Quilt Market Report

It’s time for my last market report (do I hear a heavy sigh of relief?)  I don’t usually get to ogle much over the new fabric at market, but I did note a few fun new things coming up.  First and foremost, one of my very favorite lines will have a new run — it’s third!  First there was the little hammer girl, then the knitting ladies, and now (are you guessing?)……{gasp!}……a PREGNANT Ghastlie!!! Yes, oh yes, there will be more Ghastlies! Can you see the little mother-to-be and her baby carriage???

Do you think it would be too creepy to give an expectant mother a diaper bag or something made from the Ghastlies LOL??? I LOVE them. (And speaking of the Ghastlies, if you’re a Ghastlie lover and you missed the Ghastlie blog hop, you should go check out all the cool things made with Ghastlie fabrics.)  This new Ghastlie fabric won’t be out until May 2012, but I couldn’t stand it and I ordered some of this new print on.the.spot!

Moving right along, I thought you might like to see The Cat in the Hat who made an appearance at market this year.  He was hanging out in the Shannon Fabrics booth — they make plushy-cuddly-minkie-like fabrics — and tons of them.  They had a huge booth this year — that plushy stuff is getting sophisticated.  Anyway, the Cat in the Hat prints are coming in cuddly fabrics in the spring.

Now for the goodies that I bought at market.  I behaved myself this year.  My number one favorite is Reunion.  I LOVE it.  My all-time favorite Sweetwater line was Make Life, but Reunion is giving it a run for it’s money.  I’m planning on mixing it with some Circa 1934 to make some pillows, etc. for our family room.

I also grabbed some Flower Sugar.  They’ve added gray to the line this year.  I’ve always been more of a tan sort of person, but it’s growing on me.

And the last pack I bought was Anna Griffin’s Isabelle Christmas line.  I loved it when we saw it in Houston last year, so when they were across from us at Sample Spree this year I had to grab a bundle.

Not too much damage — which is good, I have way too much fabric as it is.  There was one other minor little indiscretion.  On the last morning of market, Kathy found a fun thimble booth just around the corner from us.  We abandoned Kellie  for a few minutes and went to check them out.  They had a bunch of these thimbles without the top of the finger.  I never really thought I’d like them, but they are SOOO comfortable, I couldn’t help myself.  As you know, I love my thimbles.  And I can’t sew without one.  When I saw one with a bee, it was hopeless to resist.

Here it is from the side view.  Kathy bought a similar thimble  — we decided it’s like buying friendship rings.  Friendship thimbles.  We’re bonded now!

So, that’s it for market reports for this year. It whizzes by and I’m always left standing there thinking … What the *(&* happened??? I sure wish I knew how to slow time down!

XOXO,
Anna

Quilt Market was crazy this year!  There were so many people and booths — I didn’t manage to see them all (ok, I never do).  It’s impossible to get a picture of the whole market, but this view from the second floor gives you a teeny idea of all the booths.  We were on row 900 of rows numbered from 100 to 2000, which put us just a little bit off from the center point.

The fun part of market is seeing all of the people.  The not-fun part of market is that I don’t have time to get my camera out when I see them.  I only managed to snap pictures of two people — both while I was on a food run for the Gulls and both with my cell phone camera. I managed to meet lots of people — either running into them in the aisles, or they would stop by the booth.  I was thrilled to finally meet Karin in real life — she’s just as cute and sweet as I knew she would be.  Other first time meetings were Ms. Alidiza (another fellow Ghastlie lover – she has some FAB shots of her Ghastlie quilt in a cemetery — to include at Thoreau’s gravesite!), Nicole, and Maura.  And then there were my usual suspects, Sharon and her NancyNoBlog sidekick, Karen aka Ms. Farmhouse, Anne and Anne, Pat Sloan, Jackie and probably a bunch of other people that I’ve forgotten in my sleep deprived stupor.   Anyway, here’s Holly Holderman and PamKittyMorning — so fun to chat for a second with them!

And I ran into the super cute Vanessa several times.  She told me that she was going to be doing a demo for her new book and I was sad that I would miss it.  But, lucky me, I tripped across the booth on another food run while she was doing her demo!  Sorry for the blur in this cell phone picture — she doesn’t sit still!

