Back from Quilt Market
I'm back from the fall 2008 International Quilt Market in Houston. This is the JCaroline booth where my non-quilting fabric was on display. (Click photo to view larger.) I found out last night that our little orange room won the award for Best New Exhibitor!
I arrived in Houston on Thursday night and got a tour of Caroline's immaculate warehouse, followed by an awesome dinner prepared by her husband. I got to chat with Olivia a little bit, too, who is quite friendly and also enjoys hammers and drinking syrup straight from the bottle. Friday was set-up day at the convention center, followed by the Fabric 2.0 party hosted by JCaroline, Michael Miller, Moda, and Etsy. Saturday was the first day of the show.
Here's a photo to give you an idea. This is probably one quarter of the whole thing.
Although I was hoping to ride on a scooter, I did not get the chance.
I loved getting to meet people in person that I've only known through emails and blogs. I was going to list a bunch of them here, but then was afraid I'd forget someone and hurt their feelings. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, you know who you are. It was a pleasure. And if at any point I sounded like a moron when speaking to you, it was probably because I'm an introvert and the circuits in my brain were completely fried by all the activity. I got home yesterday and told Alex, "I'll eat some dessert with you as soon as I unpack my pictures. Pictures? No, I mean, condiments. No. I mean, toiletries." No joke.
And I'd better recover today, because tomorrow I'm going to another trade show for my other career in which I am a graphic designer. Graph Expo, a colossal printing trade show here in Chicago. Bye for now.
(Update for people inquiring about the paint colors in the booth: Sherwin Williams Tango SW 6649, Exciting Orange SW 6647, Interactive Cream SW 6113. Tinted primer is recommended for getting good coverage on the oranges; inquire at your paint store.)
83 comments:
Your booth is amazing!!!! Love it, love it, love it!!!!!!!
Oh, I am so happy for you! Really happy!
Congrats on the award...the booth looks very cheerful and welcoming!
That's the cutest booth I have ever seen. I found your blog through a friend and you are amazing. Truly inspirational. I LOVE crafts and I can't wait to get back into them. I just had twin girls and I also have a toddler and a husband so that makes 4 kids to keep me busy! ha jokes I love him. But thanks for sharing all your secrets and ideas. I love them!
Well, thank you very much!
congratulations on your lovely booth! that place looks amazing-definitely wishing i could have been a fly on the wall!
That's one amazingly cool booth. I think I'm in love with the apron the most.
Longtime reader, first-time commenter who had to speak up because that booth is so amazing! I have to go to trade shows so often for work, plus I also like the state fair, but I have never seen a booth like that. The award is well-deserved. I wouldn't mind if that booth were my living room! I want to take yours and Caroline's blogs intravenously (in a non-creepy way, if that's possible).
What an adorable booth!! Wow! I LOVE the Houston Quilt Show. It is simply amazing what people can do with fabric and thread! It's artwork, for sure!
Congrats on winning best new booth!
That booth is so... well... AWESOME!! :-)
I hope Caroline enjoyed her scooter riding. ;-)
Glad you're back,
Mum
Great Booth! Love your fabric! Congratulations on the win. I'm heading off to the Quilt Show on Wednesday where I am renting a scooter.
Barbara
Yippy for you!!! Your little booth packed a huge punch and you deserve that award! Fun!
It looks great! Congrats.
Your little room looks awesome! It looks so cozy, invitnig, and exciting. Good luck in Chicago :)
I was at quilt market for the first time in Portland in May. It was overwhelming and I know Houston is even bigger. Your booth is so creative and fun. You definitely deserve the award! Thanks for sharing the pictures of it.
oh cool!!! i love your booth! it's so pretty and colorful!
etsy was there too?! i wonder what their booth looks like.
The booth does look great! I'm not surprised that it won. I'm so jealous that you were around all that awesome fabric.
What I'm NOT so jazzed about, as a commuter in Chicago, are all the Graph Expo buses clogging up my normal bus route. Haha, just giving you a hard time. I didn't know what is was until you just explained it. All I knew were tons and TONS of charter buses that said Graph Expo on them were passing me by while I waited for my bus last night.
Oh Em Gee! I could totally live in that booth. Just drag a cot in there (upholstered in the Boardwalk fabric) and I'd be set.
Lovely!!
Your booth looked wonderful! Congratulations!
It was GREAT to meet you! :)
I can see why! Your booth is adorable!
i love the booth! it would totally be a spot light booth. congrats.
i did made something from one of your non quilt fabric. i'll show you soon.
Your booth was stunning! Love that blue chair. :)
I saw your picture here.
http://alittlehut.blogspot.com/2008/10/fabric-20.html
I didn't realize how tall you are! or how short your companions may be? I've always wanted to be tall.
