Market Report - Part 1
Fall International Quilt Market 2008, Houston, TX

Hi everyone! I'm baaaaack! Last time I tackled Market Report in one fell swoop (a.k.a. one ginormous blog posting that left you and I both exhausted!) So this time I've decided to save my sanity and break this up into parts... not necessarily in chronological order, just so you know.

Quilt Market was everything I expected and more. We drove 16 hrs. there and 16 hrs. back (well, Jon drove. I mostly slept, twittered, googled and doodled). Those of you following me on Twitter got the full state-by-state report... even when I called Arkansas "AK" instead of "AR." I can't believe no one teased me about that one! I can take it, I really can! ;)

So, for those of you who are new to my blog, we went down to the International Quilt Market in Houston, TX to debut my first line of fabrics, titled Andalucia, for Michael Miller Fabrics. Below, are a few scattered pictures of my booth and the surrounding areas...

This first picture shows the view from the aisle directly in front of us. On the left you see part of my booth, on the right you see part of Paula Prass' booth. Directly behind Paula's booth you see a sliver of Sandi Henderson's booth and the remainder of this picture shows what Michael Miller's selling stations looked like.



Below is a picture of Kathy Miller (Michael Miller Fabrics) and me standing at my booth. Check out the awesome quilts made specifically to showcase Andalucia by some amazingly talented ladies. The one on the left is called Now & Forever and was designed by Abbey Lane Quilts. The one on the right is called Spring Up and was designed by Lizzy Anne Originals. You can also see the 2 chairs that I painstakingly upholstered just days before the show and a few other sewn samples...



Here is a full shot of Spring Up:



This picture shows a few Market goodies including a couple of purses by my talented mom (a.k.a. marielizcreations on etsy), some super sweet bibs by Bug-A-Boo-Baby (check out her blog for some detailed pics of these and of the baby blankies she made for the booth!), and a pillow and dress by yours truly. By the way, my mom will be offering her Market-Sample-Purses in her etsy store very soon, so keep checking for these!



A super cool pineapple pincushion by my talented friend, Eva Taylor. Check out her blog and leave her a comment to be entered to win a pineapple of your own! How generous is that?!?



Totally AWESOME Andalucia jacquard ribbons designed by me for J. Caroline Creative (these are only 8 of the 16 designs offered!) Wish you guys could see & touch these! They are super soft and the quality is unsurpassed. These ribbons totally stole the show, IMO! Caroline will have these in her shop soon, so keep checking!



And speaking of Caroline, here I am standing in her AWESOME booth, which, by the way, won a prize of Best New Exhibitor. Way to go, Caroline!!!



And last, but certainly not least, is this picture of me sitting in my booth chatting it up with one of the loveliest ladies I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, the vibrant and so inspirational Elinor Peace Bailey.



Now, I want to leave you with a few links to check out:

• I did a designer interview with Gina Halladay of Quilter's Buzz. What a lovely lady! Go over there and read! (those of you who attended my schoolhouse session may notice some overlap... sorry!)
  
  
• Boutique Café created history with the first ever live podcast from Quilt Market and I was honored to be their guinea pig, er, first interviewee! ;) You can catch a recording of the live feed right here... complete with testing, bloopers and a heck of a lot of giggling!
  
  
• The Jolly Jabber, Fat Quarter Shop's awesome blog, is doing a day-by-day Market Report that is not to be missed. One of the best pictures of me has already surfaced in their "findings" and check out this one I spotted on their Flickr account of me & Jon. Awww! Please stay tuned for a full interview in a couple of weeks! I'll let you know when it's up!!!

OK, that's it for now! Thanks for being so patient through this super long post... I swear I thought it was gonna be much shorter! And to all of you lovely ladies who came over and saw me at Quilt Market, MWAH! Love ya!!!