A Market Sampler

With hundreds of booths featuring so many wonderful projects and patterns, it's almost impossible to choose favourites, but these were the ones I especially loved.

"Tickled Primitive" "Hatched and Patched"

"Wooden Spool Designs"
"Country Threads"
"Country Stitches"
"Whimsicals"
"Country Loft"
"Sue Spargo"
"Heart to Hand"
"Kansas Troubles Quilters"
And last, but certainly not least,

"Primitive Pieces by Lynda"
Wow! I feel like a kid in a candy store, without the calories!

To Market, To Market

I spent Wednesday night in Stillwater, "the birthplace of Minnesota",

an historic town about 45 minutes north of Minneapolis.
It's situated on the St. Croix River and these boats give tours of the area.

There are also lots of old buildings and antique shops in the town, so I spent a few hours checking them out.

On Thursday I drove south to Minneapolis to set up my booth for Quilt Market.

Here's a "before" picture.

And here's the "after".

I took this picture from one end of the Convention Center to give you an idea of how huge a venue this is.

Today was the first day of Market.

The Martingale people wanted a picture of me with my quilts in their booth

and they had this frame handy for me to use.

They also had scheduled me for a book signing at 10:00. So that's what I did this morning.

Two more Market days to go!

On the Road Again

I flew out of Vancouver early Monday morning, and landed in Minneapolis that evening where I'll be attending Spring Quilt Market, starting this week Friday. But first, since I'm in the area, there are a few shops I HAVE TO get to! So first thing Tuesday morning I got in my rental car, complete with GPS (the GPS lady is my new best friend--she kept me from getting lost many times!) and drove to Spring Green, Wisconsin. It took me about 4 1/2 hours but was it ever worth it! "Country Sampler" quilt shop was voted one of the Top 10 quilt shops in North America and I'd wanted to visit it ever since seeing the article in Quilt Sampler magazine.I spent a couple of hours in that wonderful store and came away with two bags full of goodies! Check out their website: http://www.sgcountrysampler.com for pictures of inside the store.

Then it was another couple of hours driving to Ripon, Wisconsin, to visit "A Simpler Time" (another shop I'd seen advertised) and stock up on some primitives. Not having many shops like this back home, I need to get my fix whenever I can! Check them out at http://www.simplertime.com.

I spent the night in Oshkosh (by gosh!) and this morning drove to Menasha, Wisconsin, to check out "Primitive Gatherings", another Top 10 Quilt Shop. Lisa (the owner) has bought several of my patterns over the years and I found some of them there. Plus so much good stuff I could hardly stand it! You can check out her shop at http://www.primitivegatherings.us/the-store.html.

I could have spent hours in that shop but I needed to head back to Minneapolis to set up for Market. Here are some of the goodies I'm bringing home.

So many yummy fabrics I hadn't seen before and kits and patterns and books. Don't know when I'll ever have time to make them all but since when has that been a consideration?

First Show of 2010

Seems like it's quilt show season again--my favourite time of year! Last week I was a vendor at the Langley Quilt Guild's every-other-year show (about 30 minutes from my home). They are such a wonderful group of women and they take such good care of us vendors. Especially since I'm usually alone in my booth, it was such a treat to be brought tea and goodies throughout the day. Here are a couple of pictures of my booth.

The quilts were amazing, too. Here are a few of my favourites. I loved the 3-D effect in this one.

And the intricate piecing in this one. It's made up of over 1100 squares--with 5 pieces each! You do the math.

The work that went into this one is incredible. I am in awe.

But for intricate applique, this one wins my vote.
Look closer at the detail! Doesn't it boggle your mind?

Next week I fly to Minneapolis for Spring Quilt Market so this week I'll be busy getting ready. I'll be sure and keep you updated on how it goes.

Coming Together--The Quilt Continues to Grow

So now I've completed the patchwork part of my quilt. I've stitched the blocks into rows and stitched the rows together. You can see the interplay of light, medium, and dark fabrics and the design they create when the squares and diamonds intersect. I like it so far but I think it needs some embellishment. How about some applique? What I like about appliqueing over light fabric patches, is that I can use these as a grid to help in placing the applique pieces. This is the center of the quilt top.
And here it is with the applique pieces pinned in place. I use colours that echo those used in the four-patch blocks. I like this applique design so much I think I'll just keep going!Here I've finished the center applique and have pinned another bias strip in place.

And now I've pinned the applique shapes on this vine.The only areas left to applique are the light triangles in the corners.
So there it is! Just the borders to add and then the quilting and the binding! Quite a change from the initial dream and doodle I had!

And now on to other dreams!