Peas In A Pod

Booth Bonanza (Spring Quilt Market 2012 Post #3)

Well, if you're not completely sick of the Quilt Market posts yet, I'd like to share a little more with you.

Here is s shot of The Quilted Fish's booth on opening morning.  All set up and ready to go.  It looks great, doesn't it?!

Here it is from another angle.  Don't you just love that apple quilt on the wall?  All the apples are ruffled.  It is too cute.  And in the foreground is our make-and-take table.  We were the only booth with a make-and-take.  It kept our booth hopping!

The make-and-take supplies were all ready to go.  Amanda was so organized....she had kits made up for everyone, and lots of parts premade (like the yo-yos and the buttons).

This was our first group of make-and-takers.  Wonderful gals!  Jackie did a great job teaching!  And I mean just great!

And here's the first person finished with her make-and-take!  This necklace is in our book.  I'll give you a whole post on the book soon.  These flowers could be used in so many different ways.  Kayce wore hers on a clip in her hair, on a headband, clipped to a hat, and Amanda had one clipped to the cuff on her capris.  Totally cute.  Just making one flower for one of these purposes would be a great kids project at summer camp.

Linda Lum DeBono came by our booth and wanted copies of the book.  She asked me and the others to sign our page in the book for her!  That was pretty cool!

Several of us went on Converse's website and had these tennis shoes specially made to match Amanda's new fabric line.  Jana did a great job picking out all the colors.  Aren't they spectacular?!  (I'm the one with the long pants on in the photo.)

I spent the morning wandering around and didn't have to work the booth until the afternoon.  I stopped by American Jane's booth to see Jean (center) and Sandy (right).  Interestingly, when I was flying in from Chicago, my plane was really late.  I was going to share a ride to the hotel with Candice and Robbie.  But since I was so late, they went on ahead with out me.  As I was waiting for the plane in Chicago, I struck up a conversation with Jean.  Turns out she is from Grand Rapids and is Sandy's (American Jane) sister.  They offered to share a ride from the airport to the hotel with me.  So, that was fun.  Next time I'm up in Grand Rapids hanging out with Caroll, I'll see if Jean wants to join us.  I have always loved American Jane fabrics and patterns.  Very retro.

I really liked this manifesto at Oliver+S.  #1:  Life is hard.  Sewing is easy.  #2.  When the going gets tough, the tough get sewing.  #3:  Sewing is cheaper than therapy and easier on your waistline than chocolate.   #4:  Don't make it if it is not supercute.  And so on.   Really cute.

This is Lauren + Jessi's booth.  I love this new line of fabric.

Look at this cute quilt with that fabric.  I have a free pattern for this quilt to give away at the end of my market posts!

Here is the name of the fabric line, if you are interested.  Super cute.

Later in the afternoon, when Brooke and I were working the booth, Sheri McCulley stopped by the booth.  She designs fabric for Riley Blake, too.  Her new line is called Alpine Wonderland.  It is so cute.  I got a fat quarter bundle of it at Sample Spree.

At the end of the day, we all went out for dinner at Quaff Bar & Grill.  It was pretty good.  I had the Black and Bleu burger.  Best one I've ever had!

I have to run right now. If you can believe it, I have to head off for Seattle today.  I'll be back with what happened on Saturday for you next.  Lots more fun and games.  And trust me when I tell you I'm only posting selected photos.  I have about 5 times as many photos as I'm showing you!  It's hard to choose!  ;-)

Until next time,

 

Sample Spree (Spring Quilt Market 2012 Post #2)

Well, are you ready to hear a little more about Spring Market?

Before I begin, let me just say that I treated myself to sleeping in this morning until 9:45 am.  Wow, major deposit in the Sleep Bank.  That felt good.  I needed it!  I have been making a lot of withdrawals lately, and not very many deposits.  So, I needed that.

