Whew!! What a whirlwind last month was. I can't believe it's over!! We have just returned from 11 days in Houston. What a great time we had at the 2012 International Quilt Market and Festival!!
Gary, Michelle and I arrived on Thursday to set up the booth for Quilt Market. A completely blank canvas to work with...exciting and daunting at the same time.
Before we could begin to set up, we had School House. I was very excited to introduce my newest patterns! Making their debut at this year's Market and Festival were:
Turning Twenty Hope Chest Treasures; my new book series
Turning Ten;
Jolly Jingle Olde Kris Kringle (redwork) and my newest
Machine Embroidery Disk, Sew Snow! I'm so thankful for everyone showing up...we had standing room only! You're enthusiasm and excitement is what keeps us going and we appreciate you all so very much!
With School House behind us, we began transforming that empty booth into our display. We lost count of the number of times we moved those tables around to get it to look just right! We finally had an arrangement that worked for us and 8 hours later we were ready to go!
Oh wait! I'm jumping ahead of myself!! Before we left on Friday, we had Sample Spree!! We quickly ran upstairs to set up our display. Got it finished just in the nick of time - they opened the doors at 8 PM and the stampede began!! What a whirlwind those two hours were! Such fun!
Market was a thrilling three days! It was great to see old friends and make new ones as well. Two of our new friends quickly found the way into our hearts...chocolate!!! The Quilt Show Navigator had the booth across from us and they made sure we never lost our energy. They had bags and bags of chocolate under the table. The good stuff too!! Kit Kats, Snickers, Milky ways, M&Ms, Butterfingers...Thanks QSN!! By the way, in case you're not familiar with Quilt Shop Navigator, be sure to check them out online at
www.myQSN.com. They bring quilters and quilt shops/events together. You can quickly locate and route yourself to any quilt shop or event in the nation!
I also quickly discovered the ONLY place to take a break and rest my aching feet. Can you tell where I am at?! The lines were long, but oh, so worth it, just to sit for a couple of minutes! :)
Saturday night also held a party for us! The Moda Party! It was a boot-scootin' themed barbeque complete with a mechanical bull! I tried so hard to get Gary to go for a spin, but I think his feet hurt too bad to make the walk (at least that's what he tried to tell us. Evidently, he didn't know about my secret resting place!) So, we had fun watching everyone else get thrown from the bull and listening to "Reba" on stage! Thanks for a great time Moda!
Before market, I was contacted by Lecien USA, Inc. They asked me to design a pattern for them using their newest line of fabric that will be introduced in February. Once I saw the fabric, I knew two things: first, this pattern had to be a sweet little girl and second, I had to make a Turning Twenty quilt with it!! The display they had at market was adorable!
Market was wonderful, but no rest for the weary, Festival is just one day away!! Michelle took a quick trip back home for our great-granddaughter's first birthday and Gary and I set about restocking and rearranging the booth.
With Michelle back with us in Houston, we were ready to go. Preview Night...and Halloween started! Goblins, pirates, and all sorts of special guests came out. Here are two that stopped by FriendFolks to say hi!
Two special friends stopped in to say hello and we had some Show and Tell!! I love to see pictures of your completed quilts and, though they didn't have pictures with them, I wanted to get a picture of them to share. Our first lady had just completed
Jingle Jangle Jungle!
The second lady had just completed
Sunday School Singers. She had hand stitched AND hand quilted the entire quilt!! What an heirloom to pass on!
This year at Market and Festival, we celebrated ten years of Turning Twenty. I can't believe it has been 10 years already!! We are so blessed and I was very excited to be able to share this milestone with everyone. Market is where it all started and what an honor to come back this year with our 10th book in the Turning Twenty series...and a new book series, Turning Ten, to celebrate!! Thank you to each and every one of you for supporting us and for coming out to help us celebrate! We wouldn't be in business if it weren't for you!
Alas, all good things must come to an end. We had a fantastic time, but my feet were telling me it was time to tear down. Our crazy son-in-love, Stephen, surprised us all by coming down to help us tear down and load up.
Everything is packed up. Stephen and Gary are taking things out to the truck. I am loading boxes and Michelle is folding up the Squid Britches. What are Squid Britches?! Many years ago, I stitched up these long tubes of fabric to cover the poles of our booth. They are several feet long and Scott said they looked just like pants for squid! Ta Da!! Squid Britches! Leave it to Scott to come up with something like that! Here's a shot of Michelle folding our Squid Britches...
It's truly amazing what goes into these 11 days! The building doesn't even look the same. Here is how we left it. An empty canvas for the next show coming in. I hope they remember their Squid Britches!! Maybe I should have left a note letting them know of my secret "resting" place as well. If it's anything like Market and Festival, they are going to need it!
Until Market/Festival 2013...
Blessings,
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