Quilts from Quilt Market 2016 • part 2

June 18, 2016June 18, 2016 Elizabeth E.10 Comments

The following quilts were exhibited in the center of Quilt Market this year, in a special exhibit. They are the prize winners from Houston, and the area around them was always calm and quiet, so it was a nice place to visit. Here are the rest of the pictures I took.

Why Knot? is by Tanya Brown, who writes: “This quilt was inspired by watching my Cub Scout son practice knot tying, an exercise designed to torment the uninitiated. In this piece, the metaphorical nightmare of becoming hopelessly engulfed in one’s own knots is made real.” Follow the link on her name to read her (hilarious) description of how this piece came to light, as well as interesting reading on her process.

Ravendale Star, by Linda Fleschner, is a quilt where she did not design the entire thing before she started but knew that she would “use the Ravendale paisley print in a Radiant Star.” She goes on to say, “When that was finished, I designed the border feather, staying with a black and white palette–a big departure from the bright colors I normally use.”

(Okay, I took this one because it bulges slightly in the middle, just like mine do. However, mine aren’t as intricate or beautiful or amazing as hers. This is my make-me-feel-better-about-my-creations shot.)

Laura Fogg‘s Visions of Apple Pie. Her artist’s notes say: “Looking up into a loaded apple tree on a hot summer day, I imagined all of the things I could make with the glorious fruit.”

Anniversary Roses, by Susan Gorder. She writes: “The appliqué rose blocks and borders were my take-along project on many trips over several years. Once the top was finished, it took me another six months to hand quilt. Instead of traditional grid quilting behind the appliqué, I decided to quilt feathers and to repeat elements of the border design around the center blocks.”

White Holes by Peter Hayward. His notes state that “I wanted to take the basic concept behind op art quilts to a new level by adding color gradation and concentric lines as a way of enhancing the 3-D effect.”

Magical Zone, by Keiko Ike. She writes: “I wanted to create a mysterious quilt with design and color. I perfectly pieced the extremely sharp points in the Mariner’s Compass, which is normally difficult to finish flat.”

A Coastal Town is made by Nobuko Kotani and quilted by “14 friends from Kanagawa.”

She writes: “This started from a fabric I found while I was on a trip. The pattern on it was interesting, so Katy designed a town with many unique houses along a coast.”

Can you tell I loved all the details?

Dance, by Marisa Marquez (of Madrid, Spain): “Every little girl’s dream is to become a dancer–elegant and graceful. As we grow up, we continue dreaming.”

Audrey II Plus 3, by Marianne Mulheron. Her notes say that “In response to a Spring Into It quilt challenge, I used real springs to attach three dimensional baby plants to their carnivorous mother, Audrey II, from the movie Little Shop of Horrors.”

Mysterious Letter, by Noriko Nozawa. Her notes say: “The Kana letter, which is a Japanese inherent letter, is the main theme of this work. Although I used the Japanese traditional letter, I added a sense of fun by changing the color, placing the letter randomly, and repeating it.”

I love all the different textures in her quilt.

Arroyo Grande Album is by Andrea Perejda. She writes: “Folk-art appliqué has been an interest of mine for many years. I started with Threadbear’s pattern for their Civil War Bride quilt top. I altered it considerably, adding personally meaningful motifs and appliqué sashings.”

Laura Wasilowski‘s Bird on a Branch #6. “This quilt,” she writes, “depicts a view of my front garden.”

Exuberance, by Enid Gjelten Weichselbaum, was “[i]spired by the layering of colors created in watercolor paintings.” She “used layers of bright organzas to ‘grow’ a joyful bouquet of flowers and a transparent vase.

That’s it for my quilt show today.

I’ve been working on my own quilts, finally tackling the hard job of quilting through two layers of batting (some make this look easy, but really, they are lying. . . unless they are on a big machine).

I’m also working out the thorny problem of those pesky border instructions for our Oh Christmas Tree border post, which is coming up quickly. Don’t worry. I’m on it.

It’s all coming July 2nd–just in time to stay home that weekend and sew! We’re almost finished with that quilt. Just keep on quilting; we want to see YOUR quilts next year in Houston, and then Quilt Market!

