It’s hard to believe that another International Quilt Market & Festival in Houston, Texas has come and gone. With so much prep and anticipation, the event itself always seems to pass in the blink of an eye. We had such an amazing time — reconnecting with industry friends, greeting our treasured shop owners and distributors, getting those fabulous sneak previews of all the new and wonderful things to come. Fabric launches, new tool introductions, book signings, and, of course, so much glorious thread! We debuted a record number of collections this time around and we’re excited to showcase each and every one over the coming months. But for now, a peek at our booth and our schoolhouses with a bit of sample spree love thrown in for good measure. Thanks Houston, it was a blast!!
SCHOOLHOUSES
We were so honored and excited to present the premier schoolhouse this year.
The premier event is presented as the very first schoolhouse of the day and gives the opportunity to reach all registrants at once in a giant room!
Elena Gregotti kicked the event off with an introduction to Aurifil and its history, including photos of she and Alex as children in Egypt, traveling to find the best Cotton with their fathers. Alex Veronelli gave a condensed version of his famous lectures, delighting attendees with the process of how Aurifil threads are made. Designer Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs and shop owner Jill Reicks of Sew Inspired both spoke about their experiences with Aurifil’s new 80wt thread, and Pat Sloan closed with a few fabulous Aurifil shout-outs and a handful of giveaways.
We were lucky to share the experience with over 1100 quilters, shop owners, designers and industry professionals. It was truly magical and we had an absolute blast! Stay tuned for more info on our brand new 80wt thread!
Our second schoolhouse of the day was in support of the Kennel Quilts Program benefitting the Petfinder Foundation. Piece for Shelter Pets was launched in October by a wonderful lineup of industry partners. You can learn more about it here.
THE BOOTH
For our booth, we swapped our Auricar decal for an array of iconic 50wt thread spools. Skeins of thread in a rainbow of hues hung along the outside walls.
Alex Veronelli took to the scooter to zip down the aisles at Market. What a fabulous way to get around!
Our thread displays showcased small and large spools in various weights in addition to a range of home and designer collections.
The Colors of Moda is a new, custom-designed box showcasing small spools of Aurifil’s 50wt thread in a wonderful variety colors. The threads coordinate with a range of Moda‘s Bella Solids.
A few of our new releases on display.
The Quilter’s Patch Quilt by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. Stunning!
Our brand new 80wt thread was the big hit of Market. We’ll be sharing all sorts of info on the 80wt with you tomorrow, so stay tuned! Aren’t those little wooden spools just darling?
A rich display of Aurifil 80wt threads. The sample shown was created for us by Aurifil Designer and master quilter Sheena Norquay. She wanted to showcase the 80wt thread used in a variety of different techniques.
Pat Sloan showcases the 2015 Aurifil DOM quilt. 2015 Designers were challenged to make a mini. For this quilt, Pat recreated each mini and incorporated them all into one quilt. We absolutely adore it! All fabrics used are her own and she used Aurifil 50wt thread. We’ll have more information for you on this quilt soon! If you’re looking for the patterns, check out our patterns page.
This is Marmalade’s Merriment by Wendy Sheppard of Ivory Spring. This darling pattern will be available as a free pattern with purchase of Wendy’s brand new thread collection, Marmalade Meadows. The collection was created to coordinate with Bleecker Street from Quilting Treasures.
Aurifil Designer Christa Watson showcases her two debut thread collections for Aurifil thread. The quilt shown is ‘Choosing Colors’ from her book The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting. Christa used 9 different colors of Aurifil thread to complete the quilt.
Alex Veronelli showcases a gorgeous sample made for us by Susan of @yardgrl60 using our Aurifloss.
One of our favorite parts about Market is having the opportunity to meet up with our amazingly talented designers.
SAMPLE SPREE
What would Market be without Sample Spree? The frenzy and the excitement… the walking away with 10 boxes of thread and 10 new Fat Quarter bundles;). We’ve always loved seeing photos of the loot after the fact and love the buzz of energy that rolls through the room. We brought a mix of both house and designer collections.
That’s all for now! We’ll be back tomorrow with everything you want to know about our new 80wt thread!!
Thanks for sharing insights about Market. Great part 1 and I’m looking forward to follow-on updates. Love all your new thread collections, but particularly drawn to the quilt design and free-motion quilting by Wendy Sheppard. Amazing quilt.
QuiltShopGal
http://www.quiltshopgal.com
Captivating to see the behind the scenes look at quilt market and Aurifill’s booth. Thank you.
thanks for sharing these moments!
I would love to have a few of your thread displays to hang in my quilting room. Neat!!!!
“Photos of she and Alex”?? Yes, they took many photos of she. Why don’t we just get rid of the word “her” altogether?