A Little Wheel Spinning

As per ushe after a big event in EPQD's life, I find myself a bit overwhelmed and not sure where to begin after Market filled my head with new ideas in both design and business. With only five weeks left of school before that magical time of year you call "summer" and I call "My Yearly Internship as a Cruise Director," and having dedicated 40 plus hours a week to Market prep over the last few months, I won't lie - I'm tempted to lock the studio door with me on the outside, pour myself some iced tea, find a hammock, and sit for five weeks. Bonbons may or may not need to be involved.

A great plan if I were looking to kill off EPQD, but such is not the case. Instead I really want to be able to use the lessons I learned in Portland to make Houston 2014 even better. And I want to snap out of neutral and get to my list of new projects, one of which involves playing with Phoomph, a product I discovered in Portland. A product which, while possessing perhaps the weirdest name ever in the history of naming anything if you take urban legendary twins Orangejello and Lemonjello out of the equation, looks like way too much fun and something I think you will all agree has my name written all over it. Too bad for Phoomph that it isn't really called Beth or at least Quilting Hottie Foam. So much easier to pronounce and spell.

I am guessing the makers are big huge fans of onomatapoeia. Or saying "ph as in phone" when they spell things.

Basically phoomph is a soft foamy sheet that is kind of like contact paper on both sides, so you can stick fabric to it with no more than your bare hands. Then you cut out shapes and play. Instant fabric fun indeed! I've been off the embellishment wagon for a little while now and I think this is just the product that is going to haul me back on up to the rumble seat and stick some scissors in my hand. Plus it says right on the package that you can't sew it, so yay for new uses for Jewel-it!

Phoomph even has its own Pinterest page with all sorts of cute ideas, including this one:

Pretty sure my children are going to want to make a few of these.

Like a brand new quilter's penchant to take on a king sized quilt right off the bat, my first Phoomph project will be trying something I don't even see in those photos at all, but you know that's how I roll. Or poof, I guess, in this case.

I'm also attempting to get back on the EQ horse in light of some contacts in the magazine and book industries that I made while in Portland. I still think I need to take some sort of class on using the silly software, but in playing a bit this past week I am rediscovering how fun it is to just keep changing one little thing and therefore change the entire look of a block or a quilt almost instantly. Now to turn some of that Sample Spree fabric into some of these cute new blocks I'm creating. But that would involve unlocking the studio. And cleaning it up.

Sometimes the hammock just sounds more inviting. Convince me otherwise.

Spring Market Awesomeness

The culmination of "The Year of Me", ie Spring Quilt Market in Portland, is officially over but for the unpacking - and with luck some fun unexpected orders and reorders from some of the cool new shops who bought me out of Taking Names and almost out of Kickin' Stash, the definite stars of the show for me. I knew I wasn't the only one who thought they were cool designs and now some new quilters west of the mighty Mississip will know it too.

But I am getting ahead of myself. First, here was Barbie's Dream Booth, Wednesday around noon.

This photo is just about life sized. Really.

Pretty, huh?

This is Barbie's Dream Booth Thursday around 6pm

Probably not a great place for those easily susceptible to sensory overload, but I never claimed to be boring and basic.

The only things that photo doesn't show about the awesomeness is how I was the brightest and most obnoxious booth in the entire row. I kid you not, it was two wool people, an earth tones batiks chick, me, then four more primitive wool people in a row. There were many moments where Kelli and Kathy and I wanted to break out in a rousing rendition of "Which of These Things is Not Like the Others." But we resisted. I mean why rub it in that we were so confident in ourselves as to stick out like sore thumbs? This one illustrates it to a tee. 

Please note the "Kickin' Stash and Taking Names" pennants flying from the cormers of the top poles. You couldn't miss seeing us even if you wanted to.

And how awesome are those lime green pole condoms? As long as I don't get a paternity suit from one of the wool women that suddenly one of their creations is batik bright purple wool, I think they probably did their job.

Thursday is always Schoolhouse day at market, which is way fun and a great way to see what the various companies are doing and offering at market. I did a schoolhouse wherein I ran out of chairs, brochures, and even SRO floor space in the room as people were spilling into the hall. It was slightly crazy! I mean, I was up against FAMOUS PEOPLE for heaven's sake. I think it was the name of my talk.

See anyone you know?

Many many thanks to Anne Wiens of Sweetgrass Creative Designs in Shelby MT, longtime FB follower who came by to meet me and ended up being pressed into service as a brochure passer outer when Kathy and Kelli, my market newbie helpers, were off being all starstruck and spooled up and forgot to show up on time. I may never forgive them.

After my SH was over and I could breathe again, we went to a presentation by Island Batik to introduce their partnership with Operation Homefront, wherein the fabrics in their new Quilted in Honor line will make quilt for veterans and portions of the proceeds will go to monetarily help them out. There were many celebs present, including Eleanor Burns, Rob Appell, Alex Anderson, and Pat Bravo. Kelli and I had discussed earlier how we had been 20something geeks back in the day who used to get up early to watch "Simply Quilts", so we were groupies who sat in the front row and accosted Alex Anderson when the SH was over. Embarassingly enough, both of us insisted we watched it on PBS, which lead her to think we were morons I am sure since it was on HGTV. She kindly posed for a photo with us anyway.

