Day One - October 29, 2010

Greetings from Houston. There is a festive Halloween spirit at this Quilt Market. Even the hotel staff is in the spirit. Grandly displayed in the hotel lobby are a dozen Halloween themed pieces designed by each department with a set budget, theme and other rules. #11 - The Haunted Pincushion is my favorite!

Starting the day at the Hilton, it is the hotel to see and be seen. It is like a who's who of the quilt world. What is even better is that I am no longer anonymous. It is great fun to sit in the dining room and wave to fellow shop openers, designers and our friends from manufacturer corporate offices.

So much about the hotel... We had a big day at School House today.

For those of you who have not followed us before, School House is the day before the trade show floor opens for Market. The manufacturers and designers have the opportunity to provide infomercials on the latest and greatest products in the marketplace.

I wanted to make sure that I kept up on providing information nightly. I have a few photos to share tonight however I have a ton of photos that I am collecting.

The schedule is mind boggling! Sessions from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ranging from 15 - 30 minutes. 15 plus offerings each time slot!!!

X Block ruler... You asked for it, we researched it. The X Block ruler is a funky widget to transform simple strip sets or blocks into complex units. Tips and tricks galore. A fun tool to check out on the trade show floor.

Clubs, clubs, more clubs. Designers and manufacturers have clubs to promote their goods. Darlene Zimmerman's 30's club has been reformulated and is more exciting than ever! Everyone who attended her session received an amazing sampler box of charms previewing all 2011 lines! Projects from 2011 range from aprons and totes to tablerunners and quilts. Look for more info on this club in the days to come.

Strip Club - Daniella Stout - Queen of the Strip Club debuted her latest patterns for strip club. You would think they have figured out every way to slice and dice the 2 1/2" strip... NOT EVEN CLOSE. More inspiration keeps coming!

Kim Schaefer previewed her new seasonal fabric lines. I love that all four seasons are represented. The spring line is shown in fabric to the left. I love the accent yo-yos in the pinwheel centers.

MODA had a fun session featuring all of their designers. To celebrate 35 years of great fabric, they handed out commemorative hankies with a family tree print. We will be collecting stamps from each booth. Each designer was challenged to create a pillow which described themselves. Such fun getting to know the designers more personally. I wasn't able to get great pictures of all them in the session, however I will get them this weekend.

The day would not be complete without a stop at Sample Spree. Sample Spree is a CRAZY 2 hour event where shop owners have the opportunity to purchase fat quarter packs or precuts of fabric lines early.

Although always tremendously exciting, this Market's offering seemed a bit on the shy side. DON'T WORRY - I still have plenty of loot! It is a great way for me to touch and feel the fabric prior to hitting the trade show floor. Among the great finds, a sweet kit from Me & My Sister, Dilly Dally!

Sweet fabric dreams!

Julie

Market Time Again

So... it is time to head off to Fall Quilt Market in Houston again. I packed my bags and finished the dishes. Let's see if I can keep up with some posts this year! We have market appointments galore lined up and I am super excited to share goodies with you along my journey.

We have just a couple spots left in the post Market review November 10th. If you haven't called the store for reservations, call soon while space is still available 262-786-1523. This is a must attend event of November, 2010!

More from Quilt Market

So what's the next big thing?

Well I am not sure if we have identified "THE" next big thing, but we are really excited to have found a new vendor Blue Hill Fabrics. We may have missed out on some paper dolls to date, but these are really awesome. Dollies and coordinates will be fun to cut out and play, stitch panels together for a memory filled treasure or just grab some to sit on your sewing table to admire and pet.



Quiltie Wrapping Paper!!!

Get ready for the holiday season. We have Sock Monkey, Figgy Pudding and traditional quilting designer wrapping paper.



Wizard of Oz Update

The final installment of The Wizard of Oz fabric is on its way! We have had quite the adventure with Dorothy and friends following the Yellow Brick Road. As we come to a quiltie conclusion to coincide with the 70th Anniversary of the movie, Fons & Porter is issuing a quilt challenge! We will pass on the full details as soon as they are available. Be certain we will have a local challenge as well!



