CreativFestival Spring 2009

CreativFestival is the largest retail craft show in Canada. I've visited as a customer in the past, but this spring I took the plunge and had my own booth.

My friends Sherri Hisey of Border Creek Station Pattern Company and Jean Boyd of Patterns by Jean Boyd occupied the booths on either side of mine. Our husbands were all there to help, as well as visiting with each other!

Sherri peeks during booth set-up day

My Botanical Art Quilts booth, view #1. My new Tree Frog Peekaboo quilt on the right was a big hit!

Botanical Art Quilts booth, view #2. I had patterns, kits, beads, and many other products related to my designs for sale.

An action shot of Jean Boyd in her booth. My daughter Sarah plays hookie from helping me to browse through Jean's beautiful memory quilt samples.

Sherri Hisey demo's her techniques to make her gorgeous designs.

Despite the economy, we all had an incredible opening day. The shoppers were lined up to start, and we didn't slow down until 5:30 pm. In fact I sold out of several items by noon!

The next two days were slower, but we still did well. All in all, it was a great success.

Superior School of Threadology - More Highlights

I'm catching up on the the blogging I've missed by beginning with the Superior School of Threadology wrap-up.

Annie Unrein's class project using Texture Magic for the bag bottom

Heather Purcell, aka Mother Superior, gives an amazing Show & Tell of the stunning quilts in her personal collection. The workmanship and designs were unbelievable.

Bob Purcell gets fitted for his mortar board before the graduation ceremony begins

Jean Boyd graduates!

The Rices are graduated together: Janett Rice on the left,
moi on the right

Anita Zobens fondles her fat quarters while waiting for the shuttle

Leaving Las Vegas

Time to go home and await anxiously for my threads from the Superior Threads Warehouse Shopping Spree to arrive in the mail! And arrive they did :o) I can hardly wait to start playing with all those yummy colours...

Superior School of Threadology: Show and Tell

Show and Tell followed dinner on the first night. Many people brought quilted items, and I took some photos to share with you:

Art quilts by Martha Bentley of Nevada

Lindsay Fiske with her "Drunken Weekend up the Coast with Karen", a quilt that commemorates a road trip with a friend.

Karen Jurek of Calgary, Alberta with her "Bugs in My Garden". This incredible quilt won Best of Show at the Canadian Quilters Association National Juried Show in 2004.

Jean Boyd of Brockville, Ontario with one of her latest pattern designs "Wonky Squares"

The cover of an art book by Janett Rice! Yes, there IS another one of us! I was tickled to meet Janett and it seems we may be related by the original Rices who emigrated to America in the 17th century. Janett is a talented textile artist living in Las Vegas, although she spent a few years in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The following photo is her Harry Potter book - each page corresponds with each book in the series. It includes quotes and many techniques to illustrate the quotes. I love Harry Potter, and I loved this work of art.

"Harry Potter and the Seven Quilts"

Colleen Peake of Alberta, Canada and her "Spirit Island"

Colleen Peake and her "Peggy's Cove"

Anita Zobens, the only Superior Threads Educator for Canada, with the thread lace scarf she made for Show and Tell using Superior threads!

Annie Unrein, one of the Superior Threads instructors and a pattern designer, shows her laptop bags available as a pattern. She specializes in quilt-related organizer patterns, but also designs funky and fun quilts. Annie can often be seen working in the Superior Threads booths at various quilt shows.

Tomorrow's post will show the project that Annie designed and taught in a class that featured a brand new product for our industry!

Superior School of Threadology - Day 1

Meet and greet. There are 60 of us, and we hail from England, Canada and the U.S. Temple-Michelle, the School Co-ordinator, greets us all with huge goody bags of threads and a comprehensive booklet titled "Superior School of Threadology".

Temple-Michelle is on the left. My friends Jean Boyd and Anita Zobens are in the foreground.

Heather Purcell (aka Mother Superior)

Heather told me the following story about the beautiful quilt hanging at the front of the room: the quilt top was designed and sewn together in TWO days by Blanche Young (in her '80s at the time). This quilt was one of about 60 quilts made by Blanche that year. She uses orange fabrics in her quilts because she was told early in her career never to use orange in a quilt. Heather had the top machine quilted by another friend, and it is one of her most treasured quilts.

Bob Purcell lead the morning with his Thread Therapy seminar. Bob is a thread expert, and despite the fact that I've been in the business for 20 years, almost everything he discussed was new information to me. His talk was outstanding.

Lunch was fun; meeting new friends such as Margaret Illions from Las Vegas. Margaret kindly answered many questions from us Canadians about what it was like to live in her city. Her company is called Quilt Art & Beyond.

Margaret Illions on the left and Anita Zobens on the right.

Cindy Needham, Superior Teacher

Cindy was our afternoon instructor. Her class is called Open Thread Bar. Cindy specializes in using antique linens in her quilts, which are heirloom quilted and beaded with fresh water pearls. They are exquisite. We played with many different kinds of Superior threads and tried different techniques of machine quilting.

Tomorrow I'll post about the Show and Tell we had the first evening.

Visit to Scrap Apple Quilts

I traveled to St. George, Utah today with my friends Jean Boyd (Patterns by Jean Boyd) and Anita Zobens (Cotton Mill Threadworks). We are registered in the Superior School of Threadology for the next few days.

We flew into Las Vegas , then took the St. George Shuttle through spectacular desert country (does anyone know what a talus cone is?). We arrived at our hotel, dropped the luggage, and took Bob Purcell's (owner of Superior Threads) offer of a ride to a wonderful quilt shop - Scrap Apple Quilts!

Our shopping spree begins!

We found the staff were cheerful, warm and welcoming to us tired travellers. The selection of batiks was outstanding. Scrap Apple is celebrating it's birthday, and had a huge sale on. My favorite find was rick rack! And yes, I bought lots.

After a happy 1 1/2 hours in the store, the owner Shirley Baptist offered to drive the 3 of us back to our hotel. Talk about Utah hospitality! We really appreciated her kindness.

Tomorrow we begin the School of Threadology, and my next post will tell all...

Portland International Spring Quilt Market 2008 Final

My husband Sid is my booth helper (one of my customers called him 'Booth Candy'), but also lends a hand wherever needed with others. His job is also to scout out a local microbrewery/restaurant and lead us all to dinner at the end of the last day. He chose the Deschutes Brewery, which had just opened, and which Sid had researched on the internet before we went to Portland. It certainly was excellent - the beer, the food and the service!

Sid and Tracey Browning (Quizzles) from Australia

Sid tells a good story! To his right are Tracey Browning and Helen Stubbings (Hugs 'n Kisses) of Australia, and Shannon Haley-Funcke of Iowa, President of Quilt Press.

Jean Boyd on the left (Patterns by Jean Boyd), myself in the middle (Botanical Art Quilts) and Tricia Sherman on the right (Great Canadian Shop Hop).

Life is good.