Over the last two weeks, Hawke and I spent time at both Quilt Festival and Quilt Market in Houston, Texas. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to get the opportunity to meet up with so many friends and industry compatriots. It gave me the chance to really spell out what I’m hoping to do with Crinkle Dreams and how I want to make it happen. While i can’t talk much about specifics, I can say that we had some great chats about fabric designs, in-store workshops, vendor partnerships and brand collaborations. Thanks to everyone who has encouraged us – and there were so many that stopped by to cheer us on! It has made this feel do-able and I am grateful.
I spent the first part of the day a bit overwhelmed by the idea of doing this on my own. I have been to Quilt Market well over a dozen times and this time made me a little nervous. Suddenly I wasn’t so sure where I belonged, or what I was supposed to be doing. Carolina Moore stopped me in the hall to give me a pep talk and remind me that I do know what I’m doing. I needed to hear it.
Hawke and I spent Friday listening to a variety of short presentations from different brands, designers and industry leaders. I popped into the Shannon Fabrics one for a bit, folded quilts for GE Designs and listened intently to numerous designers explain their fabrics, designs and more.
Our Saturday was filled with random meetings in the aisles and planned meetings with a variety of vendors and companies that I’ve worked with in the past. There are lots of things in the works for the Dream Team and I’m excited to get things moving once we get back home.
I was able to give Sarah Maxwell, from Andover Fabrics, her new quilt coat. I’d made it for her over the last few weeks using my Crinkle Dreams Elemental Coat and Lone Star Wild Elements patterns. She had sent me some of her brand new Molly’s Magic fabric collection, an ode to her mother-in-law, Molly, and trusted that I’d do something nice with it. I think it showed off the greens, blues and purples of the collection nicely, and I’m happy to say it fit well (always a bit scary when someone isn’t nearby to try it on!)
After our couple days at Market, we headed down south to Port Isabel for three days. It gave us a little break to recoup, but more so gave me time to work and Hawke the chance to go see rockets in Boca Chica. He spent some time watching the action at SpaceX and I stayed at the Airbnb to work on a new pattern. It was exactly what we both needed.
Quilt Festival is the consumer show and it’s always so very different from Market. There are tens of thousands of quilters who show up to visit all the quilt shops, brands, and designers who have set up booths. Upstairs there are dozens of classes happening all week. It really is a wonderful few days and I highly encourage attending once. My first time was also the first time I realized the scope of the quilting industry and how many folks are out there that also love to sew and quilt. It will be early next October, so put it on the calendar now.
We’re in Missouri now, catching our breath and getting ready for next week. I’ll be at KC Maker Studio & Fabrics on Tuesday, Nov 5 teaching how to make stuffed animals, on Wednesday, Nov. 6 I’ll teach the Elemental Coat pattern and on Thursday, Nov. 7 it’s the new ByAnnie Side Hustle bag. I can’t wait to see everyone and there’s still room to sign up!
We’ll be back live for Sunday in the Studio on Sunday November 10 at 11am MT (10Pacific) and remember to subscribe to the YouTube channel to get notifications for both Lives and new tutorials!
Happy sewing!