Okay, on Friday night, we attended Sample Spree.  This is an event where vendors set up sample tables and allow participants to purchase one item for wholesale price.  You see, otherwise at Market, you have to buy in larger quantities.  For example, you can't just buy one pattern, you often have to buy a minimum of three.  But at Sample Spree, you can buy just one.  AND you get wholesale prices.  So, the lineup for Sample Spree started at about 3:00 pm.  Sample Spree didn't open until 7:00 pm.  Can you believe that?  People get in line really early, because stuff moves really fast....especially at the Moda table, where they sell fat quarter bundles for wholesale prices (usually half of what you pay for retail).  We got in line around 4:00, and here's were we were in line.  Not at the front, but pretty darn close.

By this time, Brooke (right) and joined us.  Here she is with Candice (left).

Here was the line behind us at about 5:00 pm.  By 8:00 pm, this whole area was PACKED, and it was packed all the way back, as far as you can see in this photo!

When they opened Sample Spree, we all went up the escalators, and headed for the Moda table.  I got some Aneela Hoey fabric at the Moda Table, and Brooke and I split a fat quarter bundle of Kate Spain.  Very exciting.  I got some fabrics at the Riley Blake table, and some other sundry items.  I was really pleased that I stayed within my budget.  Papa Pea and Sweet Pea even gave me an extra $50 to spend at Sample Spree for Mother's Day.  Awesome.  (It was later in the weekend that I went over just a smidgen.)  I'd show you my fabrics, but I had to ship them home because my suitcase was too heavy.  I don't have them back yet.  But I'll show you some other photos I took at Sample Spree.

To my art quilter friends....you would have enjoyed this.  I saw a demonstration of painting on a quilt using these new powdered pigments and a binder.  Loved it.  This has a bit of a metallic sheen that doesn't show up real well in the photo. I'm going to get some of these and will try them.  I wll blog it soon.  I have more photos of this product from the booths later.  So, I'll come back to this.

This booth was amazing.  This is Don't Look Now!, and she's from Melbourne, Australia.  She does amazing raw edge applique work.  It is gorgeous.

I bought the pattern for the tree pillow.  It's called Willow.  I also got the pattern for the bird pillow, which is behind the pattern labeled Jessie.  The bird pattern is called Wish You Were Here!  I don't know if I'll ever have time to do them, but I sure like the idea of giving them a go!  So, I got the patterns, as well as a couple of others.

Look at the exquisite applique work and quilting!  Her stitches are tiny and so gorgeous!  I wanna be like her!

Here is a close up shot of Willow.

I was really pleased to run into Thimbleanna at this booth.  Thimbleanna is someone I just recently met online and really clicked with.  She helps with this booth every year at Market, just for fun.  She doesn't usually put her photo up on the web, but she was gracious enough to let me do so.  (You can see my Quilted Fish necklace I'm wearing.  This was our Make and Take during Market.) I was so happy to meet Thimbleanna IRL!

Here I am with Kellie of Don't Look Now.  She is as sweet and nice as can be.  I really enjoyed meeting her.  I did my student teaching outside of Melbourne back in "the day" (circa 1987), so it's always fun to run into an Aussie.  I really admire Kellie's work.  Good on you, Kellie!

I also got a pattern called Meg's Garden.  Click on the link to see it.  It is amazing.  I don't know if I'll ever get to actually make it, but I LOVE IT!  I also bought her pattern for an Advent calendar called Only 25 More Sleeps.  I want to make that for this Christmas.  So cute!

Okay, now this story is a little embarrassing.  So, this was the last booth I stopped at that night.  It was Purple Daisies, LLC.   I saw these exquisite machine embroidery quilting designs.  Yep, you can do these quilting designs on your embroidery machine. They are just fantastic!  (If you are a long armer, you can also get versions for your longarm machine.)

Here are some more.  I start talking to the two gals behind the table.  I make note of how wonderful these designs are.  I say that most machine embroidery quilting designs are...well...not interesting and not very attractive.  But these are FANTASTIC!  I look at the package, and I say, "Well, no wonder they are so wonderful.  They are designed by Sharon Schamber!"

