Greetings from Minneapolis!

It's late Friday evening and I just got back to my hotel room from the first day of spring quilt market, and I have to say, there's a lot going on! I'm encouraged by the amount of activity I've seen so far, and the extraordinarily positive outlook you all have. I'm also excited that there continues to be new shops opening all the time, despite the current economic conditions. It just proves that quilting is here to stay, and that we are all resilient individuals.

After two very successful first schoolhouse sessions for Shannon Fabrics, the verdict is in on their new precuts, and it's just as we predicted - they're extremely popular. So popular, in fact, they are almost out of single precut kits here on the sales floor and they started with caseloads of them! Everywhere I look, I see Shannon bags filled with precuts; if you haven't picked one up yet, I suggest you stop over first thing in the morning and grab one before they're gone.

I spent the day today working in the Robert Kaufman booth (#3242) and boy, the booth was hopping! I was busy with back-to-back appointments all day, and the air was buzzing with excitement over all the new fabrics: a great children's panel and coordinates called Jungle Friends, luscious new batiks, a gorgeous, soft, new Shabby Chic line, a rich floral line called Under the Australian Sun featuring metallic floral prints in a variety of sizes offered in 3 different colorstories, adorable little ducks on either blue or green backgrounds that are just perfect for that newborn or juvenile quilt (Lil Ducky), another snuggly flannel line called Flitter Flannel from Monaluna that coordinates with our new basic flannel dots called Urban Blooms (which come in all sorts of great colors!), a funky, bright, contemporary little group called Tufted Tweets (little birds on sofas :o)), and we introduced our first organic fabrics - Free to Grow and Pure Organic - contemporary prints with coordinating solids - and much, much, more!!!

NOTEWORTHY . . . Last night we had our semi-annual sales meeting which is always held one of the evenings prior to market, and we had the opportunity to roast my predecessor, Bob Morrison. As you all know, Bob is retiring on June 30th after more than a quarter-century with Robert Kaufman Fabrics and a lifetime career in the textile industry. It was a fitting event for such a "big" man, and it's an honor to succeed him - I've got some awfully big shoes to fill. Bob has been my mentor and teacher for the past five months, as well as a great friend and an icon in the fabric/quilting industry. He was also my Robert Kaufman sales rep when I owned my quilt shop in Illinois. If you're at quilt market and you know Bob, please take a few moments to stop by and wish him good luck in his well-deserved retirement.

Well, I'm off to rest so I can hit the floor again early tomorrow morning. Stay tuned, and I'll try to post another update before market's over.

Tammy