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....

This just in....

Lissa Alexander, my boss and Marketing Director at Moda Fabrics has a BLOG!!!!! Can I get a WOOT... WOOT! You will definitely need to save "Moda Lissa" to your favorite blogs. Can't wait to see what creative and inspiring things she posts!

Pre-Market Fun...

Yesterday, we had a fun training day for our Moda Sales Reps at our Dallas office. They attended four different classes... Sewing, Notion demos, and two Technical classes.

Even our Sales Reps must know how to sew! All the Sales Reps made little bags made from Honey Buns.

Debbie Duckworth (Customer Service) helping Joseph Galza (Sales Rep) with the Sewing Machine. Kind of looks like she is getting a little frustrated with the machine... doesn't it? No, really, she was great teaching them how to make their Bags.

Where's Gene?

All you Wisconsin and Illinois Moda Customers out there... Check your Sales Rep, Stephanie! This is her very first time hand stitching (whip stitching). Go Stephanie!!!

You can get a Free Pattern for this cute little bag off our Moda website.

Sales Rep, Jane Stewart watching demo from Jen, you may her as Tula Pink.

Sales Rep, Jon Taylor watching demo from Allison, one of the Urban Chiks.

We had a lot of fun yesterday. Now, tomorrow we will be off to Quilt Market.

GIVEAWAY!!!

I am doing my very first Giveaway!!!! Simply leave me a comment and/or suggestion about our Moda Fabrics website or our Moda Fabricmatcher website and I will give you this collectible Moda Hanky and Tissue Holder combo free... that is if I pick your comment and/or suggestion as a winner... so make it good. I have several to give away so let the games begin!

3 Days and Counting...

WOO HOOO!!! Quilt Market is quickly approaching and I am so very excited. Lots to look forward to. Anyway... what I really wanted to tell you are there are some Moda Updates I just have to inform you all of.

First... the Moda Sweet Rolls are officially being changed to Moda Honey Buns! Everything else is staying the same... still 1 1/2" x 45" strips rolled up like the Jelly Rolls... just smaller.
... check out our buns!


Also, our Layer Cakes are getting additional ingredients... and for free! All our future Layer Cakes will contain 42 squares for the price of 40. There will be 2 bonus squares in each pack. These cuts will make it easy to make a 6 x 7 project... just add a border and backing... and voila... DONE!

How much easier can this get? Oh, I know... how about some Moda Turnovers! If you have not heard about these yet, then let me tell you... easy peasy! Moda has taken all the work out and made quilting fun! Moda Turnovers are 6" squares cut into half square triangles and you can you use them with our Moda Charm Packs. They are made a bit bigger than the Charm Packs so when you sew two of the triangles together they can be can be squared up to pair up with charm squares—for a perfect fit. Turnovers and new Honey Buns will be available in selected collections. They will be debuting at Houston Quilt Market and arriving in stores beginning Jan. 2009.

I am getting hungry talking about all these baked goods! Can't wait to try them all!

On Another note... Check out these really cute bag patterns new from Lazy Girl Designs. Got yo get me some!

Bedtime...

What is it with kids and bedtime? Some nights they go down with out a problem...

Other nights, they just can't seem to fall asleep...

Tonight... Paige went right to bed and Matthew just kept sneaking his way out into the hall. I even caught him watching TV with Daddy. Little stinker. I guess I can't blame him, though. I do have a weakness for his little grin when he comes peeking into my office. It is hard to get mad at him when he just smiles at you and gives you a big hug. He just now fell asleep at my feet in my office at 11:40 pm.

Quilt Market... 10 days and counting...

Ever wonder what the International Quilt Market is all about? Take a Behind-The-Scenes look with our latest slideshow posted to our Moda website from the Spring 2008 Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon.
Lots of new fabrics and notions... lots of shop owners and vendors... lots of fun and excitement... lots of NEW IDEAS!!! Oh, the ideas... I can't wait! Only 10 more days! During the Fall Quilt Market in Houston next weekend, I will be posting an insider's look at Quilt Market's activities and sightings so stay tuned!

This is a picture of me at the Spring 2008 Market showing some shop owners our new Fabricmatcher website and how they can utilize it in their stores. I saw the camera man right after he took the picture and caught me off guard. Don't you just love action photos!

Really cute WORDLE idea...

I just found Prairie Flower Quilt Co. LLC blog and loved this idea they had on how they used the website wordle. I heard about wordle from Camille's blog, but they actually printed it on fabric... what cute things you could make with this! HHMMMM.... what could I make with this? I will have to think on this a bit after market and see what I come up with... stay tuned.

Monthly NEWs...

I have a lot of NEW things to tell you all about this month... Fabricmatcher winner, Moda Fabrics, Moda Home, books, and more!

Moda Fabricmatcher

First, I will start off with announcing our Moda Fabricmatcher September Contest Winner. If you remember, our September Fabricmatcher contest was a Challenge on "American Fashion".

You were to take this picture from The "Lost Quilt Masterpieces", A Silly Calendar for 2009-2010 by Barbara Brackman and create your best representation of this picture into a project. Well, the results are in and the winner is......... Fabricmatcher member: gb. We had Barbara Brackman take part in the judging on this contest and she stated, "I like the way she's captured some of the subtleties like the dotted window curtain and the siding with the scalloped edge echoing the rick rack on the apron." Congratulations, gb!

Don't forget about this month's Fabricmatcher contest featuring Fig Tree Quilts. You can go to our Moda Fabricmatcher website for the contest rules.

