Sunday, May 17, 2009

I finally went! Aka: Spring Market in Pittsburgh

I finally, after many years of trying to get there, got to go to the International Quilt Market with the quilt shop I work for. It was amazing and inspiring! Jennifer, of Sweet Liberty, went with us and is a total rock star. She made the trip a blast. We saw and met a whole heap of quilty celebrities... Anne Sutton of Bunnyhill Designs, Sandy Klopp of American Jane, Alex Anderson, Eleanor Burns, Heather Bailey, Amy Butler, Joanne Figueroa of Fig Tree, Sandy Gervais, Lila Tueller, Stacy West of Buttermilk Basin, Barri of Bareroots, and a whole bunch more. Everyone was really kind and generous with their time and thanks.

The booths were amazing. My fave in terms of creativity in their booth design was Lizzie B Cre8ive. Their booth was so fun and they had chocolate chip cookies, so what's not to love? We talked the owner of our shop into some fun, new stuff. I'm probably most psyched about the new Michael Miller lines coming in. Definitely funky and fun.

We had a fun night on Friday at the Moda dinner cruise. It was on a riverboat (thank you Dramamine) and we had some good eats while we sailed alongside Pittsburgh. Which, incidentally, is a kinda cool city. I had never been and was really suprised at how green and pretty it was. I'd like to go back to visit, but my hubby - being crushed by the fact that the Penguins beat the Caps in the playoffs - will hear nothing of that. :) Back to the Moda cruise... the most fun part? Getting to play with Jennifer and Cara's Blythe dolls and being escorted into the whole cool world of their collectors.

I can't even really put into words how inspiring this show was. I don't know if it knocked my socks off in terms of getting to go, for some other different reasons that I don't want to go into, but it was amazing to see the creativity, the inspiration, women (and men) putting themselves out there and sharing their art. Loved it. I'll add some photos soon!

No comments: