Houston 2015 Part Two

this post is about what thw show is like on the floor of the wholesale vendor area.  I think I need to split it into two parts because there are lots! of photos.  So this is actually part one of part two...

the vendors make some very imaginative and eye catching displays to create excitement 

and there are many of the fabric designers there to interact with people

I was very impressed with Bari J, she is so talented and so warm and friendly,

and I loved the way that Alison Glass was adding embroidery to a black and white print--- another form of coloring books ( I think we have this fabric on order )

and there are also many authors there for book signings or to demo things from their books, 

these block prints were from a great upcoming book about ways to print on fabric, 

some of the booths are so beautiful!

I loved the colors in this booth by Patty Sloniger ( sorry if I got the name spelled wrong)

the pattern designers usually display the quilts of their most recent book or patterns, the photo below shows projects from Sew Kind of Wonderfuls new book, One Wonderful Curve, 

many patterns are now being made as full size or mini versions, as in the Carolyn Friedlander photo below, 

there are also mmany demos for notions and tools, such as in the photos below where Missie Carpenter showed me another method for English Paper Piecing and applique, using starch to baste, ( of course I bought lots of her product)

next post will continue soon, 

Houston Quilt market 2015 part one

One of the best things of my job is the annual trek to Houston every October.  I think this is the 11th time I have attended.  Each time, there is some part of the city under major construction.  This year it is the convention center street entry.

and while it is usually pretty warm and sunny, this year it is raining cats and dogs, so it is pretty muddy construction.

However, once inside the convention center you forget all about what's outside. 

The first full day was taken up with Schoolhouse-- a fast paced succession of short presentations.  There are about 12-15 choices for each time slot.  

these are a few that I attended:

This is Sue Daley, talking about English PAper Piecing.  

Another one I went to was about a new fabric line inspired by paper, and she had a couple quilts with paper pieced airplanes , very cute 

then, I had to see about Katja, from Katja's Quilt Shop in Kamloops,

you might recall that I blogged quite a bit about this project earlier this spring, it was great to see these quilts all put together, the last one is Katja's

and, she has a new project coming up, also based on her book, The New Hexagon:

Next, I saw a parade of String quilts from an upcoming book on that subject, 

I had a definite sideways list by this time, 

Oh well, coffee break, 

Another show and tell from another upcoming books on Using Your Stash!

oops

I hope these photos give you an idea of what Schoolhouse was like 

In the next post, I will focus on some displays on the show floor, 

but, the best part of being here is the quilt show area, where there are dozens of shows...

including a very curious display of small animals

?

the Show and tell qults

We had the show and tell for last years blocks, and although not that many people brought their quilts to Show, they were beautiful!

Cheryl had a finished quilt!  Hooray!  We all love getting a big quilt like this completed and ready to use

The arrangement of blocks was really nice, and I liked the outer borders she chose, 

Karen's quilt was gorgeous too.  I love the borders she made for the medallion area.

It sort of looked like stained glass with the sun from the windows shining through the fabric.

Linda ( I hope I have your name right) had done a variety of projects with the blocks from the Sticks and Stones blocks from the previous year.

First, a lovely single bed quilt.  The light colored zig-zag setting really created a quilt that will be lovely to use, and the straight line quilting she did was so effective!

 

A few more blocks became a dresser runner, again with some lovely quilting,  --- look at that border pattern!

and there were still enough blocks for some throw pillows for on the bed or in a sidechair,

Betty's sample with the Jo morton fabrics was also a finished quilt.  She emphasized the golds and greens,

and she also brought her sampler using moda fabrics, mostly from the Little Black Dress groupings,

absolutely stunning,  and ready to use too.
It was so nice to see the quilts.  And incidentally, there were lots of us in the audience to appreciate them.   
I look forward to seeing what else people do with their blocks, even if it's not a "finished" project.  A sampler quilt is a big undertaking, and I know that we all work at different rates,    I have a few samplers from the past few years that I have yet to sew the borders on, and yes, I still have a couple of stacks of blocks waiting to decide what to become...

(a rare selfie, Michelle)

Enjoy your day, and happy stitching!

Sampler Quilts and Show and Tell

do these look familiar? They are Jo Morton colorway blocks from last years Saturday surprise sampler.

it's that time of year when I'm looking forward to the show and tell to see what people have done with their blocks from last time!   It is on Saturday at the store at 10 AM, if you are in town and want to pop in and get some inspiration.

I had quite a few blocks from sewing up the prototypes. I have one large quilt sewn together, but I also had a lot of six-inch segments leftover after it was sewn.

Each of the blocks were designed so that you could use it as one 12 inch block or as four 6-inch blocks.

today I'm working on a smaller sampler that uses the 6 inch blocks.

(sorry if the photos are a little blurry, I'm taking them on my iPad and noticed that I'm a little wobbly today.)

I used 35 blocks and sewed 1 inch frame around each of them. Then I sewed them into a horizontal grid of five columns and seven rows.

I have a lot of scraps left over from when I was making up the patterns so I decided to add a pieced border around the edges.

I recently designed a row pattern that had a braid segment, so a braid border was on the top of my mind.

I started with 4 1/2 in. square that will finish at 4 inches when sewn into the quilt.  

then, The side rectangles are cut  at 1.5" x 5"... each braid needs two of these...

then you add two more rectangles, cut at 1.5" x 6" long.

i'll just keep adding sections to the braid sections until they are long enough for the top and side borders. I think I'll have to also add a plain border in between the center and the borders.

(of course, the edges of the borders are trimmed straight before sewing them onto the quilt)

i'm not sure if I'll have this top together before Saturday, since something exciting should be happening in my life tomorrow, but I'll take what I have to the show and tell on Saturday.

I hope to see you at the show and tell at Periwinkle in Saskatoon at 912 Broadway Avenue at 10 AM whether you have blocks to show, or a quilt top,  to show from last year or not. We will also have refreshments!

The show And tell  will be on the main level of the store, so you don't need to navigate the staircase. Also remember there is a parking lot at the back of the store. See you then!