Tuesday, January 26, 2010

CHA 2010


I just got home from CHA. What a show! Our Craft Critique reporters are still hard at work covering this amazing trade show. There is a ton of patterned paper and cutting systems at CHA, but we spotted lots of other kinds of crafting too. Read our coverage HERE.

I spotted a few craft celebrities at the show. Last year, amusingly, Paris Hilton was hawking some stamp designs and paper. I don't think that worked out too well for her with stores looking for crafts to buy, but she was a bit of a sensation.

We didn't have that level of "celebrity" this year, but I totally got butterflies when I saw Carol Duval. Some of you may remember her show on HGTV. Did you know that they used to show crafting on HGTV and DIY networks? I learned to quilt from television and I learned that I could do pretty much any craft from Carol Duvall. Sadly, although there are a few great shows, it is hard to find well produced craft programming on television these days.



I took like 50 bad pictures of her. I think I might make a bad picture flip book and reenact her talk.. Later on, I missed her book signing, but at an event that evening my friend, Sarah Moore, made sure I got to meet her. Click HERE to see Sarah with her Carol Duvall signature on her arm. I'll take Carol Duvall doing crafts any day over Martha Stewart...

Also spotted at CHA was letter turning yarn diva Vanna White. I missed her talk, but she has nice yarn at Lion Brand!


Deborah Norville also has some soft and squishy yarns for Premiere Yarns. We used some of her samples at our consumer booth and it makes nice squishy pom poms. Her sweater is really soft, although she admitted that she didn't knit it herself.
Read our coverage of what's new in yarn HERE.

I saw The Crafty Chica several times, but I didn't take her picture. Everyone agrees that she is so nice!

TV Hosts Cathy Fillian and Steve Piacenza have new products they are showing and as I was listening to them a woman came by to ask me to photograph them all together. While I was having trouble with her camera, I looked at her badge and it is Donna Dewberry of One Stroke Painting. Y'all, Donna Dewberry has a crappy camera. This is the pic I took of those three notable personalities with my camera:



Finally, Craftster was there at the consumer portion of the show with their parent company Namemedia. That's Leah, Me, Jungrrl, and KittyKill, underneath the felt banner expertly handmade by Jungrrl herself.

Uh.. trade show food makes me bloated and I learned that I am totally allergic to California... I forgot to tell you that I got a Best of Craftster award again this year! More on that another time...

5 comments:

Rita said...

WOW! YAY SUSIE! You totally had a blast at CHA! You got to see and meet so many cool people try out new squishy yarn! Hooray for the Craftster crew! I've met jungrrl and kittykill at craft fairs in SF but I've never met Leah yet! Congrats on best of crafster!

Nan and B.A.G.S. the pug said...

YEA! BEST CRAFTER YOU! Btw Donna has a cruddy camera?! LMAO! *hugs*
Nan

Rebekah said...

Sounds like you had a ton of fun!!

Meeting Carol Duvall wonderful. I used to watch her with my Mom.

sweetness said...

Love your blog and photos, Susie! Thanks for sharing!

--sweets4ever @ Craftster.org

IamSusie said...

I heart Carol Duvall! Sorry I missed you at your booth, Sweets!