Modafabrics.com

Check out what goes on Behind the Scenes at Moda! See how our fabric is made, what we do to help our customers in refreshing their stores, and just some plain 'ol fun. You can view our Behind the Scenes videos on our website at modafabrics.com and click on Behind the Scenes under the Fabric category. We will be adding more videos soon, so check back often.

Also on our Moda fabrics website we have posted new fabric collections that will be coming out in December to a store near you. You can get a head start on creating your New Years projects by using these fabrics in our Moda Fabricmatcher website or download the JPG images provided under each collection to use in EQ6 and get your orders placed early with your favorite quilt store to guarantee that you will get these great new fabrics for your projects. This month you will be able to find the following New Fabrics in your favorite quilt store...

American Primer by Minick and Simpson
Bistro by Deb Strain
Fig and Plum by Fig Tree Quilts
Louisa by Terry Thompson
Miss Jump's Scrapbag by Linda Brannock
Recipe for Friendship by Mary Engelbreit

Go to our website under Fabrics, What's New to view the new collections.


You can also see what new Moda Home items are coming out each month on our website under for your home, What's New. Some things you just don't want to miss out on are...

Dottie Knit Throws

Dairy Fresh Collection

Fresh Fruit Collection

Happy Birthday Candle Holders

You can get all these new Moda Home items at a Moda Home retailer near you or you can go to http://www.homealamode.com/ as they carry the entire line of Moda Home products.


New Books

Material Obsession of Austrailia has a new book coming out called "Material Obsession" and it is coming to the USA! I have received a copy of this book from the lovely Sarah Fielke and absolutely love it. The photography and the style of the quilts are just amazing. I especially love all the hand sketches included with the patterns for each quilt. Stay tuned for more information about where to buy this book and when you can play with their patterns from this book on our Moda Fabricmatcher website!

Another quilting book, I absolutely want to get is a new book coming out from Anka's Treasures called Livin' Large. She has designed 11 projects using large scale print fabrics. I really like these quilts because you really can take advantage of those larger print fabrics and have a beautiful quilt when they are all put together. Check out more about her new book and the quilts featured in her book on her blog. LOVE IT!

Giveaways

One last thing... Quiltersbuzz.com is having a couple giveaways on their website. One is for an adorable "Charming Baby Log Cabin" Quilt Kit by Threaded Pear Studio and the other is for a new "Denim Redesign" book by Indygo Junction. Both are worth checking out, especially if you have a ton of worn jeans just waiting for a project to be done with them.... I know I do. I love making quilts and things out of old torn jeans. There is nothing like a good pair of jeans.

Quilted Napsack

Whew! I have been able to get so much accomplished this past week and it feels great! Maybe it's the late hours or the constant intake of chocolate and Dr. Peppers, but between working on getting everything ready for Quilt Market with presentations and new postings to our Moda websites and the home life, I have actually been able to squeeze in a little bit of sewing. Paige has a friend that lives across the street from us and her 4th birthday is coming up. I asked Paige what she wanted to get Abbie for her birthday and she told me "Abbie Pillow" and pointed to her napsack with pillow attached. I made Paige and Matthew a napsack a while back that they could take naps in and for sleepovers and Paige decided that is what Abbie needed for her birthday.

I used a Moda charm pack (I believe it was Sanctuary by 3 Sisters) along with some yellow snuggles fabric and ribbon detail for Paige's napsack.

For Matthew's napsack I cut larger blocks left over from the fabric I used in his bedroom quilt all done in plaids and stripes.


Abbie's favorite color is blue, so I looked in my fabric closet to see what I had in blue that we could make a napsack with. Luckily, I had the Sunshine fabric collection from April Cornell for Moda that would work perfectly for this.


So, I cut up some 4.5" squares and Paige helped me lay them out as a patchwork.

The top of the napsack I like to make a little bit shorter so there is room for an attached pillow. In this napsack I stitched 7 blocks across and 14 blocks down on the back side of the quilt and then the top I did 7 blocks across and 10 blocks down. The pillow I did 4 blocks across and 3 blocks down and then will add a flange out of the same fabric I use for the inside of the napsack. Once you have all your blocks sewn together then you just line up the top and the back at one side lined up at the bottom and stitch together as shown below.

Then, just add your coordinating inside fabric and batting as if you would on a normal quilt. I like to sew an X across each block to quilt it. I even quilted the pillow top so it had the same look.

Once it has been quilted just bind it and then sew the bottoms together and only come up the side about 4 blocks up so there is a nice opening for the child to get their body into it.

The pillow I like to use is a travel size pillow. It is perfect for a child's napsack.

I also like to stitch in some ribbon at the foot of the napsack when sewing up the bottom so when it is rolled up you can tie it up like a sleeping bag... just prettier.

I just love the way this one turned out! Paige was so excited that it was all done... we can't wait to give it to Abbie this weekend and see how she likes her new napsack.

Thank you, Me and My Sister Designs!!!

I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of the Marketing dept at Moda Fabrics. Me and My Sister Designs sent us these wonderfully, yummy, pumpkin shaped sugar cookies from Cheryl & Co. yesterday. Luckily, I was able to share in eating these yummy cookies since Friday is my to go into the office. They are delicious! So, THANK YOU very much! You girls are awesome! BTW... love the new collection coming out this market! Very cute!

Red Riding Hood Jacket GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Red Riding Hood Jacket GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!
She is at it again... another giveaway! I want all her creations. Paige would love them all!