Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Home From Quilt Market



Home.


It has taken a little over a day to crawl back into the land of the living, but I think I have adjusted back into my timezone, gotten a good nights sleep, unpacked the mountain of paperwork and goodies that I managed to bring back, sorted through everything that piled up while I was away and can say I am officially home from Market. Whew!




Salt Lake was beautiful! The sun was out and the weather was perfect. This was the view from my hotel. Waking up at 4am each day (not by choice, but by habit, it was 6am at home) gave me plenty of time to get outside. I even took my running shoes and managed to go running a few mornings. I don't run far, but it was a great way to see the downtown sites. I also don't take my camera when I run, so for photos of the beautiful spring flowers at Temple Square, click on over to Karen Snyder's blog, http://annalenaland.com/


I bought batiks, batiks and did I mention batiks? Then I decided I had to branch out a little and I added some great new patterns, big bold contemporary fabrics, some retro and a ton of blenders and basics. Our favorite designers didn't let us down and we will have a stream, make that a river, of fabrics arriving from now through the end of the year. I bought for the areas that we needed to fill immediately - like red white and blue. Thanks to Bonnie and the great job she is doing with our Quilts of Valor group, our usual assortment is running pretty low and we can't have that!



One of my favorite parts of Market is the displays. The amount of work that goes into pulling together a single booth is mind boggling. Don't you just love this tree from the Riley Blake display? The quilts and kids clothes in the background were well made and looked great. I have to admit that I was particularly drawn to the baby and kid items. My daughter is due with twins any day now and I am definitely in Grandma Mode.


I did see a few things that I can guarantee or at least feel pretty confident that I won't be making for those new additions to our family. Then again, I learned a long time ago to never say never.









Jililly featured their newest patterns in an Ice Cream Store display, complete with a handsome guy handing out free small cones! You can see their well deserved and well earned booth ribbon displayed up front.




I was fascinated by these..... um, green things! I thought of them as something from under the sea and imagined that they would look great with a fish print behind them until one of my friends pointed out that she thought they were cactus! I guess that explains the snake coiled around the one in the lower left. Don't know what they are, they are totally non functional, but I want some anyway!




I better get to work, I have a thousand things to do and I still have visions of purses and totes and fabrics and table runners dancing in my head!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Your Tax Dollars At Work

I received the following in my email today from the U.S. Census Bureau:


"Each decade, after it tabulates the decennial census, the Census Bureau calculates the center of population. The center is determined as the place where an imaginary, flat, weightless and rigid map of the United States would balance perfectly if all residents were of identical weight."


What the heck for?

Considering that the U.S. is NOT flat, is NOT weightless and does NOT balance on anything, not to mention that one thing we are definitely NOT in this country is IDENTICAL WEIGHT, why do they bother with this calculation? And after a bunch of math brains get together and figure it out why do they think I have nothing better to do than expect us to join them for their big announcement?




"Join the US Census Bureau for a live UStream event discussing the new Centers of Population at 11am EDT on Wednesday May 11. They will be taking questions from the public during the event on Facebook and Twitter."


Really?


This is a tweet worthy event? What question could the public possibly have except "Why do you bother doing this"? Who uses this information? Isn't it obsolete as soon as the first person moves, even if it is just across town? One baby is born and oops there goes the perfectly balanced-everybody weighs the same-on the perfectly flat imaginary map of the United States calculation. Considering that according to their very own statistics 11,000 babies are born every day but not necessarily evenly spaced throughout the US, I would venture to say that their statistic is skewed.



I have plans to be somewhere over the midwest, flying to Quilt Market in Salt Lake City on Wednesday. There are a few thousand of us that will decend on the city for the multi day event. We tend to bring lots of fabric, quilts, books, patterns and notions with us. Those things tend to be heavy. I hope we don't tip the map!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Quilt Market Countdown

It's that time of year again.



Quilt Market season. Twice each year everyone in the quilting industry heads for the largest convention in the industry. This month we will make the trip to Salt Lake City, Utah to search for beautiful fabrics, innovative patterns, the very best new notions on the market. Right now, those of us that design for the marketplace are scrambling like crazy to finish and perfect our newest offerings.


Would you like a sneak preview at mine?


This is my newest pattern. I'm calling it "Old Dog, New Tricks". I think the name is perfect, because after 18+ years in the industry, I think I probably qualify as an "Old Dog". The project is made using the Quick Trim Ruler that I designed for Creative Grids and that ruler is capable of teaching even the most experienced quilter a few new tricks!


My original idea for the ruler was to eliminate having to draw all of those pesky lines when you clip corners on blocks like flying geese.



It certainly does that, but it also does a whole lot more!









For "Old Dog, New Tricks" you also use it to draw circles!

Keep in mind that this is a sneak preview. The pattern isn't ready yet, it is still in the proof reading stage, I have nine more days until Market - why hurry?

If you aren't familiar with the Quick Trim Ruler, you can check out the Creative Grids video on YouTube by clicking here: