Market

I have to say that the combination of joy, exhaustion, creativity and adrenalin of attending International Quilt Market has me wishing I was facing a three day weekend instead of a full work week, but I wouldn't want to miss it for the world.

Four full days of teaching, demonstrating, walking the floor, and placing orders, combine with drinks and dinners with other shop owners and vendors that feel more like family is more fun than work, but exhausting just the same.

Debby and I have fun no matter where we go. Sometimes I am pretty sure that we are the only two people that find the situation funny, but that doesn't deter us from having a good time. For example, Ty Pennington was at Quilt Market. He is offering a new fabric line called Impressions and you could stop by this booth to meet him. During set-up time, when the walls of the booth had to be screwed together, Ty was nowhere to be found. There were a few girls and a cordless drill manhandling things into place. Where is that DIY guy when you need him?

Talk about fun.....

The Swirly Girls pattern company has designed a new block of the month program for Michael Miller fabrics. MM was gracious enough to invite us to a beautiful breakfast so that Susan, from Swirly Girls could explain the program to us. Deb loved it immediately, but I was a bit more cautious. I know what it is like to be in over your head, making promises that you only hope you can keep for the next 12 months. I usually prefer to be in charge of my own destiny, so I decided to think about it. By our last day at Market neither of us had seen anything that we liked better than the new Clubhouse program, so we stopped by to give it another look. I then realized that if you bought the program, Swirly Girls (also girls that know how to have fun) allowed one person from your party to be entered into their glass wind tunnel. You had the opportunity to "grab" as much Swirly Girl cash as possible in 30 seconds.

That made the decision.

We were definitely doing the program.

Guess who was going in the booth

Deb secured enough cash to
win two charm packs of the
same fabrics that are used in the block of the month.

I guess she will still be buying lottery tickets if she really wants to strike it rich.

Deb's quote "That isn't as easy as it looks!"

Luckily the quilt is beautiful and you can look forward to making it starting just after the first of the year.

Wind tunnel not included.

Market

I know that many of you have been (not so patiently) waiting for an update from Quilt Market. Unfortunately, updating the blog has been on the bottom of the to-do list since returning home from Minneapolis. I also had to finish our version of the Western Pennsylvania Shop Hop quilt, write the summer newsletter, produce the final instructions for both our block-of-the-month projects and our First Friday/Saturday program. Some of you are probably thinking that I should have done some of that before I left for Market. I would like to point out the ridiculousness of that theory, before Market I am busy getting ready for Market. Now that Market is over, I am busy playing catch-up before I leave on vacation. Never a dull moment

around here.

Quilt Market was wonderful! I couldn't identify any "one big thing" that everyone was excited about. In my book, that is a good thing. I like it better that way. When something "big" hits and all of the shop owners are chasing the same item, I think it makes for a much less creative atmosphere. The next Market all of the manufacturers and pattern designers try their version of the "big thing". When there isn't a clearly defined "hot" item they are forced to be more original and creative. A much better industry for everyone involved!

At this Market we bought heavy on beautiful batiks. Timeless Treasures introduced their own line of Tonga Treat pre-cuts in 2 1/2 inch strips and 10" squares. We bought them all - and lots of them. Hoffman also introduced a new assortment of Bali Pops which we won't see until fall, but they are well worth the wait. The photo at left is a project that was made from one package of the Hoffman Bali Pops with the border and applique added.

Our favorite vendors didn't disappoint! Here is Debby showing off one of Terry Atkinson's newest patterns. These cute little zip bags are perfect for everything from jewelry and make-up to sewing supplies and even lunch! Although we already have the absolute best assortment and price on 22" zippers, Terry was also offering a gorgeous assortment of 14" zipper in stunning colors, so we have that coming too. The bags are oh-sew-adorable with the added trims, so naturally we hit our favorite trim supplier.

Can you imagine how much fun it is to sort through the offerings in this booth? Lace, rick rack, ball fringe, beaded fringe, snap tape, ribbon, cording, you name it, they have it - and in tons of colors! Just browsing this booth has inspired several of my own designs, like the ball fringe on our MacGreggor's Garden pillow. We purchased yards and yards of new trims for you to use to decorate your projects.

As you may know, before we hit the Market floor there are several events that take place. Schoolhouse is one of them. This ALL day program is based on 15 or 30 minute classes that run continuously from about 11 am until 5 pm. There are over a dozen classes to chose from in each time period. I presented thirty minute sessions for Timeless Treasures and so does Karen Snyder. We both design for Timeless, but live on opposite ends of the country and only get to see each other at Market. This photo is of the two of us the day we presented our Schoolhouses. Proving that great minds not only think alike, they dress alike too!

Another delightful event that happens before Market is the FabShop Dinner that is attended by shop owners from around the world. Normally I am filthy dirty and busy setting up a booth on the Market floor when this dinner takes place. In Minneapolis I was a special guest at this dinner and was presented the Star Communicator Award for our industry. It was a special thrill to be chosen by my peers for this award and to be included in the company of the other recipients, Marti Michelle, Star Designer, Carole Britt of Batiks Etc, Star Shop, Oliver+S, Rising Star, Checker Distributors, Star Supplier.

All in all it was a wonderful Quilt Market, lots of fun new items, lots of wonderful new fabrics and patterns and lots of laughter. Once again, Debby and I were not "cool" enough for our hotel - We stayed at the ultra hip "W" and we are more the Holiday Inn Express type. When I get some time I will have to tell you about the orange water - too funny! But right now I have to clear my to-do list and get ready for vacation!

Blog Detention

I know, I know, I should be sent to blog detention.

