Let's Get Quilting - November 23, 2015 Edition

Good morning! It's time for another giveaway. Before we get to the giveaway though we want to announce that Linda D. won last week's giveaway. We will be in touch very soon.

Today we are going to give away a vintage bundle of Jane Shasky's A Winter Song by Jane Shasky.  We are making room for Jane's next collection called Christmas Elegance. Tell us what you're thankful for and we'll send this bundle off to one lucky winner next week.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sign up for the Henry Glass Newsletter here to preview the latest collection. We will have a new look book out this week. Don't miss it.

Good luck!

- HG

Jaftex 85th Anniversary Look Book

Remember all of those lovely projects from the Jaftex 85th Anniversary Blog Hop? We are excited to present the look book that we put together to showcase the designs and their makers. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend.

- HG

Let's Get Quitling - November 16, 2015 Edition

Good morning! It is bright and sunny out this morning in NYC. Congratulations to Sarah S. for winning last week's giveaway bundle. We will be in contact soon!

We thought that we would start the week off with a bright and cheery bundle of fabric to give away in the Let's Get Quilting event.  Tell us why quilting or sewing makes you smile. What do you get out of these hobbies?

Enter in the widget below and good luck!

Make sure to pop over to the Henry Glass Youtube channel. Today we are featuring Kim Diehl's demonstration from Quilt Market. She stopped by to share her invisible machine appliqué technique.

Enjoy!

Enter the giveaway here.

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Have a great day!

- HG

Little Quilts

Mary Ellen Von Holt of Little Quilts is retiring. She is dynamic and is always on the go so we are sure that she'll always be working on something fun. Mary Ellen says that she is not retiring completely though. She is still going to design fabric and write books. For now she is clearing her inventory and selling models. Follow her journey on her Facebook page as she winds down the last few weeks at the shop.

Mary Ellen, Alice Berg and Sylvia Johnson started designing and writing books in 1986 and opened the retail shop in 1998. They started out selling Little Quilts fabrics but soon branched out into selling reproductions, homespun and batiks. More recently their product line has included red work, wool rug and applique in addition to their original offerings. Mary Ellen's team also put on many classes that inspired quilters and sewers alike.

We want to send best wishes to Mary Ellen, her family and Little Quilts family. Stay tuned to see what Mary Ellen designs for Henry Glass in the future. Visit the Henry Glass website to see her latest collection Roswell Mills and read all about Mary Ellen and Little Quilts.  The following is a video of a Henry Glass Schoolhouse presentation of the Little Quilts collection, Roswell Mills.



- HG

Inspired: Martha Walker of Wagons West Designs

We always love to visit with our designers and most times it happens at Quilt Market. Martha Walker of Wagons West Designs was in Houston recently. She presented at Schoolhouse and had her own booth. Martha and her husband were busy showing off her new pattern and fabric designs.

As you can tell, applique is a hallmark of Martha's designs and her color palette is gorgeous. She designed the stripe in her collection as a tool to help new students in the art of applique. The vines that you see in the top photograph are part of the print. Students can learn to applique floral elements and stitch them in place along the vine. Therefore they can quickly achieve a lovely finished product in no time. Martha is so clever! You can see the entire collection and download the free patterns on Martha's page over at the Henry Glass website.

Martha takes you on a tour of her booth in Houston and talks about her new collection A Prairie Journal. You can view the collection on the Henry Glass website here. Enjoy!

Ask your local Henry Glass representative to see and to order this beautiful new collection today!

- HG

Let's Get Quilting - November 9, 2015 Edition

We welcome back our weekly feature Let's Get Quilting. The holidays are just around the corner. Wouldn't you love to win some of our fabric? Let us know what your go-to gift is to make this holiday season. Will you be making quilts to give away? Or will you be making small accessories?

Today we are giving away an assortment of Rest Your Head by Leanne Anderson of The Whole Country Caboodle.

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- HG

Post Quilt Market By Studioe Fabrics

This comes from the President of our sister company Studioe Fabrics. Scott Fortunoff wanted us to share his view about Quilt Market and he is looking for your input. The following post appeared on the Studioe Fabrics blog this week.

