Fall International Quilt Market 2013 Recap

So this year’s International Quilt Market experience was very different from any that I have had before. Usually I am walking the floor, networking with others in the industry and taking in all the inspiration that Quilt Market has to offer. However, this year was my first year exhibiting at market with my very own The Cottage Mama booth.

I had planned about a year and a half ago when I signed with my publisher to do my book, Sew Classic Clothes for Girls, that this Fall 2013 market would be the perfect opportunity for me to take the leap and have my own booth. Wow, what a different experience market is from the exhibitor side. I thought attending market was exhausting, but it’s nothing compared to exhibiting and all the work that goes into it. From planning your booth, building your booth, transporting your booth, setting up the booth, working the booth for three full days, then taking down your booth, transporting your booth and storing it for next year. Whew……I’m exhausted just writing about it. But it was worth every single bit of effort that went into it and I can’t wait to do it again!

So here it is, the official The Cottage Mama booth:

I could not have put this booth together without the help of my mom and her husband, Allen. They live down in Houston which made life so much easier since that’s where the show takes place. They contracted having the walls built down there by my mom’s carpenter / handyman. I had a pretty clear vision of what I wanted my booth to look like and I really knew that I wanted to have the hard wall look. The funny thing about market is that by the time the show opens up everything looks nice and pretty, but even up to the night before the show it kind of looks like a mess inside the hall with boxes, crates, power tools and all sorts of things needed to build these elaborate booths.

Here are a few pictures of my walls going up and a little of the not-so-pretty side of market:

I had a corner booth which was 10′ x 10′. After having walked market many times, I knew that the corner booths are much easier to see and don’t feel as crowded as the ones down each aisle. They cost a little more, but it’s worth it. I laid my floor down before we put the walls up so that the bottom of the walls would sit on top of the floor. I used a brown washed wood to make the floor appear more ‘cottage’ like.

I had my logo blown up and printed onto foam core board and we place it inside a fun wood frame that my mom painted teal. The silver hooks on the wall worked perfectly for hanging the clothes so that everyone could see them easily.

I ordered an extra set of dress forms to be sent and kept in Houston since this is a show I plan to do each year. I also enlarged three photos from the book and placed them in frames that my mom also painted teal. My mom had found these wonderful green, white and teal flowers that she thought would look good in the booth. She arranged them in two pots for the floor and I placed some in a white metal container that mom already owned to go on top of the buffet. The buffet is a piece of furniture from my mom’s house.

Mom made this Dresden Plate pillow and found this white chair at an antique market in Houston. The fabric on the pillow is from Joel Dewberry’s ‘Notting Hill’ fabric line. The pillow has the vintage-vibe I was going for but still is fresh and modern. Thanks Mom!

And of course we had to have my book front and center. This tray was a find from Hobby Lobby and I ordered blue raspberry salt water taffy to hand out to the visitors at the booth. I was going for a candy that was a little more nostalgic and different. This fit the bill. It was not only tasty, but turned out to be the perfect shade of blue.

It took me a long time to decide on a rug for the booth. I wanted something that would ground the whole display, but I just couldn’t find the right one. My mom found this one online and I looked at it for several weeks before ordering it. And I’m SO happy that I finally placed my order. It was just what the booth needed to pull in the colors from the different fabrics in all the garments. And it had lots of pops of blue which tied everything together. Plus it has kind of a handmade look about it which I love.

I really love the way the garment rack looked in the booth. I didn’t want a straight one because I thought it would be hard to see all the clothing and I brought a ton of samples. I wanted people to see all the variations of each pattern as well as all the pieces from the book. This one held over 20 different garments and fit right into the booth size. Not too big, not too small. Plus it caught people’s eye as they walked by the booth.

Luckily I had my mom and two of her friends, Diane and Sandy, to help me work the booth. During market I had 5 book signings and a schoolhouse session scheduled. During my half hour schoolhouse I talked to quilt shop owners about ‘Sew Classic Clothes for Girls‘ and why they should carry the book in their shops. I talked about teaching classes, creating kits from the patterns in the book and how to bring in a new audience of sewers into their shops.

The book signings took me away from my booth for 2 – 3 hours on the Saturday and Sunday of market and that’s when having an extra set of hands or two to work the booth definitely came in handy.

My first book signing took place at my publisher’s (F & W Media) booth. It was incredible to be able to meet so many of you that read the blog or were anticipating the release of this book. Talk about making a girl blush. It was truly an unforgettable experience.

My next signing was over at the United Notions booth. This is what the crowd looked like before the signing. I’m in there……somewhere……you just can’t see me. This signing was completely sold out before it even started. The folks at United Notions have been really wonderful to work with and had my book in a very prominent spot in their booth. They carry a ton of products so this was very special.

Do you see my book up there under the clothing section of the display? Isn’t that cool? I thought so and so did my mom who actually told me what a lovely place my book had over in their booth……of course I had to take a picture.

Ok, now this was totally a surreal moment. My picture was on a poster!! My amazing machine sponsor, Baby Lock Sewing and Embroidery Machines, had several of these posters made and posted over in their booth. I did a signing for them on Sunday and during the signing one of the highlights of market happened. Eleanor Burns, yes, THE Eleanor Burns (famous quilting icon) came up to me to have me sign her copy of my book. She showed me her granddaughters that she planned to use the book to sew for coming up this year. Pinch me, please. I had to hold back tears of joy. Seriously, I did. But it really meant so much. The fact that she would care to have my autograph just completely blew my mind. I also got to sign a book for Jenny Doan from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. What a day!

