Another International Quilt Market Anecdote: Nancy Zieman

It's been a while since I made any real effort to write about what I saw and did at Spring Market this year, but lately at the shop one story has been thrown around more than usual in the form of either John or my mom busting my chops about it.  Not in a bad way, don't worry, but I'll get to that...It's kind of funny!

But it seems like as with any celebrity in any field, when you meet them in real life their star shines even brighter for you, or they get knocked down a notch or two.  For those of you all that have been reading this blog for a while, you might remember how I met Kaffe Fassett at Fall Market in 2011.  To paraphrase, he kicked me, noticed, looked at me, didn't say a word and then was extra snooty with people when he was in his booth signing books.  Looks like as his notoriety in the quilting world grew, he got too big for his britches and the rest of the quilting community peons like us. By contrast, his partner Brandon Mably was really friendly and fun to talk to, but for me, Kaffe unintentionally knocked himself down a peg or two for me.

This year, I met Tula Pink (who was very friendly and talkative), Verna Mosquera (also very nice) and Nancy Zieman.

John and I took a Schoolhouse class from Nancy, and it was fascinating to see her in person.  Sure, I'll admit I was a little star struck by thee Nancy Zieman.  I remember sitting there with mom when I was really little watching her show...and being a little kid (4ish or 5), slightly scared by her facial paralysis.  Once it got explained to me that she had an illness that caused it, I was cool with her. But I remember her show from the early 90s.  She's the one person I remember from quilting fame as a kid.

As we were walking around Market, John got to meet  Nancy face to face.  I was elsewhere, but according to him she was warm and friendly. He said that she told him she liked him because, and I quote, he looked like her kids.

I met her on the last day of Market in her booth.  I told her that I used to sit with my mom and watch her show and "help her quilt" by cutting up her scraps, and how nice it was to meet her.  Obviously Nancy was totally done with being friendly for the day because she delivered a gem of a response.  I swear to God, she just looked at me, expressionless and said, "How nice for you."  No smile, no thank you, or nice to meet you or I'm glad you have a nice memory of my show...just "How nice for you."  Looks like someone else has gotten a little too big for her britches too.

Meeting a few of the biggies of the quilting world has sure been an interesting experience!

What. A. Weekend.

Whelp, it's official.  I am an official chunky monkey and slightly old.  After 4 days wandering International Quilt Market in Portland this weekend, my glutes are not only full of an unreasonable amount of lactic acid (who thought quilts could make you "feel the burn?"), but I am totally whupped mentally and physically. So many clever and useful things learned and so many amazing and beautiful things seen (and bought!).

That is NOT by any means a complaint.  It was SO worth it, and I cannot wait to do it again in October in Houston! Time to start saving those pennies for the plane ticket!

I know I promised a big fatty fat blog full of what we saw, what we did and what we learned but after uploading close to 500 or so pictures...which, by the way, is not an exaggeration by any means, if anything I'm underestimating...it would be the longest entry of all time and you'd get bored as all get out about a third of the way through.  So, I am going to post in little chunklets:

- First, you'll see what Schoolhouse is like, and a little run down of the neat things we saw and learned.
- Then, you'll see the show at large and of the booths that the vendors very kindly allowed us to photograph (always ask first!)..and who we were lucky to meet!
- Finally, you'll get a glimpse of a selection of the gorgeous quilts on display...and yes, they DID allow pictures of quilts to be taken on the grounds that credit was given to the creator and it is stated that the quilts were displayed at Market.

Most of the pictures are posted on The Cotton Patch's Facebook page ("Like" us if you haven't already, and   take a cruise through the pictures there), but I will be posting here as well, with all credit given where credit is due! And just a forewarning...I might be the LEAST photogenic person on the planet so most pictures with me in it, so there are lots of awkward, unflattering and bizarre facial expressions...I'm not that ridiculous looking in person, so why ti has to be that way on film, I don't know.

But anyway, I feel very lucky to have been able to go and be a part of Market, if even just as a customer and fangirl. I can't wait to see what Fall Market in Houston has in store!

International Quilt Market...in PORTLAND!!!

I love my job working in a quilt shop, and it's awesome just about always, but sometimes...it is absurdly cool.

I'm going to the Spring International Quilt Market in Portland tomorrow through Sunday. 

I'm only a little excited. 

I went to Market in Houston  a year and a half ago, and it was amazing:

This isn't even a quarter of what was there. 

That was Fall Market, which is always in Houston...great for easy access to Waffle House hash browns (don't EVEN get me started!) but not so great on travel convenience.  But luckily for us in the Northwest, Spring Market moves around and this year it is in Portland.  I'll miss the hash browns, but it's going to be great being so close! 

Once Market is all over with, I'll have a nice long post of pictures, news and cool stuff on here, but if you want live posts of what's happening, go "Like" The Cotton Patch's Facebook and see what we're seeing!