A Look at the Quilts at Quilt Market 2016

June 15, 2016June 14, 2016 Elizabeth E.13 Comments

First, I need to report on the giveaway held in the last post–all your comments were terrific! and seemed to be a healthy range from “just the kids” to “adults have a great time, too.” I really liked the ones that said to include them both–so now you know.

The winner was Number 7. . . and it was Leslie, so I’ll get those shipped out to her right away so she can keep going on her Halloween quilt. She wrote: I do miss the homemade donuts that our neighbor used to make and for which we, as children, would double back around for. Now it’s only wrapped candies, and we Moms all sort even those for scary things, but I do like Leslie’s perspective. Okay, here we go with the quilts.

Tutti-Frutti Alleyway, by Susan Bleiweiss. She writes: “This quilt is part of my ongoing series of art quilts which celebrate the use of vibrant color and whimsical imagery.” 5347 Redfox Circle. . . Blueprint of a Life, by Sandra Branford. Her artist’s statement: “Using my collage skills, I created a fantasy story board of my imaginative home. Through my original designs, I define myself and take the viewers on a journey through my mind. . . some wit, a few brains, and loads of imagination.”

And as an English teacher, I smiled when I saw the misspelling in this text. (You’ll have to find it yourself, and no, it’s not “hors d’oeuvres.”) Whenever I find typos and misspellings in things I write, I die a little of embarrassment, so I understand how things can get overlooked.

Trilogy, by Peggy Brown. “My goal,” she writes, “was to start with a painted free-flowing design, add collage and overlays of more paint, and compose a well-designed and unique painting on fabric — an art quilt.”

Pink Bird, by Judy Coates Perez (Check out the quilting in the following photos!) She write that she likes “painting images inspired by nature, using photos of real birds as reference for a pose, then altering them graphically; simplifying details, creating new patterns, and choosing different colors to create unique stylized birds and plants.”

Long Winter Flower Basket Sampler, by Eileen Daniels. During a “long, cold winter in Wisconsin” she “became addicted to embroidery.” She writes that she “spent hours listening to podcasts by Jonathan Welton and to my husband reading books aloud as I designed and embroidered this quilt.”

I noticed more embroidery in this show than I’ve seen before–a welcome addition!

Cuban Ballerina, by Jennifer Day. She writes: “This quilt is based on a photograph that I took of a ballerina with the National Cuban Ballet in Havana. She is dancing in a wonderful old building built in the early 1900s that has fallen into ruin since 1959. This quilt is a testament to the young ballerina who is gracing the building with her beauty in dance.”

More threadwork, but this time by machine. It was stunning.

Nancy Rehak‘s Tea for Two. “Inspired by Cindy Needham,” she writes, “I took an old tablecloth of my mom’s and created a quilt. It was a challenge for me to design my quilting to highlight the tablecloth. I named it Tea for Two because my dad used to sing that song to us when we were little.”

A Tree Grows in Tokyo, by Helen Ridgeway and her friends: Anita Crane, Mary Ann Hildebrand, Linda Humphrey, Marilyn Lampman, Holly Nelson, Bonnie Sprado and Barbara Woodman. The artists’ statement reads: “This was a collaboration by the eight members of the Sew Be It Bee. We each hand appliquéd a block from Kumiko Sudo’s book. One of our members, Mary Ann Hildebrand, designed and made the tree, using a scrunching technique, and made the cherry blossoms out of Yo-yos from a synthetic fabric.”

Gillian Shearer’s Eager to Learn – Afghanistan. “In 2011, in Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan, Ellend Jaskol recorded this image of two girls eager to learn at a new school in Sust,” she writes. “They were studying in a temporary tent until the school was completed. The power of educating girls is slowly breaking through. ‘When you educate a girl, you educate a nation.’ ”

Journey, by Grace Sim. She writes that “This quilt allowed me to try techniques I have wanted to try for a long time — fabric manipulation, liberated blocks, crazy quilting, modern quilting, Broderie Perse, and the use of buttons and crystals. I used them to form my favorite Italian landscape.”

More quilts are coming.

I realized in doing this post that if a person desires to become a quilt artist, it’s pretty important that they create a place in space to reside: whether it be a blog page, or a gallery of images, or just a single place where people like me can go and search in order to read more about them. There are many platforms that can be used: Instagram, Pinterest, blogging, Tumblr, etc.