Other License Updates

Quilting Treasures is lining up a list of heavy hitters this winter season:

Saggy Baggy Elephant - Little Golden Books



Monopoly



Candy Land

Barbie

Hot Wheels

Veggie Tales



Lorelei Nurses!!

Thanks for reading. More updates to come. To see all of the goodies and register to win door prizes. Sign up for our post-Market review 10/21 at 6:30 p.m.

More from Quilt Market

Okay, so I have been quiet the past few days. It is not for a lack of good finds... quite the contrary!

We have been not only finding great stuff, but finding new ways of bringing it to you. Lots of meetings, late nights and scurried note writing.

Have no fear, while not in sync with live action, I still have lots of goodies to share with you!

This is the this is the loot from Sample Spree.




I absolutely love the "Box of Candy" from Moda.



Summary:

Hot Colors:
1. Orange - need I say more.

2. Taupe/gray nuetrals




Craziest Novelty Theme:
Michael Miller Gnome




Most Fun Notion Item:
Make Your own "Ugs" like boots with these Simplicity bottoms



Are we done with birds?

Birds and owls, while still prominent did not overtake market. I didn't feel like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie this weekend. Still fun and whimsical, just selectively positioned.

School House & Sample Spree

What an exciting pre-Market day! I haven't been coming for that long, but it is so amazing to see this through the eyes of someone new.

Frank and I started the day picking out School House classes. School House is a series of 15 - 30 minute classes ranging from manufacturer commercials to high level business training and everything in between.

First up - Kim Schaefer (local designer) debuting her upcoming Bunny Hop line and her new book Cozy Modern Quilts (which we already have at the store).

Next - American Quilt Retailers Trend Review. Here is the word of the day: "Zakka" - depending on who you talk to or where you look for the definition it is anything and everything homemade that you make out of enjoyment for yourself or to give. Alot of the crafty fun stuff that we have been seeing - only more of it. (Apparently it is a phenomenon that has surfaced out of the ORIGINAL Hello Kitty generation. Note - I have a Chococat License Plate Holder on my car - Chococat is the techno cousin of Hello Kitty) We are all young at heart and this Japanese inspired trend has grabbed ahold of the quilting community with great strength. I love the homemade gift look - so bring it on!

Scurrying from room to room we had a lot of stimulation to keep us going.

Countless sessions later we paused for a quick dinner and then back to the convention center to get in line for Sample Spree (with Frank - big grin). Always fun seeing Quilt Market friends in line. Lisa Swenson Ruble from Quick Quilts came by to say "Hi".

Once we were into the madhouse - straight to the MODA booth - oh so many yummies!

Off to sleep - big day tomorrow - more posts and pics to follow... Good night for now!

Countdown to Fall Market

The countdown is on to Fall Market in Houston. It is going to be a little different experience for me this trip as I will be accompanied by my husband and business partner Frank. He has never been to a Quilt Market. This will be quite the trip!

I finally made our hotel and plane reservations last week. Frank has been scouting some good eats while we are gone. So we should have some extracurricular posts on our journey.

Hopefully I can convince him to be our photographer this trip! :-)

Stay tuned...

Final Market Day

Market wrapped up today. A crazy busy day.

I have much to write about and am busy working on an overview wrap-up.

Getting a few zzz's before I have to get back to reality..

Talk to you soon!

Julie :-)

p.s. Correction from last night - Valori Wells has "REALLY FUN" t-shirts - (not rally run - although that might be interesting too ;-) )

Market Day 2

Saturday - May 16th...

The day started bright and early with a breakfast meeting. I was invited to participate in a shop owner focus group. One of the great things about this industry is that it is a tight group. Input, good , bad or indifferent can be voiced and heard.

After breakfast it was time to head off to the show. I road a trolley to the exhibit hall with Mark Lipinski. Everyone buzzing about what might be the next big thing.

