As promised: Quilt Market & Quilt Festival 2011

Oh the places you'll go and the people you'll meet!

In years past I've been a roving reporter sharing with my online friends and family my view of the annual Houston International Quilt Market and Quilt Festival - and this year the exception is the majority of "my view" is from my booth at Festival...couldn't resist this photo of a passer-by-er ... a wonderful example of a good pack mule!

what I don't know is if his wife went wild purchasing Christmas gifts or if he was restocking a booth...either way, I'd say he's a jolly good fellow wouldn't you?!?!

I love this time of year! My friend Trish and I look forward to making the daily commute north into Houston for this annual extravaganza. I don't know how many years Trish has attended, but I've been going since 2000 - that's when this Texan/Tennessean moved back to the H. Town area... In 2004 I began going to Market in addition to Festival, the trade show for those with wholesale licenses. In 2008 I became a vendor at Festival with A1 Quilting Machines - so my wandering of the isles at Festival is no more....BUT! Trish and I make up for it during Market the weekend prior to Festival....

The isle ways at Market aren't as crowded. The vendors offer a lot of hands on demos as they are marketing their newest gadget, book or patterns to shop owners. I was having so much fun that I forgot to take photos (sigh) But here's Trish at one booth's "make and take"...

Fun stuff wouldn't you agree? Since I'm not a retail or online shop a lot of items were just eye candy for me - a time to be inspired and learn new things and take a peek at the upcoming fabric lines from all the major manufacturers.

I do however have my favorite vendors...because I teach beginning piecing and fun patterns in both my studio and area quilt shops I always make a bee-line to Aunties Two Patterns - boy did I buy out the booth! I can't wait to make some shop samples - check out their rag rug pattern and just one of my favorites - the breezy weave bag... this bag lady is going to be stylin' in 2012 that's for sure!

And what market venture would be complete without stocking up on thread for the longarm (and piecing). Bob at Superior Threads always has a well stocked booth and that's generally where all the longarm guys and gals gather during market...this year was no exception. I stocked up on Rainbows and the new Omni line. Fun fun colors!

During Festival I visited the Fil-Tec booth where I purchase my Magna-Glide prewounds and met up with Dusty Farrell at the YLI booth where he was introducing his new line of thread...Yep, longarm quilters invest a lot in thread!

I think if you click on the above photo collage that it will become larger in your screen....at least I hope so. I'm trying to share a lot of photos in a little amount of space so I hope this works for ya'll.

I've got things a little jumbled sharing vendor photos from Market and Festival mixed together but oh well... To get back into the chronological order of things - first things first! Market is not only a time for Trish and I to purchase things for our businesses but it's sorta a reunion with all our quilting friends, and a time to celebrate!

The first person I ran into at Market was Tom Russell and we had a bit of celebrating to do! The new book Lone Stars III, A Legacy of Texas Quilts 1936-2011 was released and his quilt is on page 3oo and one that I quilted was on page 248. Woo-hoo! I didn't learn until after the fact that there was a reception for those included in the book, I didn't get the memo....so I missed the wine and cheese but I've still got my name in the book and that's what counts!

Did I mention that Market/Festival is a reunion! Oh my! I didn't take enough photos! Not only did I get to visit with local friends but I actually met up with several "facebook" friends and friends from longarm lists and blogville friends, and even long lost friends from high school! What fun to get to give and receive hugs - I think I have sore face muscles from so much grinnin'

All too soon Market was over and it was time to set up the A1 Quilting Machines booth for Festival. I do hope you can click on this and see the close ups of the beautiful quilts I borrowed from award winning quilters Mark Sherman from Florida and Clem Buzick from North Dakota.

Here's a close up of Mark's quilts, and "me 'n Mark"

If you have never been to the Houston show you can't imagine just how big it really is! This is a view from an upper floor window. I have no idea the square footage of the show nor the number of the vendors, but in the past I do know the show boasts of over 56 thousand attendees! Truly a quilter's paradise! And plenty of other things to tempt those non-quilters too! This photo is not even half of the hall - the isles were numbered 100, 200 all the way to 2000 - so it's TEXAS BIG!

