It's Here!

My fabric packet arrived late Thursday afternoon, just as Debby and I were getting ready to leave for a charity fundraiser. I had to wait until early Friday morning to really get down to work. I've been known to work non-stop to do what has to be done when things get down to the wire, but this time things are a little different.

In addition to dealing with normal Market frenzy, this season International Quilt Market is being held here in Pittsburgh. The entire industry is coming to town for this wholesale event. Many of them, including the sponsored bus trip, will be stopping by my store. Needless to say, there is a lot of primping, cleaning and general organizing to prepare for that kind of company. If you were in the store over the weekend, you are probably wondering how that is going to happen! I have piles and heaps of fabric, snips, scraps, discarded blocks, instruction notes, rulers, you name it, strewn everywhere!

Outside of the store we have been working with our landscaper since last fall, planning when he needs to be finished with spring clean-up and fresh mulch. My husband also asked him to re-rock a drainage area along our driveway. All last week there was a pile of stone in my parking lot taking up 3 parking spaces. Our landscaper is having employee issues, his wife just had a baby..... I can relate..... but I wanted the rock gone and the mulch DONE. So far I'm one for two in that department.

I didn't sew until the wee hours on Friday and Saturday because we were attending the local high school musical production of "Anything Goes". My daughter is starring as Hope and I did not want to miss a minute of it. I always see it at least twice, the first time I usually hold my breath each time she starts to sing, the second time I really get to enjoy it. This year they are performing for two weekends and I plan to see it Friday too! Saturday I will leave at intermission so that I can get home and warm things up. For the last few years we have hosted the cast party after the final performance.

This is Lindsay's senior year and in addition to all of the hoopla that normally goes along with graduation, her prom is the Friday night of Market. Sometime between now and then I have to find time to adjust her prom dress. She selected a black and white (mostly white) chiffon dress with a slit and she is not leaving the house until I line the skirt! This morning she informed us that her group of friends are planning to take photos at OUR house.

I have to go drop this quilt at the quilter and call a guy about mulch!

Frustrations

Ok, I will admit that it has been awhile since my last post.

I have an excuse. I’ve been busy keeping my mouth shut. My father-in-law passed away and we had a longer than average family funeral. As with many families, my husband has a “blended” family. His parents divorced years ago and both remarried. In the case of my husband’s father, he and the “new” wife (they were married for almost 30 years) had a total of 7 sons. Over the years those seven boys have accumulated an assortment of wives and children which makes for a very large family. Funerals tend to either bring out the best or the worst in people. Thankfully this one brought out the best in everyone. There was however a wide variety of ways that individuals felt they should pay their respects or say good-bye. It took a little over a week to accomodate those wishes, which in my book is about a week too long. Therefore, in an effort to be nice, I kept my mouth shut and served a lot of food. People that know me also know that if there is one thing that is difficult for me to do, it is to keep my mouth shut.

There is also a little tempest in a teapot brewing in the quilting world. It involves a mean spirited person that in my opinion is doing more harm than good in our industry. Then again, that is just my opinion. I don’t have the time or the desire to enter into a battle with someone that is destine to self-destruct, so once again, I am keeping my mouth shut.

The stress level has been a bit high around here. We are quickly approaching “crunch time” and there are a few things that haven’t exactly fallen into place. No, that is not steam that you see coming out of my ears….. I prefer to think of it as my creative engine. Grinding noise? What grinding noise? Oh, that is nothing to worry about, it is just me strengthening my jaw muscles. No, I don’t want to talk about the yardage mistake in the magazine. Yes, I do realize that I have to have 4 large quilts finished in less than a month and NO my new fabric line is NOT here yet and YES I DO KNOW THAT QUILT MARKET IS ONLY 28 DAYS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

This is Karen, keeping her mouth shut.

P.S. I do want to thank all of the people that have helped me finish everything possible up to this point. I am eternally grateful for your heroic efforts. I also want to appologize in advance to those same people for the abuse I am about to heap on to you to get everything completed in the next few weeks.... rest up and keep your fingers crossed that fabric arrives this week!

