Fall Quilt Market 2012 - Part III

There is always so much to take in at Quilt Market - everywhere you turn there's brand new fabric lines, quilt patterns, or tools. This time, we were so busy during the show that we barely had time to leave the booth! But we did get a few opportunities to steal away and walk the floor, and boy are we glad we did!

First, we went to see Carolyn Friedlander at her booth. It had a really nice architecture theme to it to go along with her new line Architextures, which she used to make her skirt and every quilt in the booth. She told us that she had a different outfit made out of Architextures for each day of the show - how amazing/adorable is that!?

Then we went to see Sue Spargo, and we were absolutely blown away by her folk-art quilts. Her signature way of mixing materials like wool and cotton is really quite amazing, and that kind of work was actually the basis for her new cotton line, Folkloric Blooms.

The EZ Quilting booth had a really nice celebration for Darlene Zimmerman's 20th Anniversary, and she's one of our favorite gals on the entire planet, so we couldn't miss that!

The booth also had a TON of awesome Kona projects...

...And an entire wall that they filled with the winning quilts from the EZ Dresden Quilt Challenge! You can see all of the winners here.

Betz White had some seriously fabulous bags, chairs, and other projects made with Stitch and Pure Organic Solids.

We also stopped by the Lollipops Designer Bindings booth and saw these super cute dresses made with Remix, Urban Zoologie, Heart Garden, and The Cat in the Hat.

Cozy Quilt Designs had a number of stunning quilts on display, including this batik beauty made from their Olympia pattern. We often turn to Cozy Quilts when looking for patterns to showcase our fabrics with because theirs are always so beautiful!

And then there was the Quilt Studio booth, which had as its centerpiece this fantastic tent made with our Celebrate Seuss Slicker laminated fabric - perfect for the kids!

Some of our favorite people also made appearances at the show, including the ever stylish Kelle Boyd of Ann Kelle! We even got to see her do a live interview with the gals from Fat Quarter Shop, which you can watch here.

Laurie Wisbrun, Fabric8 contest winner Andie Hanna, and Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts were all at show, and we're so happy we had time to spend with all of them! Here's a shot of Julie looking fabulous with her Science Fair quilt:

Overall, this Quilt Market was another great experience for us. But we're also curious what other people thought. So if you were at the show, we'd like to know, what were your overall impressions? Did anything in particular catch your eye this time?

Giveaway Winners!

We've selected some winners for our post-Quilt Market giveaway! We asked you all what your ultimate Schoolhouse session would be about, and the answers we received were really insightful! They are going to be really useful for when we plan future Schoolhouses, and we might even have to do a post or two about some of the topics that were mentioned. So thank you to all who took the time to respond...we really appreciate the feedback!

We selected the three winners using a random number generator.

The person who will receive the Fat Quarter bundle of Spot On is KarrieLyne!

Two people will receive some Architextures mini charms and a Leesa Chandler pin cushion kit.

The first winner is bee

And the second winner is Carol Miskin!

The three winners will be hearing from us shortly via email. Once again, thank you to all who participated, and be sure to tune in again for Part III of our Quilt Market recap series!

Fall Quilt Market 2012 - Part II + Giveaway

Schoolhouse is always a highlight of our Quilt Market weekend. It's a great opportunity to hear from the best that the industry has to offer, and this time we were so excited to sponsor such a talented, diverse group of presenters.

The first Schoolhouse we took part in was Leesa Chandler's, and it was a huge success! She showed off all of the Culture Club projects for her newest fabric line Anastasia, based on traditional Russian design and culture, which produced more than a few oohs and ahhs. The turnout was so great, there weren't enough seats for everyone in the audience.

The next Schoolhouse, "Extending Your Online Reach," was presented by our Director of Marketing, Kyle Sanchez (@kylesan). In it, she discussed the various ways shops can utilize web assets and social media to address the growing online community and remain competitive in the industry.

Sue Spargo also had a schoolhouse, and it was fantastic! She presented a number of folk art quilts that combined wool and cotton fabrics and offered some really great tips for selling these different materials alongside one another. One of the highlights was a hexie quilt she made with Folkloric Blooms, her new line of cotton fabrics based on her wool work.

And then there was talented newcomer Carolyn Friedlander giving her first ever schoolhouse! She spoke all about how she got started in pattern and fabric design, how her past experience with architecture inspired her new Architextures collection, and what aspects of design inspire modern quilters like herself! She also showed off some really creative projects, including her Local quilt that she designed as a 9-month BOM.

