Quilt Market report & Giveaway

Last week was the annual Quilt Market in Houston, Texas.  I think it was my 19th time going…? We had a booth to showcase quilts from Jane Sassaman’s new book, Patchwork Sassaman Style and it was next to Free Spirit/Westminster Fabric’s booth which produces Jane’s fabric line.

 

It couldn’t get more bright and colorful!  We were there for three days welcoming buyers and old friends and showing them the book.  It does get tiring but there are exciting times too.

This year we went to several parties that were lots of fun.

First, Quilt Market sponsored a party, Fabric 2.0, in the hallway of the hotel with nibbles and cash bar so we could meet and greet.  It was very busy and I recognized many friends from their facebook photos!  We got to talk in person and swap cards.

After an hour or so there, we rushed to a party thrown by Westminster Fabrics for their designers and I was Jane’s date!  It was at the Hard Rock Café in a private room and EVERYONE was there…Amy & David Butler, Ty Pennington, Tula Pink, Brandon Mably…  Food was great/ turkey, mashed potato bar, beans, cheese platter and dessert (cheesecake balls that looked like wrapped lollipops)!  Sorry, it seemed too private and dark to snap photos.

The next morning at sunrise, Jane and I were invited to a Bernina party at the top floor of the Hilton.  We are both Bernina artisans and they were launching their new 700 series machines. It was a glorious sunrise over downtown Houston!

We met the new president of Bernina and our old friends from the education staff.  The breakfast buffet was great and the new machines looked fantastic!  I just got a new 830 last month and now I’m drooling over the 780 model.  The video presentation showed the new Bernina DesignWorks software package that will actually draw on fabric with markers and can then embroider over it and make a stencil for placement of iron-on crystals! It was so exciting and you could see the potential for all sorts of custom designs.  They already have a cutwork package so combining them all would make some incredible pieces!  Hmmm…I wonder how I can get a package……Actually this would be perfect for Jane since she is an artist and could easily draw a design with embroidery highlights.

Add all that to dinners with Noriko Endo, Philippa Naylor, Jane Garrison from ThreadNuts and it was a pretty full four days!  Philippa is in Ohio with me for a week to teach at my former guild so more on that later.  I hope to be an expert free-motion quilter by the end of the week!! Yeah, right!

GIVEAWAY- The latest copy of Generation Q magazine. Please comment below and leave your email address so I can contact you for your address!  USA only please!