I was unsuccessful in a finding a couple of the above artists. In this day and age of >instant< and >quick< and rushrushrush there is a tendency to overlook the long form of blogs. But they become important when looking at the bigger picture, or, your journey as a quilter. So if you are just starting, you might consider building your own little place where people can find you. While there may not be much more than four walls and a piece of carpet (where others might have several fully-furnished rooms), it will be your space.

Quilt Shops · Quilt Shows · Textiles & Fabric

Quilt Market • Salt Lake City (3)

May 30, 2016June 11, 2016 Elizabeth E.14 Comments

This quilt is called Over and Down Under, and is simply lovely. I want to make twenty. But this was a typical sort of sight and I’m afraid a typical sort of reaction from me.

And another. This came out last year, but to see it in person was really fun. And thanks to you all for leaving me comments and for entering our giveaway. The Husband Random Name Generator picked Mary of Lake Pulaski for the Elea Lutz book and Cathy C. for the Stashbusters book. (I’ll be in touch with you both by email.) Actually I wanted to pick you all, so the next giveaway is on June 2nd. And by the way, I’m working through all the comments where you asked me a specific question. Thanks for your patience. Now we continue. . .

But I also get giddy when I see Alison Glass’ fabrics, as they are lush and rich and saturated. These next few pictures are from Andover’s booths. Today’s post is the last of the business side of Quilt Market, before we break for an Oh Christmas Tree post on June 2nd. Then I’ll return to show you the beautiful quilts exhibited in the center of Market, award-winning quilts from Houston. Then we’re done with my lovely tumble down Alice’s — Quilt Market’s — rabbit hole.

Near the Andover gang is the Art Gallery gang. Above are the ordering tables, and now we’ll stroll through the quilt fabric designers’ booths.

Maureen Cracknell in front of her new collection.

This is a collection of pillows, using fabrics from all the Art Gallery Collections.

Exquisitely quilted little piece of deliousness in Bonnie Christine’s booth.

Cotton & Steel’s newest collection from Rifle Paper Company. Their booth won first place at Quilt Market–for design, I suppose, because it was so lovely. Here are some photos:

There’s that first place ribbon.

Such a teensy little sample!

I hunted down Lecien’s booth because of this:

This is Semaphore, Cindy Wiens’ quilt using my design, and it has been around the world, landing here for one more stop. Cindy did a terrific job. Mine is in the works; pattern coming soon.

I have no idea whose booth this was, but check out those chairs! Those colors! Wow!

Windham Fabrics was another favorite stop, and I did stop at their Pop-Up Shop before leaving on Saturday to pick up a few things. As I noted before, there was very little for sale on the floor; this was one place you could buy something.

Felice Regina’s new collection Luna Sol (sorry I caught her with her eyes closed!)

Check out these hexies from Yellow Creek Quilt Designs–amazing.

Marcia Derse and her new collection, Studio Alphabet.

This is the corner for the new fabrics from Janine Vangool (of Uppercase Fame), inspired by designs from her magazine. (She gave me two magazines and a skinny pack of charm squares to use in a giveaway–coming soon!)

Natalie Barnes’ new collection Hand Maker.

How many ways can I photograph this display from RJR? Apparently, after looking at my photos, a multitude of ways.

RJReynolds is the parent company of many fabrics, most notably, Cotton & Steel.

I hunted all over for this quilt for SloStudio, the colorful confetti-style quilt in the center, and found it at Riley Blake; I posted it up on IG, and kept looking around. I apologize if I don’t have the names of the makers–the tables for the buyers were snugged up to some quilts and I didn’t want to interrupt the business of quilting. All the following photos were from Riley Blake’s booths. You should also know they had the most amazing mint chocolate truffles, and I sampled one. Okay, maybe two.

Kimberly Jolly of the Fat Quarter Shop.

Lori Holt, in the green, waiting to sign books. She had a great booth with all her quilts.

Close-up of the above quilt. I love how they pieced the squares and fused on the leaves.

Fabri-Quilt had given me my Focus quilt to take home with me, so at the end of that last day, I posed it on the door handle going out and snapped a photo, as kind of a good-bye. I never ever expected to be here at Quilt Market, and quite frankly, wonder if I’ll be here again. It was a whirl of creativity, fabrics, colors, people, ideas and experiences. I’m so glad I was able to come.

