…there are no fat quarters (or pigs) at market, but here is what you will find.
You might have known they don’t have fat quarters at quilt market. I, on the other hand, did not. I just think that when quilt market is this close to home, I must go. My goal for going is to try to figure out how this enigma called the quilting industry works!
With credentials in hand, I have a plan! I’ve got lists of book publishers, fabric manufacturers, and magazine publishers. I’m also signed up for a blogging lecture by the fabulous Ebony Love (Love Bug Studios).
First, I must download the Quilt Market app. My stack of 5 x 7 cards of my designs are ready to hand out in an effort to catch the eye of industry reps. I rehearse my “lines” on the two-hour drive.
So I arrive, check in at the marvelous Magnolia Hotel, and make my way to the entrance. So far, so good!
With my buyer’s guide in hand, I step into the business side of quilting.
Subsequently, I kid you not, I forget my name…and can’t think of a single thing I want to say! I recover a bit and begin to push through with very awkward introductions to industry professionals. I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I feel totally out of my league and am painfully aware of it at this point!
Thankfully, friendly faces from The Golden Needle let me join them for lunch before I continue my quest to conquer market. At the end of day one, I am all too happy meet The Hubs and Dash Two for a Cardinal game!
The next day, I have better bearings on why I am there, what I need to accomplish, and how to go about it. It helps to start the day with the blogging lecture, where I got a boost in confidence. It makes all the difference, knowing you aren’t alone.
There are other designers also trying to connect the dots.
Next, I start chatting to people in booths. I observed some BIG NAMES and listen to them lament that it took 20 or 30 years in the industry before their ideas ever took off (gulp).
A lesson to take away from quilt market is that there is not just one way to get the job done. Everyone there is taking a risk, especially the shop owners who are trying to out-guess their customers’ future buying whims.
This is free enterprise at work. It is scary. And it is fun.
Mostly, I found that most of the people there are very friendly, especially those who are newer in the industry and they are happy to tell their story and give advice. I just need to be myself and be honest about being a newbie.
One gal, Kristyne Czepuryk (Pretty By Hand), debuting her first line of fabric, shares a lot about how she got started designing fabric.
A gal in a booth nearby at Blackbird Designs gives me tips on book publishing.
I run into a friend/merchant that I see every year at the show in Paducah, Tina, of Turtlehand Fabrics and we have lots of fun talking about possible future projects. I finish the night with Ebony’s lecture on independent publishing.
Now the work begins. Real life is waiting at home and outside of quilt market. It was a fun gig, but you know how it goes…
…home again, home again, jiggity jig.
See my six favorites from quilt market HERE!
