Quilt Market Update

On my drive to Utah, I made one detour.  The text to Harley Dude said "Safety stop to wash bugs off window....at a quilt shop....in Jerome."  to which he replied "Yea...right" and I insisted "No, really.  Safest place to do so. Quilters have sharp tools and are very protective of their own kind."

I made a couple purchases from the wall of bargains.  Pictured are : the rest of the bolt of a really good red with blue flowers that will likely become the back of the State Quilt, the rest of the bolt that will become the back of whatever the Hullabaloo Layer Cake that I won becomes, a yard of an orangeish-red for which I have no purpose,  and 1/3 yard of a batik that I didn't yet own.  Of course there was plenty of chatting going on at the cutting table which lead to my pulling the Charley Harper Cat out of the trunk for The Gathering Place gals to oogle while I powdered my nose.  Funny thing is, that I kept running into those Rupert Gals repeatedly at Market. 

Anna and I attended quilt market Friday and Saturday.  When we arrived Friday morning, Renae insisted that she didn't really need our help and she sent us on our merry way.  We did a lot of mobile marketing; When people asked what we did, our reply was along the lines of "We are here with Renae Allen of RGA Designs who does the Skillsbuilder series for free motion home quilting."  We stopped and chatted mostly with people who had designs that would work for the Western Heritage Arts Center Quilt Workshops in West Yellowstone, MT, products that we could use while teaching the handwork series there, products that we would like the Send It Home shop in West Yellowstone to carry for class attendees to purchase, and designers from Utah & Idaho with whom we wanted to establish some blogging relationships (give aways, guest bloggers, etc).   This photo is Cheryl Gunn & her sister of Walzing With Bears.  I have a funny story I'll share later about how I seem to run into her everywhere!  I'll be doing a series of posts related to items we received and plan to try over the next several weeks.  I had so much fun meeting up with people I'd only met via blogging, and made several new friends whom I plan to keep in touch with.  

At the end of each day, Anna & I did a debriefing of our "Favorite Things" and we could only narrow it down to one person and one thing each day.  Our Friday Favorites include a long chat with Pepper Cory about hand-work and buying Sample Spree leftover Batiks.  Saturday was lunch with Victoria Findlay Wolfe of Bumble Beans Inc and talking with the thread companies about what threads they have for handwork and why we should buy theirs rather than someone else's. 

I spent Sunday test driving threads and needles and have a series of post with my discoveries.  But right now, I really must be going...there's a valley full of quilt shops to visit and an idea for pink llama applique that must get out of my head...