And the winners are...

Here is a list of the winners from the 6th Annual State of Maine Quilt Shop Hop!
FREE Night at Quilt Inn Rangeley Retreat Center - Bonnie Gerstley
Janome Heart Truth - Bethany Ober
Elna Quilter's Companion - Barbara Sprague
Queen Quilt Kit - Mary Ann Anton
Fat Quarter Bundle - Sandra Hopkins
Machine Quilting Package - Patsy Husson
6 Quilter's Baskets - Donna Lane, Deborah Holmes, Judith Turcotte, Christine Haehnel, Mary Nye and Sharon Sirido
Bendable LED Brightlight - Kathryn Taylor
Fat Quarter Bundle - Tasha Pomelow
Maine Quilts '09 Admission Package - Andrea Dill
Quilter's Tote - Deanna Philbrick
Quilter's Project Basket - Marilyn Kinne
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL AND THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING!
Visit www.MaineShopHop.com later this year for info about Hop 2010!

The winner of our market candy was "Pegola" and her post about "lusting after" the new fusible webbing we found at market. We'll be sharing the fusible and all the other goodies at the After Market Breakfast on Saturday May 30th. If you haven't RSVP'd, give us a call. Pegola's prize is a new book from Martingale & Co. Thanks for posting!

Thank You Pittsburgh!

So, it's approximately 9am on Sunday morning and Marcia and I are waiting at JFK in New York for our flight home. Market was great and I've enjoyed reading all your comments. We sincerely hope you'll join us on Saturday May 30th at 9am for the After Market Breakfast - we brought home some really fun, innovative and exciting things to share. None of it will be shown before the breakfast (since we have a lot of samples to get made before then!). I've included the last of our celebrity photos in this post (including a shot of me with my market fling - I hope nobody tells Lenni...)! This is Alex Anderson and me showing off the GO! personal cutters. We're down to just one machine in the shop again! Below is Pat Sloan and me at the APQS booth. Stay tuned for an email later this week outlining our Aniversary Specials - if you're not already receiving our emails you can sign up below. Thanks for following along!

Remember George from the Fons and Porter magazine ads? This is the real APQS George. SWEET MACHINE just for those of you who enjoy machine quilting but don't want a longarm. Marcia can sell you this one too (but only after I get mine)!

Market - Is it #3 Already?

Well, we thought we were tired yesterday... Today was the official start of market and our first chance to "walk the floor" and see all the new items from the participating vendors. Marcia and I were remembering that when we attended our very first market, in Pittsburgh in 2004, Quilt Market was the very first convention to take place in the brand new David Lawrence Convention Center. It's a beautiful facility and almost totally "green". This is Mom's first market ever and she was impressed with all the "famous" faces that were out and about. We've seen and/or talked with Alex Anderson, Pat Sloan, Kaffe Fassett, Mark Lipinski, Amy Butler, McKenna Ryan, Valori Wells and many other folks whose patterns or fabrics you might recognize, even if you don't know them by name.
Lots of fun new things - new patterns from the Strip Club Queen (which of course will use the new Bali Pops we bought last night); 8 new dies for the AccuQuilt GO! machines; an amazing new fusible webbing product that feels almost like it isn't there; awesome new bag patterns; and absolutely beautiful fabrics everywhere you look.
I don't usually make appointments to see fabrics at market, with the exception of Moda. Our appointment is tomorrow afternoon and we've already decided on one new line by Laurie Simpson and Polly Minick called Wiscasset. Yup - as in Wiscasset, MAINE. It's an October delivery and it's absolutely beautiful.
Sorry about no pictures this time, my eyes are droopy and this WI-FI is a tad bit unreliable. I'm not sure I can handle losing a whole post again and having to redo it! We'll have more tomorrow - comments for all posts relating to market will be eligible to win our market candy. We'll let you know tomorrow what the prize will be! Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying it!

