Friday, November 04, 2011

Fall Quilt Market 2011: Friends, Fun, and my New Fabric Family Northcott!

Welcome to Part Three of my Fall Quilt Market 2011 blog post series!
Need to catch up on my Fall Quilt Market 2011 posts?
See Part One: Schoolhouse Day  •••  See Part Two: Beautiful Booths

After attending an early (cock-a-doodle-doo-early) Northcott sales meeting, and then Schoolhouses most of the day Friday, I headed to the main trade show floor to see how it was shaping up. I couldn't wait to find Northcott's booth.

LOOK what—or WHO, rather— was waiting for me? My new stuffy buddies! It was love at first sight. I can't wait to finally get some of these fabric panels and go to town with creative ideas for embellishing them! SO excited..

>Want to see what the panel looks like before they became stuffies? Click here


 This wall on the Northcott booth featured a group of Northcott designers—head shots with little pics of our latest collections. Called "The Northcott Designer's Hall of Fame" (love it :D), the panels were placed in a very prominent spot—front and center of the booth, on the side of one of the main columns. I liked that!

On Saturday, Northcott was busy the entire day. Jam-packed busy. I'm so glad they had such a FANTASTIC show. It was so nice to witness the chops of the sales force and of the company at large,  first-hand. YES, I am proud to be a Northcott designer!

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On Friday night, I attended the Fabric 2.0 party with my good buddy Monica Lee as well as her friends (and my NEW friends) Tara Kordich of Sew Amelia's Garden and her mom, Paula! They were so much fun to hang with! Though I have no photos of the party, I had a GREAT time. (Hey, maybe that is why I have no photos!)

I'll post links to pics here as I discover them, but for now, here's links to other places with photos of the party:

>Pic me and Stephanie Brieger (Fat Quarter Shop) at Fabric 2.0 party  (Thank you Kimberly Jolly!)

> Stash Books Fabric 2.0 blog post

>Jolly Jabber
(Fat Quarter Shop's blog) blog post

>>>Have any links to party pics? Please post 'em in the comments... Thanks!




That lovely lady is Kim Kight. Kim is the creative dynamo, marketing wizard, and fabric review & preview queen behind the comprehensive, consistent and just-plain-awesome fabric blog True Up. I met Kim very briefly in passing at last year's Fall Quilt Market. I was not familiar with True Up at the time. Yes, sad but true, especially when I think of all I was missing. (Isn't it nice that blogs have archives?) 


This time around, I am
not only familiar with her blog, but I've become a bona-fide fan of True Up and I read it regularly. (Please check it out if you have not already.)


So here is the deal... Kim wrote a book. Yes, that's right, and a book is a big deal, in and of itself.. But, this is not just ANY book. Kim has now, yes, written the book on fabric design. When you think about it, it's kind of the coolest thing ever. Totally full-circle-y. Yes, I'm Oprah-ing out over this. But really, can you blame me?

This woman is passionate about fabric design. She has been tenaciously, diligently, (and yes, passionately!) blogging fabric since 2008. And now, she has literally written the book on it. Does it get any better than that? (When does the sequel come out?? :D ) Dreams and goals come true, and though I know this to be true, I always appreciate a reminder. It takes tenaciousness, consistency, plain good old hard work, and it takes GUTS! One of my favorite sayings is "Nothing worthwhile is every easy". This book was clearly a labor of love to write and create.


The second coolest thing ever is that all of us lucky folks in line at her packed book signing were gifted with a copy—signed. Yup. So by NOW, you are probably thinking that Kim is a pretttty awesome girl. You would be right! Congratultions Kim!!

My super-duper talented fabric peeps!

From Left to Right: Me, Rashida Coleman-Hale (I Heart Linen), Khristian Howell, Leah Duncan, & Alexia Abegg. I love these gals!! So much fun, such cool girls! Not pictured, but  on the other side of the camera, is Monica Lee (see HER group photo here :D )

Top pic L-R: Michelle Scott, Tricia Maloney, Deborah Edwards, Cheri Strole & hubby David, Pati Fried, Debra Gabel

Bottom pic L-R: Pati, Debra, Northcott's awesome Marketing Maven Hania, litte ole me, Jane Spolar, Michelle Scott, the top of Tricia's head, Northcott Design Director (and fabulous Northcott Designer in her own right) Deborah, & Cheri.

So... how could my trip get EVEN better? Dinner with my Northcott family, of course. And in Texas, do as the Texans do—TRUE Tex-Mex (and Margaritas, too). Giddy up, little dogie! I don't think it gets any better than that.


 

These ladies seriously rule. LOVED meeting the members of my new Northcott family. We had SUCH a great time! We will just *have* to do this more often...

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Well, that's it for Fall Quilt Market 2011!

>>>If you have posted about Quilt Market to your blog, I'd love to see it!! Please post the link in the comments 
:)


1 comment:

Monica Lee said...

Great post Kathy! How did I miss having a margarita in texas! Gadz!!