Greens and rust with BIRDS - It is like someone read my blog last night, printed fabric and quickly make a quilt. Let's take funky birds, green and some fabric leaning towards curry. Put in a non-traditional shape of a circle and call it a project! I LOVE the new Timeless Treasure line "Apple". Of course, it was here all along. I don't know if we will make this quilt for the shop, but it sure is eyecatching and fun!




While we are shopping for new things - it is great to see how things we already have are done up. "Natural Effects" by Marcus Brothers had some really fun stuff in their display. Bags, quilts, a fun little dress and whimsical artsy pieces.

In between appointments I need to do some celebrity spotting. I stopped at Valorie Wells' booth. We have her fun collection arriving any day now. She is merchandising some really fun t-shirts that coordinate with her fabrics, I just needed one for myself! (I like to shop too!) While I was putting my wallet back in my bag I heard a voice from behind ask "Is that Julie from Julie @ Quilt Market?" Quite confused I turned around to find Jenean Morrison designer for Freespirit/Westminster. For a brief moment I was the "psuedo celebrity" - ha, how crazy is that?

Today we previewed her newest line Picnic Parade.

Some fun news for you scouting fans. Kaufman is following up the popular Boy Scouts line with a Girl Scout line!!! I also put in the word that a group of you are looking for "Girl Scout Green" in a solid.

So I placed our Kaffe Collective fabric order prior to Market, however you never know what I might find. Precuts are now available, so I thought I would try some out for size... They should arrive in a few weeks. I wandered over to check out Kaffe's new book and Rachel, my rep, introduced me to Liza, Kaffe and Brandon. How fun! They were working on a creative project while I thumbed through a proof of the upcoming book. I spotted a quilt that I thought would be a fun project and Liza pulled out a picture of this great quilt, Flower Basket Medallion Quilt. Let me know what you think? I think this would be a great monthly group. For anyone familiar with Lollypop Trees, this is Kim's latest quilt pattern.

Back to fabric shopping. Michael Miller has this great new line. Amy from Blue Underground was really excited about this collection. Maybe we can coax her into making something for us! Wouldn't that be fun! :-)

Lizzie B is so fun. We don't do much with her patterns, but I have such an admiration for her work. She won the booth award for Market. She quilted a tree around the booth pipe!!!! She told me she actually sewed the branches on at the show. WOW talk about sewing under pressure! Great job!!

I ended the day with a great dinner from Lidia's. For those of you who watch PBS cooking shows, Lidia covers all her pans with foil paper and bakes in a "hot" oven for 30 minutes. The pasta was absolutely fabulous tonight. What a great way to finish a busy day!

So much work left to do and only a few more hours tomorrow!!!

Good night from Pittsburgh!

Julie :-)

SHOPPING!!!!

Day One of Spring Market...

The exhibit hall officially opens at 9:30. My appointments start a bit earlier. Margaret meets me and we do some quick work in the quiet before the "storm". Few stores have early morning meetings, it is a privilege but definitely makes the day longer.

The booths are perfect and pristine and the candy dishes are all overflowing!

So much to see with little time to look, absorb and plan. (Do you see the bird on Jennifer's shoulder?) I make lots of notes and take pictures. Some familiar designers are simple, merely plug them into the delivery schedule. If only it all were that easy. I saw all the reps within the last month or so, yet they all seen to have no fewer than 300 new fabrics to show me - from EACH company!!!

I had a busy morning with no pictures to share... I am working on some really cool things to bring back to the shop. Still fleshing out details...

BUT... I have LOTS I can tell you! :-)

GREEN GREEN GREEN. I will say it again. From celery to olive and everything in between. Green is hot. One of my male reps asked me if I really like it, or if I just order it. :-) I love it and I know a lot of you do as well.

Curry that we see in Pottery Barn is creeping in, but I predict it will be AT LEAST another 6 months before we see it.


Birds are everywhere!!!! Stuffed birds, marshmallow birds (peeps), silly birds, pretty birds.

Whimsical more than lifelike, the quilt world is enamored by our winged friends.

