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Sew Hip

HOUSTON, AUSTIN, BELTON, CANYON This month the congenial domestic art of quilting escalates from mere hobby to cultural phenomenon with a slew of patchwork presentations across the state. Far and away the largest will be the Houston International Quilt Festival, which any Suzy Thimble worth her stitch has been anticipating all year. More than 50,000 attendees will scurry among acres of booths (with cute-as-a-button names like It's a Stitch, Seams to Me, and Bold Over Batiks!), classes (applique, dye, paint, print), and lectures ("Confessions of a Scrap Maniac," "Visual Texture: The Quiltmaker's Secret Weapon"). The sew-happy craze has also made its way to Austin with "Miss Ima's Quilts" at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum; to Belton with a historic quilt display at the Bell County Museum; and to Canyon with the "Crazy About Crazy Quilts" showcase at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. Maybe all this basting and binding is mere coincidence. Or perhaps it's a shrewd marketing move planned to take advantage of "fall" temperatures and the consequent desire to wrap ourselves in something cuddly. As artist Bill Davenport wrote in a Houston Chronicle article earlier this year: "Not liking quilts is like not liking apple pie." Cozy and lovable and clearly popular, the quilt has suddenly become cool. Houston: Nov 2-5. George R. Brown Convention Center, 1001 Avenida de las Americas; 713-781-6864;...

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