(map of convention center, showing Fabri-Quilt’s booth)

Quilt Patterns · Quilt Shops · Quilt Shows · Quilts · Textiles & Fabric

Quilt Market: Salt Lake City (2) • Giveaway

May 28, 2016May 30, 2016 Elizabeth E.39 Comments

First off, congratulations to Dorothy, who won the giveaway. I’ll be in touch with you, Dorothy, to get your mailing info and get that off to you next week. Thank you to all who participated, and especially to all who commented on my yank-out-the-carpet-from-under-me fall. I’m pretty much fine, and am going forward, but you can bet I’ll look twice before coming out of an aisle. That story also made it to Carrie Nelson’s MODA blog, as I had to tell a story to her to get one of her camping badges. For a great recap of her Moda Designers’ booths, head over there.

I’ll also have another little giveaway at the end of this post, to reward you for reading, AND in honor of my mother’s 88th birthday. This is a photo of her back in the day. They apparently used to take all their birthday pictures outside because the camera couldn’t really capture the light as well inside. I think of that when I tend to use my mobile phone everywhere because its light-capturing sensors are the best.

Quilt Market is about business–the business of selling, of buying, of hawking your wares, of displaying, of meeting your buyers, meeting the designers, meeting the authors. Sometimes I would get a book at these signings, and sometimes I just snapped photos on my way past. Some publishers were gracious, not knowing who their books were going home with, yet others were a bit cranky about the whole thing. Considering that I buy from all of them, I’ll never tell who was cheerful and who was cranky, but it taught me a lot about that aspect of this business.

This talented lady’s book is part of our giveaway today. Elea Lutz designs not only patterns, but also fabrics for Penny Rose (associated with Riley Blake Fabrics). It’s a book published by Fat Quarter Shop and has charming pieced patterns, as shown in the quilt behind her.

The other giveaway (I’ll divide them into two) is the Stashbusters Book, by Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith, a wonderful collection of scrappy reproduction-style quilts. I’ll choose two from the comments left below; let me know if you have a preference for which book you might win.

Once I left the cocoon of my Painter’s Palette booth and ventured out, I saw this young woman modeling the skirt found in Alison Glass’ LookBook. It was like — pinch me!–as I encountered Famous People and things I recognized from all the advertising I see when I read magazines, or attend quilt shows, or wander through the web. It was going to be a day of double takes as I walked among the Business of Quilting, the other side of the quilty looking glass.

Sassafras Lane Designs, in all their colorful glory.

Renegade salespeople in the lobby of the Salt Palace. Great carpet, right?

Quilt Soup. (That’s not Barbara Jones, but a “booth babysitter,” she said.

Don’t look now, but that woman in the Kokka booth is wearing a Wookie Backpack. I was in line behind her later on at the Lucky Spools book signing, and she shared with us all the trending video of the woman who’d just purchased a Chewbacca Mask for her birthday. I thought that was a neat coincidence.

These three pictures are from Katie Cupcake, by Amy Hamberlin. I love that Midtown bag.

Jillily Studio’s booth was a sweet shop, complete with little bagged chocolate truffles they gave out.

Hoffman Fabrics are in my neck of the woods in Southern California, and first started with Hawaiian print fabrics for the local surfers.

I don’t know if you can see it, but Latifah Saafir’s booth (Hoffman Fabrics) has a pair of tennis shoes slung over a wire–so LA. I loved it!

Fun also to see Hoffman’s newest line of fabrics from Thistlewood Farms. Those blues! (And yes, that’s KariAnne Wood holding her quilt.)

Heather Jones’ line of fabric is subtle, but I bought some at Sample Spree because I think it will work well in so many quilts. One of my favorite types of fabrics are those that bring a punch of something new to the existing stash, giving it more life. She has some great designs in her collection.

Here is a series of photos from the Clothworks/Frou-Frou booths, across the aisle from each other. Maybe because I was thinking about my trip to Geneva last week, and how I was missing the small prints from Europe, but I really fell in love with these fabrics (plus I love how they feel).

I love their cans of projects. Very clever.

Now, for a complete change of pace, this is the Free Spirit Booth. I noticed more and more of this type of booth design among the big names: a central section for the business of ordering, and small alcoves for the designers.