As for the rest of the pictures, I just snapped a few quick shots here and there.  Kathy and I managed to get about 45 minutes on the last day of the show, before it opened and we visited a few booths.  I only blitzed by two sides of the big Moda square and caught a bit of Basic Gray’s booth,

and Sweetwater, who always do fab stuff!

Very near the Moda booth was their United Notions booth.  I usually love to go in and oggle all the notions, but there just wasn’t time this year.  Imagine my surprise though, when the corner of my eye spied this laundry basket with a liner made from my laundry basket liner pattern!  (There I am on the little hang tag!)

I always seek out Anna Griffin’s booth because it’s always so beautiful.  I love her sweet, sophisticated fabrics.

And something new to me — Anna Griffin is adding designers to her team — they’re calling it blend.  Among them are Charlotte Lyons and Jone Hallmark — they both stopped by Kellie’s booth and it was fun to visit with them for a minute — I only wish I’d known they were part of Anna Griffin so I could have congratulated them!

Amy Butler, always beautiful.

And Mr. Amy Butler (ha!), David.  I’m thinking these fabrics might be really cool for my boys.

Anna Maria Horner (note the new ribbon line on the right, coming soon).

I loved this quilt in Sue Daley’s booth — she had a lot of gorgeous quilts in her booth.

The Quilted Fish at Riley Blake.  (Trash cans are evidence that we were there before show hours — they’re put out each evening for the janitors.)

Jennifer Sampou — this booth received a first place award.

Dear Stella.  I have no idea who this is — I need to check into it — I just thought the booth was so pretty.

Love the car in Michael Miller’s booth — I think it was for sale.

And that’s it!  My meager booth shots for this year.  One last people shot though.  On Halloween, Brandon Mably stopped by with his new sidekick.  Ewwwww.

Kathy hysterically pointed out that from across the room, Brandon looked like a guy with a shaved head except for a few spaces reserved for dreadlocks!

Next time — the fabric!!!
XOXO,
Anna

Whew!  Another fall market done and dusted and I’m worn out.  Dead.  D.E.D. (that’s not a typo — that’s how you spell dead when you have droopy eyes and aching muscles!)  As always, market was tons of fun, but I’m worn out.  I think I say that after every market.

First up, the gulls.  As I mentioned before, Kellie had a new helper, Kathy, and she’s just adorable.  SOOOO sweet and fun to work with.  We were in the shy/reserved phase for the first day or two, but after that, we were off and running. We had lots of fun and, as ladies-in-waiting do, we bonded.  (If only we could have been with Jan, the original lady-in-waiting — we missed you Jan!!!)  Booth set-up is always a lot of work — we went from this:

to this: (Where’s Kellie?)

I loved the booth set-up this year.  For the first time, we got rid of that pesky center pole which was always required to hold the chandelier.  We went from one chandelier to two on cross poles.  And look at the adorable chandeliers we found this year (Shandi is VERY jealous!):

Sadly, I didn’t get a picture of the other side of the booth.  Heck, I didn’t even get a full sized shot of Kellie’s newest quilt.  Here’s a partial shot though — it’s adorable robots!

Kellie made a new table skirt for the booth and put the robots on them too.  And we had new aprons this market — also with robots.  Aren’t they cute?  (Here’s Kellie and her two Wilsons — doesn’t that Wilson on the right have a beautiful smile?)  Kellie commented that I didn’t run around taking pictures of them doing weird things this time.  So true.  I think I was trying to be on my best behavior for Kathy.  With this being Kellie’s fourth market, she’s getting used to the states and she’s not nearly as goofy.  Plus, Kellie and Kathy don’t look like twins, so I couldn’t make fun of them for that.  And, I think I might be getting used to Aussie-speak.  Although, when Australians came into the booth, I told them they’d have to speak to Kellie or Kathy, ’cause I only speak English.  I think I offended a couple of Kiwis when I inferred that they speak Aussie!  (I’m sorry!  I’m a dumb American!)

