Trends Weekend - Spring 2011



On a Quilted Breeze - Oregon Coastal Quilters



This was my second Trends event at EESchenck. The first one, last Fall, Elaine Shaw of Highland Quilts and I did a one day run...over and back (4+ hour drive each direction). This time she was not able to join me --she was in India (actually in route home) on a one month medical assessment mission trip. None the less, I pressed on and took the opportunity to go to the Portland Quilter's Guild show on Thursday afternoon and was able to speak with Jack Boersma extensively about my Gammill machine. It was very informative and will hopefully be productive with some ideas he shared with me on tweaking my machine for better performance. I also tested my un-regulated stitching and gained a lot of confidence that I can turn off the regulator and quit overrunning it so that I can keep my speed up and still have consistent stitching. There were several beautiful quilts at this show, including Oregon Coastal Quilter's raffle quilt. Just have to share it with you. If you click through to this link, you'll see that it has been accepted into the Houston International Quilt Festival.

Justa Pasta was my dinner choice--my husband's favorite restaurant. Felt a wee bit guilty for eating there without him, but enjoyed a wonderful salad special and wild mushroom lasagne w/goat cheese.

Starlight-Flutterbright by Marlene Oddie


Friday was spent at EESchenck's Spring Trends event (a mini-industry market) shopping the sales, checking things off my list, and meeting lots of industry shop owners, and even a couple of buyers. I entered Starlight-Flutterbright, the quilt I designed on request of Highland Quilts, in the Trends Quilt Contest. Surprisingly, there were only five entrants, but I was happy with the odds of winning something. It was fun to see it hanging in the big aisle and see the secondary pattern from afar. I saw several people photographing it and when they put it all together that I was the maker, it made for some fun conversations. The quilt you can see in the background is from another shop that was unknown to me in Walla Walla. Turns out they exist to fund a charity project similar to Bags of Love, they are on Rose St called Grandma's Sewing Room. In the afternoon there were several ~30 min. classes offered. Marci Baker's -Not Your Grandmother's Log Cabin was sold out when I had tried to register for it earlier in the month, but sat in on Simplicty's woven coaster demonstration. We got to each make one after trying out their rotary cutter as well.  When leaving on Friday this was in front of me leaving Swan Island...I couldn't resist capturing a photo (my last name is Oddie!)

Saturday was a restful day with the Congleton's, my gracious hosts for the weekend.



Elizabeth Hartman and Marlene Oddie



 Sunday, I was up early with the time change and made it back to EESchenck for the book signings. The first was "The Practical Guide to Patchwork" by Elizabeth Hartman. I found out from her that after blogging about quilting for some time, she was approached by the publisher to write this book. Nice to have the younger generation and a more modern approach represented in such a lovely book! The second signing was "Stack the Deck Revisited" by Karla Alexander, who flew in on a delayed flight from Montana from a retreat. It became quickly apparent that others had received numbers earlier (due to the delay) and were getting in the queue based on their number....I jumped in line as quick as I could when I saw them assembling, and got one of the last 2 or 3 books on the stack....so was very grateful.

I was able to have a good chat with Marci Baker, even received a sample block and was given pointers on teaching the diamond and triangle log-cabin blocks. Later in the day, I encouraged her to work with AccuQuilt to develop a die set that would cut those pieces! Hopefully they can create a great product.



Jason Yenter

Several other fabric manufacturers were there, including Jason Yenter from InTheBeginning. The new Camelot line is beautiful--even some William Morris in there!

Also got to talk with Bryan at Fabric Freedom who had taken notice of my Starlight-Flutterbright quilt, which uses their fabrics, when they (he and his son) entered the building. Fun to make their acquaintance.



Lumiere Sateen - yummy!!

 The newest fabric style that I was attracted to was the Lumiere Sateen. Here is an example of it worked up in a small whole cloth wall hanging. Just one piece of fabric, quilted as a vase with flowers and borders. I purchased several colors and look forward to designing something and perhaps kitting it for resale. Stay tuned! I also picked up a variety of hot crystals to try embellishing Starlight-Flutterbright--even from the back. I guess it is still a work in progress. Also a light colored fat-back batik that would work well with anyone's Starlight-Flutterbright quilts.

Door prizes are handed out every hour on Sunday......with a big finale at 4pm with $1000 EESchenck credit....so, many stick around (since you have to be present to win) to see if they are the lucky one. Well, I wasn't the big winner or any door prize for that matter, but prior to the final announcement, they announced the quilt contest winners...and I won "Judges' Choice" for Starlight-Flutterbright! VERY COOL! I think the design lends itself to putting anything in those panel blocks.

Well, that's my Trends Spring 2011 Report. Happy Quilting.