Spring 2011 Int'l Quilt Market Report

This year's Spring Market was a whilrwind. I so wanted my friend Diane Haley-Nicolici to join me. She is an accomplished artist living in California and has taken some time to be a stay-at-home mom for a few years. But...time to get back in the work world and I think her skills would be welcomed in the quilt industry. She was able to come to Market and made some wonderful connections. I'm so proud of her and just can't wait to see what happens in the future.

I also was able to make some great connections. Thursday was a full-day of 15 sessions of Schoolhouse. This is done in a rapid fire set of sessions of 15 or 30 minutes and you run around like you're in high school and having to switch classrooms within 5 minutes between each session. I found something in every session that I wanted to see, sometimes having to choose between 3 or 4 that I'd like to attend. It is a great way to see many different presentations in a very efficient way. Marti Michell and her husband do a great job of organizing this each market. Late in the day I got to say hello to her and make a visual connection to the email I had sent and received with her about doing her 'American Beauty' quilt in batiks and showing it at the Krazy Horse Quitlers Show in Pendleton.

So, what can I share with you? Well...here we go. Please refer to www.facebook.com/kissedquilts 2011 Int'l Spring Quilt Market album for photos (almost 100 of them! you will NOT be disappointed)
1. Quick Little Landscape Quilts ---great technique using Fast2Fuse; new book published by C&T
2. Heather Thomas - a new book coming out from Landauer Publishing on how to teach color through experiential learning. This just might have to be next year's small group or a formal class. Any local shops willing to host it and pay me to teach it?
3. Floor mats -- definitely want to do one of these!
4. Pepper Cory - Colonial Needle Co. - received a packet of Sashiko needles!
5. Like Sew Websites - Google Search Engine optimization clues, I heard this in Houston 2009, but always good to know if there are new things to consider. Social media sites are becoming a bigger part of the equation.
6. - LUNCH! Heard from Diane that she made it to SLC! YEAH! YEAH!
7. Aurifil presented by Pat Sloan - Designer of the Month projects
8. Debbie Fields new book of small projects by Landauer coming out in the fall. She likes to use stitch and tear stabilizer for her machine applique pieces.
9. Aurifil presented by Sharon Pederson talking about her Sashiko Thread collection (I got one at Sample Spree!) and the importance of bringing in big name speakers and being sure to have all of the supplies they like to use available for you customers to purchase. She recently posted a handout which I didn't get at schoolhouse, but summarizes her points.
10. Modern Quilt Relish -- won a pattern! A year ago these girls decided to write patterns. I spoke with them later in their booth and the key was having a booth at market. Sending out piecemeal didn't work. They test their patterns, have multiple sizes in the same pattern and information for kitting is available for shop owners. Their quilts have asymetry and good use of negative space.
11. Anything but Boring - Janice Pope ...have her tulip purse as a sample and it is sure to sell!
12. Buttercup Quilts - what makes a Blue Ribbon Quilt? I've heard various particular ideas, but was

curious what would be presented. Three things were shared that you should pay attention to.

  a. Value is what maintains the design, if any of you were at Betty Wood's talk at the WWVQuilt Guild, she talked about value. My small group is learning about value through the 'Fearless Design' book that we're going through. Always a good thing to consider. There are 3 sets of 2 blocks in this quilt that are the exact same pattern, but the color choices make them look completely different. Can you spot them?
  b. techniques -- an example: Segmented seams - check out this photo! When pressing, twist the seam apart and switch the direction that the seam is laying to assist in keeping the piecing square.
  c. it's in the details --she shared several examples. She also showed how to make these thin twigs. Using bias tape, stitch it right sides together then cut an end and feed it through a kids plastic needle, then pull through to invert and make a twig.
13. Kaye England's new line of fabrics from Wilmington Prints, a quilt label and marketing sheets were handed out --I'll be working with her English Tiles pattern this summer to teach a newly minted teenager how to quilt!
14. Jinny Beyer talking about her new line of fabric, Kashmir; and a tumbling block pattern using leftover border prints. Just sort them in light, medium and dark and go for it!
15. Block party --a modern quilting bee. This was sooo fun to see. Photos of each quilt are in the album on FB. The concept...12 people, each has a particular month. Each month that is yours, you define the quilt block style, allowing some room for interpretation so that each of the other 11 members of the bee can put their own voice into the blocks they make. You send out fabrics to each bee member and they return the blocks to you based on your requests. The pictures here should help you understand. Basic shapes but sizes and where/how you use the fabrics, sometimes given the option to add prints of your own to the mix provides a uniqueness given to each block and yet similar enough in style to go together really nicely. I'd love to be a part of a bee like this. Anybody want to join me? This group now has a book out by C&T Publishing. I showed up on Friday for the booksigning, but there were too many already in the queue and I missed out.

Sample Spree - Even though the session was sold out, others can show up and get in line to enter after 1 hour for a reduced fee. Diane was able to join me that way and met Tony @ Hoffman of California and set up a time to meet with them the next day. We also chatted w/Eleanor Burns dressed in her NASA suit from her Schoolhouse session on the star quilts...Diane was overthetop about meeting her. Picked up a few things, but was there more for understanding the experience and what pattern designers make available during this opportunity at market.

Friday - got through about half of the vendors. Spent a good deal of time with Nick at Rocky Mountain Quilters and met Lisa one of the teachers at their shop as well. Had fun doodling. ;-) Heard Heather Thomas' detailed review of her upcoming book on color. I think I'd like to be able to teach this class so will stay tuned to her certification process. She also enjoys using paintsticks and I walked right past the booth as I was about to leave market for the day. So, I talked with them and got a demo and decided these were a much better solution than colored pencils to use on a non-white fabric surface. So, I picked up a set of what they had and will use this on a customer's quilt and see what comes of it. Stay tuned on this one...I'm hoping it will be a real stunner!

Sabbath--a day of rest for us...we enjoyed seeing many animals at the zoo. Check out my personal FB page for the photo album. A quick photo opp at the Olympic Stadium and a walk about at Temple Square closed the day.

Sunday --attended the live broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at 9:30am. Then off to finish up at market. Jackie Robinson noticed I was carrying around my laptop in my bag and offered to keep it in her booth for me. What a relief! It is too heavy for that kind of lugging around but the suitcase was full that I left in hock at the hotel and I really wanted to show Diane some photos on it. Thank you again Jackie! Got to see June Jaeger. In the afternoon it came in handy to have the laptop there as I was able to show some of my most recent work to several different people, including Tricia Cribbs of FriendFolks (Turning Twenty fame) and the Rocky Mountain Electric Quilters cohort. Was able to obtain info re: Pattern Peddlars, Pattern Spot - a new C&T pattern online hub that allows designers to upload PDFs to be purchased and printed by the customer. I also left several pattern samples w/Checkers. Diane scored big time with the Warm Co. getting samples and being able to purchase a whole roll of Steam-a-Seam Lite 2. With all the applique designing she is doing, this will be great! As long as she can have a bit of electricity to run an iron ;-)

Market closed at 4pm....so we had a few hours to spare before needing to leave for the airport. Back at the hotel Elaine and I were able to repack our suitcases, eat our ThaiFusion supper and then get the car to the airport. My flight was oversold and I volunteered to go on the later flight getting compensation and an upgrade to boot. When I arrived home....beautiful roses and a thoughtful card awaited. My husband had left for Houston for a week earlier in the morning...so it was a very welcome sight that he thought of me in this way.

Well, that is my report from Spring 2011 Market. Glad to be home. Time to take in all the ideas that are flowing and figure out how they might be utilized within my own activities. Stay tuned!