The gal behind the table says, "Yep, that's me!"  I say, "YOU'RE Sharon Schamber?!"  She says, "Yep!"  I seriously almost fainted.  I told her I absolutely LOVE her work!  We talk about how she just won the blue ribbon at MQS, I congratulate her, and I beg her for a photo.  Okay, she is seriously the nicest and most wonderful person I have met in a long time.  I admire her so much!

I'm going to sneak this in now.  I went to her booth the next day, because she was out of one of the designs I really wanted.  She told me to come by her booth and we'd see what we could do.

I got some more photos of her quilting designs.  She gave me some pointers on how to do these things, and she's sending me a training DVD about how to use her designs.

I really admire The Quilted Pineapple's quilting, but I willl never be able to quilt like her.  NEVER!  I was thinking this might be my chance to do some really amazing quilting.  On quilts like this one, the feathers are done using her digital designs, but then all the stippling and details are done freehand afterward.  That seems like a nice combination to me....a nice way to blend digital and free motion quilting.

Wow.  The quilting on this fabric is so great.  I have some ideas for some wholecloth stuff I want to try.

I'm very excited, becasue she allowed me to purchase the designs as an educator, since I do tutorials on my blog.  So, you'll be seeing some tutorials from me on how to do this kind of work in the near future.  I'm really excited at the opportunity to work with Sharon and her daughter, Cristy, who was helping her with her booth.

Well, that's Sample Spree!  Yes, we've had quite a bit of fun, and Market has not even started yet!  (You can see why I needed deposits in the Sleep Bank now!)

Come back tomorrow with more on the opening of Market!

Until next time,

 

 

Home again, home again, jiggety jig. (Spring Market 2012, Post #1)

Hi Everyone!

I am home from Market!  What an experience!  Wow!  It was amazing.  Lots of fun, lots of work, lots of new connections and friends!  I have so much to share, I'll have to break it into several posts again.

Last week, I flew to Kansas City for International Quilt Market!  I was so excited to be invited to help Amanda Herring, The Quilted Fish, with her booth!

I arrived on Wednesday afternoon.  My flight was very delayed.  Everyone else was already there when I got there.  It was about 5:00.  The first thing we all did was to get a drink together.  This is The Quilted Fish Design Team.....well, at least some of them.  Starting on the left is Jackie, Amanda, Kayce (Amanda's best friend), and Candice.  Across from Candice is her mom, Robbie, and next to Robbie is Jana.  Brooke hadn't arrived yet.

When in Kansas City, you have to have barbecue, right?  So, we went to Jack Stack for dinner.  I had barbecued ribs.  YUM!

It was kind of funny, because here we all were....getting together...and while we were waiting for a table, everyone was on their phones, texting, checking on things at home....

It was pretty funny.  I had to capture it.

It was fun.  Amanda and Kayce do love each other.  I caught them in an intimate moment.  LOL.

On Thursday morning, we headed over to finish setting up the booth.  The others had started without me on Wednesday.  Can you tell I was a little excited at this point?!

Before I had come, the crate had been delivered, and the girls had set up the walls.  You can see all the walls behind Jana covered in Amanda's beautiful new fabric line, Apple of My Eye from Riley Blake Fabrics.  There was still much to be done!

We filled goodie bags for our Schoolhouse talk to be given later that afternoon.

Amanda had made a lot of cute booth decorations like these buttons.  And, see the lanyard around Jackie's neck?  Amanda had those made, too.  They match her fabric (as you can see on the wall behind Jackie).

Definitely getting closer to being finished with the Glamps hung and The Quilted Fish sign going up!

Over the next couple of days, we would be holding a make-and-take at our booth, so Jackie taught us how to make it.  It was really fun to sit down, relax, and craft for a short period of time.  (Sorry for catching you with your eyes closed, Candice!)

