Our day started off with a pleasant surprise of a chance meeting with Norman Wyatt who designs Earthtones for PB Textiles. He and his wife were warm and lovely and we enjoyed chatting with them against the backdrop of the beautiful Monument Au Fantome by Jean Dubuffet. I wish I had gotten a better picture of the art, but next year I am going to add a day just to do a Houston art tour. And I will definitely watch for new collections from Norman. 

Market is huge. Being my first time here, I didn’t know what to expect, and it was as large and exciting and inspiring as I expected. We managed to walk every aisle and stop everywhere we wanted to, so that in and of itself was an accomplishment. I am still deciding on fabric to order, and picked up a few exciting enhancements to add products to my shop, and I will blog them when the goods arrive! Until then, let’s have a look at what jumped out at me. 

Hands down, best display of quilts in the booth goes to Free Spirit Fabrics. All the manufacturers had lots of quilts on display. But this was like walking through a high end gallery and each quilt was more stunning than the previous. Beyond the fact that Free Spirit manufactures some of my favorite designers, they just did an awesome job. 

Tula Pink’s booth with Free Spirit to promote her new line was about as happy, bright and inspiring as you can get. Tula was there meeting customers and was lovely. If you like cats, or brights, or both, you will love this line. 

I was able to pick up some sample hardware and strapping a for bags. I am very excited to get home and put them to good use. 

I didn’t pay much attention to the many notion distributors at Market, but there were many and it seems like there are a lot of new tools of the trade becoming available. 

Moda never disappoints and their Super Hero themed display was fun and eye catching. Across the hall they had a lot of their designers chatting to customers about their lines. They have a really cute Easter line coming out that I am excited about. 

I loved this quilt in the Riley Blake booth showing off their Crayola Colors. If Maddie were still in elementary school I would be making this. 

Adorn It is a smaller, but up and coming fabric manufacturer. I believe it was started by a mom and daughter duo and I really spark to their fun and whimsical designs. Their booth was well done and I enjoyed meeting them again after my first encounter at QuiltCon. Their new pelican line is really cute. Are Pelicans the new owls?

Whoa! Patrick Lose’s color wall is stunning in its simplicity. It caught my eye from a distance away and called my name. I ended up getting some fabric that I am excited about. I am committed to Kona Solids, but these colors rock. 

Everything in his booth was charming and brought to life in context. I enjoyed chatting with their reps, and appreciate the bandana that I found in my bag! This camping line is really cute and I think reaches a lot of different customers. 

I don’t even know whose display this is, but I thought it was very welcoming in its retro meets shabby chic design. 

I wish I had taken more photos but there was so much to see, so many decisions to make, and only so many hours in the day. It was fun to walk the show with Amy, sometimes loving the same things and other times going different directions.  Next year I will do a three day trip, but for this year, these were some of my highlights. 

Tomorrow I will post some of my favorite quilts from the IQA quilt show.