I'm certain she thought we were thisclose to being stalkers.

Friday was all about passing out brochures and hottie buttons. Kelli's goal was to hottie everyone in the place, and she came pretty close. By Saturday, we'd moved on to the goal of hottie-ing famous people, and we did pretty well.

Tula Pink.

Photo actually taken Wednesday. Buttons had not even been unpacked but her booth was right near mine; she got one Friday and wore it all weekend.

 Angela Walters

She's twelve. Maybe thirteen.

Bill Kerr

Is he not adorable?

He was a particularly exciting hottie-ing for me (actually he was hottied by Judy Damon, but she kindly came to babysit my booth while I ran over to meet him) as I have an uncle named Bill Kerr and it has always cracked me up to see his name in quilt magazines. This Bill Kerr said he has met two other Bill Kerrs as well, so it is apparently a popular name. He could not possibly have been more sweet and kind, this guy.

Valorie Wells

Yes, Jeanne LeB. I love her teeth. Plus she is just as cute in person as this photo makes her look.

Scott Hanson of GenQ - again this one was Judy, and I never actually got to meet him, but this photo just is too awesome not to share.

Hee hee. Makes me laugh.

My favorite hottiefying (Are we loving how I am conjugating that word into every form I can in this post?) is one for which I actually do not have photo documentation. But I think you will all agree with me that to hottie Rob Appell was really just to confirm what we all already knew. When he stood in my booth and happily agreed to wear a pin I really think we were within seconds of the place bursting into flame. I've linked his name to a photo of him if you don't know him.

You're welcome.

My top three other favorite moments of Market:

1. Catching up with quilty friends in person. Loved the quickie opportunities to reconnect! Jen Eskridge and Robin Koehler stopped by Sat am and it was so fun to see them both. They are both some of my favorite quilting people!

And so pretty.

2. Being scouted out by a major publisher, who came by to court me both Saturday and again on Sunday. I currently have no intention of writing a book, but that was humongo for the ego.

3. Making my best connections on the light rail train. Seriously, you just never know how or where networking works best, and that was pretty funny to me.

My plane is just about to board, so I am going to leave you and go back to reality. But not before I thank Kelli Fannin and Kathy Anderson, my fantastic and amazing helpers. Without them there is NO WAY I could have done this and I truly will love them for the rest of eternity and we will be besties forever and forever. It was so much fun to work with them and see Market through the eyes of a newbie, too.

And not before I swag brag with one final photo of my Sample Spree goodies. I'm guessing at least one of these may be used as a giveaway pretty soon, and that will be my way of sharing the Market love.

The hotel carpet really makes a lovely backdrop.

Next up - a post later in the week to let you know how long it took me to find all the items everyone lost at home while I was gone for a week. You ladies totally get it.
 

Size Matters

The final moments of my frenzied Market Prep are upon us, and I've been giving much thought lately to the size of stuff.

• The size of boxes I am shipping as they pertain to how much money they are going to cost me to get them from my little corner of MA to the Pacific Northwest. USPS flat rate boxes have become my best buddies.

• The size of suitcase that will fit all of my quilts. Amazingly, I actually owned one that was going to work.

• The size of the conniption, heart attack, stroke, and mental breakdown combo I will have if my bag should get lost in transit. 

•  The size of the check I should write for this week's church collection, because I'm not above a little moral bribery so that God can see he should be good to me and not allow my bag to be lost.

• The size of container I needed to contain all of my binder clips. Who knew 4 bags of binder clips fit perfectly into an arborio rice container? Dumpster diving into the recycling bin rocks!

I'm guessing the nutritional info no longer applies.

And lastly, the size of my 1/4" seam. Allow me to admit that although I've been quilting for 18 years, my 1/4" seam STILL is not as consistent as I might like, but proof that it has improved drastically even over the last 5 years or so came in the form of an innocent comparison the other day. I was starting to pack my quilts up and couldn't decide which of my "Funky Tree Farm" samples to take with me, so I decided to let my followers on FB decide. I put them right next to each other on the floor to take a photo, and look what I saw.

If you can pull your eyes away from my beautifully teal toes and my cute and oh so comfy sandals for a sec, and I know it will be hard to do, but I have faith in you -  check out the flipping 3 1/2" (!) difference in length between the quilts.

Hotties, these two quilts were both made by me, from my own directions. Until that moment I had no idea I had not made them the exact same size. How the heck did THAT happen??? Well, size matters.