Amy Butler’s section. She also had a larger booth:

Tula Pink’s alcove.

Snow Leopard Designs by Phillip Jacobs (again, for Free Spirit Fabrics)

Elizabeth Hartman’s booth, with the lovely creator in attendance.

Cori Dantini, for Blend Fabrics. I loved their booth:

EdMar Company, a small vendor from Idaho was selling these gorgeous rayon Brazilian Embroidery Threads.

Benartex. I think you can see where all those beautiful quilts go that we see in “sneak peeks” on Instagram (and yes, I spelled “peeks” correctly). Every booth was awash in beautiful quilts, and I must admit I hadn’t even hit the Moda booths yet, and I was already in overload. So I thought I’d better head over and see Sherri’s booth, since I’d sewn a couple of items for her and had a sneak peek myself of some of her beautiful fabrics.

I could never get a photo that wasn’t blurry of these two women, so this will have to do. The Moda designers were in clusters at this show, which didn’t give them much space, but that made meeting them easier.

That’s enough for today’s post. More is coming.

Have a safe Memorial Day (or Decoration Day, as my mother calls it). ~~Leave a comment below to win a book in the giveaway. I’ll choose one and announce it in the next post.~~

UPDATE: Comments closed. Winner announced in next post. Thanks to you all for entering!

Classes · Giveaway · Quilts

Quilt Market May 2016 • Day One • Giveaway

May 27, 2016June 12, 2016 Elizabeth E.40 Comments

Yes! folks. That is me standing under the sign, nervous and excited as all get out. Yeah, I know it’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it. And there’s a little bit of a giveaway at the end, just to reward you for reading all the way through.

I’d entered the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City that morning, dazed and confused even though several people had given me good advice for Going to Quilt Market. I came down the escalators to the left (out of sight), trying to figure out what to do next, when a lovely woman walked towards me.

Claudia, the owner of Snowed In Quilt Shop in Panguitch, Utah showed me where to pick up my badge. She then told me to pay for SchoolHouse (all-day classes) and for Sample Spree (really? I’m going to that time-honored craziness??). I designated her my “Handler for Quilt Market,” and off we went to Schoolhouse.

Wait, what?

This is better. We shared the building with burly guys wearing T-shirst that said Coal: Clean & Abundant, as they went to their meetings in a wing of the convention center.

First up: a plenary session where the first 700 who picked up their schedules also got a ticket for a souvenir tote bag from Cotton and Steel. I’d heard about the freebies here (actually less than you think) and was happy that I could get something fun right off the bat. It opened with the officials telling us the stats of our industry, among other pleasantries.

For the very next presenters were the Cotton & Steel gang, all young women, announcing their partnership with Rifle Paper Company, and the new fabric line where they showed us us a video. We had a small sample of it in our freebie bags. We weren’t yet allowed into the exhibition hall, as everyone was still setting up their booths. It dawned on me only later that I had a badge that would let me in. (Trying not to overuse my Super Powers, here. . .) However, I didn’t have time to go in until later, as I was busy going to Schoolhouse. Claudia and I went back and forth between the two sets of classrooms, about a 3-minute walk between them, until we wised up and chose classes in a clump next to each other.

This presentation by Ink & Arrow/Quilting Treasures was stellar. I learned a LOT. Every quilt shop should have attended this one.

Plus the brownies in their little giveaway bag were a nice treat.

Many of the Schoolhouse classes are like this one: an introduction to a new line of fabrics, in this case Frou-Frou, distributed by ClothWorks, Inc. I liked what the head of Frou-Frou was saying about quilting being like cooking. “Spaghetti” in column 2 is actually skinny tubing, suitable for spaghetti straps on clothing.

I loved Maywood Fabrics’ presentation. Claudia won a bundle of their fabric. She actually won two times that day, which is nice payment for her having to drag me around.

Somewhere in here, at the urging of my darling husband (yes, he is!) I went down to the floor to see my quilt hanging up. Sigh. You read all about that yesterday, so I won’t bore you today, but it was wonderful. (And yes, I’d finally figured out at that point that I had a badge that would let me do that.)

After lunch it was more classes. Here’s Anna Maria Horner’s Schoolhouse class, showing off her amazing quilt. And skirts. And fabric. And more quilts. And her fine sense of humor.

