Spring 2010 Quilt Market

Quilt Market is the largest trade show for people who own sewing, fabric and/or quilting shops in the US of A. It happens twice a year - Fall Market is in Houston and Spring Market travels around - this year it was in Minneapolis!

After doing a bit of research, I was excited to visit as I had never been to Minneapolis before. I am a museum freak and they had a lot - and my sister said there were a ton of co-ops, good bookstores and coffee shops. What more could you ask for, thrown in with all that lovely FABRIC?

I flew in last Thursday and went straight to the food co-op my sister recommended. Stocked up on fruit & bread & tea and chatted with an awesome staffer named Mena about where hep locals go for fun - always ask a local!

It was in a beautiful neighborhood with huge brick houses, green green lawns & big leafy trees - kids and dogs running around, bookstores, vintage shops and cafes galore.

I almost decided to move there on the spot, but then I remembered the snow factor 6 months out of the year. Sunny LA for me! After the co-op and a walk to un-kink my legs, I headed for the Minneapolis International Hostel where I was to lay my head for the next 3 nights.

Turned out that it was in this great arts district just south of the convention center and right across the street from the Institute of the Arts! Score! I had my own little attic room and a huge shared kitchen in this gorgeous restored brick house. After dropping off my stuff, I headed up to the convention center to get the lay of the land, then back to the MIH for some dinner and hay-hitting. Tomorrow was a big day!

On Friday, the love happened as soon as I got in the door:

Yes, these amazing ladies have deely bobbers with thread spools on their heads. And I love them. Okay, enough silliness - on to the fabric! First, I had appointments with Kaufman (to corduroy or not to corduroy, that is the question...) and Westminster - yes, I ordered some of the new Amy Butler - where the new Tina Givens jumped right out at me:

There was also some fantastic Brandon Mably and stunning reprints of vintage Liberty of London. I was starting to get excited! On to Echino, where the always-helpful Lisa & Co. were up to their eyeballs taking orders, so I looked around and made an appointment for Sunday. Here's some new Japanese fabric we ordered!

Heather Ross has a new "Far Far Away" collection, and this time it's printed on the cotton/linen blend that we love so much. The colors are just stunning.

Who can resist sashiko? This fabric has the embroidery patterns printed on it in ink that washes out, so all you see is the stitching. Brilliant!

At Alexander Henry, I matched their booth because I was wearing the dress I made out of their Joy of Life fabric based on Matisse paintings. All day long, people were following me around asking about the fabric and the pattern for the dress, so I hope I helped them sell it! I am SUPER excited about their new fabrics, most of all the new voile prints. Unbelievable! I can't take pictures of their fabric, but their booth is always lovely:

I spent the rest of Friday walking the show and keeping my eye out for actual new stuff and new-to-me stuff - my favorite part! Here's a sample of what I found:

I will admit to getting so excited about new fabric that I forget to take pictures - also there are some vendors who don't want you to and that's totally cool! Sometimes it's nice to be surprised.

Saturday was my day off. I went to museums and if any of you want to see the amazingness you can head over to my personal Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/profile.php?id=1517488366 .

Saturday evening was another story! Kim from True Up was speaking at the Textile Center and I wasn't about to miss that. I love her blog and was really looking forward to her talk about how she got started and how she does it. The Textile Center was pretty amazing - I wanted to take all of their fabric dying classes on the spot. It is really nice to talk to other people who are as obsessive about fabric as I am!

Myself and Kim:

Sunday morning saw me back at the convention center trying to cram in the last minute appointments and spending gobs of money on Japanese fabric.

I got some more really-cute-but-in-Japanese dress patterns from Lecien... can't wait to try them out! Some fabric too:

And here are some booths that I visited before running to the airport:

Anna Maria Horner has a book coming out - her new fabric will be released at the Fall Market.

Oliver + S had some super-cute new patterns!

Serendipity Patterns is a company I have been keeping my eye on, and they have released some lovely dress patterns this season.

And that wraps it up! From the last booth where I ordered some fabric by Hoodie to the mad dash to the airport, on my way home to not-so-sunny Los Angeles and my darling dearest and my kitties. Dreaming already of Fall Market!