The first Quilt Market quilt revealed!

Okay okay, I know I've been teasing with little sneak peaks and had promised to reveal the quilts after Market... so, today I'm sharing one with you!

For those who don't know, I attended International Quilt Market in Minneapolis last week and took photos of my quilt designs around to show to reps, pattern companies, book people, etc. I have a few very promising leads and have been asked to design a few things, but I can't reveal any information about those yet!

So without further ado, you'll remember the sneak peaks from this post and this one, here is my design "Euclid's Love" (working title) using fabrics from Amy Butler's Love collection (remember, you can click on the photo to make it bigger)...

I love the simplicity of this design... and actually, it may seem pretty simple, but there was a whole lotta math involved! The real impact of this quilt is the mix of prints from the Love collection with the subtle Kona Ash. This is not a design that would lend itself well to the use of wishy-washy fabrics! The Kona Ash centres would also lend themselves well to embroidery or decorative quilting.

Unfortunately, the only picture I have of the back right now is the one that can be seen in the second post I mentioned above (you know, the picture of me...asleep...on the back of the quilt). And if I get some good close ups soon I'll share those!

I am also entering this quilt into Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival. I participated last year and it was lovely! Click on the button below to go to Amy's blog and check out all of the other wonderful entries; I'm getting in just under the wire!





If you missed them, please see my previous few posts about my adventures at Quilt Market; I'll also be back soon with another post about Market - this time I'll be talking more about the personal experience and what's it's really like to be there (and I'll be sharing some other pics from around Minneapolis).

And don't worry, I'll also share pictures of the other Market quilts I designed...but you'll just have to wait for those! Teehee!

Quilt Market Report: Days Two and Three - Part Two

Alright, and we're back with part two of days two and three at International Quilt Market... and let's get going!

First, we find ourselves at Patty Young's booth! Patty is the uber-talented lady behind ModKid; when I ventured over to her booth to take some pictures she was hanging out with Kate Spain and Joanna Figueroa - couldn't find three more talented ladies all in one place!

In the second picture you can see the second place ribbon Patty's booth won; congratulations Patty (and Jon)!

I then headed over to the Birch Fabrics booth. Birch is the brainchild of Cynthia Mann, the mastermind behind Fabricworm - that's a whole lotta talent all rolled up in one lady! Also, just in case you wanted to know, Birch fabrics are 100% organic and are absolutely gorgeous!

In this picture you can see the beautiful quilt that Elizabeth made using Birch for their booth - just stinking gorgeous!

I only met two other Canadians while I was there (I'm sure there were more) - one was a quilt shop owner from Calgary and the other was the owner of Favorite Things from Vancouver. Favorite Things is a pattern company selling patterns for everything from purses and slippers to cute baby clothes and home decor items. Their Belle Skirt pattern is actually pretty famous in the blog world, I recall seeing it a number of places!

Alright, now we head over to the Valori Wells booth! I heart Valori a lot (I may have a bit of a girl crush on her) - she is awesome and both times I was at her booth we chatted for a bit; she even mentioned having read my blog *blush*. Valori was the only person who asked me if I wanted them in the picture, to which I replied with a resounding yes! The lighting on this side of the market was pretty bad to say the least (you can see it in the above pictures and the Amy Butler pictures too), but here's the lovely Valori!

Valori's new line of fabric, Nest, will also include voile and corduroy!

And back to the Amy Butler booth we go! I wanted to make sure I was able to share some pictures of Amy's new yarn, and ended up getting lots more!

And there are Amy's yummy yarns! According to Diane, one of Amy's ladies, the yarns landed in the US last week (their made by Rowan in England) and should be in Canada shortly! The yarn is called Belle Organic and comes in both DK and aran. Amy's new fabric collection is called Soul Blossoms (unfortunately there weren't any fabric samples to see, but the entire booth was decorated with the prints in paper) which will be out in the fall and Amy also has a new book coming out which I believe will debut in the fall too!

Oh, and this is a (rather dark) picture of my in Amy's booth holding one of the cute little purses that will be in her new book!

