We got home from International Quilt Market on Sunday night – and though we had a good time, I am happy to have it behind me! Writing books is so much work, and then when it’s finished, there is still all the marketing, website work, planning a booth, etc and then getting everything together for the show. My husband Joel describes it as “Running a marathon and then working all weekend at quilt market.” The writing of the book is like running a marathon, and then all tired, sweaty and dazed, you have to try to sell the product. This is my least favorite part of my job, but I really did try to enjoy it this year. We’ve been around for so many years, that is fun to catch up with the shop owners and other designers that we have met in the past. Joel is a huge help and I was at ease knowing that my Mom was taking good care of the kids while I was gone. The orders have already gone out. Now to get the trailer unloaded and everything put away. And I suppose I should do some laundry and get my sorry house put back in order. I think what I will do instead is plant some flowers and work outside. Carter would love to help me. Sounds like a good way to spend part of my Saturday!
I have a few pictures to share with you from market. I never did pull out my nice camera while I was there, so these are just cell phone pictures. First up – my booth.
I had a double corner booth, so it was nice and big for displaying all the things form the new book. (In case you missed it, the new book is Angles with Ease 2 and all the quilts are made with this versatile ruler).
The Petals on a String and No Monsters Allowed quilts were the favorites.
This is the group of Henry Glass designers that were at Market. Karen – the blonde in the lower right corner is my design director. She took several of us that work under her out for a fun supper on Friday night. We had a great time reconnecting and hanging out – while having a really good supper (We went to Mesa if you ever want to try good Mexican in downtown Minneapolis).
A took a few other photos of some favorite things and booths –
Sue Spargo’s work is always a favorite. Though I have actually never made one of her designs, I still really admire her creativity and attention to detail.
This is designer’s row in Moda’s Booth. Lots of eye candy here – and this is only a small part of it.
Fig Tree was on the end with their quilts made with Farmhouse (one of the lines that I had to pick up at Sample Spree).
Canyon by Kate Spain was another line that I thought was beautiful. I will show a few more of their new lines in my next market post.
Another favorite booth was Elizabeth Hartman. I love her woodland creatures. I think I might need to put a few fabric flowers up on my walls too.
I loved this booth too. First of all, I loved the wallpaper. Gorgeous! The display is beautiful too, with the framed fabrics, bench and bookcase.
This is Cotton+Steel’s booth. If you have my ruler from the new book – you could use it to make the quilt below. I had a very similar sketch in my notebook of things to include in the book, so it was fun to see it done up in person. I was also very interested in their clothing fabrics – especially the rayons and knits.
I also spent some time in Indygo Junction’s booth. For some reason I have the bug to make some clothing. I picked up one of their new books and I am probably going to make that tunic in the front.
I’m not sure why I have the bug to make some clothing – but I think it has something to do with all the new fabrics hitting the market. It wasn’t tempting at all to make something from what they have at my local JoAnns, but when you see that many of the beautiful quilting fabrics also come in knit, rayon, or double gauze, it gets rather tempting. My mom used to help me stumble through making clothes – that was before I discovered quilting 20 years ago – so we will see how it goes.
Birch fabric had some of my favorite clothing fabrics
I loved the double gauze so 1 piece is on its way here for me to try out.
In addition to getting to see all the new things at market, I was really excited to have so many shop owners compliment me on how my instructions are written – that they are clear, easy to follow, and accurate. It’s something that my Mom and I work really hard on. I write the instructions, then she tests the patterns and offers suggestions and changes. We go back and forth and forth many, many times trying to get it just so and weed out any errors. It’s a huge job and I have to give HUGE props to my Mom for all her help with this part. I couldn’t do this without her and to have the shop owners bring it to our attention meant so much to me.
I also have to give props to my husband Joel. He offered to make me some nice booth walls this time, along with lining up someone to help get them all into the booth and set up. Joel also did many demos in the booth and helped with that selling part that I dislike so much. I teased him that being “hot and helpful in the booth” was one of my favorite attributes in a husband 😉
I’ll be back next week with a few of my favorite products from market. Have a great weekend!
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