Monday, November 14, 2011

More Quilt Market

Oops, I really intended to write a series of blogs about Quilt Market in Houston, but somehow I keep getting bogged down with things like life and work, and family. Go figure.

Anyway, here's another great find: Villa Rosa Designs, www.villarosadesigns.com. We found this booth last year and really loved grabbing up their fabric bundles -- Dr. Seuss for me of course while my friend Leslie scrafed up bundles of batiks (her favorite). But my favorite thing in the booth were the quilt postcard patterns that had a glossy quilt photo on the front and the instructions on the back! POSTCARD-SIZED!

The patterns are scrappy, contemporary, and feature lots of precuts. I'm not a shop owner but if I was, I'd have a display of these postcard patterns next to the register -- they retail for $2 each! They'd also be great kitted up with super fabric collections.

Anyway, I decided to buy some more of these postcard patterns this year -- I ended up buying the whole set of 40! WOW! Looking forward to putting them to work after the holidays. Check out their website (above). I was going to add a photo here, but for some reason I can't get it to work so I'll add the photo later.

Monday, November 7, 2011

New Books at Quilt Market

Following is a selection of great new books debuting at Quilt Market. It was great to meet most of the designers or to attend their schoolhouse lectures. Leslie and I went to lots of lectures, demos, and signings to find out what's new and I think you'll like what we discovered:



Leslie and I went to the schoolhouse lecture for this book and were so impressed with Kay -- she was such a dynamo and her samples were incredible. We liked the bags so much that we decided to go to one of her booksignings. I really like the way this book is organized from simple projects to more complex. It really mades sense. Kay is very skilled at bag construction and even shares her tips and tricks in the book to achieve professional-looking bags!



Edyta Sitar was a wonderful speaker/demonstrater at her book demo! We really enjoyed hearing about the importance of quilts in her life from the doll quilts and Barbie quilts made for her children to larger projects. This book has gorgeous photography and is an excellent read. There is a CD in the back which includes nine quilt patterns, but the book is devoted to quilts and their stories, or reasons.



One of my goals at Quilt Market was to stop by the Quilter's World booth and meet the the editors in person. I was fortunate indeed to not only meet Carolyn Vagts, but also to get a copy of her new quilt book for beginners. This book concentrates on a single quilt block that can be arranged in different ways. It also takes a beginner from the beginning to end. Good photos. I really liked the idea of working with a single block that can be flipped and flopped into different designs. Very good for a beginner, the one block will keep the newbie from getting to overwhelmed!



I'm not much of an appliquer, but this demo was very cool. I loved the concept of using both the positive and the negative shapes created when you cut out an applique! I don't know if I'll try this technique, but for those of you who are into machine applique -- this book would be a nice addition to your bookshelf.



I really liked Gudrun Erla's other Fast and Furious books so when I saw that she was doing a schoolhouse on her new book, I grabbed Leslie and we went. The samples were great and somehow, I was the lucky winner of one of her book giveaways. If you like fast and fun, this book is for you. I particularly like the curved placemats -- these would look nice on my round table!



Pam and Nicky Lintott did it again! Another awesome book using those yummy precuts! Very clever designs and a feast for the eyes with all of those terrific precut packs.



Are you familiar with the Schnibbles patterns and the first book? Carrie Nelson does it again with her second book, which features even more designs for 5" and 10" squares.


I had the pleasure of meeting Cassie Barden and Adrienne Smitke at several book signings/demos. Of, course I was carrying my "Birdwatching Bag" which was a project in Cassie's first book, The New Handmade. Cassie and Adrienne were absolutely delightful and so energetic! Cassie even sports the most wonderful magenta hair color!! This book, Everyday Handmade, is the folow up book for Cassie's first book and well worth the wait. Filled with lots of great everyday projects.



Leslie and I attended the schoolhouse lecture for this book. Happily, Cassie and Adrienne were the featured designers. There are actually 25 projects from 23 differnet designers, including Cassie and Adrienne. Definitely a fun book with lovely gifts for everyone on your list.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Quilt Market...The Beginning

I'm back from Fall Quilt Market and full of all kinds of ideas and inspirations -- I just don't know where to begin! In the next week or so, I'm going to write several more blogs about Quilt Market, so I hope you'll come back to read them all.

But first, let me tell you about the beginning of our trip. My friend Leslie and I arrived at the Erie Airport with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately, the plane was an hour late. We were crossing our fingers that we might still make our flight from Cleveland to Houston.... When the plane landed in Cleveland, the flight attendant asked passengers who didn't have an immediate connector flight to stay seated so that those who had to get to their next flight could get off first. We were hopeful that this would help us get to our next flight. So, when the plane stopped and the seatbelt light went off, Leslie and I stood, gathered up our stuff, and stepped out into the aisle. There were at least nine other people who did the same. We then waited at the front of the plane until the flight attendant opened the door and gave us the go ahead to get off. Suddenly the attendant starting yelling at us, wanting to know why we were standing and telling us to sit down. We tried to tell her that we had to get catch our next flight, but she just didn't listen and kept telling us to sit down. Of course, we couldn't because there were a lot of people behind us. The attentant seemed to get really irritated and mad at us (Leslie and I were at the front of the line).

Finally, she let Leslie off the plane, but wouldn't let me off with her because I had to get my carryon off the cart outside the plane because it had been stowed in a compartment (this was a small plane). She made me sit down in the nearest seat, meanwhile other passengers were getting off. Then I heard Leslie yelling at the flight attendant from outside -- she was yelling "Tell Tricia I have her suitcase!" The attendant started screaming at Leslie to get inside the terminal. Finally the attendant let me off the plane. Leslie was on the ramp, holding my carryon up so that I would see it. I got to her, grabbed the case, and we both started to run. We were in the D section of the terminal and had to run to the C section. Leslie was half a hallway in front of me, but I watched closely so that I could follow her. I was so out of breath and my heart was really pounding. Leslie got to the correct gate before I did and found out she was 1 minute late. We'd missed our plane to Houston. SO did the other nine passengers. If the horrid flight attendant had listened to what we were telling her, we probably would have made it. Anyway, we had to take a later flight and didn't get into Houston until that evening. Seriously, after running through the airport like that, both Leslie and I were not feeling well for quite a while. I'm not asmatic, but I wheezed and coughed for about an hour or so afterwards.

This was not an auspicious start to our trip, was it?