Pittsburgh Quilt Market

International Quilt Market was held in Pittsburgh, PA this spring, and what an awesome show it was! I had never been to this beautiful city, and was pleasantly surprised to see how artsy it was: lots of gorgeous architecture, history and culture. We were fortunate enough to stay at the historic Renaissance Hotel downtown, located right across the street from the Allegheny River (see photo at left.) If you look just under the arch on the right, that is where our room was, and we could look out the window and have a beautful view every morning. The hotel itself was extraordinary with its exquisite winding staircase and elegant decor, and we were close enough to the quilt show to walk back every evening (we caught the free shuttle in the morning.) One evening we were walking back and noticed so many pretty girls in long gowns around the hotel, some of them accompanied by tuxedo'd young men, and found out our hotel was hosting their high school prom! What lucky ladies to have their prom pictures taken on that glorious winding staircase.

The quilt show itself was just up the street, also just across from the river; at left is a photo of one of the beautiful bridges we had a view of from the 2nd floor lobby of the convention center, the front of which was a wall of windows, and so you could see for miles. The quilt show was just huge! To give you an idea, my booth was #2655...that is a lot of 10' spaces! I met so many wonderful people there, so many nice shop-owners from all over the country, and I had a great response to my new pincushion patterns and also the hats, everyone seemed to know someone who needed a hat, often due to cancer, and they loved how quick and easy these projects were. One highlight came at the end of the show when Eleanor Burns strolled through my booth and ordered a Cozy Cloche pattern to make a hat for someone close to her, what a nice, very classy lady. I also met some fabulous vendors, both in the fabric area and in publishing, and also ran into lots of old friends! I did notice some trends: lots of vibrant color this year, brighter hues to bring joy and happiness to our world with its sluggish economy, limey green, teal & turquoise, richer shades of warm colors saturated in sunshine, warm toasty browns...I also noticed a lot of bird themes, my "Peacock Pincushion" fit right in, as did all my newest pincushion patterns with their bright fresh colors! National Nonwovens introduced their new line of XoticFelt, made of bamboo and rayon, gorgeous colors and softly drapeable. All in all it was a great show, and I'm looking forward to seeing folks again this fall in Houston.