Here's a picture of me that Jennifer took in the Art Gallery booth. I'm sorry I don't have more pictures of this booth, but Pat's designs are always gorgeous and her booth was so neat with all sorts of little nooks and corners - I don't know how I could have possibly photographed it even if I had had my camera on me!

Lastly for today is a picture of the sweet Melissa Averinos from YummyGoods talking about marketing and her new book, Small Stash Sewing. I really wish I had more pictures of Melissa; I first met her at Lizzy House's cake party and she was just so sweet and nice! We ended up talking for a bit about our love of British literature, especially the Brontes and Jane Austen, and I heavily extolled the virtues of Cranford. The photo is a bit blurry - it was taken with my BlackBerry and there were many moving heads!

I still have some pictures left to share and will be back soon with those!

Quilt Market Report: Days Two and Three - Part One

Sorry for the late posting guys! I flew back to Toronto yesterday, and instead of blogging I decided to spend the rest of the day hanging out with my bub (Alex) who was home since yesterday was a holiday here in Canada... you understand, right? First off since I just mentioned Alex, and because he asked me if I was going to post this picture, here's a picture of something funny...

I somehow ended up with five pillows on my hotel bed (oh, and see the pretty pillow case Jennifer made me! It has a different Nicey Jane print on each side with green crocheted scallop edging) and decided to make a "pillow Alex"! I even curved the pillows just like how he sleeps; having a "pillow Alex" was oddly comforting.

Alright, and back to Market... I actually forgot to bring my camera on the second day, but I do have some pictures from my Blackberry that are mostly of later on in the evening. Be forewarned though, this is a picture heavy post! Jennifer decided to have a bit of a mom-cation of Saturday and so John and I hung out, attended the cake party, and walked the floor.

Let's see, who's first? Oh yes... Bonnie and Camille! Bonnie and Camille are a mother-daughter team who design for Moda (so sad that I couldn't get "Bliss" at sample spree), but each of them also has their own pattern line - Bonnie has Cotton Way and Camille has Thimble Blossoms and Camille has a book coming out soon through Stash Books - yay! Bonnie and Camille shared a booth at Market with a half devoted to each of their designs. Up first we have Bonnie's side:

I was so excited that Bonnie remembered who I was (we've emailed a couple of times) and she was really nice. You might not be able to tell from this picture, but part of that quilt top actually has the new "cuddle" fabric integrated in and I think it's a wonderful idea. Bonnie mentioned that the "cuddle" was a bit more difficult to quilt with because of the pile, but that using a thicker needle (I believe she said 14, I can't remember for sure. I should have written it down) would help.

Here is Camille's side:

Pretty, right? Camille recently announced that she is pregnant with a little girl (after two boys) - you can see all the cute girl stuff now, can't you?

Next up we have Joanna's (of Fig Tree & Co) booth. Joanna was going off on a jaunt with Kate Spain (I later found out they went to the ModKid booth) and told me to make sure that I told her husband Eric that she said I could take pictures or he might jump on me. I told him, and then somehow we ended up talking hockey for the rest of the time I was there (since our discussion both of the teams we were watching have been knocked out: Him - San Jose, Me - Canadiens [although I'm a Toronto fan]).

Joanna was also really sweet and remembered the monkey I made (the one in my header) using some Mill House Inn that I won after Spring Market last year.

I then headed over to the Sweetwater booth and snapped this pic, pretty no?

The Oliver & S. booth was absolutely darling and you should see their first fabric line - City Weekend - which is coming out through Moda; I managed to score a fat quarter bundle of it at sample spree! They also debuted their new clothing patterns.

I also went over and saw Lori and Polly at Minick and Simpson. Both ladies were very nice and mentioned that they remembered me because I've commented on their blog a few times.

On a tip from John, I found a lovely booth full of gorgeous embroidery patterns by Penguin & Fish. This was probably one of the sweetest booths I visited, and Alyssa mentioned having read my blog which made me a little giggly I must admit!

