Houston Quilt Market - Day 2

There is always excitement in the air on the big opening day of quilt market, and this year was no exception! I finally got my booth set up the evening before, I may have been the last one out of there this time. But it turned out pretty good; I'd done lots of new patterns using Andover's new "Little House on the Prairie" line of fabrics and Woolfelt, and had a great response to them in spite of the nasty weather. My "Magic Apron" pattern was a big hit, so named because not only is it comfy and easy to make, it fits a multitude of sizes and looks great on everybody! My new "Prairie Pouch" is also a fun shoulder bag with 2 flap styles, and can be made up in linen, cotton, velvet, home dec fabric, lots of possibilities there. My sister even found me a couple of western branding irons to hang the pouches on! The Easter Egg Placemats are made up in the Prairie Flowers line of small prints, but would also be so cute in hand-dyes and batiks, don't you think? Remember how Mama would sell her eggs to the Oleson's store?

Great-grandma Ruth and I, modeling my new "Magic Apron" styles.

 Lots of new designs featuring the new "Little House on the Prairie" fabrics and Woolfelt.

 Nellie and Ms. Beadle from the TV show doing book-signing in the Andover booth, there's my new Magic Apron centered right behind them!

 There's my new Magic Apron in the center of Andover's booth, I think they liked it!

 Pics from my market booth.

And Mama made a tasty pie on the show too, so I included a new Woolfelt pie pincushion pattern in our line-up: shown here are pumpkin and cherry, the cherry "filling" being made of the new Adobe Red Woolfelt color. And for my 100th pattern: a new "Anna" doll pattern, as my first Annie's Keepsakes pattern was a doll, I thought it only fitting I should make my 100th one a doll design too, especially as this year marks our 25th year of business! I had found this great wagon at a local antiques flea market, and it really looks like Pa's wagon from the original show. It was the perfect size for my doll and pies display, but needed a horse to pull it. So I did a "retro re-do" and brought my Hobbyhorse design out of retirement, updating his cart to just a set of wheels. He was a big hit too! Here are a few pics of opening day at Market.