November 2nd, 2015

Before you delve in to this blog about the current problems of the Houston quilt market and market in general, I think it is important for you to take another look at a blog I wrote previously so you have a full understanding of the situation and where I am coming from.  Once again, this is not an attack on the people at Quilt's Inc., this is about how the Quilt Market needs to evolve based on reality and come up with solutions.  If the Quilt Market doesn't evolve on its own and embrace change, the people will speak and force an evolution.  
I would like to reiterate some of the key problems with this quilt market specifically and quilt market in general:  

• The US quilt shop customer base for quilt market has dwindled dramatically over the last couple of years.
• The expense to come to market is cost prohibitive and it keeps getting worse every year.
• Some shop owners can't afford to be away from the office.
• Shop owners would rather work with sales reps in their shops.
• This year the international customers took a hit too due to the strength of the US dollar.
• Of the 10 or so international distributors that I work with about 4 didn't come.  So that is 40% less business.  Ouch.
• Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate at this market and that caused a lot of last minute cancellations too.
• There was a ton of construction going on by the convention center and it definitely didn't help the situation whatsoever.  It was like starting over after becoming so comfortable with the floor plan and such.  You had to go to the third floor for lunch..talk about inconvenient especially when you just want to grab a quick bite and get back to the booth.  If by chance a customer stops by, you don't want to miss it.
• Attendance had to be down.  I for one do not believe the stats that Quilt's Inc. publishes.  I sure hope they don't try to tell us there was a 20% increase in attendance this year.
• Sample spree went strong for an hour and then completely went kaput.  I did however appreciate that sample spree was made earlier this year.  So thanks for that.
• I am not against unions, but the costs inside of the convention center are getting out of control. It is robbery and it can't go on any longer if fabric suppliers are going to survive.

I am sure you get the idea, but now let me tell you some stories about the reality.  As a fabric company owner, I am friends with many other owners and key people at competing companies.  Word got around about my previous blog and my mission to bring the quilt market madness discussion to the forefront. Trust me, I am not alone.
In fact, I was still getting calls about this after market and I will soon be starting a petition or something like that very soon.  Something needs to be done and who better to spear head that than someone from the younger generation in this industry...the future and not the past.
The best suggestion that was tossed around that I heard was to have only one quilt market a year. Another decent suggestion was to combine with the CHA show as I have heard that they are having some of their own problems.  You have any ideas or suggestions as I would love to hear them?
Before I get in to the best part of the story, I wanted to note that we live in a great country where I can speak my mind.  Of course there may be repercussions, but I am willing to risk that.  Everyone keeps saying that the person that runs the quilt market (Karey) is going to put my booth near the bathroom so on and so forth.  To be honest, that works for me because the bathroom is usually very far away and I spend precious time going to and fro.  Not only that, but we really aren't seeing foot traffic...because there is none.  We are seeing the people that are making appointments with us.  So in other words, we are a destination and whether I am in the men's room or on the loading dock, people will come to see me.
Ok finally, here is the good stuff.  So Karey, the woman that runs Quilt's Inc., got a hold of my previous blog.  While she was meeting with an elite group of textile heavy hitters prior to market, she handed out copies of my blog.  Yup...my blog.  Finally some readers.  As the story goes, everyone reads the blog and this is what Karey says, "If he doesn't like it, tell him not to come."  No Joke!  I can't stop laughing. This was the message that was delivered to me from the person in charge.  I guess the quilt market monopoly has gotten to her head. The first thing that came to my mind was how short sighted she is.
The second thing I thought was what a great way to alienate your customer.  Hey Karey, how about coming over to my booth and talking to me?  How about seeing that my family of businesses has about 10-12 booths here and about 25 people in attendance?  How about I am the future of your quilt market? Talk about a truly disappointing reaction.  In any case, this is where we are now.  Stay tuned for the rest as I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.
  
If you are interested in being a part of my "Let's Fix Quilt Market" crusade, please email me at scott@jaftex.com and I will be sure to add you to my list for when the day of reckoning is upon us.  
What do you think of this?  Please share your thoughts and ideas.

