Guys…
I attended my first quilt market as an exhibitor, meaning Robert Kaufman had booths not me as an individual, and I had a blast. I have been once before with a quilt shop I worked at when I was living in Minnesota, but it was cool to see the show from the other side. I am in the precut department and my show duties included booth set-up, helping with schoolhouse sessions, sample spree, and then helping in the booth during the actual show.
Since I was working the show I didn’t take a ton of pictures but I do have a few to share, so lets start with Sample spree.
For those of you who don’t know, sample spree is where we sell precuts of our just released lines. We bring a limited number of everything and once it’s gone, it’s gone. We didn’t sell after sample spree either so it was the only place to get product from us this market. It went really well – although it is a mad house.
For sample spree I wore a shirt I made using a cotton lawn from the London Calling collection. I plan to do a post on the shirt at some point but the pattern is the Alice Top by Tessuti.
The actual show was awesome – It was so cool meeting the designers and getting a chance to get to know them a little better – and I have to say all the ones I met where so incredibly nice.
Reef is the beautiful new collection by Elizabeth Hartman. She created three new quilts for the line and the little loch ness monster “Nessie” on the chair was a free giveaway at market. It was such a great idea and her booth was stunning – she even won a ribbon at the show for the creativity of her booth.
I also met Darlene Zimmerman and let me tell you, she is the sweetest lady you will ever meet. We bonded over both being from Minnesota and she gave me and a coworker embroidery lessons. I have always admired her fabrics and I have plans to make one of her redwork quilts from this collection as a gift for someone.
PS check out these amazing little snail pincushions that were in Darlene’s booth. They have pins for eyes (and obviously this guy above was just taking a stroll through the flower gardens). I love changing the height and angle of the pins so the snails were a little more wonky eyed – as I feel like they look like that in real life – but to be honest my close up inspections of real snails have been limited. The pattern is Escargot by Sew into the Fabric and she has a bunch of other little adorable patterns.
My favorite quilting fabric line that we brought to market was Panache. The collection is by Rebecca Bryan of Bryan House Quilts and her line is a such a great modern basic. I love the subtle geometric prints in this line and quilts were just stunning (not to mention her patchwork penguins that I forgot to take a closeup of). She is planning a sew along this summer with her book Modern Triangle Quilts and I plan to participate and so should you! (She also authored Modern Rainbow – another great book).
Last but not least I is Carolyn Friedlander’s booth and her new line Blake. It is a collection of 9 knit fabrics (you can see me and my coworkers wearing 3 of the prints above) that have rich colors and fun patterns that are perfect for garments. She also made some quilts using the knit fabric – which I thought were going to be weird and they were incredible. They were some of the coziest quilts I have ever felt and I may have to try my hand at making one in the future.
I made my second quilt market garment out of one of her prints with a contrast of our Laguna Jersey and I got tons of compliments on the dress. It is the Zadie dress by Tilly and the Buttons and it sewed up beautifully. I will do a separate post about it at some point, but let me just add that I have a few more garments out of the Blake knit that are currently in progress. It is so soft and nice to wear.
I will end by sharing a picture of this amazing lumberjack quilt by Buttermilk Basin. This quilt makes me smile every time I see it.
Thanks for reading!
Karen @ Pieces of Contentment says
A wonderful wrap up of our time at quilt market. I must have been an amazing experience to be there for work, from the other side of the table to last time too.
Elise Lea says
Thanks Karen! It was a really amazing experience and so fun getting to know some of the designers. Everyone I met was so nice and helpful and I hope I get the opportunity to go again this fall.
Peggy Ramirez says
Elise, Love seeing your posts. Your Minnesota friends wish you well. Your garments are great. Thanks for sharing.
Mary Cruz says
Hi: I am new to your block. I was wondering if you had the cutting and sewing instructions for the Regal Courthouse Quilt that was sold on the Keepsake Quilting website. They are no longer carrying it and I have the Robert Kaufman Regal fabric to make it but with no instructions. I very much want to make that quilt and very disappointed that I do not have the instructions and understand that you, Elia Lea provided the piecing directions for that quilt. Thank you in advance for your prompt response, Mary Cruz,
meddyshob@cox.net