Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis in May—wow! This was a real eye-popping event that I attended and participated in by giving several presentations. I felt very lucky to be one of the recent authors invited by C&T Publishing to attend Spring Market to promote, Secrets of Digital Quilting—From Camera to Quilt, the book I co-authored with my husband, Kerby. As only one of us could go, I was the lucky one.
This wasn’t my first Quilt Market, but it was the first in a long time. But as things do, I found everything had grown to be bigger and better. Also, I’d never before attended Schoolhouses—the 1/2-hour presentations given in the day prior to Market, which shop owners attend to get an overview of new products, techniques, and, well, you name it. It was great fun to not only give one of these but to attend others like Jane Dávila, Jan Krentz, Linda Johansen, and Anita Grossman Solomon, all very fascinating C&T authors. The amazing thing was to see the crowds of shop owners hurrying from room to room, taking notes, asking questions, winning raffles, and then the super-fast changeovers to the next Schoolhouse with the new group dashing in. Wham! And on to the next one!
Me giving a demo in the Checker booth
During Market I also gave a demo and book signing at the Checker booth. (Checker is a major distributor of products to the quilt shops.) I really enjoy demonstrating techniques of surface design on both digital and other fabrics, so this was very fun to do, under a mirror so people could see the processes. And then, to walk the entire Market, moving from one micro-environment to the next, and seeing the latest and greatest offerings. One of my favorite parts of this event was meeting many old friends and making new ones. It was a special treat to meet more of the C&T group, and especially to see our Developmental Editor, Lynn Koolish. We both live in the same state (California) and here we are getting together in Minneapolis—very odd, indeed.
Me and my editor, Lynn Koolish
Quilt Market has such a different focus and energy than Festival, though there were several excellent quilt exhibits—these aisles were less populous than the main floor of vendors, where serious business was transacted. I had more fun than I expected, and learned a lot as well. I hope to be able to attend Markets in the future.
Using Lesley Riley’s TAP™ Transfer Artist Paper is almost a magical experience. When Lesley came to C&T and showed all of us what you can do with TAP, it seemed too good to be true. Could a simple piece of Transfer Artist Paper really take an old family photo and place it on wood? Or even metal? And you could iron over it and wash it?
