How I went to Quilt Market and Survived (Mostly) – Day 2

Days 2 and 3 of Quilt Market were all about products.  I was so glad that Andrea and Ivete let me tag along with them to some of their sales meetings.  Watching them work with the fabric reps was so interesting.  The rep brings out a card for each fabric line.  The buyers then pick and choose which to get.  Sometimes they take the whole line, and sometimes they pick a few pieces from the line.  More often, they decline entirely.  Unfortunately, their taste in fabric is very similar to mine, which means they kept buying all of my favorites.  I know where my income is going in 2019.

I sat in on a few of these sessions.  Many of the fabric lines are released along with patterns.  I was kind of surprised that the reps made no attempt to sell the patterns.  I think it is because the patterns are available from distributors, not directly from the fabric companies, but I’m not entirely certain I’m right on that.  As an aspiring pattern designer, I was surprised by how many patterns are out there, and how little they are pushed.

I also watched Ivete and Andrea work with the notions distributors.  I have to tell you – I used to fantasize about running a quilt shop.  Quilt Market has solidified for me that I do not want to actually run a shop.  I love working in one as the longarmer, I like teaching, and I definitely enjoy being on the floor helping customers.  Being in charge of maintaining the aesthetic of the shop and not just loading up on everything I think might sell would not be as much fun as I imagined.  Being a fly on the wall is the best of all.

Longarm Products

I spent a fair amount of time looking for longarm related products.  You know, for research purposes.  Not because I’m a shopaholic.  I did have one interesting conversation with a longarm salesman.  He kept bringing up that my husband would make the buying decision, and that my husband needed to see how the mechanics of the machine worked, as he would be maintaining it.  Woo, baby.  He pissed me off.  My husband doesn’t know how to work either end of my quilting machine, and if he takes a screwdriver to it, we will be having words.  Even after I explained that service my own machine and one at the shop, this dipshit man kept looking for my husband.  So much for Eclipse Quilting.  I’ll just stick with Gammill.  They don’t care what I have between my legs, as long as I have a Gammill in front of me.

I found two companies that carried a lot of quilting rulers.  PM Quilting was always full when I went by, and rather than wait, I would wander off, so I didn’t connect with them.

Quilter’s Rule was easier to check out.  I picked up two different rulers to try – a clamshell and a rope.  I’ll give them a test run and write them up soon.  They have a really nice range of rulers.

Amanda Murphy has a really nice line of rulers, and a book that goes along with them.  I love this idea.  She also has a panel that was designed to work with her rulers.  Brilliant!

I think Gotham Quilts is going to start carrying the line of Angela Walters rulers soon.  Yay!

Fabric Designers

I met Elizabeth Hartman, although I didn’t introduce myself or ask for a selfie.  (Honestly, I think selfies are weird, and I feel awkward asking for them.  I don’t mind being in them, or having photos of me out there, it is just not natural for me to ask.)  Her booth was adorable, and won best of show.  I’ll be making the new Cuckoo Clock pattern once I finish off Fancy Forest.

I chatted up Irene, who was running the Violet Craft booth (Violet had to leave early for a family emergency).  I overcame my innate shyness, because they had some kickass EPP in the booth.  There was a pineapple, too, but in my excitement, I forgot to take a photo.

Ivete introduced me to Tula Pink.  I was pretty much speechless.  I’m such a dork.  Her booth was very cool.  Really big, and not stuffed full of items.  I especially appreciated that the backside of the booth displayed a quilted piece of her extra wide backing fabric.

I met Carolyn Friedlander and chatted with her about the quality of her stitches.  If you have a chance to see her work in person check out her appliqué stitches.  They are so precise that they are practically invisible.  Look at this piece in her booth – the fins are all placed so perfectly.  And all done by hand.  Her advice – Aurifil 80 weight in a matching color.  Her new fabric line is not your typical quilting cotton.  It is a couple of different textures – shirting and yarn dyes, I think.

The Hoffman Dream Big panels were everywhere.  (Of course, I have two waiting to be quilted.  One for me, and one for Mom.)  I was more excited when I bought them – now it seems like everyone with a longarm has done a few of them.  They are coming out with a queen sized version, and also one in Minky (or maybe it is Cuddle.)  This pieced version was very impressive.

The Island Batik booth was great.  I found the dachshunds I made for them earlier this year.  I’ll do a post about them later this week.  Hopefully they will be headed back to me soon.  Oscar really liked them.  I also chatted with Katie and Elizabeth, who run the Island Batik Ambassador program.  It is so nice to meet online connections in person.

I hooked up with two of my fellow ambassadors.  Karen, from The Quilt Rambler, is very high energy and knows everyone.  I was particularly impressed with her ability to remember so many names.  Sherry, from Powered by Quilting, was there, too.  She had quilts all over the place!  Sherry is a busy quilter.

I will do one more post about my trip, covering the International Quilt Festival.  I walked through the quilt show a couple of times.  It was incredible and complete system overload.  I have a whole new set of Quilter Goals.

Thanks for reading!