The booth looked scrumptious! Absolutely. I'm not sure I could've handled all the fabricy goodness at the show without having some kind of seizure, though.
have fun at the GD expo!
Yup, the booth is FABULOUS! Congrats!
Candy
I saw your photo on A Little Hut today! :-)
Love that orange booth. Congratulations on the award. It looks like an awesome time.
Wow! What an awesome looking booth.
OMG That booth is beautiful!!! Loving all the furniture - crisp white with all your fab fabric! Is your fabric stocked anywhere in the UK?
IT LOOKS SO GOOD!!!
I am so excited that you won for best new booth! YIPPEEEE!!!
What a breath of fresh zing-y air that booth is! Your fabulous orange and gold striped wallpaper reminds me of the background of my Halloween TP Roll Witch Action Figure (free download, enjoy it, share it, pass it on)!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/relentlesstoil/2978080219/
--Keet, who is jealous she didn't get to go to Quilt Market, but DID go and see the Gee's Bend exhibit on Saturday
way way WAY fun-looking booth! i'm getting my degree in interior design, and your creativity inspires me every time i check out your blog (which is pretty much every day...sometimes twice a day!). congrats on the award and the success!
Very creative booths! Truly lovely! FUN!
Your booth is awesome! It doesn't hurt that orange is my favorite color, too. I am so jealous about the quilt expo - I wish it were open to the public. I'll have to settle for the quilt festival this weekend, which I have never been to despite living in Houston! Good luck with your next convention!
How could your booth not win? It's nicer than most rooms in my house. Mind if I move in? I do dishes and have supernatural laundry abilities... really. I can predict done-ness before the buzzer!
Congrats!
i am so in love with your booth! it looks so happy!
Jessica, it was really nice to finally meet you on Friday. I'm so glad the booth won best new exhibitor, but I knew it would. I hope your experience in Houston was lovely. (And let me laugh a little at your reference to Caroline's immaculate warehouse. I was lost in there for 2 days once.)
Next year, we all get scooters!
It must have been a huge success!
I'm so proud of you.
I still remember when we were students you did some small project meetings like making a book. I feel happy to know my old friends using their gifts, having fun, and doing something meaningful.
Oh, I have to tell you, my student Ribhav said "I love orange, orange is my favorite color." when I asked him to choose a color to check his test:) I didn't know he was an orange fan, too.
In my classroom we have two desks, and one is covered by your Peapod fabric. He always chooses Peapod desk to do anything. I'm doing many projects on the desk, wondering if you were here I would be much happier...
OMG you're going to another trade show!? I know how tiring these can be. Gratz on the new booth prize! Be sure to find a hot tub when you get back. Enjoy!
This is so exciting! Congratulations on the booth award too:)
Wait a second...Jess, you're tall? How come I never noticed this?
Congrats on the award and all that! Looks like you've been busy racking up the design points!
Mahan, probably because I'm just normal to you, and everyone else is dainty and petite. Yes, with all my design points I should be able take a free vacation to a time share in Mexico soon.
Rhonda, it was so great to meet you, too. Caroline has mentioned you a bunch. You're funny. I like you. Have fun at book club.
And Crafty B, I don't know if the fabric is stocked anywhere in the UK. Michael Miller Fabrics distributes it wholesale, but I don't know which shops buy it.
The booth looked great! I love all the vibrant colours!
Hello, I just stumbled across your amazing blog today and have been in design heaven reading your archives!
Thanks for the peek into Quilt Market, I read about it on all the fabric designers' blogs, but it seems like everyone's understandably too busy to blog about it while they're there.
Love your work,
Holly from Vancouver, BC, Canada
A very well deserved award. Your booth is just gorgeous.
Congratulations from Australia.
Andi :-)
That booth totally rocked! I'd say "Best Booth" period.
It was so amazing to meet you- I'm glad we had a chance to hang out for a bit- it was an absolute pleasure!
(Are you as tired as I am??!)
Congrats on the booth award! I went by hoping to meet you and must have just missed. The both and fabrics were absolutely beautiful!!! ~jen~
i love that booth. so much fun goodness in there. you deserved to win, so yay! for you guys.
i saw the photo of you over at a little hut. how come i never noticed you were so tall? or are they just short? i'm 5'9" and i'm always the "tall" one but you got me beat.
that looked like a lot of booths to see. oh my!
sorry about the missing out on the scooter. i was hoping to see you in a patchwork vest though. maybe next year?
Love the booth! Congratulations to both you and jCaroline!
