Sweet Home Quilt Co.

Another Quilt Market is history, and while I’m happy to be back home, I have to say I’m really missing the energy and excitement of market, not to mention all my friends! Spring and Fall markets are about the only time we can all be in the same time zone with opportunity to hang out together and get caught up! I didn’t take as many pictures as I intended to but even so it will probably take a couple of posts to share them all…settle in and enjoy!

I arrived in Houston early Friday morning and met up with Roseann and Heidi at the airport. We dropped our bags at the hotel before heading over to the convention center.

  The hotel lobby… 

We were staying at the Inn at the Ballpark adjacent to Minute Maid Stadium, home of the Houston Astros…so naturally the theme was baseball! This is an amazing hotel…

While the market vendors were busily setting up their booths, the attending shop owners participated in Schoolhouse, which is an all day series of 15 to 30 minute infomercials from various designers, manufacturers, and vendors. It is an exhausting schedule, but an excellent opportunity to get a sneak peek at new products and programs that will be featured during Market, along with learning opportunities for marketing the products through our shops. I try to focus on the education-based sessions rather than just the product reveals so I didn’t take many pictures during Schoolhouse. One of the last sessions I attended was with the pattern designers from Grizzly Gulch that offered tips and ideas for using large scale prints…some great ideas here…

Shopping for large scale florals and prints for the shop was on my agenda, so this schoolhouse session was very apropos.

Dinner at Amazon Grill with friends and then back to the Convention Center for Sample Spree, a.k.a. “Trample Spree!” This is probably my least favorite event at Quilt Market, but I never pass it up for some reason. This is a 2-hour event where market vendors can set up a table and offer show specials and samples to market attendees. This is an opportunity for shopowners to buy fat quarter bundles, etc. of market releases to be able to make samples as soon as they get back home to their shops…especially for fabric lines that might not be delivered for several months. Imagine hundreds of people in a hotel ballroom, with everyone jockeying for a place at the tables to grab the deals of the evening. Anyone who knows me very well, knows that I just don’t do crushing crowds very well (I am prone to panic attacks…) so after just a few minutes I have to get out of the room. I managed to do a little necessary Sample Spree shopping and spent the remainder of the evening people-watching while waiting for the rest of our group to finish up their shopping.

Saturday is the first day of Quilt Market, and anticipation is building. I have an 8AM business class and then plan to walk the market floor to get a sense of the new product offerings. Stay tuned…

Melisa

I’m a day late with this post, but let me just say that it is proving very difficult to find the time and energy to write a post every day. The days begin with business classes/lectures at 8AM  and it has been after 11PM each night before I get back to the hotel room…aahhhh, but it is so much fun!

Market Thursday was Schoolhouse day, and it is truly exhausting. I didn’t count the number of sessions, but I would venture to say there are between 150 and 200 sessions from which to choose, every half hour. The schedule is made available one hour before the opening session, and then you must be prepared to move rapidly from one session to the next. The problem is that there are so many good sessions and it is difficult to choose between those that overlap; often the decision is made for you…some sessions are so popular you can’t even get in the door! The sessions range from presentations of new product, to business sessions, to ideas for marketing the products we buy, displays, etc. There is so much information to absorb and you want to take advantage of all of it…after all, that is a really big part of what Quilt Market is all about for a shop owner.

Here Celine Perkins of Perkins Dry Goods introduces a new block of the month program from her new book, Abundance.

A product display idea from Timeless Treasures featuring the new Tonga Treats pre-cut strips and squares (look for these at SHQC soon…hint, hint!)

Karen Montgomery, owner of The Quilt Company and fabric designer for Timeless Treasures, shows samples made with her new fabric line, Lauren.

After a full day of Schoolhouse, and a leisurely dinner back at the hotel, it was back to the convention center for the maddening frenzy known as Sample Spree, which is the suppliers’ opportunity to unveil their new introductions and offer Market Specials to shopowners. Many designers also offer pre-made models for their new designs, which gives shopowners a head start for being able to introduce the new products into their shops quickly without having to wait for a model to be made once they return from Market. People began lining up to get in at 4:30PM and it didn’t begin until 8PM!!! We (Julie, Noel and I) waited until the initial frenzied surge had ended before we went over, and we were able to walk right in without a wait!

Every year Moda has a new Market bag at Sample Spree…and I filled TWO of these with yummy stuff to bring back. So what did I buy?

Just look at all that Moda goodness! Just a sneak peek, though. You’ll have to wait for the Market Review Party when I get back to see it all up close and personal…SORRY!

Melisa