The Quilt Market Experience by SewCanShe

I’m lounging on the bed in my Houston hotel room, completely exhausted but feeling oh, so inspired to go home and sew, quilt, felt and give my husband and kids the biggest hugs ever for letting me come.

FYI, all of my pictures were taken with my phone and are kinda fuzzy. Sorry. my regular DSLR was just too big to fit in my suitcase. And for some reason I have a silly smile on my face in all the pictures. Maybe it was there all the time???

The quilt above is a beautiful work by Kaffe Fasset from the gallery part of Quilt Market. That part was quiet and meditative, almost like church. I loved it.

The market side was like a playland for me. I didn’t have to buy inventory for a quilt shop like most people there. I was just a blogger (future Stash author) wandering around and feeling surrounded by creative beautiful people who got me. Who also knew that creative arts are food for our souls. Making things is our passion.

The picture above, in case your wondering, is when I won a spool of Aurafili thread with a beautiful hole-in-one mini golf shot. So unlike me. I am sports retarded.  I actually wished my husband were there at that moment because he would have been so shocked. He wouldn’t believe this moment if I didn’t have a picture.

And you should see this as proof of how amazingly kind and sharing this quilting community is. I am having a blast trying the long arm quilter for the first time in my life and although I could manage the stippling squiggly stitch okay, I could not get the feather pattern. This darling woman (probably a quilt shop owner) gave me lots of encouragement and finally just wrapped her arms around me and showed me the ‘rhythm’ of it. I felt kind of like a kid but I didn’t care.  

I also learned to machine felt thanks to Michele from Simplicity Creative Group. She even took this cute picture. Thank you Michele!

More inspiring stuff… did you know you can sew fluffy chicks and hens from the new Faux Fur Collection at Shannon Fabrics? Me neither.

This adorable little purple coat was hanging in the Cottage Mama’s booth. It’s in her new book. I love it.

This beautiful booth by Sakura won 1st place in the double booth category. I only know that because I was admiring it when the judges drove up in a little golf cart and awarded a big blue ribbon to some very excited women. I’m so glad. I think it’s a beautiful booth too.

All right, well that’s such a tiny part of quilt market but I need to go to bed. You can see lots more pictures in my instagram feed if you check out @sewcanshe. And while you’re on there, search for #quiltmarket to see everyone’s pictures. Wow is all I can say. And we’re all very tired right now.

Happy Monday!