To Market, to Market

People often ask me if I enjoy displaying at Quilt Market, and it's a question that doesn't have an easy answer. I do enjoy the excitement of "getting ready" for Market...the planning, the packing & the leaving home part, but actually putting the booth together, is just plain hard work! Meeting all kinds of people from literally all over the world is a gas, and let's face it, I pretty much work alone all day, everyday, so it's fun to get out in public and enjoy a little bit of notoriety for a bit, but standing on one reconstructed knee & another that NEEDS a reconstruction... not so much! Ah, the list could go on and on, but what it pretty much boils down to is that I look forward to Quilt Market almost like a little kid at Christmas, but as the end of Market approaches, i feel like if I don't get back to the peace and quiet of my studio, I'll just die! I literally can't get out of there fast enough! But come to think of it, that's kinda the way i feel about Christmas too! Hmmmm...

Well anyway, for those of you who have never been to Quilt Market, I know it's hard to imagine just how BIG it is! The first time i saw the Fall Market in Houston I was totally blown away by the sheer magnitude of the whole event. It turns out that the Pittsburgh Convention Center has an overhead walkway from which you can view sections of the Market & Jaime Kalvestran of Scrap-Bags took this cool picture of one side of Market, just before it opened on Friday morning. Keep in mind, this is really only about 1/3 of the total Market, but if you look closely, you will notice a bright lime green booth in one of the front rows in the center of this picture, and guess what? That would be our booth! I like the way it looks from here! :)

This Market was actually our 3rd & as usual, we enjoyed getting to know our cool neighbors! I'll cover their individual products in my newsletter next week, but in the meantime here were a few of our favorites!

Jack & Linda Hohag of Brandywine Design , Corcoran, MN

Linda specializes in applique patterns of critters and such. They're adorable!

Jim & Sue Daley of Patchwork with Busyfingers, Queensland, Australia

Sue & Jim were loads of fun. She has some very interesting little piecework patterns and Jim tells very amusing stories from Australia. They also kept us supplied with the yummiest cookies EVER.

Linda McGehee of Ghee's Bags , Shreveport, LA

Many of you know that Linda is a really a hero of mine. She's one of the pioneers in the purse pattern business and a really nice person too!

Mark & Jill Delfiner of Pearl Trim, Philadelphia, PA

Mark & Jill kept us laughing and it's always good to have folks like that around us during a long convention. They have a delightful sense of humor and Jill shares our love of NY Yankees baseball!

And of course no trip to Market would be complete without checking out the sensational prize-winning exhibition quilts! (And believe me, these pictures do NOT do the entries justice!) All of these entries are original works of art and were made by non-professionals. I am totally awestruck by how incredible each and every one of them are. Here's a few of my favorites!

There's even displays of award-winning clothing! Check out these entries. Couldn't you just see these beauties strutting down the cat walk at Fashion Week in NY?

OK- which was YOUR favorite? I waffle between the 2 doves and the jack-in-the-pulpit, but they are all fabulous!!

The Fall Market will be in Houston, as it always is & we're already planning what we'd like to do differently in our booth! AND- there's always a Quilt festival immediately after the Fall Market, which is open to the public. If you're in the area, why not make plans to attend?

Till the next post... I'm outta here!

Kat