I finally got to attend a Quilt Market! Well, the Australian version 🙂
Much smaller than the Houston one, but suprisingly for only a few aisles, still lots to see and do! Melbourne was looking pretty stunning as I arrived
And AQM wasn’t the only exciting thing on at the Exhibition buildings!!! I was wondering why there were all these really young people around (with more makeup on than I have ever worn in my entire life!)…. I gathered they perhaps weren’t there to see quilting fabric….. 🙂
First up was the Show and Share talks from various distributors and Victoria Textiles handed out a goody bag …. that had a 24″ wedge ruler in it…. hmmm… that was fun to carry around and poke people with all day! And I noticed quite a few of the women had wheelie suitcases and I wondered why…. (more on that in a bit!)
So once the trade show opened officially I went back to the front and started from there…. and bumped into Tula Pink! I think I was the first photo op of the day 🙂
She was lovely and very accommodating with allllll the people who were wanting their piece of Tula! Her talk at the end of the day was really good – she is an accomplished public speaker and made her talk and story sound fresh and interesting even though I bet she has said it a million times before. And her studio barn…. oh be still my beating heart…. I wanted to move in!
Her quilts were hanging up all around and they are amazing… and the quilting by Angela Walters is just stunning!
        
        
And finally then I got to the rest of the trade show!
PK Fabrics is the distributor for Moda and when I finally found them down the back of the building, I discovered why everyone had those wheelie suitcases…. they were selling pre-release fabrics!! (oh, I so know this for next year!).
I did manage to get the last of the jelly rolls for Vintage Holiday and Swell Christmas – woohoo! Even after being told that ‘Christmas fabric in Australia is dead. It doesn’t sell.’Â Ummm…….. there has to be more Xmas tragics out there like me?!? And us Aussies do Xmas in July as well, so quilts and other things using Xmas fabrics can get outings TWICE a year…. we should be a big market for Christmas fabric!?!
And I might have gotten one of the Moda Fabric bags too – very cute!
Bonnie’s Christmas Cheer quilt was there, looking fabulous!
The Creative Abundance team was all there and their stands looked fabulous! Sadly I was too busy chatting and catching up with everyone I forgot to take pictures!!! argh. Jodie from Ric Rac, Emma Jean Jansen, Sedef from Down Grapevine Lane, Claire Turpin and more were all there showing off their amazing patterns and fabrics. [Pic from the @aqm_australian_quilt_market on Instagram]
I finally caught up with Sedef later in the afternoon (sitting on her gorgeous Tumbleweeds quilt!) and when she realised who I was (I follow her on Instagram) she told me that @thefabrichusband (my hubby) had commented on Instagram about whether she had seen me roaming the trade show! Even 150 km away he was keeping an eye out for me (and here I thought he would be busy enough checking our credit card to see what I was buying!?!)
The next person I got to meet was the lovely Lisa from Andrie Designs. She was in the Two Green Zebras stand as they are wholesaling her bag patterns. And OMG these bags in Alison Glass are just DIVINE!!
And a little bit of Karen Lewis Blueberry Park fabric just might have jumped into my bag here too….. I am weak. Zero will power.
The Gertrude Made stand was full of her fabrics.. .I am not a clothes sewer, but there are some very interesting fabrics (such a different feel after quilting cotton!)
and I found her quilt showcasing all the Outback Wives was really interesting. A real story to it – each of the wives being depicted – I loved Rachel hooning on her bike!
           
I bumped in to quilt shop owners from South Australia, caught up with friends from around Victoria, met new people and had a wonderful, amazing day!
Ran to catch my train and collapsed in a seat next to a lovely lady who happens to run a She Shed facebook group – so we had lots to chat about on the ride home!
Finally got picked up by my hubby at the train station and I had lost my voice from all the talking!! Can’t wait for next year 🙂