I went back to Sandi Henderson's booth and snapped some pictures. It was so bright and cheery - I definitely could have lived there!

Alright, I think that's enough for one post! Come back tomorrow for more pics and info, including some more pictures of Amy Butler's booth!

Quilt Market Report: Day Two

First, I just want to mention that my interview with Tascha Parkinson is now up on Toronto Craft Alert, you can find it here.

I wanted to blog this morning about day two at Quilt Market, but then decided not to on account of storm clouds rolling in - I wanted to get over to Target to return the dress I bought (it was too big) before it really started to rain...and then I went to Barnes & Noble for the first time...and then to a used bookstore I found (hey, just because I'm at Market does not mean I will forget my book hunting ways). So today I blog about yesterday, and tomorrow I'll give you the run down of what we got up to today.

Anyways, let's get back to yesterday! So yesterday was the first official day at Quilt Market and we had a blast! It was very tiring, and my feet were screaming by the end of the night, but it was worth it. We started the morning at the far end of the convention centre where we just so happened to see Bari J. promoting her new line (geez, Bari is cute!). We stopped by so many booths that I can't even mention them all, but we did find the quilt the Jennifer designed for Lecien using the caramel town collection.

We soon found ourselves at Anna Maria Horner's booth, which was just gorgeous!

And I also got a copy of Anna Maria's new book which she signed for me. Here's a pic of her signing my copies, but Doe has way better pictures of Anna Maria and I together so I will post those once she uploads.

We also headed over to the Amy Butler booth (twice actually).

The second time that we went, John and I were able to get the low down on Amy's new line of organic yarn (in dk weight and aran) coming out through Rowan and her collection of wallpaper! Oh yes, you read that right, yarn AND wallpaper! I'd love to do one wall of our bedroom in one of the wallpaper prints, but I don't think Alex would be down with that.

I also managed to snag a signed copy of Sandi Henderson's new book, but completely forgot to take pictures of her booth in all the hubbub, so I'll get some tomorrow when I go back!

Last night I headed out to the invite-only Moda party, and it was wonderful! John saved me a seat since I was running a bit late, and we ended up sitting with the lovely ladies from Fat Quarter Shop (who are all awesome by the way)! There was also dancing!

I finally got to meet up with Kate Spain who is just so lovely I can't even believe it (just a warning, some of the pictures coming up are a little grainy because they were taken with a variety of iPhones and BlackBerrys and then uploaded to Twitter).

I was also hanging with Angela from Moda and Vanessa of V&Co (my dancing partners). By the way, I am totally in love with these two ladies as they are awesome and couldn't be sweeter!

Here's a pic of all of us together (taken by Angela's super-cool mum Karen from Home a la Mode).

 After the party I went back to the hotel room where Jennifer, Doe and I ordered pasta and watched Sex and the City: the Movie - great way to wrap up the night!

Okay, it is seriously time for me to go to bed now, but I'll be back tomorrow with another update!

Quilt Market Report: The First Day and Sample Spree

Okay, first things first I have to announce the winner of my (not-so-) little Daisy Chain giveaway! Here we go... the winner is Adrianne (Little Bluebell)! Congrats Adrianne, send me an email with your address and I'll get this little bundle off in the mail to you when I return home to Toronto.

And nextly (not a word I know!), I wanted to let you all know that my first interview for Toronto Craft Alert will be posted later today. I had the opportunity to interview the lovely Tascha Parkinson, an artist in Toronto; the interview is not up on the site yet so I can't post a proper link, but I will come back and edit this post once it has and I'm near a computer. That being said since I'm at Market, I may not be able to post the link for a bit so if you'd like you can just go to the Toronto Craft Alert website and see if the interview is there.

And now for the really good stuff...

My plane was delayed yesterday, but I still ended up in Minneapolis in the morning. Jennifer and Doe were waiting for me when I got off the shuttle and there was lots of hugging and loving going on! We went out for lunch, then hit Target (a place I've never been) and I bought a dress and some awesome Kate Spain napkins; I also went to Macy's for the first time!