One of my favorite things is getting to introduce people to the joys of longarm quilting. Many have never seen nor had their hands on a longarm - that's why we bring them to the shows, to allow people to try them out and see if this is something they might be interested in....many come to the show with an agenda to test drive all the major brands and then make a decision on which longarm is best for them. We welcomed many new A1 quilters to the family this past weekend!

A real blessing to me this year was having my A1 customers, or my "A1 family" as I call them, assist me in the booth. Special thanks to Trish, Dwain, Ida, Lou Ann, Ellen, Vonnie and Janice for being so wonderful with customers...I received some good feedback on them as well as comments from them concerning the experience...

From a future customer on our feedback form:

... this is the first time I am SERIOUS about making a long-arm happen for me. You'll be hearing from me and that is largely due to the warm greeting you and the other reps (and customers!) gave me during the multiple stops at the show booth this weekend. I've now sewed on about everything - I want your machine. It's the one that wins hands down for control, smooth motion and value overall...and I've LOOKED!Cheers!

From my customers who worked the booth:

I had a ball helping and would love to do it again along with all the other fun helpers! It always amazes me what all you learn even when just enjoying the A1 family at a show. Karen thanks so much for asking all of us to help.

... thank you for the opportunity to work in the booth and tell more people about how great the A-1 is. To be able to say, "I'm not a dealer, just a very happy customer using the best longarm. Just try all of the other longarms and you will not find a smoother running machine." Visiting with Stewart and (others) was a plus also.

From my one of our new customers:

It was so nice to meet you and all the other A-1 quilters. I feel like I have found a family! Everyone was so nice and friendly. I am very excited and looking forward to getting my new machine!

This is what makes those long days worth it that's for sure! I am so blessed to have the best machine out there, the best "boss" Stewart Plank, and the best customers!

But in reality, the highlight of my week wasn't seeing my name in print or my quilt in the exhibit, it wasn't the reunion with friends or meeting online friends in person, or even being among all the "famous people" of the quilting world or introducing new quilters to the A1....it was a special visit on the last day of the show...

...with my mom! This was the first time she'd attended the Houston International Quilt Show and got to see first hand what I'm so passionate about! Thanks mom, for your continued love and support!

Before we knew it the quilt show was over. We were joined by Trish's husband Frank and my hubby Johnny to help tear down the booth....looks a little different doesn't it? I've always loved those behind the scene photos!

SO here's the final parting shot from my full-time A-team volunteers Trish and Dwain...and yes, those are bags under our eyes - we are tired but most happy! It was a great Market/Festival - I'm still digging out and sorting through all the wonderful things I came home with from Market and busy answering emails from new customers and future customers who want to be put on a mailing list. OH! and I almost forgot! I was totally blown away by having some folks come to the booth to inquire about my quilting services - thank you to my fellow vendor friends who passed along my contact information! I'm looking forward to working on some very special quilts in the near future!

I'll sign off with this parting shot...taken the next morning on my walk to the bay....

Bodacious Longarm Gift Basket

It's been a while since the Houston International Quilt Festival....but I need to revisit that time for just a bit and update on the Bodacioius Gift Basket that was drawn among the new longarm quilters purchasing an A1 Quilting Machine at our booth this year....

Since my last post we have been two steppin' all over Texas setting up new A1 Quilting Machines and in just a few short weeks our winner of the Bodacious Gift Basket will join the ranks of a new A1 quilter!

...now I want to share just what was in that basket and take time to thank our sponsors for making this gift possible.

Thank you to Stewart Plank, owner of A1 Quilt Machines for the tote bag and Towa Gauge - the tote bag has multiple uses of course, but for those of you unfamiliar with the TOWA, it's a tool to assist in determining the proper tension on the bobbin, thus eliminating half of the tension headaches (grin).

Thank you to H.D. Wilbanks and Darlene Christopherson of Pellon Legacy for their contribution of a 9 yd x 96" wide bolt of 80/20 batting and a queen size bamboo prepackaged batting.

Jamie Wallen, A1 dealer and national quilt instructor, along with his partner, A1 dealer Roseanne Campisi donated their newest DVD The Care & Feeding of Your A-1 Quilting Machine. They have joined forces on several instructional DVDs including quilting design elements and fun items like gallery baskets.

Another A1 dealer, Brenda Janovy, donated a handy longarm apron to our new quilter.

