H&H Conference - Uniting the Crafts Industries in North America.

On Tuesday, we flew up to Chicago to be a part of the H&H Conference, H & H stands for handicrafts and hobbies. This conference is a combination of all fiber art makers and inspirational artists.

We have been impressed by how many yarn companies there are that seem to sell as many varieties of yarn as there are companies that sell fabrics.

From hand dyed to minky yarn to basic yarns - this conference has it all.

We have been trying to meet up with some of the companies that we have not met with before in person. By that I mean, the company big whigs - not reps, but headquarters movers and shakers. So, we’ve made an effort to meet up with Camelot Fabrics, one of the companies that handles licensed prints.

We also met with Andover Fabrics, one of my favorite companies that sells fabrics that I am often able to get from one of our suppliers, but we had never managed to meet with the company itself.

Then, we met up with a new company that sells a stain remover. The stain remover even takes off sharpie. We will be able to have that in the store and online shortly after we return.

Then, we met with some of our old friends, including MODA, the company that produces our ever-favorite Grunge fabric and FreeSpirit Fabrics, the company that produces Kaffe and Tula fabrics.

While we were meeting with them, who should walk up but Loralie Harris of Loraie Designs? She told us of some of the cool new things she has in the works, designed especially because of us, here at Quilted Twins!

So, we gabbed with her for a while.

We saw aisle after aisle after aisle of yarns and knitted garments. We have seen lots and lots of crocheted items

We’re watching panel discussions We’re taking free classes and big sessions. All in the hopes of becoming better at what we do.

On Wednesday night we were invited to a Craft Industry Alliance Pizza buffet sponsored by ByAnnie.com as a part of our Local Quilt Shop contest win. The place was incredibly loud and impossible to have major discussions in.

Annie came over to us, and we got our picture together. But, she said that it was too loud in there to make any kind of announcement.

So, we had a delicious supper and eventually made it back to the hotel. More about the hotel in the next blog that I write about this.

Since we were invited to attend this conference, provided free tickets and a free hotel room, and a free shuttle to the hotel from the airport, we decided merely to walk wherever we needed to walk. I’ll explain more about where we’ve walked, what we’ve eaten, where we’ve stayed and more in my next post.

Suffice it to say, there’s a lot happening in the fiber arts industry. I’m glad we’re in the fabric part of this industry, and not the yarn industry. As much as I love yarn, you certainly have to knit and purl and crochet very quickly in order to get through skein after skein of yarn.

Stay tuned for another issue of the blog whenever I can write it.

——from Becky

Thanks, Rachael, for sharing your adventure with us! I know I’ve enjoyed reading about it!

And thanks everyone, for coming along with us on this journey! Have a great day wherever you are reading this!

Rachael Woodard5 Comments