Quilt Market recap

Sorry to be tardy with my recap. The cold medicine haze is still in full effect so I'm having even more trouble than usual remembering what I got up to do. You know?

So: Quilt Market! Yay!!

The very first thing I did when I arrived on Thursday (after dropping my bags and running a brush through my wild hair) was head over to the Salt Palace to catch up to Pat Sloan. She was having a marathon Schoolhouse session with one of ours sandwiched in the middle. I had handouts. I needed to get there. And I had fretted over it for about 8 solid hours at that point, thanks to the whole "nope, no American flights through Dallas, instead Continental but only if you can wrangle a boarding pass" situation. I made it and managed to grab a bite before our schoolhouse started at 3:10.

Pat talked about how all of her books can be used to support classes and fabric sales in quilt shops. And I learned a very good lesson about how well PowerPoint translates to the screen (which is to say, not like you'd planned sometimes). We had a good time, gave away books (note to self: you still need to put those in the mail).

And then I ate the entire Olive Garden. I was hungry. I don't feel the least bit bad about it either (although I did have a moment coming face to face with a homeless man outside the Olive Garden. My food-induced stupor helped).

Saturday: I zoomed. Literally. I started with a meeting as soon as the door opened and walked out 15 minutes before the doors closed. In between, I talked with people we already work with, people I'd like to work with, and anyone who waylaid me in the aisles. I like those people. The ones who sit back and don't address you, even when you walk in the booth...not so much.

I paused long enough to visit the Moda booth where Barb and Mary from Me & My Sister Designs were having a book signing for Three Times the Charm. It's always a party when these ladies are around.

I only took a few pictures, intending to take more on Saturday when I had a little more time. And then there was THE INCIDENT wherein my iPhone fell out of my pocket and bounced on the tile floor of the bathroom in the Shilo Inn, never to be seen or heard from again (except it did make random phone calls as I tried to fix it all night long. And yeah, that's so NOT embarrassing, right?)

Saturday I started with a meeting first thing and then did my best to cover the rest of the show floor. I did not take pictures because of the aforementioned Incident. I did my best to ignore the low level anxiety produced by being unconnected and plotted ways to get a replacement phone ASAP. And the flights home were like magic, smooth and quiet and uneventful.

I was sick as a dog on Sunday but I had my priorities in line: 1. Get Jack and bring him home. 2. Get new phone. 3. Don't die from mucus explosion (I have a way with words, don't I?)

For a more restrained version of events, check out the Leisure Arts blog. We're like family here. I probably will be less inclined to mention my phlegm attack over there. I guess you can take that as a compliment? I'll have to think about that.

Flying to Quilt Market

I meant to post an angry post last Thursday which would have contained the line "I wanted to tweet this but 140 characters couldn't contain my rage." It sounds so dramatic. Thursday felt dramatic, but now it's Sunday and I've been medicated into a fuzzy stupor by cold medicine. I feel more mellow now.

Here's what happened:
Thursday, 4:30 a.m.: leave the house.

5:00 a.m.: arrive at the American Airlines counter to get boarding passes because I couldn't print them out at home because I couldn't get a seat assignment for the second flight. As I march to the counter, I am feeling pretty good because I have battled my compulsion to arrive at least 2 hours early for the flight. If you know me, you know flying gets me. Not the possibility of fiery crashes but the stinkin' security lines make me cra-zay.

5:05 a.m.: find out that my flight is cancelled and I've been bumped to Continental. Instead of a 6:20 flight through Dallas that ultimately gets me to SLC at 12:01, I'm on a 6:40 flight through Houston to arrive in SLC at 12:10. Not bad.

And then I saw the mass of people at the Continental counter. It was like it was the day after Thanksgiving and Wal-Mart was giving away free money to the first 10,000 people in line. There were a lot of people there. Many were bumped like me, because flights to Dallas and Chicago were cancelled, others were just unlucky.

