One of the things I love about all the quilt shows I go to is seeing friends. One of the things I don’t like is the visit is always too short.

A couple of years ago, I arranged for Paula Nadlestern to teach several class at my local guild, Nimble Fingers Quilters, in Potomac, Md. This was perfect, as then I would get a good visit with Paula. Of course, the visit took two years to happen! We had a grand time catching up and even managed to fit in a trip to Jinny Beyer’s Studio. It’s a charming shop if you are ever in the DC area. Jinny had just returned from teaching overseas, but popped in to say hello to us.

Always a wonderful experience – inspired by quilts and catching up with friends. Here are some shots from this year’s Market. Here are Bob Silverman, fabric designer Mark Hordyszynski and Jim Helms. Mark and I were catching up and talking about his fabulous Fairy Frost line when Bob and Jim, owners of Woodstock Quilt Supply in Woodstock, NY, stopped in the booth. Turns out that Woodstock carries the entire Fairy Frost line from Michael Miller.

One of the highlights of this year’s show was The Quilt of Belonging made by people of every culture living within Canada. The scope of this quilt is astounding. This just gives you a brief idea of the 120 foot quilt taken from the second floor windows of the Convention Center.

And, here’s a shot of our technology columnist, Gloria Hansen, with her prize winning quilt Squared Illusions 6. The quilt won the Master’s Award for Innovative Artistry. Congrats!

Yesterday Sue Moats and I took a trip to visit Mindy Casperson. She has a terrific home studio with two tables for her long-and mid-arm machines in the middle of a large room. At one end she has her office and, separated by the entry, her sewing machine and threads. Since she’s done three videos, the other end has a complete video setup. Here’s a shot of Sue and Mindy discussing the qualities of threads.

I got into the act, too, as Mindy gave me some instruction on using one of the longarms she sells. They get more comfortable to use – and more tempting – each time I try.

After our visit we headed off for a lunch of Cream of Crab soup and salads at the Clarke’s Landing Restaurant in Hollywood. With peaceful views like this, I might find it hard to get work done!

All I can say is, WOW! It is exciting to see what is being done to our traditional art form with new technology. It’s also been fascinating to watch the growth in this segment of our industry. And after four days at MQS, if I didn’t already have a day job with The Professional Quilter, I’d be in line for a longarm. I really enjoyed talking with so many of our subscribers at the show, too.

Sue Moats, award-winning longarm quilter and longarm columnist for The Professional Quilter helped out in the booth. I really appreciated her knowledge in this area of our industry. She’s wearing one of her garments, several of which filled our booth walls.

Myrna Ficken loaned me her award-winning quilt Tuesday Afternoon. Here she is with some of the quilt. I said I was looking for an eye-catcher; this definitely fit the bill.

Jasper Rexroad, winner of the Janome Gem, also stopped by the booth. I enjoyed chatting with both Jasper and his wife about their longarm business.

As for the quilts, they were tremendous. Best of Show went to Sharon Schamber for her “Flower of Life.” Here’s a detail of the central portion of the quilt.

Claudia Pfeil took Viewer’s Choice with “Turnabout.”

Renae Haddadin won the Solitaire Award for “Sugar and Spice.” The front was white or was that the back. It was so exquisitely done, you couldn’t tell. Here are both sides.

After four days of show, I relaxed with a ride to the airport and dinner with Tammie Bowser of Mosaic Quilt Studio.

It was great fun to talk shop and end the trip energized.

We sponsored a contest among new and renewing subscribers from February through May 10 to win a Janome Gem. My nieces (Hailey on the left and Nicole on the right) drew the winner – Jasper Rexroad from Rexroad’s Quilting in Missouri. Jasper was thrilled to win the Gem. Now he has his own machine; his wife doesn’t like to share hers! Jasper will be at MQS next week, so I’ll get a chance to congratulate him in person.

And, now that you’ve met two of my adorable and smart nieces, Hailey is in the process of making a brown and yellow rail fence quilt. Nicole is anxious for Hailey to finish the quilt; Nicole has a sewing project picked out for herself.

I’m finally getting the photos from Quilt Market up. It was a fun trip. I had never been to Salt Lake City before and was so impressed with the city. It was fascinating to be surrounded by mountains, some snowcapped, some not. I taught a lecture the first day titled “Boost Your Business with e-Mail Marketing.” Here’s a photo, though you can barely see me on the stage.

Here’s a shot of our booth. We had a great location on the first row. And, I ended up with a corner and took advantage of that to set up a sitting area.

Thanks to Renae Haddadin for sharing the quilt on the left wall, Angela McIntyre for the quilt on the back wall on the left, Sandra Starley for her quilt that’s hidden on the right inside wall and Charlotte Warr Anderson for her quilt on the outside wall.

Part of what makes Market wonderful is the chance to catch up with other quilters. It’s our bi-annual family reunion. Here are a few of the quilters I had a chance to catch up with. First is Brenda Groelz, editor of Quiltmaker Magazine. Brenda and I have been friends since the mid ’90s when Brenda was a successful pattern designer and I had just purchased The Professional Quilter.

I’ve known Maggie Walker with Maggie Walker Design about the same amount of time. We’re both from the mid-Atlantic and usually have our Market and Festival booths near each other.

You can usually find my booth near that of Thangles and here I am with MB Hayes, its creator. Today, MB and her husband and business partner, Patrick Mullen, live in Wisconsin. She used to be my occasional lunch partner/sounding board when she lived near me in Maryland, so I look forward to seeing her each show.

I also had the chance to catch up with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson and hear about their new show, The Quilt Show. Have you had a chance to watch yet? It’s entertaining and informative.

Lastly, I want to share one of the pictures I took of the street art near the Convention Center. In the foreground is the Cow Jumped Over the Moon. Behind it you’ll see When Pigs Fly.

I wanted to share some photos from our spring shows. First up is Quilter’s Heritage Celebration in April in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I’ve been going to this show for years and think of it as my hometown show. It was one of the first large shows where I vended, too.

Here’s our booth at Quilter’s Heritage.

The quilt on the left is Tall Blue Lettuce by Sue Reno from Columbia, Pa. You might recognize it from the Fall 2006 cover of The Professional Quilter. The small postcards are for the Art Quilts for Alzheimer’s Initiative that Ami Simms started. Thanks to Betty Ford, Ruan Robertson, Barbara Chojnacki and Eileen Doughty for the postcards on display in the booth. You can’t see Eileen’s or Ruan’s postcards, as they are on the other side of the booth. But you can see them on Ami’s site here. These postcards are numbered 1065-1075.

Next to the postcards on the left wall are a quilt by Betty Ford and one by Floris Flam, quilt artists from Maryland. The other quilts in the booth are mine.

Well, I’ve jumped on the blog bandwagon. It’s about time, wouldn’t you say? I know lots of our readers have blogs, and I’ve enjoyed reading them. There’s a bit of the muse in all of us!

I’m going to use this blog to share some of myself as editor, publisher and quilter. Yes, I do quilt; though, I wish I could find more time to create. Dont we all! I don’t have a schedule for blogging, and we’ll still keep our monthly e-zine, Professional Quilter Online. I plan to share some of the behind-the-scenes between issues and what’s coming up in future issues. I’ll share some of the book and product reviews and keep you updated on show entry deadlines, plus whatever comes to mind.

I’m going to enjoy this less formal venue. Hope you do, too.