I should probably stop blabbering on about Quilt Market. It isn't really fair to keep talking about an industry show where unless you are part of the industry, you will never attend (nor should you). It's just that Market is such an important part of what makes our industry tick, that it is hard not to dwell upon it.

You don't need to feel completely left out, keep in mind that Quilts Inc hosts Quilt Festival in Houston each fall (following Market) a spring show in Chicago and another in California that are open to consumers. You could attend any of those and feel the same rush, the same excitement, and see the same products and people from the consumers viewpoint. If you have the opportunity – JUMP at the chance to attend. The energy in the air is enough to keep you excited about sewing for years!

I have snitched some photos from the websites of my friends to give you some idea of what the big deal is all about. This is a glimpse of the convention floor in Houston. This represents only a tiny fraction of the 26 aisles and 1000+ booths that we need to cover.

If you are going to be effective covering the sales floor, it helps to have extra sets of eyes and ears to help you find the treasures.

I always take Debby, my store manager with me. We work well together, but have different taste. Quite often one of us will point something out, only to be met with a totally confused look and all the other can say is "really"? At which point someone needs to take a second look!

In addition to Deb, I have a unique and talented group of friends that also own shops. They too are scouring booths to find the best-of-the-best. Luckily everyone in the group is willing to share all of their favorite finds.

Our stores are spread out all over the country and it is always fascinating to see what is attractive to quilters in different regions. This is Mary Wilberg checking things out in the American Jane booth. Mary owns Quilting Treasures in Rogers Minnesota. Mary's opinion helped me make a $1000 commitment to Aurofil thread. - what are friends for if they don't help you spend your money wisely?

Karen Snyder is another member of our group and her ears should be burning on a regular basis. I am using the International Mystery program she created in my BlockWatchers Club. We talk about her every month! She is a great friend and a fellow fabric designer. Karen specializes in 30's reproduction fabrics and I am thrilled to have her as part of the Timeless team.

Karen is in the process of closing her store in Long Beach, Washington and taking on the responsibility of being the spokesperson for Elna Sewing Machines. We are all getting a kick out of seeing "our" Karen's face plastered on posters, magazine ads and Elna's promotional materials.

We stopped by the Krause booth to support, .... ok, to harass her durring her book signings, but she was gracious enough to autograph a copy of her "Quilts From My Garden" book for us to use in our auction anyway.

Those of us that make up the stores at http://www.myquiltvillage.com/ had a "town meeting" to do a little town planning, select a block of the month that will start in January and discuss the new - and exciting- editions to the site. I think you are going to want to check in on the village often, right now we are blogging every other day, and it is fun to track what each of us are doing.

Now it is time to get ready for Christmas.

Yes, Christmas.

It's time to plan demo's and projects, sample gift giving ideas, decorate.......... ho ho ho.

Karen

Tonight, I sleep.

Done!

Not exactly completely finished, but pretty darn close! Close enough that I can relax, enjoy a glass of wine and get a good night's sleep. The quilts that have to be completed are stitched, quilted, bound, photographed and I've even written and illustrated the instructions. All I have left to do is press the "print" button on the big bad color printer.

WHOOPIE!

Here's a photo of the last item I finished. This is a 9 block project that was made using the technique in "Wonderful 1 Fabric Quilts" by Kay Nichols. I love the idea, and yes, the entire thing was made using just ONE fabric, the repeating stripe from the Refresh line.

Sure, there are still lots of "wouldn't it be nice" projects that I might be able to get done. I want my displays to look like those in an expensive specialty store. I want them to stand out in a convention center filled with color and beautiful quilts and wonderful displays. I like to add fun or interesting items like a big fluffy white bathrobe trimmed in the soft blue and white Counterpoint prints and a matching spa bag filled with bath products. ..... wouldn't that be cool!.... maybe tomorrow.

To Market, To Market..... again.