Since the side borders are made by piecing three strips together, attaching the whole thing to the sides and then trimming to fit, nothing about the construction had really been affected by whatever the heck I did wrong to make one so much longer, so no red flags had been thrown at the time. I first assumed I had added two extra strips to the background of the one on the left. So I counted them. Twice. Nope, that wasn't it. Then I figured I had cut the strips for the quilt on the left the wrong width. So I measured them. Interesting.

They were cut 2 1/2" wide for both quilts. However, the strips in the quilt on the left had finished at exactly (well, this is me, so maybe not EXACTLY, but pretty darn close) 2", but the ones in the quilt on the right were closer to 1 3/4" each, meaning that when I put that one together way back in the day, I used a seam allowance you could have driven a truck through.
 
Inaccurate Quilter Math - 16 strips x 1/4"ish extra seam allowance = a quilt 3 1/2 inches too short. Dang.

So there it is, proof positive that size matters, and that your seam allowance DOES make a difference. Fortunately for this quilt pattern, it wasn't a factor in being able to put the whole thing together, but for many pieced blocks, it can be a huge factor and even a huge disaster when they aren't done correctly. A product that has helped me immensely over the last few years has been the "Seamingly Accurate" by ReannaLily Designs. It was designed by Jen Eskridge, a friend of mine who has no idea I felt like spreading the love of this product today. However, if 1/4" seams are an issue for you, and clearly at some point they were an enormous issue for me, it might be worth checking out. I think the proof that it helped me is right in that photo!

I've decided to bring the longer quilt to Market. Just in case anyone decides to whip out their rulers and check out my seam allowances.

The Wire Thins - Two Weeks and Counting Down

Two weeks to go before I trust United Airlines to actually get me where I need to go this time, and I am strangely calm. I attribute it to being a newbie to exhibiting at Quilt Market, and therefore too stupid to know how panicked I really should be.

I'm going to save all my best nervous breakdown skillz for Kelli and Kathy, my market helpers, or, as I like to refer to them in my own head because they both live on the west coast, my Westie Besties. And now it's out and we'll see how they like that title. Kelli, whom you also know as Market Slave West, has been on board with this whole thing since January or so. Kathy just got on the train this week, and I am so insanely grateful to have her. Kathy is a member of Northwest Quilters quilt guild in Portland, and is exactly the person with a car Kelli and I needed to help schlep all of my boxes from the hotel to the convention center and back again. Kathy teaches classes for shops and her guild and is as excited to get into market with my credentials and shop, shop, SHOP as you might imagine and then some. I'm kind of picturing myself having to sedate both of them either right before or after Sample Spree, actually.

Side note - Did you catch that up there? I have CREDENTIALS, hotties. Don't mess with me.

Besides shoring up the Westie Besties, this week has consisted of the following:

Shipped three boxes of patterns and marketing materials to PDX hotel.

I want to bring NONE of this home.

 Finishing up the binding on the second to last quilt I decided needed to get done and come with me.

The pin in the upper left proves it isn't QUITE done yet.

Whipped up some pole condoms for my booth. Practicing safe boothing is very important to me. The fireproofing spray is proving very elusive and I'm starting to worry a bit that I WILL be the person who burns the convention center down if I can't comply with their bizarre rule that all booth materials must be fireproofed, but the actual quilts and fabrics and threads and yarns and ribbons, etc that everyone is hawking don't have to be. Never mind all the paper products (patterns, invoices, etc) that will be in house. I do love logic.

Name a four letter word to describe the fun of inside-outing 36 feet of 2 1/2" wide tubing. Yes, that is the one.

 Adding the embellishments to Market Slave East Renae's "Sunflower and Sky" sample she made for me and in the process became converted to batiks. Woo hoo!

Not sure why this is blurry, but it really is lovely in person! 

 

 

 

 

Made first of two storyboards of how to put together the blocks for the two quilts I will highlight in my Schoolhouse - "Kickin' Stash" and "Taking Names." Since both have a way to make the blocks both "planned scrappy" and "completely scrappy", each storyboard shows one way on one side and the other way on the back. I've even rented an easel to put these things on. I am out of control.

I kind of felt like I was making a 5th grade science project.

The one thing I just have not been able to do was actually make the quilt in my head for my guild's "Calendar Challenge", which is due this evening. We were to create a 16" x 20" quilt representing our birthday, and the best one from each month as determined by vote this evening will be put together into an actual calendar. I LOVE this idea and think it may have been the best challenge ever, and I have run two of them in the past. However what with the crazy of the last few months, it just didn't get done. And I had the best idea too, which included this poem:

Celebrate Quickly!
The shortest day of the year

Is all about me.

Because of course my birthday, December 22, is also National Haiku Day.

I'm hoping maybe Judy will let me make it up by the show and still get included in the display even though I can't win for December's calendar entry. Even though we all know I WOULD have had I gotten my act together. I'll try to post some photos of the winners soon!

For those still stuck on "pole condoms", this is what I am talking about:

See the fabric scrunchy looking thing on the top pole? It just makes it prettier.

Photo of Bonnie Sullivan's booth from a past market. And now you have learned something today.