Thank a Vendor

I've been home a week from the Houston Quilt Festival. I have finally caught up on my sleep. Now its time to catch up on everything else.

Festival was an amazing experience. One sees another side of festival as a vendor. First there is a considerable effort vendors put into bringing their products to the attendees. They must arrange for the booth, electric, flooring, and displays. These items have to be planned, arranged, and paid for before the event takes place. Vendors function on faith that the attendees will make it all worth while.

Vendors can spend the season traveling from show to show. Sometimes packing up on Sunday evening and traveling thousands of miles to the next show. Often friendships develop among the vendors on the same circuits, and after a few years friendships between vendors and customers.

So next time you attend a show you might think about thanking a vendor for their effort.

Houston Quilt Market

It's 10 p.m. and I just finished sewing the binding down on a quilt. There is nothing unusual about that ...except I'm in a hotel room in Houston Texas. Today was the last day of Quilt Market in Houston. All the vendors, manufacturers and designers are packing up and disappearing into the night.

Three days of beauty and function filled the convention floor. We were inspired by the coming treads in color and textures of the fabrics. A return of 'minkee' like fabric is available in great colors and embossed textures. They were stunning. The browns in the animal prints were very elegant. Lots of pastels too.

We saw a lot of pastels, a popular trend of lavenders and chartreuse was noticeable. Earth tones are still popular and very nice. And yet we did see some deep saturated colors. Something for everyone. Watch for Windham's Flannel Rose and Baby collection. Hoffman's Batiks are always to die for.

The Warm and Natural folks are importing a fabric group from the U.K. The group has several collections ranging from oversize flowers, Asian inspired, to Picotage dots. I bought fat quarters of the Picotage dots in Black & White, Rust (the new color trend) & White, Tan & White.

Now why was I binding a quilt in a hotel room in Houston, because I am going to be a vendor of my pattern line at Festival. I need the quilt as a sample. More about Festival later.