Go Handmade this year!

Sew, Mama, Sew is hosting a Handmade Holidays Extravaganza! I am bound and determined to make handmade gifts this year and am looking forward to seeing what they come up with for ideas! Check it out! I will be posting my creations that I make for the holidays this year on my blog and can't wait to see what everyone else is making too!

Quilt Market... catch up

Back home and getting back into the swing of things. My son is recovering from his cold well but my daughter was having asthma issues while I was gone so it is good to be back home to help my husband take care of her. She is doing a little better, but still keeping a very close watch on her. We had really long days and nights at Quilt Market so I appologize for not posting every night. Some nights I just had to crash.

Saturday was the first day of Quilt Market and what a day! I was there demoing our Moda Fabricmatcher website and how the Store Owners could use Fabricmatcher in their shop. What a great response we had! Some of the shops were already using it and liked playing around with the Free online tool to be able to create samples without even cutting a single piece of fabric first. The shops that had not seen it yet, seemed to be excited about playing around with it when they returned back home. So... overall it really seemed to go pretty well. Saturday night was our Moda Customer Party and we had a ton of fun! There was lots of dancing and hula hooping... sorry I didn't get pictures of the hula hooping (it was a bit difficult trying to hula hoop and take pictures at the same time).

Dinner Time...

Lots of Dancing...

Me and Mr. Dunn...

Cheryl Freydberg (Design Director) and Mr. Dunn (Owner)...

Jane Stewart (Sales Rep) and Lissa Alexander (Marketing Director)... they did not plan the same sweater... so they say :)

Lissa and me...

John Atkins (IT Director) and Damian Fielke (Virtual Business)...

Joseph Galza (Sales Rep), Doyle Parker (Notions Buyer), Tom Matheny (Sales Rep) and Al Lamborn (Sales Rep)...

Lissa and John...

Distributors from Japan, Brian Dunn, Cheryl Freydberg, and Mr. Dunn...

Food from Japan...Me and Bob Wallner (VP / CFO)...
Amy and Tom Matheny (Sales Reps) and Damian Fielke...

Mark Pytel (Sales Rep) and Lissa...

Here are a few of the pics of the Moda Fabrics, Moda Home and United Notions booth...

Damian Fielke (creator of our Moda Fabricmatcher website) and Me demoing our Moda Fabricmatcher website.

Damian's wife, Sarah Fielke owns a Quilt Shop in Sydney, Australia, Material Obsession, and she was so sweet to make me this beautiful flower pin that I proudly wore it on the first day of Market. Sarah has a new book out called Material Obsession that you must get. It is available now in Austrailia and will be available in the USA in March 2009. I have the Australian version and it is absolutely wonderful! Thank you so much Sarah for my beautiful flower pin!!!

Debbie Duckworth and Kelli Trimble (Customer Service) and Debbie Outlaw (Book and Pattern Buyer) in the United Notions booth. I didn't realize that I didn't get very many pics of our notions booth. Shame on me!

Some of the other Market booths I had a chance to check out and people I met...

All My Bags and Quilts Too! - Pattern Designer ...

American Jane - Sandy Klop - Moda Fabric Designer and Pattern Designer... Her new paper dolls collections is very cute!
Amy Butler - Book and Pattern Designer and Fabric Designer for Westminster...

Anna Maria Horner... can you believe she is pregnant with her 6th kid!!! She looks great! Very cute book out by her... Seams to Me... you must get! I got a signed copy of it while at market.

Bananafana... Jess Goldman... Absolutely adorable! You have to check out her patterns... too cute! I will definitely be making some of these skirts for Paige! It was great meeting her!

Blackbird Designs - Moda Fabric Designers and Pattern Designers...

Fig Tree Quilts - Moda Fabric Designer and Pattern Designer - Joanna and her husband, Eric. - She has an adorable slipper pattern for adults and children you just have to check out! I had a lot of fun with Joanna and Eric... they are such great people... she is absolutely hilarious! Eric... make sure you keep that rat contained!

French General Book - very cute book - a must have....

Kansas Troubles - Moda Fabric Designer and Pattern Designer...

Laundry Basket Quilts - Moda Fabric Designer and Pattern Designer... Edyta is so cute! If you missed it at the party, she is very good at hula hooping. She can go on forever! Way to go, Edyta!

Me and My Sister - Moda Fabric Designers and Pattern Designers - You two are a HOOT! Loved seeing you guys again... I will cherish my little frog forever!

Minick and Simpson - Moda Fabric Designers and Pattern designers... Laurie and Polly it was so good seeing you two at Market! This is a dynamic duo... Polly does the rug hooking and Laurie is the quilter!
Sandy Gervais - Moda Fabric Designer and pattern designer... Sandy made her dress from a vintage pattern... She is always so adorable!

Serendipity Studio - Pattern Designer... you must check her patterns out! VERY CUTE clothing and tote bag patterns!

The Threaded Pear - Gina Halliday with Quiltersbuzz.com - Sassy!

Tina Givens - Pattern Designer and Fabric Designer for Westminster ... absolutely adorable pattern designs!

Houston

Whew... what a day! Lots going on and still a lot more ahead. This morning I left for Houston Quilt Market and had to say goodbye to my kiddos and hubby for the weekend. I was a little sad because Paige and Matthew started to have cold symptoms this morning. It's never good when your kiddos aren't feeling very well. Richie (hubby) has been really great... he is taking care of everything while I am gone to Houston so I don't have to worry too much.

Arrived in Houston around 1ish and headed off to the convention center to help with setup. Quilt Market does not officially start until tomorrow, however tonight we had Sample Spree and I was able to attend Fabric 2.0 to meet a bunch of great people in the Industry and fellow Bloggers! A few new bloggers (to me that is) that you will definitely need to check out... Take A Bow, Bloom Design Co, Flourishes / Confessions of a Craft Addict, Stop Starring and Start Sewing, Fabric Hound, Maluhia Designs, Hip Fabric, Quiltmaker, and BHG American Patchwork and Quilting.

jcaroline creative is on the far right...

And of course... the fabulous Fig Tree Quilts, Joanna and her husband.

Joanna (Fig Tree Quilts), Jen (Tula Pink) and Jay McCarroll (Project Runways 1st Season Winner)...

Then... off to Sample Spree... Sample Spree is an amazing sight to see. Tons of retailers out to purchase the latest samples and fabrics that they can get their hands on before they receive the actual sell-able goods for their stores. This allows the Store Owners to be able make their store samples ahead of time so when the actual fabric arrives at the store, you will be able to see a finished project made with a particular collection. Check out all the people around the Moda Sample tables! WOW!

And a few things that I picked up at Sample Spree that I just had to have.

Our Moda Bakeshop Sample Spree Tote... TOO CUTE! I didn't buy any fabric tonight... will have to wait until it arrives in the warehouse.

Deb Strain (Saltbox Illustrations) Grocery list book...

Me and My Sister Froggy made from their newest collection... Oh-Cherry-Oh! This frog is so cute...

A very pretty teal shell bracelet from Things Past & Present... will be wearing this tomorrow for the first day of market.

A cute little purse for my 3 year old daughter, Paige... She loves all things Pink and shiny! What girl doesn't... right?

And my favorite of all... this adorable little vintage childs bracelet... which will be a Christmas present for Paige. SOOOO CUTE!!!!!

Until tomorrow....