I did signings for my two other distributors, Checker and Brewer, where I signed 36 books each. Oh and I have to tell you how I messed up signing one of the books. So, I was signing most of the books ‘Happy Sewing’ and then one person asked me to write ‘Merry Christmas’ since they said it was a Christmas gift for them, so of course I did that. Well, that threw off my routine and in the next persons book, I wrote HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Yes, I really did……oh my gosh, I was so embarrassed. She was so super-sweet and didn’t mind at all, but from that point forward, I had to focus each time I wrote ‘Happy Sewing’. And if you get a book from me that says, ‘Happy Sewing’, just know that I concentrated really hard to make sure I didn’t write ‘Happy Birthday’ in your book. No one’s perfect, right?

So I knew this would kind of be a boring post if I just shared pictures of my booth. So I escaped for an hour on Monday during market to take pictures as fast as possible of some other things around market for you. I knew you would want to see them. So here are some of favorites:

Adorable pillows from the Anna Griffin and Blend Fabrics booth.

Anna Maria Horner’s new line, ‘Dowry‘. I am SO in love with all the color in this line. I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

There were a lot of teepees at market. Apparently that is very in-style. This was a cute one from Ann Kelle’s booth. And she was so incredibly nice. It was fun chatting with her. Her fabrics are perfect for children’s clothing.

Art Gallery Fabrics never disappoints with their gorgeous displays. Who doesn’t love embroidery hoops filled with beautiful fabric?

The three pictures above were from Blend Fabrics.

I was right next door to Dear Stella and this was the quilt that you could see looking out from my booth. Fun, simple and beautiful.

American Jane for Moda Fabrics. Their fabric is always adorable and filled with great color.

Here is Camille from Bonnie and Camille. She really is just too cute!! Notice how her top is matching her new fabric line.

This quilt in Kate Spain’s booth just completely spoke to me. I have always dreamed big and I want my kids to do the same. Never give up on your dreams!

And this was the main view from my booth. I was right on the corner of Timeless Treasures and Dear Stella. Entertaining, right? Let’s just say that this display gave people a lot of chuckles and they even had an extra shark that you could put on your head to take a picture.

Here is my friend Sarah, of Sarah Jane Studios with her new baby (#4), Anders (Yes, seeing him definitely gave me baby fever……how could it not with those amazingly squishy cheeks?). Sarah and I met back three or so years ago. We just have so much in common and it’s been great to get to know her and work with her. She is so darn talented. We decided for market we were going to do a little swap of sorts. A few of my patterns sewn in her new line in her booth and some of her new fabric over in my booth.

Here’s the Classic Coat Pattern from my new book, ‘Sew Classic Clothes for Girls‘.

Sarah’s new line, ‘Wee Wander’, is going to make horse loving little girls swoon.

Here is the Georgia Vintage Dress Pattern. This was the best picture I got of it over in her booth, but the orange-ish fabric has the same horses on it as the coat fabric. I didn’t get a great shot of the Charlotte dress that was in my booth, so I’ll photograph that at home and post it at a later date.

I was blessed to share a wall at market with my friend, Kay Whitt from Serendipity Studio. How much do I love this lady? I cannot even express it. Kay has done so much for me over the years (despite what she may think). I definitely look to her as a mentor. She has never been anything but helpful ever since I started this journey into pattern design. I connected with Kay before I ever released a single pattern and she has always answered every ridiculous question I have ever had. She gave me advice when I was getting ready to sign with my publisher (which is the same publisher that did all three of her books). I’m just so blessed to know her and having gotten to spend three days exhibiting at market next to each other. If you aren’t familiar with Kay, you must check out her books, ‘Sew Serendipity‘, ‘Sew Serendipity Bags‘, and ‘Sew Serendipity Sewing Workbook‘.

I had many friends and visitors stop by the booth during market. Here are two of my favorite blogging pals, Melissa from Melly Sews and Kate from See Kate Sew. These girls and I have known each other for quite a while so I definitely already considered them my friends, but it was so nice to see them in person. It’s funny when you meet your online friends in person because it feels just like you are seeing an old friend. These two ladies are seriously talented. If you don’t follow their blogs, I would highly recommend them!

One of my long time blog sponsors, Jackie from Canton Village Quilt Works, stopped by the booth. She has been a sponsor here for years and I was so glad to get to give her a big hug. Canton Village Quilt Works is a wonderful online resource for all things fabric and quilting. They are listed in the side bar of the blog, but you can visit them by clicking HERE.

There were so many folks that stopped by and I got to visit with and I just didn’t get a chance to snap their pictures. I had a great time visiting with Emily Herrick from Crazy Old Ladies Quilts, Heather from The Sewing Loft, Pat Sloan, Carina Gardner, April Cobb from Modern Yardage, Bonnie from Fishstick Designs, Shasta and Jana from Izzy and Ivy Designs, all the lovely ladies from Marie Madeline Studio, Robin Hill from Pattern Revolution, so many ladies from different sewing Facebook groups that I am part of and I am sure there are many I’m forgetting, but I enjoyed getting to talk with each and every one of you.

Oh and I have to thank several of my pattern testers who sent some of their samples for my booth: Crystal, Karen, Amber, Melinda and Janice. And thank you to Ashley and Christine for sewing several samples for me for market. You ladies made my life a lot less stressful! And I can’t forget to thank my husband and my in-laws for taking such good care of the kids while I was away. Thank you all!!

So there you have it, my Fall Quilt Market Recap post. A little different than the ones in the past, but things are changing and evolving in my business in such a fast paced and exciting way. Quilt Market flew by and was over before we knew it. It kind of felt like Christmas……it was such a whirlwind and then it was over. It’s certainly more fun setting up the booth, than tearing it down. But I can’t wait to do it again next year!

If you’d like to read previous Quilt Market Recap posts, you can check them out HERE.