Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Market Neighbors

 You have probably seen lot of blogs showing booths at Houston Market that include lots of famous quilters, I have enjoyed those as well. And I have to tell you, I didn't get around market as much as I would have like, so it has been fun seeing pictures that are published on other blogs. Being newbies, we were out in the boonies. We had fun getting to know our neighbors and I thought you might like to meet them as well. 
 Let me tell you about this groovy couple. This is Paul and Janna Thomas of Block-Loc. Paul saw all my quilts with half-square triangles in them (you know I love HSTs!) and he told us to come and look at their rulers. Well we didn't get over to their booth soon enough so he came to ours and gave us a demo. Joan and I both fell for him with his cute Australian accent and flirty personality. Then we met Janna, his wife, and we liked her even better. What a neat couple they are. So back to the rulers. These rulers are square and have a groove going diagonally across the back. You lay the ruler on a half-square triangle and the groove nestles right into the seam line and holds the ruler so it doesn't wiggle and then you can square it up! If you make lots of HSTs, like I do, you are always squaring them up to the exact size needed. This ruler is so awesome. Other rulers have a tendency to rock a little on the seam, and the ruler may slide out of place, but the Block-Loc ruler holds it right where you want it while you trim. Joan and I ordered a couple sets of these and sent everyone we knew to their booth! I also ordered the rulers for squaring up flying geese. I will be promoting these all over the place. They are traveling to lots of quilts shows, so be sure to look for them! And tell them I sent you!

 Michelle Civetti, on the right, put lots of work into preparing for market. She had lots of great kits for darling die cut wool projects. Her friend Barb was there to help with the customers. We enjoyed visiting with them. Check out her website, Grab'N Go Kits, to see some of her darling kits. A few are shown below.

 This is Debi Weinert, from My Own Fringemanker. Let me tell you this girl can make fringe! And pom poms! Her booth was full of all kinds of things that she figured needed fringe. She and her husband invented this little gizmo that you can wind with funky yarns or just plain string and with a little sewing it magically becomes fringe. She was a busy girl at her booth. In fact, people walked right up to her booth and never turned around to look at mine. I thought about being insulted, but let's face it, people interested in fringe are probably not interested in my lil' old homespun projects anyway.

 

 This picture is of Melinda and my Turkey in the Straw quilt. Melinda was there helping Debi and we got to talking. Turns out she has an on line fabric store called Melinda's Fabric Shop. I was very pleased to meet her as I had ordered the Turkey red in this quilt from her shop! That was kind of exciting for both of us! If you haven't visited Melinda's Fabric Shop you really should. Her prices are great! Plus, she is a very nice lady!

This is my friend Mary Brandt who happens to be my son-in-laws mother, which makes her my grandchildren's other grandmother! She is a quiltermaker and a longarm quilter. She goes to market to work in the Cedar Canyon Textiles booth. They are the ones with the Paintstix.  She has made some lovely quilts using this product. We meet  in the strangest places!
 This is my friend Karen Bennett from Salt Lake City. We met at Spring Market in Minneapolis when I spotted her daughter, whose name is Monica Patch, and happens to be married to my husband's cousin. Joan and I really like Karen. She shared lots of good advice with me about market. Karen and Monica are the owners and designers behind Nellie's Needle. They have darling patterns. Check out their booth in the photo below.



OVERWEIGHT is not a term any of us like to hear, but that is exactly what the guy told us at the airlines counter! Joan was not happy when he told her it would be an additional $95! They had conveniently placed a luggage scale away from the line of people so we could go re-arrange our belongings. We ended up with three bags that weighed exactly 50 pounds each, plus very heavy carry-ons! I casually left my booth curtains on the floor at the airport. Too heavy and not worth it.

 I know this is a long post. I feel like I have been writing for hours and you feel like you have been reading this for hours, if you actually made it this far. And so I bid you adieu until another day!


12 comments:

paulette said...

Hey, Marci, I enjoyed every moment...loved meeting all your friends!!
Take care!
Paulette

Unknown said...

Nice post Marcie, I stopped by to see how you did at markdt. Sounds like you had fun. Hope you sold a lot.

Janet said...

Thank you for sharing the Market experience with me. It looks like so much fun. It's also fun to see the new things I can look forward to buying. Looks like you had a great time with wonderful people.

sewprimitive karen said...

The USAUS ruler looks nice. Do you have any pictures of Mary's paintstix quilts?

Annemiek said...

No trouble at all to read it all :) Fun, entertaining, nice pics and great to read how much you enjoyed Houston!!

Sue G said...

Hey Marcie, I hear you about those heavy bags after being at Market. I had to move 6 lbs from my checked bag to my already insanely heavy carry on. My carry on was "gate checked" because I was flying on a small commuter plane and when they lifted into the gate area when we landed, the woman airline employee said, "this has rocks in it"!!! It took Karen and I both to lift in onto the tailgate of her big SUV!!

quiltmom anna said...

They say life is full of times where there is 6 degrees of separation - it sounds like you had a great time at the market. You do lovely work and I am sure that people loved your patterns.
Thanks for sharing your market experience.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Polly said...

You are hilarious, I can't believe you just left your curtains on the floor. Great to see all you pics. I'm glad you met up with Nana Mary. How fun to meet lots of new and interesting people.

Anonymous said...

Great post! I loved seeing the people near you, and your casual comment about leaving the curtains? Oh, my did I laugh!

AnnieO said...

Nothing wrong with your "lots to share" post! Thanks for the new product review and all the meet and greet photos :)

julieQ said...

I am so glad you got to go! Wonderful pictures..wish I could have met you there!

Anonymous said...

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving Marcie and family!!
I see FQ Shop has your patterns...how fun!!!! Love that Fish Creek cabin quilt...screams my house.