This is the view from the convention center of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as I looked across the Allegheny River toward the baseball stadium (Pittsburgh Pirates), near the hotel where we stayed. The Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers merge, not too far from this area, and form the Ohio River.
We experienced a little rain, and the resulting humidity, but it was pleasant enough and we found plenty of wonderful places to eat and shop. Not too far east of the convention center is what the locals call 'the strip.' On Saturday morning, it is very crowded, but I went up in the afternoon to do a little shopping. I found a great t-shirt for my baseball-crazy husband, and a nice little spice store which had amazing concoctions to smell, then buy. I picked up some Tandoori, something called 'Fox Point Seasoning' (for chicken or fish), and some fennel seeds. All smelled freshly ground--not like the stuff in the grocery store! I tried the Fox Point on our trout last night, and it was wonderful!
This was on the strip--a very charming dried floral and live potted plant store!
So, this is what Quilt Market looks like, from the glassed-in walkway above--or rather what about one fourth of it looks like. It's large, to say the least. I LOVED the convention center! No florescent lights! That is all natural light streaming into the building. Finally, an architect with brains.
Here's the Riley Blake Halloween fabric--Their booth still had plenty of the 'Chevron' fabric, which I am a little tired of, but they do have a lot of cute things, and very imaginative fabrics. Did you know they are from Alpine, Utah? A lot of the new fabric designers are from Utah.
There was a lot of raw-edge appliqué and I really do love it! The fabrics are usually kept in place by a sewable product like Heat 'n Bond or a good basting spray. The The free-form quilting keeps the appliqués in place permanently, and if you wash them, you have the additional perk of ragged edges.
Now, just look at these little skirts with some soft ruffles of tulle.....
So many darling quilt patterns....
And look at this beautiful woman in this booth--she reminded me of a mermaid!
This wonderful fabric line were beautiful little scenes with kitties and farm animals.....
With a moo-moo here, and a quack-quack there....
A lot of 'block-of-the-month quilts everywhere!
Wonderful graphic quilting!
There were a lot of cute embroidery pieces--that's still very popular!
These were mounted on foam core, then onto fabric-covered foam core to display them!
Cute little dollies...
Bright, pretty and easy!
More quilt happiness...
Space themed kids' quilts! So cute!
Wonderful 'cheese-cloth' materials, specialty fabrics embellished and mounted for display!
This project utilized hand-dyed fabrics, embellishments, and machine quilting (echo quilting). You can certainly create your own brand of art work this way!
Next time, we will see Vanessa's Moda booth, some of the things I made for Marcus Fabrics (and their booth), and the Quilt Market quilt display--from the best and most creative minds in the world!
Hope you enjoyed this little visit to Quilt Market!