(Reverse applique flower and leaves)

So glad to see her in fine form. We’ve missed you, Eleanor Burns!

The Moda Schoolhouse was all about their program starting in fall and continuing through next year: “Be My Neighbor,” where they will give out “blueprints” of blocks to fabric shops, where we plebeians can get them. I’ve already made a house quilt, (click *here* to see and to get free downloadable patterns, too) but after looking at this one, it’s mighty tempting to try another.

By now Claudia and I are dragging and we have to muster up some strength to make it to Sample Spree that evening.

So we stayed in our seats through another designer’s presentation (basically a demo of all her new products and how we could buy them) then went next door to Moda/Martingale’s presentation of the Match Game, featuring quilty terms, and a cast of brilliant stars (some lined up above). It was really funny, and very high energy and we had a great time. Some of the quilts featured in the book are below, slightly blurry as they were parading them before us at a pretty good clip:

There. Now you’ve had your fill of eye-candy for one post. (I do think I’ll get this book.) We went to find dinner and I took a photo of the sample spree line from the second floor, where people had been lining up for hours:

And then I took one of the market floor. See those people laying green carpet over to the left? Stay with me now, there’s a story there. Claudia and I grabbed a salad for dinner, and ate it quietly away from the Sample Spree line. She agreed to watch my bags while I went in for one last picture

I came out of the aisle just as three uber burley guys gave the green carpet runner a hefty yank to the left. . . and I fell down to the right. Yes, so graceful, but the rug had been pulled out from under me, just like in the cartoons. The burley guys to the right came running over. One of them was the crew leader, and after watching me get up (again, incredibly graceful *ahem*) he insisted I go to the boss of the crew. I followed him to the loading dock, where it smelled like brine, a storm coming in off the salty Great Salt Lake. Kind of like being at the ocean, really.

Then he insisted I go to the Floor Boss, who was driving around somewhere on a yellow cart. You think if they were so concerned about my injuries that they would have put ME on one of those dumb carts and driven me around, but no. I had to go with this guy, chasing around looking for the other guy on the dumb cart. We found him, but I explained that I was going to miss my PARTY and that my friend had my bags and I needed to go and get them, and really I felt fine (but knowing the next day I was going to feel it). He agreed to let me release Claudia so she could get in line.

Now I’m carrying all my loot from today, and following this guy around. Back to the loading dock, where we get another boss, who determines that I should to see Security. (But my PARTY!! I want to scream, for that’s what Sample Spree was to them–how could I explain what would be the mad dash of frothing quilters straight for the Rifle Paper Company new fabric line by Cotton & Steel?) He takes me along the back of the convention hall, to a wide gaping doorway and I realize I’m looking at Sample Spree and nobody is in here!! Did I take advantage of this and grab a stack? No. Like a good little girl, I follow the guy through the other doors, out into the hallway, where everyone in line is looking me, like “How’d she get in there?”

We go down the lines of foyer-sitters, into the office. He says “This is the lady who fell down.” Wait. I pipe up to say, “I didn’t fall down. Someone yanked the carpet from under my feet!” I was asked to wait while they called for an EMT, and while I was waiting, would I write a description. The EMT guy arrives and wants me to go in an ambulance to the ER.

Meanwhile. . . I can see the lines start to move into Sample Spree. I turn to him, and say “My Party is starting! I’ve got to go!” He assesses me (no slurring of speech, no fuzzy vision, no impact to the head, appears to be somewhat sane and walking straight); I sign waivers to not to go the ER in an ambulance. But by now, I’ll be at the back of the wagon train in the Sample Spree line. So I look at him and say, “You look official. Can you walk me to the front of the line and get me in?” He smiles, agrees, and we pass by hordes of frothing quilters, and I slip in past the Quilt Police, into Sample Spree. I’m still achy, my hip and ankle are sore, and I know I’m going to feel it in the morning, but hey–I made it it to The Party.

This sort of image was not unusual. I decline to show you my group of bags so as not to incriminate myself, but I got in about halfway through the long line, and no, at that point there were no Rifle Paper Company stacks to be had unless I bought ALL of the new Cotton & Steel lines for a mere $271, which would include their tote bag. Um, no. But it was fun going around, seeing the FQs (Frothing Quilters) grab and push and terrify those on the inside of the tables as they snapped up their stacks and bundles, and overheated their credit cards.