Mixed media concepts going strong. Mixing textures is huge. (You can see some quilts at the shop that play with batik, print, solid and even corduroy all in the same quilt.) There are more lines with a variety of textures to use together. Sweetwater (we featured some really cool patterns from them last holiday season) is now with Moda Fabrics. Here is a preview of their fall line.

All work and no play make Julie a dull girl...

Tonight was the big Moda bash. Mark Dunn chartered a river boat to entertain the customers, designers and Moda employees.

What a great time! Great food and drink. A fun tour of the Pittsburgh area by river and a great networking opportunity for all as we were at sea for 2 1/2 hours. My Moda Rep arranged for her Wisconsin and Illinois shops to sit together. It was a great time to sit with my neighbors.

Here are just a few pictures of a few of the great support team at Moda. Each time I travel to one of these events, I gain more quiltie friends. It is so cool to be able to be on a first name basis with all the great people in this industry. Just another reason to love my job.

Time for rest. Tomorrow I have the most buying appointments. Tough job, but someone's gotta do it. :-)

Dreaming of all the quilts I will make with all the new fabric...

Julie :-)

Welcome to Spring Quilt Market 2009

What an action packed day!


The first day of Quilt Market is called Schoolhouse. We have an action packed day of education provided by manufacturers, designers and fellow shop owners. Everything from the latest trends in fabric to how to teach a Beginning Quilting class. There are over 200 classes to choose from among 20 or so classrooms. Classes run 15 - 30 minutes and you better run in between sessions.

This is one of the biggest reasons I come to Market. It is great to hear new ideas, be exposed to what the manufacturers think is the next big thing and to get a little preview of all the goodies that will be available in the exhibit hall over the next few days.


One of the great bonuses is the "freebies" - just like we tempt you with goodies, the vendors lure us with yummy fabric to see what they have to offer.


Lunn Studios showcased their Kaufman Artisan Batiks with a theme "Permission to Play" - I absolutely love it! Debra and Michael talked about how there are not many self proclaimed art quilters, yet so many of us like to dabble in the "creative" side of art quilting. Do you know what she said? "There are no art quilt police!" How liberating! I don't know about you, but I do get quite concerned about is something "artsy" daring enough... WELL - guess what? IT DOESN'T MATTER. She continued, "It's just fabric" HA!!! So go ahead - give yourself permission to play. We have seen her striped batik patterns before and they only get better. 3 1/2" strips cut on the bias or on the straight. Subcut into squares or simply resewn together, this fabric is absolutely magical in creating works of art out of simple patterns.


Local favorite Kim Schaefer showed off her holiday lines and debuted her newest "Folklorika". Christmas themed "Partridge in a Pear Tree" is classic Kim and perfect for your whimsically primitive project. One of my favorites for this Christmas line is her pear table runner. The whole gang at Andover Fabrics gets into the act at the class. Company owner David proudly parades quilt samples and one male staffer even struts down the catwalk with a tree skirt as a man kilt. We were lucky enough to grab a sample pack of Partridge and a matching coveted Andover tote bag. (These will be part of the loot on the Post-Market Review Night May 27th at 5:30 - have you reserved your spot yet?)




Kaye England hosted a Hoedown! Retro and kitchy (I love that she uses that word too), this fabric line demands a closer look. We will see what goodies she has tomorrow! Back Home Again with Diane has been such a hit at the store, I do like to see what Kaye has to offer.



Maple Island Quilts have this really cool technique for stripe fabrics. We'll be checking this one out tomorrow.




Electric Quilt Company featured a fascinating Kaleidescope add on... make a note - more research. Very cool twist on paper piecing projects.



Tonight, we had Sample Spree. Now I didn't have to scalp a ticket this trip... I actually got in line at 5:00 p.m. (I know the doors open at 8:00 p.m.) See Pittsburgh is a great city, but the hotels are not connected to the convention center, so where else was I going to go? The funny thing is, jockeying for position totally didn't matter tonight, they opened doors on several entrance doors for efficient entry for all to the event. (grin) Regardless the swarming and elbowing was on! I was as ladylike as possible and somehow ended up with an amazing amount of stuff by 8:15. You know we get bolts delivered by the case to the store, yet I still find tremendous joy in acquiring an amazing fat quarter pack or two (or three or... Frank isn't reading this is he :-) ?) I have the packs spread out on the bed in the hotel room.

