We are down to our final three in our Ten Fun Things About Quilt Market Countdown.
#3 Schoolhouse
Schoolhouse sessions are held the day before Market opens. They are a fun way for designers, companies and store owners to connect. Moda sponsored a session, which featured all of the designers who were present in Salt Lake City. Here are a few pictures:
This is Lissa Alexander, Moda's Director of Marketing:
Barb and Mary of Me and My Sister Designs:
Anne from Bunny Hill:
Lynne from Kansas Troubles:
Bonnie and Camille from Cotton Way and Thimbleblossoms:
Sandy from American Jane:
Liesl from Oliver + S (sorry for the horrible picture!)
Sandy from Pieces From My Heart:
Edyta from Laundry Basket Quilts (not quite sure she liked my picture taking!):
Moda is planning a blog hop for all of their designers in August. We will keep you posted.
#2- Just Random Thoughts and Happenings from Salt Lake City
- We really liked SLC- the people, the restaurants, the ease in getting around. We loved it!
- All 3 of us were dealing with minor health issues. Susan had a cold, my mom has a painful heel spur (which is a total killer at a trade show) and I had three different events: I got a spider bite the night before we left and my little finger was swollen about 3 times normal size, I fell off a really high chair, face first, while hanging curtains in the booth (I still have a purple/black bruise about the size of a large grapefruit on my leg), and after I fell, I was changing my clothes and a string on my jeans caught on my toenail and ripped it (the toenail) off. I felt like I should have just stayed in bed that day and my mom and sister got really tired of hearing about all my ailments.
- We were pulled over by a Utah State Patrol about 20 miles outside of Salt Lake City on our way home. Unfortunately, I was driving. I really hate to be in trouble, but I couldn't figure out what I did wrong. Fortunately, the guy was really nice. He walked up to our SUV, kind of looked inside and asked "just where have you girls been?". It was funny because there was so much stuff in our car, we barely had enough room to sit, and my mom wasn't visible at all, sitting in a little cubby hole in the back. After telling him we were at a quilt show, he started laughing. He said normally, when people are packing this much stuff, he investigates. Susan then said "you're welcome to take it all out, but you would have to put it all back, and that would take you a very long time". He must of thought it wasn't worth the effort, because he sent the quilt girls on their way without any problems. We are still sure he never even noticed my mom.
- If we are ever to drive to Quilt Market again in Salt Lake City, mom and Susan can take the car and I will fly. I hate bad weather while driving (rain, snow, wind, fog) and we had all of it. Both ways. Thanks, Wyoming.
- We are already starting to make our charms for Houston. And for our Etsy site. It won't be long, I promise!
#1- A Very Special Surprise
We have been working on something pretty big for us for about 18-20 months. That's a long time to keep a big secret. But at quilt market, we discovered the secret is out, and we are free to tell everyone! So- our #1 fun thing at market was the announcement of our first book:
Sweetwater's Simple Home is being published by the Stash division of C&T Publishing, and will be available in August.
A little about the book: We had this idea to create projects for every room in the house, so the chapters are divided by rooms- kitchen, office, nursery, etc. We wanted an outdoorsy (is that a word?) feeling to the book, so we created "rooms" outdoors. Great idea- except we did all the photography (which we are so excited about). In March. In Colorado. Quilts and wind do not mix. But we absolutely love the result. We will soon write an entire post about our book and photography, because it really was a fun and funny experience.
We don't have an actual copy in our hands yet, but we have seen the sample pages. It really is a beautiful book and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do. We will be taking pre-orders starting in June.
So….to celebrate our big announcement, we just had to give something away. A few weeks ago, Moda generously sent us a huge box of Hometown scraps. These aren't just little tiny scraps, these are large pieces of fabric. If you would like to win some, leave us a comment about anything you choose- could be something about quilt market, Hometown, our book or simply what your favorite snack is. You choose!
We will choose a winner on Wednesday. Thanks for keeping up with our countdown