to market, to market

I'm down in the land of big beef steaks and BBQ and the outskirts of the land of Oz.  Yup, Kansas City!  Last Thursday I loaded up my stuff along with Laurel and Debbie (Bear Patch co-owners) and Patty (Fabric Town owner) and headed south.  So nice to have Laurel's trusty extra-large mini-van for the trip, and we will need that extra space for the drive back tomorrow with the stuff we have accumulated so far!

It was a pleasure to have the chance to just ride along in the back seat, chatting, snacking and knitting!  I have started a fun new scarf--

which carries the scrappy theme from fabric into yarn because it is made of random bits of leftover sock yarn skeins!  This is called the Mini Mania and is available as a free download on Ravelry.  I really like the texture that is developing, it fools the eye and looks a lot like a woven fabric.  And it is a very easy one to take on the road because the stitch pattern is super simple.  So we rolled merrily along, solving all the problems of the world.  We only made one quilt shop stop along the way, that was in Ames at Quilting Connection.  It's always interesting to see what other shops might have on display that we have not known about or could adapt to what the customers in our own area might like.  They were busy and friendly at the store, it's a good stop to put on your maps if you are traveling I-35.

Just a few days before leaving home I had some quick quilting to get done for Stacy of Buttermilk Basin.  She had designed 6 new tablemats that were wool mounted on a background of regular cotton fabric.  She wanted some quilting done in the cotton fabric area, which really is just a background to the  focal point of the project.  So I loaded up the little squares and stitched them up and got them back to Stacy and her stitch assistant, Kristina, to be bound in time for photography and pattern covers.  They are on display now in her booth here in KC, I hope my little bit of stitching makes all the shop owners fall in love with them and buy lots and lots of patterns!

While we are here at Quilt Market, our main focus is on finding items and ideas for the store.  But there's often something that pops up that fits into our personal plans and this is one of them--

Debbie found these little baby ties and bought them for me to take home to Ian.  He will be looking just like his Daddy!  I love them!  They are made by Basic Grey.  Basic Grey is a company that has moved from scrapbook and crafting design into fabric design.

I have been posting several updates with lots of pictures over on the Bear Patch Blog all about our days here looking for great new things for the store, so hop on over there and see the fun new stuff!