festival. And that you have a safe, secure, and wonderful rest of 2021.

And, as we used to always say to our elementary school classmates on the last day before Christmas vacation, “See ya next year!” Well, it seemed more funny to a 9-year-old…