As promised, here’s Stitch editor Amber Eden and me in the swan-boat centerpiece of the Michael Miller booth at Spring Quilt Market in Portland. Fortunately it’s only a still shot, as my dismount was less than elegant. I bumped into Amber on her way in, and we had a great time checking out new fabrics together.
Market was a great reminder that the people I work with over phone and e-mail do actually exist in the real world! Here’s fellow Stitch contributing editor Linzee Kull McCray on the left with friends Jenny Gordy, Codi Josephson, and Greta Songe.
Days at Market are long, with parties going into the night after the convention itself closes. At the Portland Modern Quilt Guild’s event at Modern Domestic, I had the chance to meet Susan Beal, another Stitch contributing editor, who’s lucky enough to call Portland home. (Incidentally, at the same party, wearing the necktie I appliquéd for Stitch with Style scored me a dinner invite with the riotous trio of Rachel, Angela, and Gretchen—hi guys!)
You wouldn’t know it from the size of the convention hall, but the quilting/sewing industry is a small world—Linzee interviewed me for American Patchwork & Quilting many moons ago, I worked as a freelance editor on Susan’s book Modern Log Cabin Quilting, and now we’re all hooked up with Stitch. But I never would have expected to hear my name called across the floor by a family friend I hadn’t seen in at least 15 years—she was lending a hand with her sister’s booth, Eazy Peazy Quilts.
Meeting and catching up with people was half the fun—the other half was all the new fabric and tools being shown! I’m salivating for the Charley Harper line coming this fall from Birch Fabrics. I’ve put some other lines I’m looking forward to up on Flickr if you want a sneak peek of your own. I should have taken more photos of people and fabrics, but there were so many shiny, distracting things to see!
, 1975:
, 1973: 
if you’re chomping at the bit.)