Texas designer, Patricia Ritter of Urban Elementz, donated two beautiful pantograph patterns.

Diana Phillips of Cozy Creations donated one of her Line Dancing Books, More Line Dancing - so many beautiful quilting designs to inspire and encourage our new quilter! She has many wonderful design books for machine quilters.

Quilters are such generous people. When I first posted on a longarm forum that I was looking for ideas for a gift basket my online buddy, Dawn Rameriz, the Pajama Quilter , quickly contacted me that she would be happy to donate her newest DVD and workbook, Pajama Quilter Retreaded. Dawn's work just makes you smile! She's sooo cute demo-ing quilt designs in her PJ's.

Almost immediately after receiving Dawn's generous offer to help out with the gift basket, Vicki Anderson of Machine Quilting Unlimited suggested that our new quilter needed a one year subscription to her wonderful magazine. I totally agreed! (It is my favorite longarm magazine!)

Bob Purcell of Superior Threads graciously donated King Tut and So Fine to our new quilter. A special thank you to Bob for being a provider of thread for not only the Houston show but all the shows that A1 Quilting Machines attends. The customers just love the beauty of the King Tut, Rainbows and Metallics that we run on our machines!

Lorrie Coats of Columbia River Quilting donated Superior Thread's Rainbows and Bottom Line threads along with wonderful Titanium needles. As you can see from her flyer, she operates a one stop online shop for longarm quilters - books, threads, needles, rulers, etc.

Chris Meyers of Fil-Tec graciously donated several spools of Glide and Maga-Glide prewound bobbins. Thank you to Chris, Matt & Rachel for your support at both MQS and the Houston Festival in supplying Maga-Glide prewound bobbins to use in the booth for demos as well as in the classrooms for the A1 Quilting Machines. We also enjoy running the Glide as a top thread in the booth.

And from my "neighbors" - another Texas company...thank you Gadget Girls for the donation of the stitch in the ditch ruler, a good start to a new collection for our new quilter. This will work perfect with the extended base that comes with the A1 Quilting Machine!

Thank you to Havel's for their best selling snips - these will come in sooo handy for clipping those threads!

And to sweeten the pot, I added a few of my favorite things... Havel's seam ripper for those times you have to "frog" (rip it, rip it), my favorite marking pens and eraser, Best Press, a longarm centering tape and more snips (can never have too many scissors) AND my purple longarm zippers that will be added to the take up rollers on the A1.

I can't say thank you enough for the generosity of my sponsors for making this gift basket possible - a wonderful jump start for our newest A1 quilter. Welcome to the A1 family Carol - enjoy your goodies!

A cotton-pickin good time

Where has the month gone! Oh my, I feel like I'm just coming up for breath.

So, did ya think the Quilt Rambler lost her voice? Actually I had a slight scare there for a while....it's been a fabulous few weeks. Non stop quilting fun, and yes lots and lots of quilt talking! So much that my jaw hurts!

For several weeks I've been preparing for the Houston International Quilt Festival. It's my favorite time of the year, 10 days (counting the wholesale buying part called Market) of nothing but quilts, quilts, and more quilts. Anything you can think of concerning making, enjoying, loving quilts all under one roof - a giant roof spanning 9 football fields! As a "quilter for hire" (business) I attend 5 days of Market shopping for new items I can use in my business - fabrics, new patterns to teach, the latest in notions and techniques....very fun, very rewarding and very tiring (grin).

But its the Festival that really get me excited! Once again this year my participation in Festival was that of a vendor - one of over a thousand vendors in a crowd of over 56,000 attendees! So for weeks ahead of time I've been thinkin', collectin' and makin' STUFF to decorate the A1 Quilting Machine booth....Texas Style! By the way, for those unfamiliar - that's a bouquet of cotton picked from the side of the road around Katy Texas...

But back to my story...5 days at Market, then a day and a half preparing the booth prior to 4 1/2 days of Festival... being the proud Texan that I am I figured what better attraction that a quilted Texas flag - along with a split rail fence adorned by a Texas theme quilt, and a few Texas items...

And what Texas booth would be complete without our own Texas A1 Quilting cowgirl showing off her favorite quilting supplies - Legacy Pellon 80/20 batting and a bouquet of thread by Superior Threads and Fil Tec/Bobbin Central?