Market Post #2

Wow are we tired! Today was the unofficial beginning of market with a day-long program called "Schoolhouse" where we all rush around to mini classes that last 15-30 minutes each and enjoy that mushy brain feeling when it's over. It ends just in time for us to sit in a line until 8pm for the start of Sample Spree, where vendors who choose can give a little preview and special deals. Imagine the Filene's Basement wedding dress event quilt show style. Or cabbage patch kids. You get the idea. The most exciting thing for me personally was that the Hoffman folks had the 6 NEW BALI POPS! We got one of each to drool over and make new samples. Our orders were placed weeks ago with an expected delivery in June - you're going to want to preorder these people. YUM!

So, this picture is the "before" image of half of the exhibit hall. This picture was taken about 8am today. The next picture is as close to the same image as I could get at about 5pm. They made great progress and the show floor will open tomorrow for us to browse all their wares.

No quilt market would be complete without some quality entertainment and we knew only one special lady would do. She serenaded us with Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, and others while promoting her new book.

Eleanor Burns was kind enough to take time for a photo op when we told her you all were following along on the blog. We hope you're enjoying our adventures as much as we are. We found lots of fun new things at Sample Spree and are sure to find more on the show floor starting tomorrow. Have a great day and stay tuned!

Market Candy Post #1

So we've safely arrived in Pittsburgh and are ready to go on Thursday! We've picked up our buyer's guides and are reading through the hundreds of vendors who will be sharing their goodies. It's a lot to see and do, but the best way to bring all the newest info to you! We visited a quilt shop, The Quilt Company, today. Karen Montgomery, the owner, is the lady who came up with the 60 degree triangle ruler tablerunner that uses the border stripes. If you haven't seen this runner made, stop by for a great demo! We'll have more pictures in the next post of Pittsburgh and the events at market on Thursday. Remember to leave your comments to be entered to win our market candy prize!

This is the beautiful riverboat Duchess happily "steaming" down the Allegheny River. We saw the Princess earlier taking another load of happy folks. The river comes right up to the convention center with a lovely walkway and viewing area to see the river traffic.

To Market We Will Go...

So, Tuesday night we'll head off to the airport and fly out bright and early Wednesday morning for Pittsburgh, PA and the 2009 Spring Quilt Market! You can only imagine how excited I am to be going (especially since we made the very last minute decision to NOT go to Houston last fall). On Wednesday there will be info about a fun contest that the MCQS Blog will host - we invite everyone to visit the blog then and get all the details - we promise you'll like it! Also, mark your calendars for Saturday May 30th- our After Market Breakfast will be a great time to get a recap of all the fun things we saw, found and did at market! If you haven't already RSVP'd for the breakfast, you still can. The $7 fee includes refreshments and a market gift. RSVP by email or call the shop at 1-207-443-2900. Carol and Jennifer will be holding down the fort - stop in to see them while we're gone! And check back on Wednesday for all the skinny on our market blog contest!

Finally...

After some technical difficulties, we are finally back to the blog! The 6th Annual State of Maine Quilt Shop Hop is coming to a close and it's been great! This was our sample, made with the charm squares of Bonnie Blue Basics and Backgrounds - hoppers collected a charm square at each participating shop. For a list of all shops visit the shop hop page of our website, or go to the new hop website, http://www.maineshophop.com/. We also have a great blog there.

We are happy to annouce another class with Susan Carlson here at Mariner's Compass (image above). Susan will join us on Saturday June 6th for "Something's Fishy", a class in her "no-rules, freestyle approach" to quilting. You will look at fabric in ways you haven't before. Class is 9-4 and costs $90. Space is limited, so if you're interested, call ASAP.

Mariner's Compass is currently the only retailer north of Connecticut to carry the AccuQuilt GO! personal sized die-cutting machine. I am amazed at the response to this product! It's a great way to cut more accurately! You've seen it in all the magazines, now you can see it in person. Stop by for a demo or visit www.accuquilt.com to see a video of the machine. We are trying our best to keep everything in stock - I've sold two machines this week already and had to re-order. If we don't have it, it's coming! If you like the idea of cutting but not owning the machine, you can come and rent our Studio machine and cut as much as you like. We'll demo that machine for you too!

Hope to see you soon in downtown Bath - this weekend is Mayfair, our city wide yard sales and fun events downtown. Get specifics at www.visitbath.com . Happy Quilting!