I’m Marie from Underground Crafter and I’m here to share some of Clover’s highlights from Houston Quilt Market! If you’re not familiar with Quilt Market, it’s a trade show for the quilting, textiles, and soft crafts industries. It’s been held every autumn in Houston, Texas since 1979. Quilt Market takes place just days before Quilt Festival, a mega-event open to the public which includes quilts on display, classes, and vendor booths. I went to Quilt Market for the first time in October, and I was so excited to see what Clover had to share!
The exhibitor floor with hundreds of booths opened on Saturday, but while we waited expectantly for that excitement, on Friday there were business classes and the Schoolhouse Series. The Schoolhouse Series includes short classes for quilt shop owners and others where you can learn about products and projects to teach in a shop or get new project ideas. I had the opportunity to sit in on two of Clover’s Schoolhouse Series classes and even as a long time fan of Clover’s tools, I learned a lot!
In Necessary Notions, Steve Butler shared an overview of Clover tools and showed the types of projects they could be used in. It was like getting all the information from several Clover Tool School posts in one dynamic talk! The room was literally standing room only and everyone was excited to learn about new ways to use their favorite Clover products, as well as to learn about more recent releases. I know I wasn’t alone in taking pages and pages of notes — I got so many creative ideas out of Steve’s talk, especially about how to use the No-Hassle Triangle Gauge.
I also went to Quilts with Carefree Curves with Deanna Springer. I don’t know about you, but while I love the look of quilted circles, I don’t necessarily love sewing circles. Deanna shared Nancy Zieman’s I See Spots Modern Quilt pattern made with the Trace ‘n Create Quilt Template (Carefree Curves Collection).
The quilt was so beautiful that, of course, I had to see how it was made.
On Saturday morning, I went to Clover’s booth and Deanna demonstrated how to use the Trace ‘n Create Quilt Template to make circles from squares with no curved piecing. (That is not a typo!)
Deanna showed how she used the t emplate to make all types of traditional…
…and modern quilt blocks using quarter, half, and full circles.
While I was at the booth, I also got to see a demonstration of the Snag Repair Needles. I first learned about using the Snap Repair Needles for crochet and knitting from Stitches n Scraps, so it was great to see them in use for a sewing project. You can watch a 15 second video I made showing the Snag Repair Needles in use here.
Besides demonstrating many of their products and, of course, having everything on display for you to see at the booth, Clover also hosted Class Acts. Each day, there was a different project and the Clover team would demonstrate how to make it. The first 50 people to attend Class Acts each day got a project kit to take home.
The first Class Act I watched was for the Joyful Kimberbell Bench Buddy, an adorable holiday pillow. It gave me a chance to see the No-Hassle Triangle Gauge in action.
Besides the Clover tools and the pattern and pillow blank from Kimberbell…
…this Class Act kit also included supplies from the Colonial Needle Company, Victorian Textiles, Maywood Studio, Mountain Mist, and Wonderfil Specialty Threads.
On Sunday, I was able to stop by the Clover booth again to see the Mini Zippy Crossbody bag Class Act.
I was pretty excited about this one because it’s a Sallie Tomato pattern. I got to meet Jessica from Sallie Tomato in June at the Baby Lock Machine Smart event for influencers. She has some great bag designs!
This Class Act kit included supplies from Art Gallery Fabrics, Pellon, Renaissance Ribbons, and Wonderfil Specialty Threads…
…as well as several of my favorite Clover tools like Wonder Clips and Sallie Tomato’s pattern.
I hope this post gives you some idea of what attending Quilt Market is like! For more details and to enter my giveaway for Quilt Market goodies, check out this post about the rest of my trip.
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