Fall Quilt Market in Review Part 1

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasurable opportunity to attend Fall Quilt Market in Houston, Texas.  I gave this trip to myself as a gift for getting through all of the medical issues over the last year and a half.

I went to Market with the main intention of enjoying myself, but I had decided if any opportunities presented themselves, I wouldn't say no.

If you've never been able to attend Quilt Market -- it's a trade show for professionals in quilting -- I'd like to share some of my experiences with you.  So read on..........

 A view of Downtown Houston.

 I flew into Houston from the Pittsburgh airport with a couple of friends.  I always find that traveling with someone else makes everything run more smoothly.  Anyway, we arrived on Thursday, got settled into the hotel, and headed for the conference center which was about a block away.  I had to pick up my badge and drop of some quilts to the Villa Rosa Designs booth.  Then it was off to our favorite grocery store, Phoenicia, that is way more than a grocery store.  We stocked up on goodies -- actually essentials like Turkish Delight and Macarons........ and then headed back to the hotel.  After a fun Happy Hour at the hotel, we grabbed a taxi and headed to Burger Theory for a late dinner -- burgers and fries .....what could be better?

Friday was a long and exhausting day!  It was Schoolhouse day from 10 am - 6 pm.  Schoolhouse is a series of 30 minute or 15 minute workshops/lectures.  There were 14 different sections and within each section you have to choose one out of a list.  Programs can range from introducing new books, fabric, patterns, rulers, etc. to how-to and everything you could possibly think of.  Of course, I ended up running back and forth between classrooms which were located on opposite ends.  I would make a mad dash (me and hundreds of other people) and usually made it by the beginning of the program.

I went to a lot of interesting programs and made sure to catch the Villa Rosa Schoolhouse program.  Of course, I wanted to see my quilts!  These quilts are my latest Villa Rosa projects.  You can find all 10 of my designs HERE.

 Blueberry Cobbler.

Bits and Pieces.

Salt Water Taffy.

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After that long long day of running my legs off and stuffing my head full of information, we ended up at my favorite Houston restaurant -- Guadalajara.

After we stuffed ourselves at Guadalajara, we walked back to the hotel and discovered a cool festival in the park near the conference center -- it was a celebration of the Day of the Dead.  We browsed the artisan booths and enjoyed the festivities.

My absolute favorite thing was the living statue.  Have you ever seen that before?  The young girl was amazing!  She did not even move during each of her poses and held each one for several minutes.  At first I didn't even know it was a real person until she moved!

Below, are some more photos from the Day of the Dead festival.

Then it was back to the hotel to get some rest because the next day, Saturday was the first day of the trade show part of Quilt Market.

To read more about my Quilt Market experience, please check out my next post HERE.