Quilt Market Report 1

Dateline: Holiday Inn Express, George Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas
5 a.m., October 28

It's a good thing sleep works such magic, because after two days "on the floor" at the Houston Quilt Market, going to presentations of new books, products, and fabric lines and talking to vendors selling the same...I was an utterly whipped puppy dog last night when I thought I'd be blogging.
I will say this: my first impression of the people who serve the quilt industry is very positive. Most of these myriad businesses are run by women who have started them up from dreams and passions and who have made them go with incredibly hard work and often the help of their children, who join the businesses with them. The vibe is good between the vendors, there is a spirit of co-operation where they want to help each other out. But all is very professional.

We had a day of short presentations of products and techniques on Friday, called "Schoolhouse"...15 of them. There are 1 1/2 hour classes in the mornings Sat, Sun, and Monday on subjects we are interested--silk ribbon flowers from Hanah Silks for me yesterday, building a portable workstation this morning, more silk ribbon embroidery tomorrow.
Friday night was the "Sample Spree"...a huge room where vendors have goods on the tables for buyers to buy for their personal (or sometimes their shop) use, at wholesale prices. That was a feeding frenzy extraordinaire. I dropped some serious coin on silk ribbon from RiverSilks and sane fabrics from Japan, Australia, and the good ol USA.
Yesterday after class I worked up and down the aisles of the show, meeting people, hearing about products, oohhing and ahhing. More of that today, plus I will take in the quilt exhibits that are already hung for Quilt Festival later in the week. With no crowds, what a perk.

Blogger is not loading pics this a.m. beyond the three or four below, so you will have to wait a bit for those....
This has been an overload experience and I am only halfway done!


Barbara Blankenship, Julie Yonge, and me in the Press Room at the beginning of day one. Fresh as daisies and ready to rumble...

Ursula of Designs to Share With You shows us how to get these fabantastic shaped border/edges. Her pattern on the linked page, "Elegant Table Dressings" will show you how to do this. It is easy.

Rami Kim's new book Folded Fabric Elegance, is just published by the American Quilters Society. This is not so easy. But the effects are amazing.

This coat was a stunner. Rami's new book has lots of ways to get 3D effects from the Korean tradition into your needlework projects; I thought some of her techniques could be applicable to crazy quilting. Her explanations in the book looked very clear and precise; aferall, she was a PhD candidate in genetic research before her life switched gears and she got sprung from the lab.

Here is where Blogger quit loading pics....so sorry...more to come though.

It's been great so far!