Saturday morning I had breakfast with the 4 great gals I was sharing a room with, well the word room might be a tad bit underestimating what it was. It was more like a mansion in the hotel. We had 2 bedrooms with 4 beds altogether (1 was in the living room so that was kinda 3 rooms to sleep in), 3 bathrooms, a living room and big conference table that would have fit 10 people around it and 2 bar areas. So rooming with Laine, Jacqueline, Tiffany and Cara was very enjoyable. We all got along great!
After breakfast I had a few meetings. I had a wonderful meeting with Kerri from Brewer Sewing. I can't wait to share the news with you, but I have to get all my ducks in a row first. Then I met with Thomas about this upcoming fabric line Flock. I love Flock, it spoke to me.
After those meetings we walked around the floor and met some great people. I learned a lot about thread and pearl cotton from the folks at Precencia. For instance did you know that the size 16 will fit in your machine with a 50 wt bobbin? The gals at Precencia sent us home with 5 different weights of pearl cotton to try. And I picked up the Precencia thread for the thread-off I will be having soon. I'm just waiting to get the other thread and then I will be asking for volunteers, but more on that later.
At another booth I saw the cutest baby diapers. They are made with very soft fabric and are completely washable. I can see every parent and grandparent who sews making these for the little ones. I can't remember the name of it but I will find out and post it when I do.
Another fun part was chatting with some of the fabric designers. The Moda area was huge and so much fun! I meet so many designers...Kate Spain, Aneela Hoey, Betz White, Lucie Summers, The Sweetwater gals, the Blackbird Gals, Ann Sutton, and my all time favorite designers Barb and Mary from Me and My Sisters. I spent quite a bit of time chatting with the Me and My Sister gals and even showed them a pattern I have been working on specifically for their fabric. Then they totally surprised me with a set of their yet to be released patterns! I can't wait to make that bag from the pattern. The gals that were staying with me already have put in orders so I had better get going on them lol.
The Andover, Hoffman, Island Batiks, Canvas (a part of Benartex), Riley Blake and Robert Kaufman booths were also great! I was glad that Jacqueline was there with me because I only got her 1 of the Lorax kits at Spree and she was able to pick up the rest. I also was able to pick up a FQ set for Laine that I knew she really had wanted. Thats how the weekend was for us. When we saw something that we knew someone else wanted we weren't shy about picking it up. When I got back to the room Laine had a suitcase of Aurifil thread waiting for me, which was so sweet of her.
I have to admit some of the fabric took my breath away. I am especially looking forward to seeing Summersville in person, it's so different and so me! And the swag we got from Moda was great. They had mini charm packs of a lot of their upcoming lines. Here's a pic of all the ones I got.
They are Tend the Earth by Deb Strain, Stitch by Betz White, California Girl by Fig Tree, A Walk in the Woods by Aneela Hoey, Meadow by Blackbird Designs, Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket, Reunion by Hometown and A Stitch in Color by Malka Dubrawsky. I spent the rest of the afternoon meeting other fabric designers, manufacturers and distributors about my patterns. Several agreed to send me fabric to make a quilt from one of my patterns for them. So I would say the trip was a success! I got a lot more feedback, and positive feedback at that than I thought I would have gotten. The hard part for me is going to be keeping my mouth closed until the pattern is done, but I do wish I could show you all the patterns right now :)
The only bad part of Saturday was that Tiffany lost her wallet, but we tried to keep her busy to take her mind off of it. And guess what, she got a call yesterday that the cab driver found it!
By Saturday night I was exhausted so I hung out with some of the gals I was staying with. So that's was my Saturday.
As for Sunday, that was kinda uneventful. I was leaving at 11:30 for the airport, which didn't give me much time. I did go to 1 book signing, which was fun. Next time I will plan on staying until Monday so that I can check out all the book signings. If you get on line early enough you can get a coupon for a free book at the book signing. Then it was off to the airport and home. While I was ready to come home, I feel like there was so much I missed. But there's always next time. That is if Hubs lets me go again after how much this trip cost him in fabric :)