Scott M. Fortunoff


- HG

Note To Self

Designer Janet Nesbitt of One S1STER sent along these photos of her latest designs based on her latest collection, Note To Self and her first book, Down This Country Road, under the One S1STER name. We love her scrappy look.

She even sent along a sneak peek of her new book, Completely Crazy. What a cute piggy!

Have a great day!

- HG

Desire To Inspire

We have been having so much fun between the Jaftex 85th Anniversary Blog Hop and Quilt Market but it is time to get back to regular programming here. The weather has definitely been cooler and we suddenly see the holiday booths up in Bryant Park. Are you making any holiday gifts this year? Stay tuned because we are starting up our Let's Get Quilting fun next Monday. We will be giving away fabric again and hope that you can make something wonderful with the bundles for holiday gift-giving. 

We are happy to present the latest edition of the Desire To Inspire Challenge. If you haven't been following this feature you can certainly read about past challenges by clicking the button on the top right sidebar. If you want to be a challenger, send a photograph for consideration. The details are above.

This month, Lynette Caulkins from Monument, Colorado is our challenger. We sent her a bundle of Marie Cole's Miss Kitty's Colors collection and it looks like Lynette had tons of fun creating with this range.

HG:  Tell us about your family.

LC:  My husband, Scott, is in the Air Force. We have three terrific daughters: Heather is in medical school, Devon is in Virginia with her Marine Corps husband, Kyle, and Marissa is a high school senior still at home.

HG:  How long have you been quilting?

LC:  I've been quilting regularly since 2007, but my first foray was when I was 19 and a nanny in 1987. My mother had taught me fine couture sewing skills, and my grandmother's quilts enchanted me. Far from home, I turned to a creative activity that made me feel connected to them. I knew nothing at that time of rotary cutters, so I cut out all the purple, pink, and white pieces by hand with scissors to make a queen size quilt in a McCall's magazine. The next quilt was in 1990, as a young wife participating in an officers' wives club quilt-in-a-day activity, and that snagged me for good. But I didn't get very many made before kids were born in '92 and '93 and Life sucked my attention elsewhere for many years. These days I quilt with modern rotary tools and use a domestic sewing machine for both construction and quilting. I do dream of having a good longarm set-up and quilting for myself as well as others.

HG:  What's your favorite technique? 

LC:   I am a true eclectic, loving a wide variety of techniques! A new love for me, though, has been needle turn hand applique since older children equals the ability to actually sit down each evening and stitch while I watch a show with Scott after dinner. My absolute favorite technique for this purpose is back-basting applique.

HG:  Who taught you how to quilt? 

LC:  McCall's magazine, ladies in the Officers' Wives Club and the Flying Needles Quilt Guild (of Niceville, Florida), and countless men and women sharing techniques and tutorials on their blogs! (I did already have excellent garment sewing skills from my mother's instruction.) Thanks to all these people, I have meshed an education in fine sewing details with advanced quilt construction skills and free-motion domestic-machine quilting skills that are rapidly improving.  

HG:  Do you belong to any guilds? 

LC:  At this moment in time I do not. The local guild, Palmer Divide Quiltmakers, meets at a time that is usually impossible for me to get to. I'm trying to rearrange things to remedy that, though, because I miss in-person interaction with local quilters and participating in the community service functions they usually organize.

HG:  Anything else you would like to share with our readers? 

LC:  I've been blogging for several years at "What a Hoot Quilts" (www.whatahootquilts.blogspot.com), where I sponsor a weekly link-up for folks who like some motivation to keep working on block-of-the-month type projects. I acquired an insanely huge collection of untouched kits and fabric sets during the years that my children were young, and I use my blog to organize my journey of completion through those kits and the current quilting trends that snag my heart. My personal work system is a little chaotic, but it's highly productive!  I hope my experience can inspire others who feel overwhelmed by their own collections that >YES!< they, too, can transform into productive finishers after years of being stuck in cycles of starting things and setting them aside.  P.S. I'm setting up a feature post on my blog each day that focuses on my Henry Glass Desire to Inspire projects one at a time, starting October 29th. More photos and a couple tutorials will be included. I like giving back to the community that has taught me so much so freely! 

HG: Thank you Lynette for inspiring us with your adorable projects. 

Have a great day!

-HG