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.

.

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.

Quilt Market Withdrawal

As I sit here looking at the dreary rain outside and wearing fuzzy socks and a sweater to stay warm, I wish I was in Houston at Quilt Market.  Right now I would be making my way up and down aisles filled with eye candy for quilters.  Maybe I'd stop and chat with vendors that I know or other wanderers.  I'd be pulling my small suitcase along behind me and it would most likely already be stuffed with wonderful inspiring fabrics, thread, and other quilty goodies.  I'd be exhausted, but energized by all of the things that I see.

Yes, I am having Quilt Market withdrawal.  Maybe you have it too?

Here are a few pictures of the floor at Market in Houston from some of my past trips.  In the top photo, towards the center you'll see me standing on the red carpeted aisle between the vendor booths. 

The Market show floor is HUGE!  Usually something like 30 aisles with many vendors in each aisle.  Of course, some vendors like fabric companies take up multiples spots, but the size of it is mind-boggling.  

Next to the show floor is a gigantic quilt show with many different smaller displays.  Looking for inspiration or a quiet spot to think?  This is the place.  Here are a few quilts that I admired from past shows.

Thanks for walking down Market Memory Lane with me.

At Market

Although I couldn't make it to Quilt Market in Houston, I'm happy to say that I have 3 different quilts on display there.

Last week, I did a super fast quilt for Camelot Fabrics to showcase their new Mixology Fabric Line.  Here it is before I shipped it off overnight to Houston.

Isn't it really really cute?  Hopefully, they'll send me a couple photos of the quilt in their booth so I can show it off some more.  This design is actually an update of a design I did for them last year, called Spare Change.  I checked the website but it's not available as a free download anymore.  :(

International Quilt Market Schoolhouse.....Wish I Was There

It's time for International Quilt Market in Houston, Texas. 

All day yesterday I kept thinking to myself  "Well, if I was going to Market, I'd be flying to Houston today."  It made me a little sad.  But then I reminded myself that I went to Houston last October AND St. Louis in the spring. 

So, I wonder what new and exciting stuff will be debuted at Market and will find its way into our local quilt shops? 

Today would be Schoolhouse Day.  Schoolhouse is a day filled with choices of mini programs all about what's new and exciting from fabric collections, books and patterns, tools and gadgets, to techniques and information.  It's a nutty day where you run back and forth between classrooms every 15 minutes or 30 minutes depending on which session.  There are usually a lot of different choices during each session and sometimes it's hard to chose just one.  By the end of the day, you're usually totally wiped out and ready for some down time.

How about Guadalahara?  The best Mexican restaurant in Houston.  A great place to kick back and chill.

Although I'm not there, I am there in spirit and in quilts.  I am a new designer for Villa Rosa Designs.

Pat is doing a schoolhouse today about new Rose Card patterns, mine included!  She will also be showing my two table runners at her Schoolhouse and will have them on display at  her booth.

Here are my first two Rose Card Patterns:

Soon, I hope to have them to sell, but for right now, you can order them on the Villa Rosa website or perhaps you'll find them at your local quilt shop. 

Tomorrow the floor will be open and hoards -- literally hoards -- of eager people will rush onto the floor to look over every vendor's booth.  It's an amazing and mind-numbing experience.  Oh!  And the quilt show -- now that's worth spending time at, just drinking in all of the amazing quilts.

Wish I was there....

Spring Market Friday -- Day 3

After surviving my Schoolhouse presentation yesterday, I was sew sew ready to take on the world today!  Or at least the Quilt Market show floor.

Here are a couple photos of the floor.  You'll have to use your imagination to see how big it really was.  Close your eyes and picture this gigantic room, bigger than a football field.  Can you see the aisles numbered from 200 (row 1) all the way to 3200 (row 32)? Okay, now try to imagine over 900 vendors all under the same roof!

THAT'S QUILT MARKET!

I did not have anything planned for Friday so it was a good day to just walk and look around.  Of course, I checked in with my publisher, C&T, and was delighted to see my book quilt, Breeze -- the blue and white quilt on the left, on display in the booth.  Yay!

I stopped to visit with other friends I've made along the way and somehow, I actually made it through the entire show floor!  Boy, were my feet killing me later.  LOL!


Friday night was the much-anticipated Moda Party and I was lucky enough to get to go the the event.  It was a lot of fun with food, friends, and even some dancing.  I was in for the dancing when they played "Cha Cha Slide" -- really, I know all the moves for this song.  (wink, wink...)

Spring Quilt Market WEDNESDAY -- Day 1

My brilliant idea was to blog everyday during Spring Market, but several thingsmade that a bit more difficult than I had envisioned:

1)  I was just too dang worn out by the end of the day
and
2)  The wifi was pretty spotty at the hotel so trying to blog was a painful process

So, instead I decided to wait until I got home to tell more about my experiences.

Wednesday afternoon after settling in at my hotel, I took the opportunity to wander around a bit and find the Gateway Arch.  Thank goodness for Google Maps or who knows where I would have ended up???

WOW!  It was utterly breath-taking!

There was a lot of construction going on around the Arch and I wasn't entirely sure how to get across the street and to the park, so I actually just admired it from across the street.  Here are a few photos for you to enjoy.

 

Here I am trying to take a selfie with the Arch!  It was really windy and I'm not a great selfie-taker anyway.

Ahh!  Here's the Arch all by itself.

On my way back, I stopped at a wonderful Irish Pub and Restaurant for a quick early dinner -- I was starving.

Loved the dark wood very masculine interior!

Had the Shepherd's Pie -- delish!

As I ambled back to the hotel after my lovely meal, I stopped to admire the architecture of the buildings.  What lovely details and decorations.  Lots of Art Deco and Art Nouveau.

 Lewis and Clark!

Then it was back to the hotel to chill out and get ready for Thursday's Schoolhouse Sessions!

Read about Schoolhouse HERE. (Sorry, I wrote the first 2 blogs out of order....)

Spring Quilt Market in St. Louis Thursday -- Day 2 -- updated!

Today was Schoolhouse day at Quilt Market.

If you've never been to Market, then you're probably wondering what that is.  Well, think of it as 8 hours of constantly changing mini workshops and lectures.  During that time you are constantly running between classrooms, hoping that you actually find the ones that you are interested in.  Here in St. Louis, the classes were even on 2 different floors and you only have about five minutes between sessions unless a presenter ends early.  Talk about doing the hustle!  LOL!

My session to present my book, I Love Precut Quilts!, was scheduled for 3:30 pm this afternoon.  There were 2 of us presenting -- our session was called "Precut Party."  My partner in crime today was Vanessa Goertzen, author of Charm School, also by C&T.

Vanessa is also a Moda designer and isn't it ironic that one of the quilts in my book, Around and Round, featured her first fabric line, Into the Woods?????  What a small world it really is!

  Click HERE to see our Schoolhouse presentations!

Tomorrow is the first day of the actual Show with something like 900 vendors.  OMG!  Can't wait -- it will be like getting locked in a candy shop........