Right around this time last spring I started to post daily updates on what it takes to get ready for International Quilt Market so that you could track the progress and see what is involved. Many of you have asked if I planned to do the same thing this fall. I could, I should, I probably will.

One problem. I'm still waiting for fabric.

Unless you want to see scans of some pencil sketches on graph paper, it is going to be a little while before I can show you anything new. I can't really blame this delay on Timeless. Their team works really hard. I was the one dragging my feet, vacationing and getting a daughter married. Now it is time to "pay the piper" so to speak and "clear the decks" so that when fabric does arrive, I can get right to work.

In my world, those decks are littered with paperwork. No really, the floor arround me is actually littered with papers! I'm in the middle of writing, or more precicely, re-writing instructions for my most popular free handouts. After one year the rights for the pieces I design for Timeless revert back to me and I am free to publish them as a regular pattern. The re-writing is necesary because the originals are fabric/size/color specific to a particular fabric line. For a pattern to have value, I like to provide size options, layout guides, cutting diagrams and more detailed step-by-step instructions with illustrations. That takes time. A lot of time. I'm also working on the art for my lines for next spring. There are 3 different ideas still swimming around in my head, all of them half baked!

I don't want you to think that I haven't been having ANY sewing fun. I've already completed 3 table runners using new Timeless prints and a Baby Bargello in their new soft shades of batik prints. With help from Polly (who did all the hand applique for me) we used the same batiks to make this applique quilt from the new "Applique Jubilee" book. The original looks ENTIRELY different in shades of reds, tan and brown. It is going to look beautiful in the batik display.

The table runners have been shipped to New York for photography, the batik items have gone off to the quilter. Now it's back to the paperwork until my sample fabric arrives..............

Market Hangover

If you can imagine building a store from the ground up, stocking it, staffing it and displaying it down to the last detail and then ripping it all apart a mere 3 days later, all while your competition does exactly the same thing just inches away, you have the basic idea of Quilt Market. I creted a little video that shows from the start of set up in the Timeless booth to the final prep before the shop owners arrive, but I'm having a hard time getting it to load. (maybe later?). It is unbelievable when you think of the amount of work that goes into each and every booth space.

In addition to working the sales floor and shopping for new items, we have the opportunity to attend Schoolhouse the day before Market opens. This is an all day event where you have about a dozen different presentations to choose from every 15-30 minutes from the top names in the industry.

Although most of my day is taken up presenting those sessions for Timeless I usually try to squeeze into at least a few of the other offerings. Amy Butler offered information on items from her upcoming home decorating line and some fashion patterns for her clothing line. Her product and lifestyle will be featured in everything from European Vogue to Better Homes and Gardens in the next several months. She is red hot right now, especially with the younger set. My 17 year old was extremely impressed when she found out that I've met her in person. Apparently knowing Amy elevates my "cool" factor as a Mom! Although Amy is very nice, my favorite compliment was after my talk on marketing a group of owners stayed to tell me that I was better than Mark Lipinski. Although we have absolutely nothing in common, for some reason Mr. Lipinski is considered a heavy hitter in the quilt world, so I guess that' saying something.

I also sat in on Terry Atkinson's session on her new book "Let's Do Lunch". I have a love hate relationship with Terry. I love her books (and most of my customers do too). They are simple, well organized and professionally done. I also "hate" the fact that they are so simple from a "why didn't I think of that" perspective. As a shop owner I can tell you right now that "Let's Do Lunch" will be on the top 10 best seller list in a matter of weeks, it's THAT good.

One of the best parts of Market is that there are amazing quilts EVERYWHERE. Sometimes they are so crammed together that you cant possibly appreciate each and everyone of them. These photos are of the Hoffman booth. Check out that Mariners Compass Lone Star that is made from batiks. The photo does not do it justice. The other photo is one small section of the rest of their booth and there are several hundred booths!

The absolute WORST part of Market is the return home. We refer to it as "market hangover". Drinking need not be involved. Adjusting to a new time zone, decompressing from the hectic schedule and all that visual stimulation along with sorting through the paperwork for what you bought or didn't buy is enough to deal with.

