Feeling groovy? Welcome to Spring Quilt Market 2013 and Pat Bravo’s new line with Art Gallery Quilts.
I love being part of the quilting universe, especially when I get to visit Spring Quilt Market. Last year, it was Kansas City, the capital of awesome barbecue, and home to great outdoor venues for dancing. Portland hosted this year, and provided plenty of reasons to revisit even without a quilting excuse.
Before you get too jealous, picture this: three women, seven suitcases, a tiny hotel room where two of us shared a double bed! Marby Bennett, owner of Wooden Gate Quilts, Verna Mosquera, designer/owner of The Vintage Spool and author of A Sewn Vintage Lifestyle, and I had an up-close and personal week and we’re still friends!
Marby Bennett and Verna Mosquera (with her new book) at Westminster’s booth.
The “ladies” of Westminster–the Christmas line is from Dena Designs (one of our Bay Area designing women).
One of the first people we “met” was the window washer, who perched outside our window on the first morning. Look at that smile!
Well, good morning! What a surprise to see you. Good thing we’re dressed!
For someone with quilter’s ADHD and SOD (Shiny Object Disorder), Quilt Market is a very dangerous place. So many temptations, including a “Sample Spree”—a two-hour “shop ‘til you drop” event where you can pick up fabric, threads, trims, and gifts at wholesale prices. My credit cards were melting by evening’s end and, when I got to the airport on Sunday, my suitcase was ten pounds overweight! Not to mention the extra weight I put on dining at some of Portland’s best restaurants: Jake’s Crawfish (yes, I did eat my entire bucket of crawfish), Henry’s Tavern, and Zeus Cafe. And how could I say no to the See’s chocolate box that waited in our hotel room? It will take me months to Jazzercise my way back to my pre-Market weight. All totally worth it!
Cyndy fawns over her favorite long-arm quilter, Angela Walters.
One of the best things about being at Quilt Market was making new friends, and reconnecting with quilters I had met in Kansas City. As a relatively new long-arm quilter, it was a thrill to chat with Angela Walters (author and long-arm quilter extraordinaire). Angela just launched a beautiful new fabric line called Legacy. I especially loved the quilting that Angela did on many of Tula Pink’s new quilts, especially the butterfly quilt.
Detail of Angela’s quilting on Tula Pink’s butterfly quilt.
I enjoyed the book signing with Jacquie Gehring and Katie Pedersen, authors of one of my latest favorite books, Quilting Modern. Did you know that Jacquie’s quilt, Bang You’re Dead, was featured in a recent Wall Street Journal article about the modern quilt movement? Way to go, Jacquie!
The “Quilting Modern” duo of Jacquie Gehring and Katie Pedersen.
Our former hometown girl, Bari J, who now lives in Arizona, was there to promote her new fabric line, Bijoux.
Bari J. shows off her fashions and fabric.
One of my new friends is Mo Bedell, creator of a very pretty beachy fabric line, Full Moon Lagoon. Check out that mobile made of fabrics she displayed in her booth–kind of like floating jellies.
Mo Bedell at her booth.
Jason Dunn of Moda Fabrics is a fun-loving kind of guy! Love the dip-dyed tablecloths and the ombre effect of the garland.
Ooooooh! There’s a new line from Andover Fabric coming up . . . DOWNTON ABBEY, my favorite Masterpiece Theatre series. Loved chatting with David Weinstein, Andover’s president, about his trip to the U.K. to see the “real” Downton Abbey and the set for the series.
Lady Mary’s idea board from Andover Fabrics–are you as excited as I am?
We’re still laughing about our run-in with Yvonne, ladies’ room attendant extraordinaire who had us howling about her experiences delivering room service in a Vegas hotel. What happens in Vegas should definitely stay in Vegas!
So, if you’re ever in the A Hall ladies’ room at the Portland Convention Center, do share a giggle with Yvonne. She’d be a hit on Ellen’s daytime show. She’s that funny!
Do plan a trip to Portland soon, and promise me you’ll visit two places: The Real Mother Goose, with its amazing display of artisan crafts: jewelry, furniture, pottery, paintings, and art-to-wear. Finally, if you’re a bookworm like me, you need to make a pilgrimage to Powell’s Books. I can’t wait to find a long weekend when we can hop a flight back to Portland and get lost for hours in Powell’s, work up an appetite, and maybe go back to Henry’s Tavern to sample one of its 100 “mostly local” brews.
Over and out . . .