Michelle, I'm so tired! I'm in recovery. Jen, sorry to have missed you! All Over the Map, I'm just about 5'11", I believe. Yup, I'm tall.
Hi JJ - this booth is absolutely gorgeous!! I want to live inside of it. Congrats on the show and winning best new booth. You go girl!!
OMG That looks AWESOME. PLEASE come decorate my house, thought I was good until I started reading your blog ^_!
i LOVE the booth.. i want to live in the booth.. how much is rent? your designs are gorgeous.
Jess, Congrats on this big step and big success! :)(though I am not so surprised because I know how people will love your patterns/fabrics since I love them always! :) Also a reminder, don't forget to patent them!!!---still remember our small talk in that coffee place with that cute game table and a guy spoke out for us beside? ;) I love the furnitures more than the apron though, now I know what I should do with that 3 fabrics in my closet now---they are too small for my windows and beds, but perfect for my table!!! Thanks for sharing that idea! in short, I choose to be a public lover to your fabric and a secret admirer to you. ;) See you Sat!~~~
Your booth looks wonderful! Boy, that looks like a fun, but overwhelming event!
Oh goodness, did I call that award or what? I'm so glad you guys got an award for the booth. It was completely deserved - I was so mad I hadn't taken a picture of it! So nice to meet you. You seemed totally normal and sane, btw, but it WAS early on Saturday. :o) It took me over a day to recover and I was only looking!
Gorgeous booth. Congrats on the award.
Congrats on the award...certainly deserved...those booths are great and would definitely put me in!
great booth! I got to tell a lot of folk about you so I hope you made some great sales - Congrats on surviving your first market!
Congrats! What a gorgeous, colorful booth... not that we expected anything less with your fabrics as decorations! Looks fantastic!
Love love love your booth!!! It makes me want to jump into the picture and spend a paycheck on your beautiful goodies!
I want that room It's great!!
Loverly booth. I hope being at Market inspires you for some quilting cotton designs.
Wow, that place looks like a lot of fun!
Sounds like so much fun, the booth looks great. Sorry I missed the show this fall. Congrats on the award!
Congratulations! It all looks so cute. :-)
I love your stuff! That room looked great with all your designs in there! Perfect! I want that room in my house.....hmmm.
That's definitely a well-deserved honor. The booth was definitely Certified Awesome! Great to have met you at Market and Fabric 2.0!
I love your booth. Congrats on the award. I love the colors. Can't wait to try out your fabrics.
Wow! Gorgeous booth & Congratulations on the award :) Very inspiring colors & design!
I SO enjoyed meeting you at Fabric 2.0 and at the Quilt Market of course. I'm a huge fan of your work!!
~shawn (michael miller fabrics)
The booth looks fabulous. Yesterday, I had a chance to stop by Crafty Planet here in MPLS... the owners had just returned from Houston and they shared pictures of your new ribbon with the Amusement Park designs -- too cool! I totally missed that there was going to be new ribbon designs and furthermore, I didn't know that I needed ribbon, but obviously I do!! Congratulations on your fabric, ribbon, and a successful show!
The booth is cute as a button! I love it. Congrats on the award. I would love to go to Quilt Market some time.
Pokey has a couple of photos of your booth on her blog. The address is:
www.quiltingartsblog.com/quilting_arts_blog/
Orange is such a happy and bright color.
Cheers,
Ellen
The booth was great and it was so nice to meet you in person. :-) Now I'm anxiously awaiting my quilt market orders (JCaroline's ribbon included!)
Shawn, Melanie, so great to meet you!! Anonymous, thanks for the link to Pokey's blog. I got to hear her tell the story of her name, which is really interesting (and entertaining.)
Shut up! That's awesome!
Congrats! J.Caroline is awesome too, look at all that stuff? Did she really make it all herself? I need to go tell her!
Your grandma's bag above is great...!
fried brain circuits...that is funny. it's normal...i once pointed at a loaf of bread, and asked my son to hand me the pepper!
i LOVE orange, and it's the color of my front door. congratulations, your booth makes me smile.
i first heard about the houston show via virginia spiegel's quilt website.
It was wonderful to have met you. Your booth was so cute and I'm not surprised that it won an award!
Your booth looked fantastic!!! I love it!
Hey Jessica! I am so happy I finally got to meet you! You are so sweet & talented! Congrats on the booth award... it was definitely the "AWESOMEST" booth in the whole darn place! ;) OH, and so cool that you got that bird's eye view photo of Quilt Market. I got one from set-up day but it just looks like a huge mess! LOL!
patty
Man next year I have to make the short drive up the road from Austin to hit the quilt market. Between your booth, Jay McCarrol, my friend Traci Bautista it sounds like so much fun!
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