We even decorated the back of the back wall (grin) To the far right is the 2007 Award Winning Houston Rodeo quilt by Mainland Morning, and another Texas "map" quilt. Yep, comin' or goin' we wanted folks to see the A1 booth and stop by to visit.

And stop by they did! And not just quilters looking for longarms... Oh it's sew much fun to get hugs from your friends! This is one of my close quilting buddies Cindy. Even though she's just across H-town from me, we spend more time talking on the phone than actually quilting together. Gotta change that somehow!

And this is fellow blogger and longtime friend Elaine, she surprised me - hadn't seen her for several years. I met Elaine when we were working on the road as ice cream vendors. We hired her daughters to work in our Ben & Jerry's booth at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo around 2000 and have been friends ever since. Yep, the road is never long between emails!

Met up with several other gals I've known for years through longarm forums, blogs, etc. I wish I'd had photos of everyone - it's sooooo special to get a real hug and not just a cyper hug, and really special to have that face to face contact for the first time. Can't say enough about the joy brought to me when these special friends stopped by.

And here's to a couple of gentlemen in my quilting life. My "mentors" so to speak. Tom Russell, award winning quilter, who greatly encourages me to "develop my style" (and is helping me discover it!) and Jamie Wallen, national longarm teacher, who helped me discover the joy of quilting feathers. I'm truly blessed to have such talented friends, only wish a little more of their art/skills would rub off on me!

Of course Quilt Festival isn't just about vendors and meeting friends, it's about quilts! Oh my, there just wasn't enough time to view the quilts. I did take photos to enjoy later of all the inspiration and the award winners...but just wanted to share this next photo with you...a man on a mission...my hubby trying to locate the customer quilt of mine that was hanging in the Texas Guild Winners exhibit...Have to admit it was exciting to see my name on a quilt hanging in Houston! Of course, I do have several quilts hanging in my booth, but that's not the same (grin)

The weekend was full of reunions and special surprises - blasts from the past so to speak. Wow, I look up and who should be walking into my booth but long time East Tennessee friends who are now East Texans! Steve and Donna of Nevrdun fame (Donna is quite a gifted writer and has a e-zine called Nevrdun News - let me know if you want to connect to good wholesome inspiration). While living in Tennessee we shared homeschooling in common, and for the past 10 years (when we left TN for TX) have kept up through the internet. Now they are in the state and it was such a joy to see them after 10+ years. Nope, ya'll haven't changed a bit!

And then there's Holly....my best friend from High School. We reconnected last year after 20+ years for a brief one day in person visit and have attempted to keep up via facebook .... I'm tearing up again Holly, just like I did when you and Ken surprised me in the booth! We really do need to spend more time together my friend!

Oh! and did I mention that it's all about the new longarm customers? Wow what a show! Pictured here is Carol from Midland, one of many proud new A1 owners and the winner of my Bodacious Gift Basket drawing... more on that in the future as I do want to properly thank and acknowledge all the generous sponsors! That good ole Texas wash tub is FULL of wonderful longarm supplies for this lucky Texas lady! Congratulations Carol, can't wait until your studio is finished and we can set up your new A1 Quilting Machine!

The booth wouldn't have been successful without the help of many people. This is my friend and fellow A1 dealer Brenda Janovy from Sturgis SD helping a future quilter try out a longarm quilting machine. Unfortunately I didn't get a group photo of the entire A1 team - thank you Stewart Plank for making such a fabulous longarm; for Justin Plank who sets them up, tears them down, and maintains the classroom machines during the 7 day class period; the A1 dealers Brenda, Jamie, and Rosanne and my side kick Trish for working with our customers demo-ing the machines, answering questions, and writing up orders. Ya'll are the best-est!
One of the hardest things for this Quilt Rambler is to remain silent (grin) but that was a requirement earlier this year as I was blessed to be asked to quilt for an upcoming book... couldn't share photos of the quilt until the book was published...well, its published and now I can share photos! RaNae Merrill's newest book, Magnificent Spiral Mandala Quilts, was released at the Houston Quilt Market....here's a photo of her booth at Festival...The quilt on the right is called That's the Way Love Is and is the one I quilted for her book.

