Houston Market and Teaching-2018

I’m still pretty much levitating from the excitement of the Houston Festival and Market. This was my first time to attend Market and what a thrill to promote my book to a targeted audience! Market is for industry professionals only and it’s an opportunity to see what’s new and to establish relationships with others in the industry.

As a first-timer I was a little bit clueless but it was well worth my time. I made new friends and created new relationships. The biggest surprise to me was that I connected a several people to each other-how cool is that?

I was unprepared for the swag we got at Market. I knew to leave pounds and space in my luggage for swag from Festival, but that paled to what vendors gave out during Market!

Oh the people you meet! This is Suzanne Hyland who invented Machingers 17 years ago.

I was strolling down the aisles and happened upon Denise Burkitt and stopped dead in my tracks. I had never seen fabric like this! She has an amazing Cinderella story with her fabric designing journey having started a mere 18 mos ago. She designs for Free Spirit and I can’t wait to get my hands on her fabric!

I took very few photos of Market. I was actually a little confused about what photography was allowed, so I only took a few. This is Market getting set up. It’s much less crowded and more sedate than Festival.

I so carefully chose my shoes for comfort. After Day 1, I had this. I wore my Oofa’s for the remainder of the Market and Festival. Even semi-cute comfort shoes did not work. Sigh.

My first sighting of my book in the Mother Ship C&T booth-what a thrill!

My friend Libby Williamson took photos for me at my Market book signing. It was so. Much. Fun!

I also took part in a “Schoolhouse” session where 3 of us C&T authors had 8 min each to tell the audience about our book.

Awww, look who showed up to support me-Catherine Redford, Gina Reddin, Johanna Felberbaum, Michelle Tade Banton, Libby Williamson and Lisa Chin, plus…

Teri Lucas and Debby Ritenbaugh Brown! I was so grateful!

Funny story. When I was taping for The Quilt Show, I used a Boogie Board which is a child’s toy, kind of like a cross between an Etch-A-Sketch and a tablet. Ricky just couldn’t let it be and kept on picking it up and playing with it. We were taping! The crew was kind of like Ricky, put that thing down! At one point, on tape (not sure this will make the cut), I took it away from him. He was so funny, like a boy with a new toy. So I got him his very own Boogie Board and this is the photo of him opening it up, like it was Christmas morning. Giggle!

The vendors work hard on making their booths appealing, this was one of the cutest things at Market!

I had very little free time, but by pure coincidence, Libby Williamson, Lisa Chin and I were coming back from a restaurant and this driver picked us up with this free ride service. What a cool idea. They shuttle around downtown for free!

I roomed with Gina Reddin who was vending at Market and Festival. Gina knows everyone! She’s the proud designer of these beautiful patterns and also sells fabulous wooden printing blocks.

I had one day off between Market and Festival so I was able to take a Shapes Design class with Jane Sassaman. Her work is so precise, graphic and beautiful. I reveled in the details of her work.

We played with paper and scissors:

It took me awhile to warm up. This was fun and a great way to let loose and design.

Then it was on to a busy teaching schedule:

One of the very fun things about Festival is that it is truly international.

These ladies came from France! In total, 7 countries outside of the US were represented in my classes: France, England, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, South Africa and Qatar-love that!

The classrooms at Houston are quite large, but are filled with machines and tables. I was grateful that all my classes filled.

I had my students try their hand at free motion Quilt-from-the-back. These are beginners! QFTB is a great technique to build confidence and skill.

Saturday Sampler was great fun! Twenty eight teachers did continuous demos to a crowd of 300 (or was it 500?). The line started forming over an hour before the doors opened.

By pure luck I got a large alcove by the door. It was a great way to meet many people and talk about thread.

I emptied my phone camera of all but a few photos before I left and took over 900 while in Houston. I am overwhelmed by what I saw! Today I just covered Market and teaching. Next week is Thanksgiving (how’d that happen?) and I’ll be posting quilt photos.

By the way, if you’re looking for lovely photos of the venue or Houston, you won’t find them here, sigh. I just didn’t have time between teaching gigs. Because I was at Market, I got to see the show on Sunday when there was no one there! So stay tuned. And don’t forget to check out the links at Nina-Marie’s Off-the-wall Friday.