We decided to get in line for sample spree super early yesterday - sample spree opened at 8pm and we were in line at 4pm. There were three lines, one for each of the three doors going in, and we were there so early that I was the first person in line outside the third door - woohoo!

Here I am outside the door making silly faces along with the sample sale sign. All of the good pictures where I'm actually smiling and stuff are on Doe's camera... of course the silly ones would be the only ones I have!

Here's one of the second line about an hour before the doors opened:

It was madness once the doors opened! Unfortunately I didn't get everything I wanted (Bliss and Fandango were the two I wanted the most but they were gone by the time I got to the Moda table), but I did get some really awesome stuff and I'll share pics later! You should have seen the way that some of the women were acting - shoving each other, grabbing stuff out of people's hands - it was pure craziness.

After sample spree was Fabric 2.0 - a meet up of bloggers and twitterers at a lounge in one of the hotels. It was a lot of fun and it was so nice to chat with people "in real life"!

Here's John (QuiltDad) and I! John rocks - he came and sat with us for a bit outside sample spree and gave us the low-down on where the 7 Islands table was so that we could get our Heather Ross. We also have plans for lunch today and it's gonna be fun!

Alright, I'm being told that I must get off the computer and get dressed so that we can get down to breakfast and then over to Market! Today is the first official day of Market and then we have the Moda party tonight - I'm going to have so much more to write about!

To Market, to Market, to see me some quilts!

First things first, if you're looking for my Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway you can find it here. And I'm making a little change - instead of picking the winner tomorrow after I land in Minneapolis, I'll pick the winner on Friday morning, thus leaving an extra day for entries (still within the SMS rules) and giving me a day to get settled in.

So tomorrow (very) bright and early I'll be boarding a plane to Minneapolis headed for Quilt Market. I am basically packed (just need to throw in those last few things in in the morning), have my papers and passport in order (I even did online check-in), and am oh so terribly excited!

I will be blogging from Quilt Market, along with some other wonderful quilters, and you can follow our posts here via the wonderful PamKittyMorning (hi Pam *waves*)!

Last night I whipped up this little business card holder for myself and I think it turned out pretty cute. Here are pictures of both the outside and inside:

Oh, and here's a little peeky at my business cards too!

Alright, I'm going to try and get to bed in about an hour to an hour and a half (still have to have a shower - wish me luck!) so that I can get up at 5am! Have a great night everyone and I'll report back as soon as I can.

Sew, Mama, Sew's Annual May Giveaway Day!

 Hi everybody, thanks for stopping by! Feel free to pull up a chair, put up your feet, and stay awhile! I bet you want to know what I'm giving away, right? Well, here it is!

I am giving away one Amy Butler Daisy Chain fat quarter (Sweet Jasmine in grey), 25 6x6" squares from the same collection in 5 different prints, and 8 4x4" squares from the same collection in 4 different prints.

Here's what you have to do, there is a chance for two entries:

1.Leave a comment on this post. It can be anything, but preferably

more than just "pick me!"

2. If you are a follower of this blog, or if you become one, please leave 

a second comment and you will be entered a second time.

I will ship internationally, so this giveaway is open to anyone! The winner will be chosen at random on May 20th. However, since that is the day I am flying to Minneapolis for International Quilt Market, please be patient and I will announce the winner as quickly as I can. Also, May 24th is a holiday here in Canada (Victoria Day - and also the day I fly back into Canada) so I will mail out the winnings on the 25th when the post office re-opens.

There are many more giveaways to be found over at Sew, Mama, Sew: Handcrafted Item(s) + Supplies/Materials, Sewing + Knitting Supplies/Materials, and Handcrafted Item(s), so head on over there (after you enter here of course!) and start entering!

Thanks for stopping by everyone, and please keep in mind that comments are moderated - I will publish them as soon as I see them, but duplicate comments will be deleted. I hope everyone is having a wonderful day; I need to get back to writing that paper I have due before I leave!

*The giveaway is now closed*