Oooh, look — we interrupt this post to bring you some dessert!  We ate a LOT of dessert.  Here’s a gorgeous chocolate cake that Kathy and I split one night.

And I introduced the gulls to “Cheesecake”.  Not just any ol’ cheesecake, The Cheesecake Factory.  Our first trip there was right before sample spree and we had trouble finding it, so there was a little stress.  I’m thinking the gulls weren’t that excited about it — but then they had some Cheesecake food.  We may or may not have visited SEVERAL more times.  Yum…Yum….

Ok.  Back to market.  After set-up was sample spree.  Here’s our table this year — or rather tables (with a better shot of those robots) and Kellie talking to Maura, our helper extraordinaire in Houston.  (Hi Maura!)

Our view of Sample Spree.  Anna Griffin’s table was right across from us — in the foreground of the picture below.  We were crazy busy all night and I didn’t really even get a chance to look around.  I ran off to the Moda table (waaaaay in the very back of this picture) just as they were opening the doors, and hit the Lecien table for a quick look too.  So, no time to take more pictures at Sample Spree.

Here are the Lecien guys with their goods after all the mayhem.  Gotta love a guy who will wear a frilly apron and flash you the peace sign.

Ok. That’s it for tonight — must get some shut eye.  (Work was brutal today). More market report when I get a little more rest!

XOXO,
Anna

Lucky for you, this is my last market report — my apologies to those of you who are sick of hearing about market.  I thought you might like to see a little of the fabric side of market.  Before the fabric report though, I wanted to clarify my comments about the butt-ugly car from my last post.  I had a comment from Deb, saying how much they love their Cube.  The Gulls and I actually loved the Cube too.  It’s zippy, gets great gas mileage and has a ton of room inside.  It was awesome for hauling around all the market stuff.  We just thought it was a little funny looking, thus the nickname LOL!

So, now, for fabric.  I had two fabric “missions” for market.  I REALLY wanted to see Sarah Jane’s new line of fabric, and I did.  It’s just adorable, and it’s moved to the top of my wanty list.  If there had been Sarah Jane fat quarter bundles at sample spree, I would have bought them.  I love that cute little hopscotch print.

My other mission was to see the new Ghastlies print.  I managed to make it to the Alexander Henry booth on the last day of market and I asked about the Ghastlies.  They’re reissuing all of the old prints and there’s a new print that’s super cute.  It’s a lot like the main print from the first line — there are several groupings of Ghastlie people doing different things.  And to tell you the truth, I can’t remember what any of them were doing ’cause I only had eyes for one little group of women.  They were knitting.  Ghastlie Women (Witches? I can’t remember, all I could see was the knitting) Knitting!!!  I can’t wait until they start shipping! (Sorry, I didn’t even get a picture.)

As for any other fabric, I went to Sample Spree intending to be well-behaved and not really get anything.  And then someone walked by with the Moda Market bag.  If you buy something worth $20 dollars from the Moda table, you get a free market bag.

I mean, c’mon!  How could a girl originally from Utah be expected to pass THIS up?  I. Had. to. Have. It!  So, I slipped in between the wild crowd and grabbed the easiest pack of fat quarters that I could get, just to get the bag.  Such a sacrifice, huh?  Ruby — isn’t she pretty???

And ok, I slipped up and bought another fabric pack.  I couldn’t resist Monica’s Mochi Mochi Yum Yum.  The poster on Pinterest sucked me in.

So, that’s the end of market reporting from here.  Oh how I wish we could do it all again!

XOXO,
Anna

Wait.  Before I tell you about The Gulls …  as predicted, I forgot someone(s) from market.  I had a great time meeting The Quilt Taffy girls (Corrie and Des) when they came to Kellie’s booth.  These two sisters are pretty darn funny and I was so excited when I saw their nametags and realized who they were.  I love their blog — they’re the most generous bloggers I know — they’re always having fabric giveaways.  And no, I didn’t get a picture, so, yes, I shamelessly stole this one from their market report post.

Ok, on to The. Gulls.  I picked them up from the airport on Monday afternoon and they hit the ground running.  24 hours of travel had nothing on these two.  As is tradition, we went to Target first.  Computers are a novelty down under, so here they are checking out the tech aisle.  JUST KIDDING.  I don’t really know what they’re looking at — we spend a lot of time teasing each other about our two countries, so it seemed like a good comment for this aisle.

