We had the wonderful opportunity to go to Quilt Market in Houston last month, and while totally jam-packed, we had a great time! Let’s not discuss how much we packed and brought with us, though, okay? 😉

Chelsea, Charlie, and Jamie flew in, while Sandra and Nicole took the long route and drove 15 hours, but we had plenty of extra space to pack in all the Sample Spree and Quilt Market goodies we got for the ride home. More on that in a bit. Texas, while beautiful, is a very, very boring drive. There wasn’t much to see like we had hoped, unless of course we were super into cotton fields. One thing we did notice, is that every single town and city along the way has ice cream shops, whether it be Dairy Queen or Braums. We never got to try it, so if you’ve had Braums, let me know how it is!

On Friday morning, Oct, 24th, we arrived at Quilt Market and immediately had Schoolhouse classes scheduled for the entire day. The first session we attended was from Cotton + Steel. Here’s where they released their new fabric lines and discussed the inspiration behind their prints and then showed off a ton of quilts and projects.

These ladies were so inspirational! They had a great back-story and all their new collections (Playful, Mesa, Mochi, Tokyo Train Ride, and Cookie Book) all work with their basics from the last collections. Fantastic, right? I’m super excited for these to ship in January! Pink Door Fabrics will definitely have the majority of the collections. In fact, they’re already up for presale and we’re working on getting more of it listed every day.

Next, I went to a session on the Double Wedding Ring quilts, namely the ones done by Victoria Findlay Wolfe for her new book, Double Wedding Ring Quilts, due out soon! I am a HUGE fan of the DWR quilt and it’s more modern movement. I’ve seen some stunning use of negative space and modern color in a few of her quilts that I hope will inspire me to brave another for myself. She was an excellent speaker and I truly enjoyed meeting Victoria and hearing her fabulous discussion on how she creates each quilt and what inspires her.

Nicole, Jamie and Sandra went to a class by Sarah Lawson, also known as Sew Sweetness. She has amazing, and I mean truly amazing bags and patterns! She gave us some valuable information on the interfacings she uses and prefers along with some samples to help us remember what’s what. Sarah had a ton of bags with her that we got to check out and we also saw a few of her upcoming and new patterns. Stay tuned for those! They’re amazing!

Our last session of the day was the coveted Tula Pink Schoolhouse. We were anticipating this so much and incredibly excited to meet Tula Pink, herself. As a group, we are huge fans of her works and her fabrics. The originality in all her drawings is amazing, and when she shows her process on her Instagram or Facebook pages, I’m in awe. She really is incredible. After hearing her speak, she’s also quite hilarious and entertaining. Tula has such a bubbly personality! Anyways, she showed off her new line Elizabeth, coming out early next year. It’s beautiful, as usual!

Here’s an excerpt from her Elizabeth mini catalog describing the major drawings in her line and how they relate–

After Tula’s sessions, we got a photo with her for wearing our Tula Pink – Downtown Housewife collab shirts.

Ps- we totally scored these limited edition, VERY RARE, Tula Pink Elizabeth playing cards. There’s only 250 sets available and they’re signed and numbered by Tula Pink herself. We each got one set! We’re pretty happy with that.

After this session, we went and waiting in line for Sample Spree. We got there at 4:30…The doors open at 8pm. This picture was taken at 7pm, and there were a LOT more people after this. If you haven’t experience Sample Spree before, like myself, I would describe it as Black Friday x50… It’s chaos. It’s a whole lot of people running through the entrance doors (not joking, literally running) to make a mad dash to find the not-yet-released fabrics. From what I noticed, Cotton + Steel was very popular, as was Robert Kaufman and Art Gallery, but there were literally dozens of other tables set up and I didn’t even get to see them all!

I have to admit, I think each and every one of us did some minor damage at Sample Spree. I was behaved and didn’t buy anything ‘just because’ and only got what I felt like I would use. We have some extra bundles we’ll be adding to our giveaway bundle here in a few days and we’ll also be auctioning off some of the bundles on Instagram. Keep watching our blog for more fun info, and lots of pictures of our experience with Quilt Market.

Stay tuned for Part 2…

The kids are back in school. The chaos has returned. The early morning struggles don’t seem to get easier. The struggle of Back-to-School is exhausting!

But, on the plus side, one of my kids is in Kindergarten, so while I get to spend to some one-on-one time with my youngest, she also goes to preschool three days a week for a few hours. That means just a few hours a week to be ALONE. This has been a huge transition and feels quite lonely initially but now that we’ve been in school about a month, I’m LOVING IT!

Big kid brought home her new school ID. She proceeded to ask for thread to hang up her ID so she didn’t lose it. Dad suggested buying a lanyard… I immediately nixed both ideas and got right down to digging through my stash for some fabric. See where this is going?

I have been hoarding stashing this Tula Pink Plume for some time now. My daughter asked if we could use it. I couldn’t deny her! She knows what she likes, and I can’t be more proud! So, lets get this tutorial started.

You will need:
– (1) 2.5″ x 5″ strip of fabric
– (1) 2.5″ x 36″ strip of fabric
– (1) 5/8″ Swivel clasp AND D-ring
– Rotary Cutter/Ruler
– Iron
– Snaps of your choice
– Sewing machine and all the goodies that go with that, like coordinating thread and a sharp needle.

So first, grab your fabric and cut the two pieces. You could very likely get all you need from a 2-1/2″ x WOF piece.

Then, you’ll take each strip and fold in half lengthwise. So now it’ll measure 1-1/4″ x 5″ or 1-1/4″ x 36″. Fold well and press with a lot of steam.
Open up each strip and fold the edges into the middle. Press again.
On the 5″ piece, take in your short edges, and fold them over by 1/4″. We want those raw edges tucked away.
Fold your whole piece back in half like you did in the first step. Your piece should measure 5/8″ wide.

On the 5″ piece, go ahead and top stitch all the way around. This piece is complete for now. Set aside.

On the 36″ piece, while folded, slide on your Swivel clasp. Then take both short edges, and unfold slightly making sure to align right sides together. Go ahead and sew those together with a 1/4″ seam. Press the seam open, and refold your strip.

Now we will topstitch the entire piece. It should look like one big circle if you have sewn it correctly. Make sure to keep moving the Swivel Clasp so you don’t sew over it.

Now you’re almost done! We just need to add the snaps to our little 5″ piece to create a loop, then add your ID, and D-Ring, and that’s it!

Go ahead and add your snaps following the manufacturer’s directions. I used size 16 plastic Kam Snaps that I had, but any other snap will work fine too. I won’t show you this step since it varies greatly depending on brand/type.

As you can see, on mine, I had to wait to add the second snap since it wouldn’t fit through the tiny slot on the ID. So this pictures shows that I added one snap, then the D-Ring, then the ID, and I’ll add the last snap part at the end. You may be able to do yours all at once, or may need to divide it like I did. Go ahead and finish this step.

Now, take your 36″ circle/strip, and move the Swivel Clasp to the middle. Meaning, my seam where I sew the two edges together will go on the top, and the swivel clasp will go on the bottom. Imagine it being on your neck. Get it? Squish that little end as flat as it will go and move your needle all the way to the right to sew a stitch line as close to the clasp as you can get. This will prevent the clasp from moving all over and staying put. I did the same thing with the 5″ piece but it’s not necessary.

That’s it! All you have to do is close up your little 5″ piece using the snaps, and then hook the Swivel clasp to the D-ring. DONE! Good job!