An incredible bonus, our buddies from Me & My Sister Designs GIVE charm tablet samples with orders. We are the proud new owners of their latest design Fiona. More challenging than Emma, This sixth offspring is a GREAT baby quilt or basis for a larger quilt.

The classes today were held above the exhibit floor. In between classes we could see the exhibit floor take shape. AHHH all the goodies to take in tomorrow...

Must rest... Sweet fabric dreams from Pittsburgh...

Julie :-)

Get Ready for Spring Market 5/14-5/17

Check back 5/14 to follow my every move at the Pittsburgh Spring Quilt Market!

Market Wrap Up

After a whirlwind in Houston, I have returned back to the shop.

Top 5 things I have seen:
1. Green
2. Birds
3. Fairies
4. More pre-cuts
5. Everything homemade

Green
From soothing sage to electric lime, all things green are hot!

Birds
Birds, birds and more birds - even some owls. Birds are still hot. Mostly "contemporary" representations of birds over true images.

Fairies
Alexander Henry was a bit ahead of the trend with some showing last market. Fairies were everywhere.

Pre-cuts
Some new language for you:
Turnover: 6 inch squares cut on the diagonal
Honey Buns: 1 1/2" strips cut width of fabric

More and more patterns using combinations of pre-cuts instead of only one cut.

Everything Homemade
I haven't been going to these things for too long, however there seems to be more of a focus on creating homemade everything. Easy home decorating ideas, more totes (if that is possible), aprons, and lots of little gifty items.

Lots of the newer designers are talking about ETSY. (A crafter's EBAY type online community. www.etsy.com)

I can't wait to see you tomorrow night for the big Post Market Review!

Julie

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Another busy day of shopping!

As I downloaded my pics today I realized I had "dim light setting" on my camera for most of the day. So we have only a few pictures to share today.

I started the day running into the one and only Mark Lipinski. (quilt media mogul, personality, a.k.a. the quilt god) . He blogspotted us the other day! HA! After a fun chat I rushed off to my appointment to buy his upcoming fabric line "krakow" from Northcott. As a note of clarification - his lecture the other day would not have made a truck driver blush, just my mother. :-) She would have thought it was entertaining nonetheless.




Lots of fun finds today at Northcott! Trick or Treat Street for Halloween 2009 (okay okay my weakness is Halloween).



The Sisterhood of Quilting which is a a fun Quiltie Lady find. Jody Haughton is the artist and has teamed up with Mattie from QuiltSmart for a great quilt!



Speaking of QuiltSmart, we have some great finds to share with you. Caren has been teaching the QS Lonestar for months now, however that is just the beginning. I have a sampling of products to share with you when I return. The apple core pattern and tumbling blocks are my favorite new discoveries.

I also love the fact that they have some great new product packaging and standalone instructions to match up with additional bolt yardage.




I finally had my appointment to order the "Fish Lips" from the Kaffe Collective at Westminster. The polka dot on the left is a different print from the collection.

New from Quilting Treasures - the new installment of Wizard of Oz is on it's way and I Love Lucy will be making it's way into the quilting world as well. Lucy's Chocolate Factory is absolutely spectacular! They have coordinated a new Lucy's Chocolate Factory chocolate line from Rocky Mountain Chocolates as well. I got a WHOLE bar to sample today. OMG - it was so yummy - no skimping on quality there. I have a great Lucy apron as one of our doorprizes on Friday.

I got to meet Keri Beyer from In the Beginning. I got some flair - real flair - I LOVE flair! She has a cool new "rocket scientist" line. I wish I lived in a dorm again! Girls can be Rocket Scientists - WE CAN!! WE CAN!!

I have a final day tomorrow. I still have more to share. If you are local make sure you sign up to come in on Friday night for our Post-Market Review.

Happy Quilting!

Julie