5:07 a.m. through 7:05 a.m.-standing in the sea of people at Continental. Their ticketing system was down so they couldn't print boarding passes. There was one, single, solitary, individual overworked kiosk printing passes for All These People. Also, listened to one woman complain loudly on her cell phone about our progress and how nothing in Arkansas is worth anything but her. I wanted someone (but not me because I'm not that kind of person but if someone else did it that would be very different) to trip her in her 4 inch heels but was afraid that might cause a wardrobe malfunction involving her tube top. Yes, seriously.
7:17 a.m.-I sit down in my seat on the plane which has been held. I answer an angry inquiry about why we were so late from the seat in front on me. And I begin to pray about my connection in Houston which was originally something like an hour and a half, but this flight was leaving at least 45 minutes late. I had a 3:10 schoolhouse to get to. I am very important (but I was only a helper to Mrs. Pat Sloan. She could have lived without me. I am mainly important in my own mind).

The rest is a blur:
Make the connection in Houston. Barely (with something like 20 minutes to spare. In my mind that's cutting it close. I can't help it. It's a real problem that I have with airports).

Take a taxi from airport to hotel because I've exhausted all my good travel mojo standing around in Little Rock.

Head for the convention center, just to say, "Hi, I'm here, Pat" before she goes into her Schoolhouse marathon (was it 5 or 6 sessions?).

Then I eat. Original plan had been breakfast in Dallas. As it was, it was around 3:30 that I ate the first time that day. You can tell by looking at me that this is completely unacceptable. I did the schoolhouses, went back to the hotel, spotted the Olive Garden across the street and promptly ate the entire thing.

Friday:
I saw designers we already work with and love. Some designers I'd love to work with.
I also dropped my phone and broke it beyond redemption. Gah. For the rest of the time there was a steady stream of "ohmyphoneineedmyphonehowwillilivewithoutmyphonewhattimeisitwhatamimissingineedmyphone" in my head and I was plotting how to get a new phone.

Saturday:
Woke up with a killer sore throat which would become the cold from Hades, complete with uncontrollable sneezing. I had a couple more meetings, did my best to see the rest of the booths. I did not see any of the quilts. I think this is the first show I've been to that I missed the quilts completely.

I did ride the shuttle back to the airport where I heard a lot about the dangers of Mormons and ex-husbands. As I have no experience much with either, I made sympathetic noises and urged the van to go faster with my mind. The taxi ride out was much easier. I don't believe he spoke English so I have no idea his opinion on anything.

And then my American flights home were smooth like buttah, arriving 10:00 p.m. as planned.

I really, really, really, really, really hate airports. I'll be staying right here, on the ground, forever or until June, whichever comes first.

Once the cold medicine wears off, I'll check the few photos I took. Promise.

A tale of two cities

 Quilt Market time...I like to include a little extra stress by waiting until the last minute to pack anything. Then I check the weather.

There's a big difference in a high of 83 degrees and a high of 70 for Thursday. And then the temps are exactly the same on Friday...what? And then...get this, y'all...it's going to be warmer in SLC than in Little Rock, Arkansas. What. The. Heck.

The last time I was there, I walked around in the snow. In May. Snow in May, people!

I was wracking my brain, trying to think of things that were both cool and cool (I don't want a repeat of the Minneapolis melt down). Hm...thinking...

Spring Quilt Market, Pittsburgh...the second

Oddly enough, quilts are usually a last minute stop at quilt market. At the Fall Market, I'm lucky to see just a bit of the different exhibits. The best thing about the smaller spring show is that it's easier to cover ground and the quilts were front and center so they were easy to enjoy. These are some of my pics but I could snap many, many quilt pictures. I guess I'm more into the art appreciation than actually...you know, producing any.

And, of course, many of the prettiest quilts were in booths...patterns readily available for sale. I didn't take any pictures of those. Or of any of the stars I encountered. Sigh.

2008 Quilt Market: Some Quilts

Of course, these are just a very few quilts. For more, go to
Quilts.com
And please, whatever you do, don't reproduce these excellent photos. I read the rules about photography on the show floor and am an offender because I don't have the names listed. Just don't reproduce these anywhere and I think I'll be OK.

2008 Quilt Market: Pat Sloan

Here's the one celebrity picture that I have, Pat Sloan signing her newest book. Pat's one of my favorite people so it's great to have a chance to see her in person, you know? She'll be there for Market and Festival...the woman has nerves of steel.

I do not. Market was just enough for me.

