My Trip to Market - Why I Didn't See Much of the New Spring Products

At market I went to dinner with my friend Pati Fried of Red Thread Studios (http://www.patifried.com). After a lovely Greek meal, we got down to shop talk. Pati, who is a quilter and wonderful artist (we shall see great things from her soon) strongly encouraged me to seek out distributors for my designs. She loved the designs and my ideas about great mystery quilts. She also said I really needed to start teaching my patterns locally, in order to achieve the goals I have set for my personal career.

I really had no idea if I would do either of these things...

I could only attend market for a few hours the following afternoon, as I can't leave Sapphire for very long while I am still nursing her. Just after arriving and registering, I went into the closest ladies' room and you would not believe who was in there! My LQS owner!! I thought this must be the cosmos pushing me to approach her about teaching in her shop. I will spare you the details, but she wants me to start next semester - January. WOW!! I hadn't even hit the floor and I have become a Mystery Quilt Teacher!! Terri (the shop owner) was very enthusiastic and seemed excited to have me on board. I have since met with Terri and we are finalizing the dates for my classes. I will be teaching Mystery Classes as well as a couple of others. EXCITING!!

After meeting with Terri in the ladies room (hahaha), I took some deep breaths and headed to the show room floor to look for fabric for my December Mystery. First things first though, I must find Pati and give her a hug for encouraging me to approach Terri in the first place. I found her quickly (aren't cell phones cool?) and she was very excited for me. She also said that she heard during a school house session yesterday that Northcott was looking for pattern designers for their new collections. Awesome, I LOVE Northcott. We headed over to their booth and I sat down with one of their marketing directors... and a few hours later met their other marketing director... and long story short...
I am one of the new pattern designers for Northcott Fabrics!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then I pretty much just walked and stared, at nothing really. Couldn't really concentrate you see. Anyway, I had a great Fall Market experience, but I really didn't see much of anything while I was there!

Thank you all for your support. I can't wait to get started on these fabulous new ventures and to share them with you all in the coming year!

Jess