Day 2

A full and busy and fun day is coming to an end. We walked and walked and walked. With an occasional pause for purchasing and inquiries in some of the many vendor booths. And maybe a snack break! Although a lot of the booths have a little candy dish to keep us moving!

Here is the bright sunny morning vista from our hotel window--

One of our first stops in the convention center was at the Checker booth. Checker is a distributor of all things related to sewing and crafting and quilting, etc. We especially wanted to look for the type of items that would be interesting Christmas gifts for our customers. We liked these "Quilt Happy" coffee mugs.

Or tea mugs! A little later we had an appointment with David, our rep for P&B Textiles to see their newest lines of fabric. One of the fabric groups that we especially liked was Leila Rose by Alex Anderson, and not just because she was there, too! She showed us one of her quilt samples made from the fabric--

If you are new to quilting, you may not know that Alex Anderson has authored some of the best instructional books available, has taught for many years, has hosted her own TV show, and currently partners with Ricky Tims to run The Quilt Show.

Next we headed over to the Kwik Sew booth to meet up with our friends there. We especially wanted to check out what Elizabeth (aka Betty) has been working on with a new division of the company. Ellie Mae Designs is a new group of sewing patterns that target a different audience, and we had heard a few whispers and rumors about what was in the works. This was the official "unveiling" of the pattern line, and we were impressed! My favorite item has to be the set of storage boxes! We will be watching and waiting for more fun designs in addition to the great ones already available!

We went to the Smith St. Designs booth to find out what they have for new machine embroidery designs. This Halloween one is appropriate for this weekend--

Our Bernina customers love these embroidered and appliqued patterns!

The next stop was a quickie to place an order for the Primitive Quilts magazine. This is a new publication, and will be good reading for our customers who enjoy a homespun feel in their projects. Thinking of you, Nancy!

We stocked up on some beautiful new plush fabrics from Shannon Fabrics, and have some great ideas for samples to show ways to use them. They have some beautiful designs that aren't restricted to baby and kid quilts and gorgeous sculpted pieces.

We found another Minnesota designer, Anne Marie Yohnk of Quilts Remembered. It's fun to see another familiar face!

We stopped to talk with Nicole Chambers-Kaya of Tiger Lily Press. We thought the tablerunner and placemat in the background would become favorites at Bear Patch.

We found designer and Minnesotan Darlene Zimmerman in the EZ Quilting booth, demonstrating her latest ruler designs. She does come up with some great ideas!

The Market closed at 6 and we headed back to our room to unload our bags before a relaxing dinner and good conversation. Now we need to rest up for our 8 AM class and another full day covering more of the show floor!