2008 Quilt Market: The city

This trip to Houston had bee-yoo-ti-ful weather. On the first day, I walked the mile from the hotel down to the convention center to help set up. And the park built across from the convention center it just fabulous and the people were really enjoying it. The fenced area is a dog run in the park. I am totally jealous. I want a park just like this here in Benton. I probably won't get one.

I posted the view from my window because we had some conversation about the state of the city after the hurricane and you can see the debris on the roof and the missing windows. On both Friday and Monday, there were guys outside those buildings replacing windows (another job to add to my list of things that I cannot do).

2008 Quilt Market: The LA booth

So I've managed to load some of my photos from Quilt Market already and this first post will show you what the LA booth looked like. The first one is kind of a "before" but really an "almost done". And the the second shows it as you'd see it if you were lucky enough to hit the quilt market looking for fabulous quilt books to buy for your shop.

I really should have done a much better job with my camera work because Susan and I were frequently in the presence of greatness, but I have no photos to show for our efforts. I did manage to snap a few photos of Pat Sloan's book signing (who is definitely greatness, but as I've ridden to lunch with her in a minivan, she's more like family than celebrity) and the quilts, but not a single celebrity or other designer shot. I was asleep on the job (and highly medicated but not always for the right things, but sniffling and sneezing doesn't really present a professional image, you know? Of course, neither do pink Nikes but that just had to be done.)

Susan and I were lucky enough to meet some exciting new designers and spent some time at an impromptu meeting withThe Crochet Dude in the middle of an aisle. Linda Lum DeBono and I conducted most of our business crammed into the seats of a full SuperShuttle van on the way to the hotel from the airport, but we're sorta used to that by now. I'm hoping that those new designers will show up in some future posts...

Conspicuous Consumption

So I know you're wondering how much damage I really did over the weekend. I think the alarming fact is not in how much I bought but in the fact that I freely acknowledge that most of this is doomed to moulder in the stash, never to grow up into a real quilt. The fabric pile is planned for something, the Curved Piecing class that Pat's got over at icantbelieveim.com. She makes it looks so easy to make that Orange Peel. We'll see, I guess. The rest of it...I believe that would be called wishful thinking. Some of it I bought to make gifts for people. I think now I'll just put a bow on the pattern and call that the gift. It's the thought that counts, right?

More quilts this year...

I seem to have taken more photos of quilts this year. It's really surprising too because I also managed to spend alarming amounts of money in minuscule amounts of time. I visited the quilts first. Maybe that's the key...see what other people manage to finish, become convinced of my quilting potential, abuse my credit card in the pursuit of greatness. Really, I spent more time goofing off than shopping this year, but it didn't seem to have much impact on my total haul. Of course, Hancock's of Paducah helped me there. I do not know why I forgot to get a picture of the frenzy that is the back room. I think I was frightened by the jungle sounds and flying fabric. Next year, I'll do my best to keep my wits about me to get a photo of the activity around the flat fold tables. Really, you have to see it to believe it.

The AQS Paducah show

I took more random shots this year than I have in the past, but I still didn't get a great selection to really show the scope of the AQS show crowd, the extreme goodness of the strawberry shortcake, or the funk of the hotel. It's a great show, but could use some new digs. I shopped myself out way before the time to meet up with the gang. I walked up to a park with benches overlooking the river. Thought I might enjoy some peaceful communing with nature. Alas, the British quilters who followed me to my bench did not come for peace. Still, it's a lovely way to watch a barge being "parked" with the excitement of 2 British accents doing play-by-play for me. I'll post some quilt shots tomorrow.

Charity Quilts? We'll see.

I don't know how many of you have ever been to Paducah for the AQS quilt show, but it's kind of a tradition around here that we take a road trip around the end of April. Said road trip takes us through the backroads of Arkansas before we wind around through a couple of states and find our way to the show. A road trip with the girls...fun! I didn't go last year because of the Ireland trip, but I'm on for this year. And then I think about how much fabric I've bought...and how litttle I've used. And I dream a little of Hancocks of Paducah. And I start to think. So here's the new plan...must...use...fabric...quickly. I did a little search for charity quilts last night and it looks like we don't have a local Project Linus chapter but there's one not too far away. So baby quilts it is. Or maybe dog blankets for the Humane Society, a cause near and dear to my heart. I'm still thinking over that. Here's how far I made it. Those are actually strips cut on the left.