To Market, Spring 2015 edition

Well the best laid plans of mice and men… and women often get rearranged so it was no surprise that Cheryl and I got our dates muddled…

So we updated our plans and I slept most of the way to Minneapolis in the back of Ute’s car. I woke up for dinner at the Norske Nook in Osseo. Valerie was happy to be there!

IMG_1301

The pies were as good as they look.

IMG_1303

I took half my sandwich to go so I could really enjoy my slice of strawberry rhubarb pie.

Ute and Valerie dropped me at the Hilton where I checked in and found my room. I had a good view of the city from the 12th floor.

IMG_1307

Even though I had had lots of sleep in the car I was still asleep by nine! That was good because I had a busy day planned on Thursday.

I had pre registered for School House. The complete list of speakers isn’t released until the day so I headed over to the Convention Center through the SkyWalk early to collect my program. It’s fun picking out your own individual schedule. I filled out all the boxes.

IMG_1311

But before School House even started I was booked for Pepper Corey‘s lecture, What’s Up with Modern Quilters, Bad-Ass Quilters and Slow Quilting? I was interested in Pepper’s take on the latest trends in the Quilt Industry.

IMG_1320

The lecture was immediately followed by the first session. Fortunately it was right next door. The room was packed but I managed to find a spare single seat… Karey Bresenhan gave us the official welcome to market before we were treated to the Premiere Event, It’s the Cloud, My Dear Watson from Like Sew. I was a  long way back…

IMG_1322

And then we were off, going from room to room, criss crossing the convention center.

Cotton+Steel had a full house for the reveal of their Spring collections. We were all happy with our free gift bags! Phones were out in force to take pictures…

IMG_1333

Jane Sassaman showed her new Prairie Chic collection next.

Described as “a mix of a bit of 20th century modern with a pinch of retro color and a dash of danger… for sophisticated sewists, crafters, quilters and decorators” Jane had some beautiful projects to show us.

I loved this bed runner made with Jane’s usual attention to detail.
IMG_1352

School House finished at 6 pm, 8 full hours after it started! That’s a lot of learning.

Cheryl drove up while we were in Schoolhouse so we met up for dinner before heading back to Sample Spree. Here are just some of the eager shoppers who had been waiting for as much as three hours.
IMG_1354

It was as crazy inside as ever… I was very happy with my purchases of fabric, buttons, bottles of Flatter smoothing spray and a new rolling tote. I’ll post pictures of all my Market goodies in the next few days but suffice to say I was off to a great start!

Tomorrow I’ll get to the show floor…