Lorenzo Mora and quilt show host Eunice Cox at the quilt show in Quemado. Catron County quilters displayed their handiwork at the Quilt Show at the Quemado Senior Center on September 29. Host Eunice Cox exhibited 10 quilts in the show, including her first quilt, “Music and Lace,” which has been previously displayed at the Governor’s Palace in Santa Fe. A gentleman from Datil displayed his “Counterpane” quilt, one his mother, grandmother and possibly an aunt made originally. The youngest quilter, a young boy who started learning the art at the Quemado Senior Center about three years ago, displayed all the quilts he has done to date a “9 Patch” pillow, a Navajo Star wall hanging and other items all done entirely by hand. read more

Phyllis Hamaker, with a Nifty Fifties quilt she made, is opening The Quilter’s Cottage in Kearney on Sept. KEARNEY — Phyllis Hamaker recently was working inside her new Kearney store, preparing for her first day of business, when a group of women huddled outside the window. Hamaker, who is relocating The Quilter’s Cottage to Kearney from Curtis, will open her store Sept. The Quilter’s Cottage did business in Curtis the past 5½ years before Phyllis and her husband, Bill, decided to relocate to Kearney. Kearney obviously has a lot more foot traffic, and there are a lot of dedicated business operators in the downtown area. read more

However, with renewed passion for our heritage, American art and decorative art, including such items as weathervanes, is now becoming extremely popular and, as a result, prices are going up dramatically. Good quality pictorial quilts are now very hard to find and highly collectible, as are pieced quilts in intricate geometric patterns. In fact, the finest examples are considered by far the most desirable and among the most expensive pieces of old American folk sculpture available today auctioning between $10,000 and $20,000. As well as carving, all woodwork, particularly wood furniture, is a fascinating example of American folk art. read more

Similarly, when someone hires you, they’re not buying a few hours of your time or your expertise, but a solution to THEIR problem — selling more patterns, increasing end-user/customer satisfaction, creating loyalty, etc. Maybe the thing to do is treat this first show as your fertile field for market research, and see if you can (a) gather the list of all the people you’ll want to contact once you’re ready, and (b) zero in on one or two people that you’ll try to get to hear you out and let you show them how terrific your services are. As Michael Goodman said, this upcoming consumer show is a great place to begin researching these pattern companies in preparation for “doing it right” at the wholesale show later this year. I teach classes at my local quilt store and one of my main goals at the upcoming consumer show is to get ideas and find patterns to use for teaching classes. If you can start a dialogue before the show, perhaps you can ask to get a preview of one of their new patterns, and show your magic to them ahead of time (so they can sell more at the show). If you can get a dozen of these folks to give you 30 minutes each during the show, you’ll have some GREAT input and ideas about how to approach them (and all the others), what to say, what their hot-buttons are, etc. read more