Clares Place at AQM

I am back from AQM and oh my gosh I had such a blast!!! Everything about my first quilt market was exhausting, all the behind the scenes work that went into preparing and getting everything ready so that things would run smoothly, this meant very late nights (or rather early mornings) pattern editing, printing and folding patterns while trying to juggling a newborn that is as I have been told "a normal baby" i.e. A baby that cries all day and night unless she is held - Chloe was a dream baby and was sleeping through the night at 6 weeks (I was totally spoiled!) - hence why people tell me Sarah’s crying is ‘normal’!

The first day (which was set up afternoon) I was totally stressed and although I had planned the layout of my booth a thousand times over in my mind, every time I put something in place I would reposition it only to put it back how it was originally.  All in all the booth was decked out exactly as I had in mind and I am so glad it came together as I envisioned. Unfortunately I didn’t take many photos, but luckily hubby and my mum did take some (mums I will share later).

While at market I was able to meet some wonderful people and catch up with old friends (Hi Toni, Sarah and Lillian) which made the experience all the more memorable.  It was so inspiring meeting other designers and hearing what inspires them and drives them to design, make and create and being able to admire their work in the flesh.  It was also lovely to meet other designers who also shared 1^st time market nerves like the lovely Lenora read a fantastic market recap by her here. 

 

I am so glad I pushed myself and made the plunge to go to AQM and am so grateful for the positive feedback on my designs and booth (THANKS EVERYONE!).  I will certainly be back next year!

 

And I would also like to say a HUGE Thanks to all my family and friends for the support, help and encourage in getting to and during the market!

Now I am back home there is so much to do (aside from the mounting housework I have patterns to tell you about, stockists lists to update, orders to send out, sleep to be had and time to enjoy my beautiful little girls before they grow up to big! ;p)

P.S.  For those who entered the draw to win a pattern pack at AQM stay tuned I will have Chloe draw the winner tomorrow.

Quiet

I know things have been rather quiet on the quilting side of my blog but with all the silence let me assure you I have been busy.  You see this year I will be attending the Melbourne Quilt Show (trade show) so I have been super busy designing, making and writing patterns for a number of new designs to be released there.  Amongst the new patterns are 5 quilt patterns and 2 bag patterns, some of which I have already provided you sneek peeks of. 

Here are a few more sneek peeks of some photos that my niece took.

Please stick with me for the next couple of weeks while I finish them off.  I plan to release a few of them in the lead up to the Australian Quilt Market (all going well).

A New Take on Baby 123

While we were in Melbourne for the AQM I was able to stop into Foothills Fabric and Threads to deliver some patterns and a quilt for them to display. Baby 123 was made by my mum using some me and my sister fabrics. It looks so fresh, bright and fun!

While I am talking about Clares Place we do have some new stockists of our patterns. You can now pick them up at The Quilt Patch if you are in Launceston or Pattern Perfect if you are online or check out our other stockists on our website to find the best deal for you.

AQM

Okay the much awaited post…AQM!!! To sum it up..I had a BLAST. It was so much less daunting than I had thought it would be and I met some wonderful people.

So why did I go? (aside from checking out the latest fabrics to be released) I mostly went to decide whether to exhibit next year and what I need to take and do to prepare for it. After speaking with some wonderful designers I am much more confident to just go for it (we will just see how the year pans out between now and then).

Anyway I am sure you are wondering who I met and what the stalls were like? Well… there were heaps of FABULOUS DESIGNERS such as Saffron Craig, Melly (Melly and Me), Gail Pan and of course lets not forget Toni (Make it Perfect) to name a few. It was speaking to Toni and finally remembered to take a few photos (Sad hey? I had to travel all the way to Melb to catch up with someone I see back home.) Toni was showcasing 3 NEW patterns along with sneek peeks of her beautiful hardcover book which has now been released.

While I was in the creative Abundance booth I also had a chat with Gail Pan and Melly. They were both so very lovely. In this photo Melly had to bend down to my level as I’m short (thanks Melly!).

I had to get a shot of the beautiful Don’t Look Now quilts. The quilting is so incredible (such great eye candy but something I will never get time to do).

While I was at AQM I was inspired by some upcoming fabrics and came back with 10 new ideas for projects. Saffron Craig has some divine fabrics coming out (and already out) – I love, love, LOVE one of the lines coming out next year so hopefully I get my current projects out of the way before then to free me up to work on a new design to use her fabrics.

So there you go. I hope I didn’t disappoint. For me I am mostly done with my Christmas shopping, as we have a family get together this Saturday as most of hubby’s family is going to be away for Christmas, so we are celebrating early (Nothing like two Christmas celebrations). I hope to be not so long between posts next time. :s