It has been quite awhile since I have had time to sit and write a post. Things have been very hectic around here. Don't worry, I have plenty of excuses. I should probably start with the computer mentdown that required the pruchase of a new laptop. A laptop with Vista as the operating system insead of the next edition of Microsoft 7. MY computer had to breakdown a month before the new version becomes available. That way I have to learn a whole new way of doing things and download a zillion printer drivers just to be able to function for 30 days. Then I get to do it all over again when I upgrade to the new system. I swear I could hear my old hard drive laughing at me just before it died. You may have heard bad things about Vista. You may have even said bad things about Vista. It is all true. Just my opinion.

I also learned that all Geeks are not created equal. If you live in the Pittsburgh area, I whole heartedly suggest that you avoid gthe Geeks in the North Hills Best Buy location. Take the additional 20 minutes and drive to the Cranberry store. Once you are there, bow down to the Geekiest of Geeks on the planet. They are truely miracle workers in my book. They saved my technological life after the North Hills Geek pronounced my hard drive "deader than dead". If I were not so busy with other things I would take my extreemly sharp Ginger sewing shears to the North Hills store and use them to snip that Geeks little black tie right off! Do I sould bitter? I shouldn't. Thanks to the Cranberry Geeks I have all of my info back, a new shiny laptop, a cute little travel laptop, a back-up drive and a much smaller balance in my checking account.

That is just one small part of my list of excuses for not being up-to-date here on the blog. Anothe one is that I spent the entire last weekend on a sewing retreat with customers. Work, work, work. Yes, it was an all sewing weekend at a wonderful retreat center. Yes, we have prepared meals in the dining room of the mansion. Yes, the comapny is fun to be with and we laugh quite a bit. But I sew for a living, so it still counts as work! Someone has to do it.

My new fabric line arrived just before I left on retreat. I hurried to find coordinates to take with me and managed to finish one quilt top and a good size tote bag over the weekend. When I returned home I realize that I took the wrong fabric and ended up having to make the tote bag all over again! That took a whole day. Because it is my fabric line I had to make several samples. Including the large table runner and smaller purse. That seemed sufficient considering that the whole line consists of just 2 pieces. Large and small butterflies.

If making the samples before Market were all that needed to be done it would be easy. BUT, once the sewing is finished I have to write the instructions, photograph the item, create the pattern front, make a UPC code (that involves adding every other number, multiplying by three, adding the other numbers, adding those to the first total and rounding up to get a check digit. Now you know what those engineers did before they created Vista). When everything is finished I have to print, print, print. Then fold and bag..... speaking of bags, I have to pack one. We leave for Houston and International Quilt Market in the morning. Market is earlier than usual this year. That moved deadlines up by 2 weeks! Excuse #23987.

I just returned from shipping the box of quilts to my hotel (to save on additional baggage fees). That means I am finished, done, period. Except for packing, and hemming my pants, and updating this blog.

NEXT week I will have to work myself out of blog detention and find time to tell you about all of the wonderful things we find at Market!

You Can't Get There From Here

This photo not only represents the horrendous mess that is my sewing area, it also pretty accurately represents what my brain would look like if you could peek inside my head. Everything is in piles scattered all over the place and nothing is finished. Nothing can be finished until something else is done and I can't get that done because something is missing.

I’m working on the quilts for fall Quilt Market using the batiks that will be introduced at the show. As always the yardage is limited, there is no room for mistakes and I have to squeeze out several projects from the same yardage. For the most part, changing my mind midstream is not an option.

For example, the nine patch quilt on the wall started out as an Ohio Star. It looked great on paper, but I had only cut a few triangles when I realized that it just was not going to work the way I had planned. Scrap the triangles and start plan B, a shaded Trip Around the World variation. Scrap plan B. The fabrics are individually beautiful but without a background to set them off they “mush”. I mean really mush, right into mud. These are beautiful prints in unique colors (we are calling this collection “Desert”) and they deserve to be seen. Simplicity is sometimes best, hence the Nine Patch. I love it again. To make it more interesting I alternated 2 different background fabrics, which I promptly ran out of when I made the quilt larger to accommodate a simpler cutting plan. More fabric is on the way, but I can’t go any further until it arrives. I also don't want to remove it from the design wall because I have already planned the location of each of the 9 patch blocks.

The 2 rows of crazy patch blocks on the left represent the first part of the new Block-of-the-Month program that we will be running this fall. There will be 30 different batiks in that program, including the 10 in the Desert collection. I can’t finish the Crazy Patch blocks until I am sure that I have everything I need for the 9 patch project. Once I chop the fabric up, there will be no more until the shipment arrives from Indonesia hopefully in early October. That accounts for the small piles of fabrics on the floor behind my desk. Each of those piles will eventually be a set of Crazy Patch blocks, unless I run out of fabric and have to make a substitution. That could change everything.

I’ve moved on to the Indigo project while I am waiting for background fabric for the 9 Patch. The blue and white pile on the end of the ironing board is the other half of the strip sets I need for the free handout quilt for Timeless. I have already completed one quilt from this collection so every square counts, no room for miss cuts or an "oops"! I have divide the fabrics in half so that if I accidently read my ruler wrong, only half of the remaining fabric will be wasted.

As for all of that other clutter..... it represents things that I would be sewing on if I had the time. Which I wish I had... but I don't. Personally, I think that if Obama really wants to pass his health care plan he should get rid of some of the "pork" and put in a provision to extend summer another month. Move Labor Day back to the first Monday in October and give us another 30 days of summer vibes. I don't want to be picky, but I really don't want another 30 days of hot, sticky, July weather. I prefer another 30 of warm, beautiful mid September temperatures. It would do wonders for my mental health! Who would argue with that?