People Watching at Quilt Market

It's always fun to meet up with fellow pattern designers and friends at Quilt Market.

Here is Cheryl Wall from Abbottsford BC with her country style designs. Check out her website here.

Ursula Riegel is from Vancouver Island. Her company is Designs to Share With You. Ursula has a great method of using curved shapes in her designs.

DJ Richards Design company is from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. They have a unique way of using folded triangles in their designs.

Here is Lisa from Woolylady designs. Lisa and her partner Gail, dye all their own wools and create beautiful applique designs.

And here is Eleanor Burns. This year she was dressed as an astronaut to promote her new book about Stars.

My Neighbours at Quilt Market

Here are some pictures of fellow pattern designers at Quilt Market

This is the Quilters' Clutter booth. Shauna Case is from Alberta and does wonderful pattern designs.

Here are Deirdre and Leonie all the way from Australia. More great pattern designers!

Helen Stubbings is from Tasmania in Australia.

Daphne Greig (partner of Susan Purney-Mark of Patchwork Studios) is from Vancouver Island.

Quilt Market in Minneapolis: Set-Up Day

Here is my empty booth in Minneapolis.

And here it is after all the quilts were hung.

Set-up day is always exciting but stressful. Everything is all over the place. It was very hot and the air conditioning was not on. But everyone coped with the situation and got the job done. Here is a typical view of one of the aisles.

How Sweet It Is!

I have finished my "How Sweet It Is!" pattern, just in time for Quilt Market in Minneapolis next week. Now I only have to get everything packed in the suitcases and I am ready to go! Here is a sneak preview of the new pattern cover.

International Quilt Market in Minneapolis

The Ottawa quilt show is over - and a great show it was! The weather was cold and wet and we had crowds of people at the show on all 3 days.

I leave for Minneapolis and the International Quilt Market next week. I still have one pattern to write. Hopefully it will be finished in time. The pattern is called "How Sweet It Is!". Here is a sneak preview of the 3 little quilts in the pattern. The "sweet" hanger is from Ackfeld. The photos in these quilts are removable so you can change them whenever you like. This pattern is the latest addition to my Pop-Out Picture Quilt series.

On the Road Again

I have just returned from Quilt Market in Houston. I was helping my friend Pippa Moore in her booth and also checking out all the new fabrics and supplies being offered by the hundreds of vendors at the show. My pictures will be coming soon but if you check out the Blogs by Helen Stubbings, Daphne Greig and Pippa Moore you will see what we have all been up to. Just click on the links in the "Favorite Blogs" section on the side of this blog.

Tomorrow I leave for CreativFestival in Toronto. I will be in booth 509 and will also be teaching classes on Friday and Saturday. Stop by for a visit if you will be at this show.

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.

Houston Quilt Market etc

Here are my daily photos taken while attending the International Quilt Market in Houston. You can click here to see close-ups of all these pictures.

October 23: Clouds from 30,000 feet, just before landing in Houston.

October 24: This is Jane Sassaman, one of my favourite fabric designers, showing her new fabric collection during a Schoolhouse class.

Octobe 25: Houston skyline, 8 a.m. while waiting for the shuttle bus to the Convention Centre

October 26: This is Sam, a real Southern gentleman. He has been greeting visitors to Quilt Market in Houston as long as I have been going, and probably for many years before that too.

October 27: Sunset in the rain: Toronto airport

Quilt Market Revisited #5: Fun Stuff

Quilt Market is an exciting but exhausting adventure. We were all very tired on the last night, but after packing our suitcases, a small group of us went went out for dinner.

Here are our friends, Tracey and Helen from Australia.

Here I am with my friends, Tricia (Producer of The Great Canadian Shop Hop) and Janet Rice-Bredin (Botanical Art Quilts).

Here's Sid (Janet's husband, her booth candy, salesman extraordinaire and general handyman who helped many of us with our booths) who was brave enough to tackle dessert after dinner. Of course, Janet was right there, trying to take half of it!

One of our group, who shall remain nameless (at least for now) got the perfect quilter's tattoo.

Quilt Market Revisited #4: Schoolhouse

Schoolhouse is a wonderful event for Quilt Market attendees to meet with dozens of designers, publishers, fabric companies and "famous quilters". Each teacher makes a 15 or 30 minute presentation about their products or designs. I had 2 presentations about my Memory Quilt patterns and was delighted to have over 100 people in attendance.

Here is Faye from Michell Marketing, waiting to hand out the Schoolhouse class lists.

Susan and Carole from The Quilting Quarters in Almonte, Ontario
choosing their Schoolhouse classes

Some attendees sat outside in the beautiful sunshine amid the rhododendrons to choose their classes.

I was able to attend one Schoolhouse session with Mark Lipinski, editor of Quilters Home magazine. Mark is also designing fabric for Northcott fabrics. I now have some of his black and white Califon fabric and hardly wait to start using it. Lots of ideas - not enough time!