Fall Quilt Market part 3

So one of my very favorite moments at Quilt Market was getting to look at and play with the Bernina sewing machines.  I have been a Bernina girl since I won one of their sewing machines in an apron making contest about 5 years ago.  Winning that machine was such a life changer for me, it gave me so much confidence, and with a top quality machine I noticed my sewing just looked better.  I never had to fight the machine to get it to work right and so I could just focus on getting better and better at sewing and quilting.  It is a tiny little Activa 210, but it sure does the job and boy do I love that machine.  Needless to say there have been quite a lot of improvments and changes made in the past 5 years.  One of the biggest was Bernina's announcement that they have a new long arm and mid arm quilting machines coming out!  I couldn't wait to get my hands on the one they brought to show off at market.  Boy was it a beauty, felt more like a sports car then a long arm and in the best possible way.  I think getting to "drive" that machine will feel like a sports car too!  They won't be out until next year or so, so this was just a fun sneak peek, but I loved to get the preview!  Sure was a funny realization to see that my current machine would fit inside the throat space of the new long arm!

I also got to play around with the new 700 series machines- and they are so gorgeous!  I loved the 710 I sewed and quilted on- with features galore that will take some real getting used to- and a throat space that is down right enviable- I could really get used to sewing and quilting on one of those!  Ahh a girl can dream can't she?   Judy Hahner, one of the wonderful woman who work at Bernina, was kind enough to take some pictures of all my gallivanting for me- hope you enjoy!

Fall Quilt Market part 2

Angela Walters wasn't the only lucky lady to receive my help this fall Market season.  I was also able to convince Leah Duncan, another fabric designer for Art Gallery that she needed my help too.  I had the very good fortune of both booths being right across the isle from each other.  This made going back and forth to talk about my work or help either gal out very easy.  It was also fun to watch people admire the things I made from across the isle in either booth.  I am keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that I will be able to help them both again this coming Spring Market, and that they will be so conveniently located again next time~
Leah asked me to piece and quilt a 60x86" quilt for her booth.  She made it the feature of one of the walls which made me very proud.  I wanted to make it extra special, so I got out my light box and traced her logo flowers across the middle of the quilt with a water soluble pen.  Then I quilted the logo in- which made for an impressive, yet subtle effect.  For  the rest of the quilting I went with her requests of flowers, ferns and grassy type designs.  I had intended to use some McTavishing as filler, but ended up liking the more organic look of the grass fill I came up with better.  It worked better for Leah's look.  The quilt looked so pretty in her booth.  I also got to design and piece as well as quilt 3 pillows for her.  I did log cabin variations and they came out really cute.  I love making pillows, so it was no hardship when she requested them.  I had a great time working with Leah, she really gave me a lot of creative control, which always leads to the best working relationships.  I feel very lucky to know such talented and kind women, and even luckier to get to work for them!!  Stay tuned for a more on my market adventure... lets just say I got to see something very BIG!!

Fall Quilt Market 2013 part one

Well, I have officially been home for a few days now, the suitcase is unpacked, the laundry done, new sewing stuff carefully stored in my studio, pictures downloaded- and now there is nothing left to do but share what an amazing time I had at Fall Quilt Market in Houston Texas.  I had a 4 day bender of fun and giggling with my girlfriends, as well as making amazing business connections and meeting new people- peppered with a few great parties and some really yummy food- and it was a perfect trip! 
One of the big things I was there to do was to help Angela Walters out with her booth again.  I have the very good fortune of counting her as one of my closest friends- and she is kind enough to keep hiring me to help her make samples and run the booth.  I also had the good fortune of having an extra helper this time as both Angela and I had meetings to attend- my quilt market roommate and dear dear friend Mandy Leins of Mandalei Quilts.  This time Angela's theme (named after her new fabric line for Art Gallery Fabrics) was Drift.  She took a trip to the beach and spent her time "drifting away" thus this collection had a very beachy vibe.  We played that up with a beach umbrella, fabric covered beach chairs, beach towels, a beach bag- you name it!  I got to make the beach bag as well as a cute beach ball pillow.  What I am most proud of was the beach umbrella I recovered though!  That umbrella was no small feat- anyone who tells you it is easy to recover an umbrella in quilting cotton needs to have their nose measured for instant growth- because it isn't!  What added to the challenge was that I only had a fat quarter of each of the prints I used (oh the joys of working with strikeoffs) - but you know what- I am a girl who LOVES a challenge!  I rolled my sleeves up and got her done.  I am so proud of how it came out, and with some Thermoweb Peel N Stick Fabric Fuse tape I was able to jazz up the finial and the handle too- gotta love that stuff!  The umbrella and bag were both big hits, but the break out star was that beach ball which ended up flying across the booth isle on many occasion when things got slow.  Gotta love those impromptu beach volleyball games at Quilt Market. 
I had so much fun helping Angela out- her booth is always a great place to hang out, all the fun people make their way over and I always meet lots of new friends and see old ones.  I helped out another fabric designer as well and will tell you about what I did for them in the next post so stay tuned... Hint- she also designs fabric for Art Gallery... (anyone got any guesses?)