Since RaNae and I had only corresponded through the mail and over the phone concerning her quilt, it was a real pleasure to get to meet her and have her autograph my copy of the book!

I truly enjoyed this year's Market and Festival. It was a lot of fun planning my "Texas" booth and working with future quilters. So many folks are in the market for longarms, doing their research and test driving all the manufactures - it's a big decision! One thing I hoped to convey to my future customers is that we become a family - I was so pleased that so many of my existing A1 customers came and hung out in the booth - loved it that Vonnie & Ellen were there to welcome a new A1 family members. I truly have the best customers! And they are all so smart - they chose the best longarm!

Festival was "over" Sunday night 11/7 at 5 PM, tear down and loading up took about 2 hours, then there's the 45 minute drive home...but! we didn't go home - we went to Trish's, my "side kick" who helps me at shows to deliver her A1! Yep! Trish went home with one of the show table/machines and by midnight we had welcomed a new member to the A1 family!

The next morning we headed out to the Fort Worth area to set up and train Kathy, another new A1 Elite owner. I wish I'd of taken a photo of Kathy's babies - two beautiful Airedales!

Home again for a day or two and it's time for the Bayshore Longarm Quilter's quarterly gathering...We love show and tell, and so does Pixxie, my professional quilt model. Everyone got a chuckle out of her immediately getting on Robin's quilt to "pose" for a photo (and earn a treat!)

Cindy shared a beautiful quilt that she actually gets to keep for herself as a "shop sample" - love those feathers girlfriend!

Ellen is new A1 family member, having her machine since mid June of this year - she had several quilts for show and tell. Great job Ellen!

As if Market, Festival, two set ups, and a longarm gathering weren't enough for a couple of non stop weeks....on Sunday 11/14 I picked up another A1 dealer, Megan Best from Washington (state) to join me on a combined A1 Horizon and CompuQuilter (CQ) set up and training. Road trip! Shiner....population 2070... where we found ourselves without cell service - which meant no phone, no text-ing, and no internet for 3 days! Talk about withdraws!! Didn't realize how much of a city girl I was until I went to the country without my gadgets (grin) - but we lived to tell about it. Here' our quaint accommodations...

And yes, I travel with my own quilt (grin).

Megan is what I call a double dealer (grin) she not only sales and services A1 quilting machines in the west coast but also represents CompuQuilter (CQ) a computerized addition to longarms that allows the quilter to program a design and the computer implement it. We call it quilting with no hands. And it's sooo cool to watch that big ole machine quilt beautiful designs!

Carol has been quilting on an A1 Elite for over 12 years...she began before the days of stitch regulators and all the bells and whistles we have today... it was very intriguing to me to see the forerunner of the machine I run today...the handlebars are different, the "speed dial" on the side is foreign to me, and there's only one "button" on the handle bar that turns it either on or off - no single stitch button for basting...lots of changes in 12 years! The wonderful thing about an A1 is the casting is the same and throughout the years ANY upgrades could have been added to keep this machine 'current'. Carol's idea was "if it ain't broke don't fix it" - she's run a very successful quilting business without the desire to update her machine. Until now...now she's so successful that she's purchased a second machine...this little workhorse is still gainfully employed!

And now Carol has the newest A1, the Horizon, a big 31 inch throat space with all the bells and whistles PLUS the CQ computerized quilting. In other words, she just got a new employee! She'll continue to free hand on the A1 Elite while the CQ is running the A1 Horizon - doesn't she look pleased! Can't really say welcome to the A1 family as she's already family, but congratulations on growing the family Carol!

Yep, it's been a whirlwind of a month. Now it's time to get back to work on customer quilts - before we know it Christmas will be here! But in the meantime, I do want to slow down enough to take time to be thankful - Thanksgiving is less than a week away but I don't have to wait! I am thankful for the opportunity to have sew much fun in this quilting world, I'm thankful to have so many friends - both the ones that I can physically hug and the ones that I keep up with over the internet through emails, blogs, and online forums with cyper hugs. I am truly blessed.

So if you've hung with me through this long-winded Texas tale (grin) you now know why the Quilt Rambler has been silent, I haven't been AWOL or MIA, just two steppin' across Texas having a cotton pickin good time!