Spring Quilt Market 2009

I left for Spring Quilt Market 2009 in Pittsburgh very early Wednesday morning. I arrived promptly at 9 am at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center where I reported to Quilts Inc. and hung quilts for the next ten hours! Fell into bed, got up early again and went to Schoolhouse and took 15 (yes, fifteen) mini classes.

My first and mostest favorite class was What's New from Anka's Treasures with Heather Mulder Petersen! Heather has two new books and a new pattern that she introduced here at Market and I have to say, I love, love, love, everything she does!

Class No 2 was presented by Me & My Sister Designs featuring their Charm Tablets (quick + easy patterns).

Class No 3 was CK Media's Quiltmaker's Secrets Revealed - This was a fun class revealing some of the behind the scenes dirt!

Class No 4 was How to Host a Mystery by Debbie Caffrey. She had lots of ideas I can put to use in some classes . . .

Class No 5 was by Karen Combs who is now designing batiks for Avelyn Fabrics - this was very interesting and we got to see Karen's new line of Indonesian batiks.

Class No 6 I got to meet "THE" Diane Phalen and saw her new fabric line from Elizabeth's Studio and as if that wasn't enough, I won the door prize of a quilt kit from her line!

Class No 7 was with Eleanor Burns and one of her sons (Orion) where she showed her new book Day and Night. She is such a hoot!

Class No 8 was with Terry Atkinson and Liz Lois and they had a great trunk show of their latest quilts + totes from their new fabric line.

Class No 9 was On the Road Again and it was hosted by Terry Atkinson, Linda Hohag & Heather Mulder Peterson. This class promoted an event that shops could host - great ideas!

Class No 10 by Karin Hellaby introduced a new technique to construct pineapples using only squares of fabric, so no waste + no strange angles!

Class No 11 Lynette Jensen of Thimbleberries where she previewed the new Mystery Collection.

Class No 12 was with Creative Grids gurus Rita Fishel & Penny Haren. They both gave us lots of ideas for demos.

Class No 13 was Bargello Quilts with a Twist where Maggie Ball introduced a new concept to create stunning patterns.

Class No 14 was with Daniela Stout from Cozy Quilt Designs. I got all the dirt on Strip Club, Cake Therapy and Fat Quarters Anonymous!

Class No 15 last, but certainly not least, I really enjoyed Patricia Pepe. Patricia is the X-Block Queen and she introduced us to her X-Blocks Fabric Fairy Tale!

I never took a break for lunch, because I didn't want to miss anything, so when the last class was over at 6 pm, I bolted downstairs to look for something to eat. I decided that I didn't want to use any of my money for food, so I found 2 leftover pieces of pizza in my backpack from last nights supper and ate that. After all, I needed to save all of my money for the next event - - - SAMPLE SPREE! Since I had hung quilts the day before, one of the perks was to be released into Sample Spree a full 10 minutes before everyone else! I felt like Bambi in the headlights when I first ran in . . .

I didn't know where to go first and soon I found myself at the Hoffman booth and grabbed 2 Bali pops!

Then, I found the Moda area - it was a mob scene and the throngs of people waiting outside hadn't even been let in yet, but I was able to pick up a fat quarter bundle of Me & My Sisters Birdie Collection and a box of Petite 4's - can you say score? Then I saw the Cheep Trims table and grabbed a 24 yard roll of chartreuse jumbo rick rack!

Then I found Heather Mulder Peterson and picked up her 2 new books and pattern. She autographed them for me!

Ran by Eleanor Burns and got a cute tote, Kaleidoscope Ruler and her new book Night & Day that includes the specialty ruler!

Then I saw the Robert Kaufman table and picked up a couple of batik roll ups.

And then something really, really dreadful happened, I ran out of money . . .