That afternoon, we had "Schoolhouse," where Amanda shared with everyone her new line of fabric and a bunch of projects with it.  Okay, I can reveal my big secret now.  See the book in her hand?  We all collaborated to write a book!  Yes, each of us has a project in the book!  I'll show you more photos soon, but we were all excited to have our book published and sell it at Market.  We sold out of all the hard copies we brought with us and had orders for 4 times as many more!  Yahoo!  Let's hope it keeps selling well.  I'll give you more details on the book in an upcoming post.

Here Amanda is showing one of the projects in the book.  It is a bag that carries an 18"x24" cutting mat and opens up into an ironing surface.  Julie contributed this project.

Here, Amanda shows her project, which is a fabric box.  Inside are little storage boxes/trays to store supplies in.  It's awesome!

This is my project....an organizer for carrying your handwork with you when you travel.  I'll show you more detailed photos when I tell you more about the book.

This project is not in the book, but I love it.  It's a separate pattern.  It's a bunch of reverse applique apples.  The apples are all made out of ruffles.  So awesome.

After that, it was back up to the booth to finish setting up.  We are almost ready!

We had a few visitors stop by the booth while we were setting up:

The Lizzie B Cre8ive girls came by.  (Liz is on the left in this photo, and Beth is on the right--that's YOUR left and right, not Amanda's.) They also had dinner with us the night before.

This wasn't in the booth, but as we were walking out to get lunch, Amanda introduced Jackie to Pokey Bolton, who is now the Chief Creative Consultant for Quilts Inc. (the people who organize market).  It was Jackie's life-long dream to meet Pokey.  She is as nice as can be.  Jackie cried after this photo was taken.  Nothing like having a dream fulfilled!

Tula Pink stopped by for a bit, too.  She's about as neat as a person can be.  I really enjoyed meeting her.

At this point, we lined up for Sample Spree.  I think I'll tell you more about that in the next post.  All this was only in the first 18 hours or so at Market!  Maybe that will give you a sense of how exhausted I feel today!  LOL.  Hope you'll come back to hear more about it!

Until next time,

 

To Market, To Market!

Hi Everyone!  Sorry I haven't had a chance to post my last photos from my trip to Wisconsin yet.  It's been crazy busy.  Anyway, I wanted you to know that I'm headed off to Spring Market!!!!!  I get to go with Amanda, The Quilted Fish!  I'm going to Kansas City tomorrow.  I can't believe it!

I probably won't have time to make any blog posts while I'm gone.  Talk to you all when I get back!  I am so excited, I can hardly stand it!

Until next time,

Nancy's Notions Sewing Weekend Post #4

I forgot to mention something about the Knitty Gritty Store that I blogged about the other day.  Look at the bag they gave me to take my purchases home in!

Isn't it great?!  It's a fabric shopping bag, with pockest on the outside as wella s grommets.  I figure you can put your yarn inside and feed it out through the gommets to work on your project.  This was a really nice bonus for my purchase!  Just another indication of the high quality of the shop.  (Do you like the quilt on the bed?  More about that tomorrow!  Great story to go with it!)

On the last day of the Sewing Weekend at Nancy's Notions, I did some of the make-and takes.  These only cost $5 each, and all the supplies and sewing machines are provided for you.  One of the ones I did was this Corn Bag, which you make on a serger.

I have a serger at home, but I haven't really learned to use it very well, so I thought this would be good.  This is what I sat down to.  You can see my project supplies on the right and an untrheaded serger on the left.  We had to thread it ourselves.  This serger was so cool.  It threads with air!  We just put the threads into the holes and push the button.  The air shoots through and threads the loopers.  Soooooo cool!!!

Here I am getting ready for the class to start.  It was really fun.  We made this bag in about 10 minutes.  You put corn in it and microwave it for about 1 minute for really juicy, tender corn.  (It's just like one of those potato bags you may have heard about.)  I really wanted this serger, because it was so easy to use and produced such good results.  The price was AWESOME, too.  Maybe next year!  I will have to save more pennies and commit to serging more to justify that expense.  :-)

After that class, I made this quilted tissue holder.