I was thinking that in the next few days I could take the time to get back into my regular routine when a package arrived with strike-offs for the fabrics that they are considering for NEXT market. I started to complain to my husband when he pointed out that this IS my regular routine. He's right and I love every minute of it!

23 Days to Quilt Market:

As promised I’m going to attempt to post each day about the status of my infamous “To-Do” list that consumes my life for at least a month before Quilt Market. I’ve decided to try this to keep myself on track (guilt works wonders in my life) as well as keep you informed. If all goes well I should be able to post from Portland in less than a month and hopefully show you photos of how everything has come together.

The most important items on TODAY's do or die list are:
Pack and ship the Lindsay Dark quilt to NY so that they can have it photographed for an ad that will run in Fons & Porter Quilting magazine. I applied the binding over the weekend, the UPS box is ready to ship, I just have to go online and schedule a pick-up, print the label and seal it shut! This is going to be easy to check off!

This project needs a better name. Lindsay “Dark” has an identical companion quilt which is know as “Lindsay Light”. If you have a suggestion on what to name it, feel free to post it as a comment!

Lindsay Light must go to the quilter today. I have to construct the backing before 4pm and have everything ready for Mary (the quilter) to pick-up. It isn’t easy being my quilter. I am happy to pay the prevailing rate and don’t expect a discount, but every project seems to have an unreasonable deadline, not to mention the pressure of having your work featured in magazines and handouts. I know they want it perfect and I always seem to need it back in a minute and a half!

I hope Mary had a relaxing weekend because I have not one, but TWO Lindsay quilts waiting for her! The red/taupe Union Square is for The Quilt Gallery ads that you have been seeing in McCalls Quilting. The ad will not run until the October issue, but it is made from the Lindsay Collection, so I need the project for Market and the ad deadline for the October issue is May 26th!

I have to finish writing a section of the Lindsay Dark/Light instructions. NY needs them by tomorrow morning so that they can have them ready as soon as the photo is ready. This project will be a free handout and Emily in NY is the world’s best proof-reader. She needs the time to proof, design the layout and have the color printing done. All that means is that she is down to the wire too. Almost everything is written and proofed at my end (I used those instructions to make the second quilt). The difference between the light/dark is the mitered stripe blocks. Mitered squares are a piece of cake, but mitered rectangles require set in seams. In addition to the instructions I also provide step-by-step illustrations that I draw in Corel then convert to Adobe for NY to publish. Leaving the tricky part to the end probably wasn’t the best idea. At times like this I envy Nike and their motto “Just Do It”. I think those are perfect quilting instructions!

I also have to finish editing the video’s I filmed yesterday. With any luck all the footage I need is in the camera and only the editing needs to be finished. In addition to the step-by-step video that we film each month for our Crazy Patch BOM, I also film step-by-steps for Timeless. This is not as glamorous as you might think 90% off the work is done on Sunday mornings in the shop, in my socks, unscripted. I try to edit ASAP before my nail polish color changes or we loose the pieces I prep for the camera just incase I have to re-do a segment.

It would be nice to finish and bind the adult size chenille quilt from yesterday’s video. I have some long rehearsal hours to attend with our daughter this week and hand stitching some bindings will keep me from entering “I could be getting so much done” panic mode.

I have stars to sew to complete the Becky Kelly project for the booth. Becky is an extremely talented illustrator that is doing work for Timeless, but she doesn’t sew. Every now and then I volunteer to make samples for “other” people. I get to keep the quilt after it has been displayed. If I intend to buy the fabric line for the store anyway it becomes a win-win situation for everyone involved. This is probably not one of those times.

This is by NO means the entire list. I won’t bore you with hemming pants, prepping for class projects and BOM’s here in the shop, pulling orders, updating mailing lists or preparing e-updates because I would NEVER get anything done!

Stay tuned tomorrow when I believe the crisis will revolve around the Quilts and More project deadline!

Sew Something!
Karen