I did see Claudia later on, and she asked how I was. She’s lovely and terrific and as she was still shopping, and I was pretty spent (in all ways), I headed home to my sister’s new apartment in her basement, where I had a lovely space all to myself. I took some ibuprofen, and while I was uploadiong some IG photos, all the power went out around me.

I looked outside: dark. I looked on IG: all the quilters in the hotels downtown were freaking out, saying “Way to go–the Fabric Geeks broke Salt Lake!” Sounds like the party was still going on. I knew the light would wake me up when it came back on in the middle of the night, but I rolled over and went to sleep.

Because I was surprised at how little freebies there were (I had to purchase most of my souvenirs, except for the bag I mentioned), I have one giveaway here and a couple of more over the next two weeks, courtesy of the people I’ll name.

This first one is a charm pack with lots of colors of 100% wool felt, for those of you who are working on your tree (another one’s coming on June 2nd). The colors are beautiful:

It’s from National Non-Wovens, and they also donated some for our next Oh Christmas Tree post, just in case you don’t win this round. While this is a vendor, they will sell smaller quantities to us quilters at Commonwealth Felt.

The other item I’ll throw into the giveaway is this book by Carolyn Culling McCormick, In the Pines, from Kansas City Star Quilts. This is a book of paper-pieced patterns so you can make the more traditional pine-tree quilts with tiny pieces. The paper-piecing makes is manageable. Leave a comment below and I’ll activate the Husband Random Name Generator and pick a winner (one winner will get both items). This will close on Saturday, May 29th, my mother’s 88th birthday. (Happy Birthday, Mom!)

NOTE: Comments now closed. Winner to be announced in next post.

Next Up: Day Two of Market

200 Quilts · Creating · Quilts · Textiles & Fabric

Starry Compass Rose

May 26, 2016May 25, 2016 Elizabeth E.29 Comments

Starry Compass Rose
Quilt # 156

I’d like to tell you the background about how I went to Quilt Market. I was contacted by Paintbrush Studios in November of 2015 to see if I would design and make a quilt for them using their Painter’s Palette line of solids. At first I was like, who is this? but soon got to corresponding with Anne, a delightful woman with a great sense of humor. She turned me over to Deena in the design department, and I sent over a rough sketch. Then another. We soon had several renditions flying back and forth over email, which meant not only did I have to design a quilt for them, and sew it, but I also had to learn how to express myself in EQ7 (cue: grimace). I learned it “enough” and produced the sketch you see above.

Of course, all this is stuff I couldn’t mention on the blog, but I worked on this steadily from late November until mid-February when I sent off to them a quilt top, binding, backing and a label. Someone else would quilt it.

As a thank-you for this experience, I made them Focus, a small quilt to hang in their booth at QuiltCon. While at QuiltCon, I screwed up my nerve to ask Sue and Deena if I could get a pass to see the quilt at market, and they arranged it.

But I was most interested in seeing my quilt, all quilted up by Denise Marieno, at Quilt Market. I was sad to see it go in February, but ecstatic to see it now, hanging in the Painter’s Palette booth. I checked on the progress several times on Thursday as they set up their booth, watching as they moved it from an inner spot, to an outer spot. They were very happy with the result, as was I. Denise did a terrific job of quilting it.

So now it’s gone, and who knows when I’ll see it again, but oh, what a high! to see it at market. I hope I can work with them again sometime, as I thoroughly enjoyed the process and the people at this company.

I’ve spent my life in unheralded endeavors: a young bride having babies, a mother at home, a student, an adjunct professor, but no one praises your skill at loading a dishwasher, managing a complicated carpool schedule, or compliments you on the nice comments you leave on student papers. So to come into Quilt Market and to see my quilt hanging there as a professional quilt designer was an experience I won’t soon forget. It was like someone patted me on the head and said “You did great,” that my skills were recognized, instead of just giving service or being a cog in what passes for Higher Ed these days. I certainly don’t regret being a mother-at-home, nor of my years of teaching. I don’t regret being an older student, trying to fit in with the 20-somethings who were writing edgy short stories that included drugs and sex, while all I could come up with is little stories of mothers and fathers and families that somehow always included a quilt somewhere.

But to round that corner that first morning and see this quilt?
Oh, so satisfying.