Filming for the Great Canadian Shop Hop

Today , my friend Tricia Sherman and her Saskatoon camera lady, Lisa, were filming at Quilt Saskatchewan in Saskatoon for Tricia's show, The Great Canadian Shop Hop. She has just finished filming at Veronica's Sewing Supplies, a quilt shop in Kindersley, Saskatchewan.

Here are some pictures that were taken in my booth as Tricia did her introduction for this part of the show. More details about when this show will air on QNN will be posted soon in this blog.

Quilt Saskatchewan: Set-up Day at the Merchants' Mall

Today was set-up day for the Merchants' Mall at Quilt Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. Here are a few pictures of some of my neighbours.

Extraordinary Extras from Vermilion, Alberta

Another neighbour

My next door neighbours - the Pfaff team

Joan and Pippa from Kitambaa Designs are right across the aisle from me. Pippa just received a huge shipment of African fabrics, baskets and the work of her ladies in Africa. Pippa wrote extensively about her project with the women in Africa. Be sure to read about it on her Blog.

This is my booth, almost finished. I just received these great quilt hangers called Wall Chat: BFF, WTG, OMG, and LOL. I discovered that I had several patterns for quilts that are just the right size for these hangers. Now I need to make up some new samples using some of the great fabric I bought at Quilt Market in Pittsburgh last week. So many ideas, so little time!

Good Morning from Saskatoon

I am in Saskatoon for the Quilt Saskatchewan event. Today is set-up day for the Merchants' Mall and the show begins tomorrow. You can check out the Canadian Quilters' Association website to read about all the events that will be held this week.

Here is the view from my hotel room. The South Saskatchewan River is just beyond the park.

Almost Ready for Quilt Saskatchewan!

On Monday I leave for Saskatoon and will be in the Merchant's Mall at Quilt Saskatchewan. This is the national Canadian conference that is held every year in a different location in Canada. It is sponsored by the Canadian Quilters' Association. You can read more about this event here.

I have created a special little pattern just for this event. It is a quick and easy project and lots of fun to make. Here is a sneak preview of "Calorie-Free Cupcakes". It seems that anything to do with cupcakes is still very popular right now, so I hope people will like this new design. The finished size is 15.5" x 15.5".

Sample Spree: The Gigantic Quilters' Bazaar!

The shoppers (quilt shop owners and employees, teachers etc) line up for hours before the doors open.

Pattern designers, thread companies and fabric manufacturers start filling their tables.

Fabric bundles piled up on the floor before being put on the tables. It's hard to believe that almost all of the fabric will be sold during the 2 hours of Sample Spree.

More fabric!

Even more fabric!

The doors have just opened and hundreds of people are now on the show floor.

Let the shopping begin!

Canadian Designer Sightings at Quilt Market

There were several Canadian pattern designers at Quilt Market in Pittsburgh, each with their own distinctive style.

Shauna from Quilter's Clutter

Susan and Daphne from Patchworks Studio. Their new book, Simple Stained Glass Quilts, was released at Quilt Market last week.

Laurie from Chili Pepper in British Columbia. This was Laurie's first Quilt Market!

Brenda and Lisa from Among Brenda's Quilts.

Brenda is from Ontario and has wonderful bag designs.

Betty and Sharon from Rabbit's Haven on Mayne Island, British Columbia.

They have a new fabric line coming out in the fall.

Famous People Sightings at Pittsburgh Quilt Market

Here is Kaffe Fassett showing fabrics from his new spring line. Lots of big, bold prints.

Eleanor Burns, entertaining and personable as ever.

Amy Butler with her very distinctive line of fabrics and designs.

Alex Anderson has a new line of red and white fabric which is perfect for Redwork. I will be receiving some of this fabric soon and will start working on another Redwork design.

International Quilt Market in Pittsburgh

I have just returned from Quilt Market in Pittsburgh. There are hundreds of booths and people in the quilting industry attend this trade show from all over Canada, USA, Europe, Japan and Australia. Here is a bird's eye view of portions of the show floor taken from the walkway that passes above the floor. It's hard to imagine how large the show is unless you are actually there!

EQ Printables Blog

Electric Quilt Company has just started a new category on their Blog showing some of the many projects that have been created using their EQ Printables fabric sheets. You can check it out here. (Thanks, Andrea, for including some of my projects in your new section!)

I have been a fan of EQ Printables for many years and use the fabric in all my Memory Quilts. These fabric sheets were one of my best selling items at the recent CreativFestival in Toronto a couple of weeks ago. In fact, I ran out of the packages by the middle of the first day of the show. Then I started single sheets from my own "stash" and managed to sell all of them as well.

I will be at the International Quilt Market in Pittsburgh next week and you can be sure I will be stocking up on EQ Printables packages again for my Quilt Canada show in Saskatoon the following week.

Meet Helen Fujiki

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking a workshop with Helen Fujiki. We spent the day learning about free motion quilting. It was wonderful to be able to "play" for a day and learn new techniques.

Helen Fujiki

Here are some pictures of Helen's work. Notice the exquisite stitching!

Be sure to check out Helen's website and see more of her work.

Quilts by Lenore Crawford

Lenore Crawford's fabric art wall hangings combine her love of France, architecture, and flower gardens as well as her passion for color and realism. Lenore had several quilts on display at CreativFestival in Toronto last week. Here is a look at a few of them.

You can read more about Lenore's work on her website and Blog.