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*

A Teeny Tiny Update...

Sorry for the lack of posting everyone! I have been consistently bent over my sewing machine for the past few weeks and may have developed a permanent hunch. This was not alleviated at all by the fact that I had to rip out all (and I mean all) of the quilting on two of my Market quilts (both "Verna" and "Love"; "Daisy Chain" is fine) and do them again - so very frustrating! I think the bad, horrible quilting was caused by a multitude of factors: my walking foot broke part way through quilting "Verna" and I switched to my standard foot to finish, I decided to try spray basting for the first time on "Verna" (this did not go well, although the back was perfectly flat and pretty), and user error (i.e. me, being impatient and doing things I shouldn't have)... oy!

My first paper for my Summer course is due on Tuesday and so I'm a little sad because I had two more designs that I wanted to get done before I leave for Market on Thursday (one using Botany and another using Nicey Jane), but there's just no time left.

Would you like to see photographic evidence of how tired I am? Yes, okay!

Alex took this picture of me asleep on top of "Love" (this is the back) right after I finished ripping out all the quilting. Hey look at that... you can kinda see the quilting hunch I've developed!

I should mention before I head off to bed that I have in fact finished quilting all of the Market quilts, yay! They just need to be bound (which is the plan for tomorrow) and then I will take some pictures of them for my portfolio... I also need to get some money exchanged... and pack... and maybe do some laundry... and, oh ya, write that paper!

Alright, g'night everybody! Be sure to come back on Monday when I will be participating in Sew, Mama, Sew's annual May Giveaway Day!

{Almost} Wordless Wednesday

Quilting for Market... unfortunately I pulled this one out of the machine and realized it was a complete mess.  I'm going to have to unpick it and do it all again, argh!

An Open Letter to my Friend Monica (aka The Happy Zombie)

Dearest Monica (aka The Happy Zombie),

This is your Kaye-nadian speaking (by the way, you come up with the best nicknames) and I have a few things to say to you! Don't worry you're not in trouble...although you might be if I don't see some Holiday Happy soon (wink). First, I just wanted to say thank you for being my friend! Your encouragement, kind words, and general all-around niceness put a smile on my face every time I talk to you - I can not wait to finally see you in real life at Quilt Market (omigosh, it's only two weeks away)!

Second, I need to do a little raving! I am so proud of you on the upcoming release of your first fabric line, Holiday Happy, from Lecien - I mean, come on, this is pretty awesome! I can not wait to get my hands on some and start my Chrismukkah sewing!

Look at the Santa gnomes - they're so cute and I can definitely see some appliqué in my future...maybe on stockings...you know, the stockings I was supposed to make last year and didn't...whatever, it happens!

Look at these colours!

So wonderful - more gnomes, pretty poinsettias, and colourful snowflakes! And are those cherries I see? Oh my! I mean, really Monica, what's not to love? I really am just so proud of, and happy for, you! And again, I feel so privileged to call you my friend.

By the way, can I come hang in your studio for awhile?

Oh and look, Happy Holiday being sewn up in the foreground!  Yes, this room is definitely a place I'll need to visit one day. And don't worry, you won't have to come and visit my sewing room in exchange (since I don't have one) even though we both know how much you love Canada.

Okay, I'm signing off now - must get back to the Market quilting (you should see my kitchen table right now, it is completely covered in quilt!); talk to you soon!

Love and Hugs!
-The Kaye-nadian

Notes: All photos are from Monica's Flickr stream, which can be accessed here.
Holiday Happy will be released for sale around July 2010, please check this page for periodic updates and to view the Happy Holiday swatchamacallit.
The Happy Holiday Flickr group can be found here.