Quilt Market, Pittsburgh 2014 - overview

I went to Quilt Market last week. And today I will share a little about that trip to twice yearly trade show for the quilting industry. This is not a public event. It is a market for retailers and industry professionals (designers, authors, long arm quilters, etc.) to see a preview of the upcoming fabrics, patterns, books, quilting tools, etc. and to order them for retail sales.

I roomed with great women, Katy (The Littlest Thistle), Rachael (imagine gnats) and Allegory (a thousand needles). Spending time with them was, without a doubt, one of the best parts of Quilt Market. 

I met up with Becca (Sew Me a Song) and she graciously allowed Katy and I to tag along with her as she evaluated and ordered fabric for her shop. Becca is fantastic and I felt like she was an instant friend. I can assure you she is going to have some amazing fabrics arriving in her shop.

I met and talked with many talented fabric designers, bloggers, pattern designers, fabric manufacturers, sales reps, publishers, thread manufacturers, quilty tool manufacturers, etc. The folks at quilt market were all happy to share information and welcome me - the people of quilt market are really quite lovely.

I took a lot of photos on Sunday morning when it was quieter on the floor. There were too many photos to sort and edit for the blog so I just threw them all into a 9 or so minute slide show which I hope will give you a taste of the feeling of quilt market. It is viewed best in the smaller size and no need to click to youtube as it is not there yet (I might add that later). 

I will share more about the massive pile of fabric I bought at sample spree in the coming days and weeks. The sample spree allows you to buy fabric pre-cuts and some other items at wholesale or reduced prices and in advance of their release into the retail market. I will share more about these fabrics as I have time to really look at them and work with them - there are a lot of beautiful new fabrics coming out, its too bad that more would not fit into my suitcases (yes, I had two).

I am going to have to share other parts of Quilt Market with you over the next week or so. It was an overwhelming source of information and inspiration but I need some time to sort it all out first and to break it into smaller pieces for sharing.

And thank you to everyone who has purchased my new pattern, Canvas. I am going to extend the 50% off sale until the end of the month and show off some of the work of my testers this weekend. You can get a copy by following the links under the My patterns tab at the top of the blog.

Best,

Leanne

News - a pattern, a winner

I am so excited to let you know that the pattern for Canvas is now available for sale. For the first week, it is available for half price. You can buy it at my Esty shop here and use the coupon code CANVAS50 to get the discounted price. Or you can buy it here on Craftsy where it is listed at half price for now and I will put the price up to the normal level in a week (regular price will be $10.00 Canadian on Etsy, and $9.00 US on Craftsy, mostly because each has a view of whether I can use US or Canadian dollars for the prices).

My pattern testers, editors and technical assistants have done a fantastic job - thank you to them all again. Any remaining problems are my own. Should you see one, or have any questions, please let me know and I will do my best to help you out.

I drew the winner of the beautiful Oakshott Lakes bundle tonight from the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. The winner is Donna W. I have emailed Donna and will be getting that bundle off to her as soon as I get home from Pittsburg.

Quilt market has been very fun so far but also totally overwhelming. I will share my thoughts and experiences with you but not until I get home, debrief and get some more sleep.

Best,

Leanne

Reflection, a Scrappy Quilt entry into the Blogger's Quilt Festival

Welcome. I'm entering my quilt, Reflection, in the Scrappy Quilts category of Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival. If you visit here often, I hope you don't mind seeing her again. She seemed like the perfect entry for the festival.

 Let me tell you about Reflection. She is about 53" square after a good wash and dry. Reflection was made from many different fabrics, so she is definitely scrappy.



I quilted Reflection on my long arm machine using hand guided free motion quilting in an industrial modern quilting style.



The pattern for this quilt came from my friend, Linda Rotz Miller (you can visit her website here or her flickr pages here). Linda was making these blocks, which she said were inspired by Maaike Bakker's book Strip Pieced Quilts, and I was inspired to make some too. Linda is a fantastic quilt top maker, ongoing inspiration and a wonderful teacher, and when I asked she showed me how.

With Linda's permission I posted a tutorial for this quilt block here.



For the back, I used some strips and lovely black print whose designer I have forgotten. The binding was made from some more of some of the prints used in the front.



This is another detail shot after washing. I have to say, that for me, the quilt and the quilting are just not finished until the texture has been added by the wash. Also, we use the quilts, and thus they need regular washing.



That photo above is before the wash and in slightly different light. I so love the colours and fabrics in this quilt, some from the new True Colors lines, some from Botanics, some from my stash, many low volumes from a number of sources. I am not sure if anyone would call this design - which is, in essence, just a bunch of HSTs (can you see them) - modern, but this quilt feels very modern to me anyway.



The back before washing and turned the other way.



And there she is before the wash and probably in better light. I use this cheerful quilt as the extra quilt on my bed most nights, although maybe as summer finally arrives she will be more needed for naps instead.

I hope you are enjoying the Bloggers Quilt Festival, it is always full of inspiration.

Best,

Leanne

Oakshotts for Giveaway Day

It's Giveaway Day at Sew Mama Sew. I have a beautiful bundle of Fat 1/8s to give away, courtesy of Michael Oakshott at Oakshott Fabrics. I have used Oakshott fabrics often in my quilts - if you are new here, you can check out the my quilts tab to see them, or look here, here, here and here.

This bundle of 12 fat 1/8s is called Lakes. Each of the 100% cotton fabrics is woven on a blue warp with different colours shot through as the weft. The challenge with these shot cottons is to capture in a photograph the shimmer that the different coloured weft threads creates. I went about looking for shining sun rays to help me out.

To win the giveaway, leave me just one comment per person and I will draw the winner randomly. Tell me about your favourite lake/ocean spot and why you like it or tell me about a lake/ocean location you are hoping to visit one day.

Please leave your email in your comment if you are not sure if you are a no-reply blogger (you can write it as yourname [at] emailservice [dot] com or whatever so that the email strippers won't recognize it if you are worried). If I cannot find you, you cannot win.

I'll close the giveaway on Friday May 16, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. PST and I will be drawing and contacting the winner by Sunday night. This giveaway is open to anyone in the world - I will send these fantastic fabrics to you wherever you might be.

I wish you all good luck now, as there are too many comments to answer during giveaways. Oh, and if you have not yet been, head over to Sew Mama Sew to enter all the other giveaways that will be linked there this week.

Best,

Leanne

This and that

I had no time to sew this week. But let's start with the beautiful Mother's Day flowers that I got on Thursday, just because it would be nice to enjoy the flowers before I leave town on Monday.

You see, I am off to my very first Quilt Market. The badge proves it. I am very excited but would love any insights into market that you can share. Or if you, like me,  have never been there, what would you like to know about it? I will instagram when I can (I have to depend on wifi, as this is an international trip for me and my phone) and blog about it when I get back. I am off today to buy some very comfortable shoes, I am thinking that I will be on my feet a lot. Any other advice?

I am going to be sharing a lovely giveaway for Sew Mama Sew giveaway day this coming Monday.

And Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side starts next Friday so I need to get a post ready for that too. Remember, this festival is for everyone, I hope you will be adding a quilt to the festival too.

Well, I am off to get those shoes, and then to finish answering all the lovely comments you have been leaving this week. I also hope to do some quilting today. For those of you waiting for my Canvas pattern, the fantastic testers have been sending me the best input, it will be available soon. You can see some of the testers' versions by searching #canvasquilt, and I will be showing off their versions here soon.

Enjoy your weekend, Happy Mother's Day, in advance.

Best,

Leanne