For this project, we got to sew on this very nice little sewing machine.  Really, these make-and-takes were about sitting through a sales pitch on the sewing machine.  But I ddin't mind.  It was fun to learn about different machines and get to play with them again.  I have never sewn on a Baby Lock, so it was fun and informative.  I thought this was a nice little machine.  It would certainly make a good travel machine.  It sewed over lots of layers of pre-quilted fabric very easily.

Another thing I did between my two make-and-takes was to wander through the hallway and look at the quilts that were submitted for the Charity Challenge.  People were to make a small quilt out of these fabrics to donate to a charity that gives quilts to children in a tough spot.  What fun colors and fabrics to work with!

This one was my favorite from the very begining of the weekend.  And I was happy to see it won a blue ribbon!  I liked the log cabin blocks and I loved the little owls that were embroidered in the center of the log cabin blocks.

Here is a close up of one of the blocks.  The quilt was called "Summer Cabin Friends," and it was made by Maria Schuelke of West Bend, Wisconsin.  Aren't those embroidered owls just so cute?!

On the information sheet the maker wrote about this quilt, she said that this quilt was way out of her comfort zone, both in colors and with the "cute" owls.  Wow.  I would never know this was out of her comfort zone.  It looks like she's pretty comfortable with them to me!

Here is another one I thought was so cute.  Love that dinosaur!  This one was made by Carol Jones of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Here is a detail of the applique.  I like how she used bias to cover up the raw edges, and I love how the bias changes color.  I thought the zigzag stitch on the bias was really effective in this quilt.  It made the dinosaur seem "scaley!"  (spelling???)

Here is another one I liked.  It was made by Nancy Osowski of Davis, Illinois.  I liked the crazy patchwork on it, and the green borders really changed the entire look of these fabrics.

And did you notice these little green frogs on it?  Such a fun hidden surprise.  We have lots of tree frogs here, and in the summers, they are almost deafening.  I can't wait until it's warm enough to sleep with the windows open and we can listen to those guys all night!

I also thought the bargello style heart on this one was pretty cool.  This was made by Karen Simons of Columbia, Louisiana.  I really loved seeing all the different ways people used this fabric and now different all the quilts looked.

 

 There was also a Hoffman Challenge with these fabrics.  I didn't read the sign too much.  So, I can't tell you too much about it.  But I assume it was a doll-making challenge, because here was the display with it:

Cool,  huh?  Wanna see some of my favorites?

This one.  Sorry the flash really makes it hard to read the card and the maker's name.  I liked the circus bear.  I don't konw why, but I sort of like circus bears.....

I thought this girl was sweet.

Well, that was about it on my last day.  SisLH and I went to check the roster of the door prizes....I forgot to tell you that Nancy's Notions had a ton of door prizes, as did all the vendors at the event.  They drew names once a day, and you had to re-enter each day for your chance to win.  We checked the roster several times throughout the weekend, but to no avail.  We didn't win anything.

Then, yesterday, SisLH e-mailed me and told me she had a call from Nancy's Notions saying she had won a vendor prize and could she come in and get her prize. 

She won a Simplicity Deluxe Sidewinder Bobbin Winder!  (Photo from Amazon.  Click here to go to their listing for this.)  Retail value $99!  Woo Hoo!  Way to go SisLH.

The next day, I got an e-mail from Nancy's Notions saying my order had shipped.  What?  I didn't order anything.  I looked at what they were shipping to me, and it said "door prize."  So, I guess I won something, too!  Wow!  How fun!  The package only weights .47 lbs.  I wonder what's in it?  I'll have to keep you posted!

Well, I have one more post for you with some odds and ends from SisLH.  I think these are all my photos from the Sewing Weekend at Nancy's.  The next post will be other stuff from the weekend.

Some of you have asked if this is an annual event.  Yes, it is.  I believe the flier said the weekend will be May 2-4 next year.  So, mark your calendars!  I hope I can go back.  It is often graduation weekend here, so I usually can't go.  This is the first year it has not conflicted with graduation since I moved to Michigan.  So, we'll see if I can go or not.

Hope you enjoyed...

Until next time,