The Gulls were quite well behaved, on this, their third market with me.  Very little translation services were needed this time.  There were still a few people who didn’t know what Roar-edge applique is and one woman answered “by plane” when Kellie asked her “how you going” (which means how are you doing) — hysterical! 

After Target, we went to Anthropoligie.  I’m taking a break here to show you the anthro displays — they’re always so cool.  Check out the fishing net.  Can you tell what it is?  (Hint:  stained wooden clothespins.)

And here’s the checkout counter.  Not sure how I feel about destroying these antique dressers, but embedding them in concrete is certainly original. 

On Tuesday, we ran lots of errands to get stuff for the booth.   Once back at the hotel, we were lucky enough to find some shopping carts in the parking garage.  So, what are desperate girls tired of carrying boxes to do?  We brought the shopping carts into our hotel room. 

We also ran to the bank so Kellie could exchange some money.  We got there just at closing and they couldn’t use Kellie’s bank card inside the bank, and by the time we went out to the machine, the lobby was closed, so we had to go through the drive-thru line too (to get change for sample spree).  Now apparently, they don’t have drive-thru banking down under (ok, this time I’m not making it up — what’s up with that?  — it seems there aren’t drive-thru pharmacies either — a certain little aussie pharmacist finds our drive-thru pharmacies a little shocking) so I made Kellie and Jan take their car through the ATM line while my car was in the teller line.  Here they are in their car — Kellie giving me the evil eye and Jan in the passenger seat.  I think the real confusion was caused by the fact that the driver’s seat is on the left hand side of the car.  (And, btw, you may hear some rumors about my driving, but don’t. you. believe. them.)

Speaking of cars, here’s our rental car — affectionately known as the butt-ugly car.  (No offense if this is what YOU drive!)   

Notice the camera on the car?  On Wednesday morning Jan and I drove up to Park City and had a fantastic time surrounded by beautiful scenery.  I set the camera up on the car so that I could get a picture of the two of us at . 

Jan was a great sport at the ski resort.  I was going to have her make a snow angel, but instead, we settled on throwing a snowball.  (They don’t have snow in Australia either.  ;-D)

As I mentioned last time, I’d had big plans for us to hike Timp.  When that didn’t work out, the default plan was to ride the tram at Snowbird.  As luck would have it, the tram was closed for maintenance.  The goal was to go up into the mountains though, and we had such a great time at Park City.  We picked up some deli sandwiches and drove as high up as we could go before the road was closed.  Then we found a little impromptu picnic place.  It was gorgeous, even if we were eating on a guard rail.

On the way back down to Salt Lake, we found a bunch of trees growing shoes, so, of course, we had to take some pictures.  Is there anyone local who knows what’s going on with these trees?

So, that took us to Wednesday afternoon, when market set-up started.  After that, it’s a big blur except for meeting people when they came by the booth.  I was very sorry to have missed the big blogger party on Saturday night, but I had a good excuse.  We went to the Riley Blake party, where they announced that Kellie will be joining the Riley Blake team.  Yipee!  (They also announced that Carina Gardner will be joining the team — Carina teaches some wonderful Illustrator classes at JessicaSprague.com — she’s a great instructor and I can’t wait to see her new fabric creations.)

Anyway, the Riley Blake party was an 80’s themed party.  Do you recognize these two gulls?

Kellie was the brainchild behind our Devo (Devo who?) costumes.  We didn’t win the Best Costume award.  I know.  I couldn’t believe it either.  Clearly, it was rigged.

It’s ok though, we knew we were winners.  We even wore our costumes later that night for storytime.

So.  That was the quick (ha!) round-up of another market with The Gulls.  Thanks for sticking with it to the end.  We had a fantastic time — lots of laughter and lots of fun.  Everyone needs some gulls for semi-annual entertainment!  I’ll leave you with a picture of The Gulls in front of the gorgeous flowers at Temple Square.  We managed to sneak in a quick visit one night just before sundown.

XOXO,
Anna