FINALLY, we were able to catch up with Karen, the editor of Cotton Spice quilting magazine!

As you may have heard, we were supposed to meet up on the first Wednesday of our trip to Missouri, but, ummmm, somehow my blondeness mystically migrated to Karen and she temporarily lost her mind. 🙂 – she got the weeks wrong and needless to say, we were hunting for a hotel room at midnight that night because Karen wouldn’t answer her phones.  It did occur to me, only for a minute, that perhaps Karen didn’t want to see me – but, I quickly got over that when I received her embarassed, apologetic emails the next morning. 

After all our fun in north central Missouri, we planned on returning to Joplin, and perhaps the second time around, we’d be able to meet.

Sure enough, our reservations at the Cotton Spice hotel were on the books and we were loaded for bear, once Mike (Karen’s husband) gave me directions on how to find their home.

And it’s just as you would picture it, were you trying to see what Karen is like in real life – a quilt hanging on the wall of every room …. and a lovely chef to boot!  Thanks Mike, for the fabulous meal! 

Believe it or not, we took no photos together.  Karen and I mostly sat in her sewing / knitting / computer room, yakking away and ignoring everyone else.  hehe

I was able, though, to snap a few photos of Karen and Mike’s beautiful flowers, which were enjoying a touch of sunshine after some pretty rough storms:

And meeting Karen was just like meeting and old new friend.  It was amazing.  We just picked up where we’d left off in emails, and visited like we’d been friends forever!

Just a little tease to you quilters, I got to sleep under the quit that Karen had designed and made, that was featured in the  American Patchwork and Quilting 2005 Calendar!