And finally, Michael Mrowka of Lunn Studios gave a really interesting presentation on the batik cap (pronounced "chop") design process. He showed some videos from the factory in Java, and although we've long known how the caps are made, we were completely overwhelmed to see how much hard work and skill is required to produced just one copper cap. We hope to have some footage to show you all soon so that you can get a better sense of the batik design process!

 

While schoolhouses are a lot of fun, there is another big event we feel we must mention...Sample Spree!!! If you've been there before, then you know it can get pretty wild. And this time was no exception - just the way we like it, surrounded by mountains of fabric and tons of smiling faces. We even managed to escape without too many bruises! Hooray!

We do have some goodies left over, so how would you like to win some? To win a prize, just let us know what your ultimate Schoolhouse session would be about!

One lucky person will receive a Spot On fat quarter bundle, and two others will receive Architextures mini charms and a Leesa Chandler pin cushion kit!

The winners will be announced Monday, Nov. 19th.

Fall Quilt Market 2012 - Part I

If we had to sum up Quilt Market in just a few words, we'd have to say that it was an absolute blast! Stressful at times? Of course. But Houston is a great city, and there is no community of people we would have rather spent an entire week with than our fellow fabric and quilting enthusiasts!

With that said, putting together our booth was no easy task, and we knew from the start that there was a lot of work that needed to be done...

But we had some truly awesome people on the job, and after two full days of setup, we had a booth that we could really be proud of! If you did not have the opportunity to attend Market this year, or if you just never made it over to our booth, here is a complete look at all of our displays:

The new line everyone's been talking about - Architextures by Carolyn Friedlander! The quilt hanging on the wall is called Science Fair by Jaybird Quilts, and the pillows are from the Dresden Pouf pattern by Indygo Junction.

Folkloric Blooms is a new collection from Sue Spargo & Wendy Morris. The beautiful quilt on the left was pieced and quilted by Lisa Alexakis of Sew Modern (pattern will be available for free download from our website this December), and the equally stunning hexie quilt on the right was made by Sue & Wendy and will be featured in a self-published book coming January 2013.

This is Naptime, the newest line from Darlene Zimmerman - Darlene always has the cutest displays!

The quilt on the back wall is Cute & Cuddly by Darlene, which is a free pattern that you can download from our website, and the one on the left wall is Kimberly Jolly's Poppy quilt from the book Simply Fat Quarters. The hexie runner draped over the rocking chair was made from our Naptime pre-cut hexies, which will be available later this month!

Our basics display had a giant patchwork wall that brought tons of color to the booth - we couldn't help but smile whenever we looked at it :)

Spot On is a new basic for polka dot lovers! The quilts in this display were both made from the Spotty Resolution pattern by Liz Harvatine, which you can download for free here.

And what would Quilt Market be without some Kona Cotton Solids? Janice from Better Off Thread used only one Kona Bright Roll-up to make that quilt, which you can read more about on her blog. The pattern is Straight & Narrow from Cozy Quilt Designs.

Fusions Ombre is a great new assortment of blenders that gradate from light to dark and back again for a really cool effect. The Fauxgello quilt seen above is a faux bargello (hence the name) pieced by Ramona Burke and quilted by Angela Walters. The pattern will also be available for free download.

The Artisan Batiks display in our booth featured a ton of new projects and collections, including Lake Country, Elementals: Geos, Exotica, Color Source, Patina Handpaints, and Concerto II.

We also had a playful Dr. Seuss display for the new line, Oh the Places You'll Go (available Jan. 2013)! The walls were lined with totally cute graphics and some really fun quilts. The Big Pinwheel quilt on the left was made by Rachel Griffith of P.S. I Quilt, and the Off and Away quilt on the right is a free pattern now available on our website!

One of our new favorites is Suzy's Dollhouse by Suzy Ultman. And those dolls...super easy to make and ridiculously adorable!

And then there's Superhero, the brilliant new collection from Illustration Ink! As you can see from this nursery display, it's just perfect for young boys and girls and can be used in a multitude of different projects.

And last but not least, there's Don't Be Crabby from one of our favorite designers (and one of our favorite people in general), Laurie Wisbrun! We seriously love everything she does. The Come Sail Away quilt can be downloaded for free on our site, and you can find the pattern for those cute little whale softies on Etsy.

Well that's pretty much the whole booth. If you have a favorite display or collection, we would love it if you let us know in a comment. And make sure to tune in again in the next day or two - we will be highlighting all of our Schoolhouse sessions and some other great events we took part in as well, so you won't want to miss that!

Field Notes Winner!

Thank you to all who entered our Field Notes giveaway this week! Your comments were so positive, and it really made us smile to read them all. One randomly selected person will get to play with the full Field Notes collection by SEI, and that person is...

PamS!

 Congratulations!

Those of you who didn't get lucky this time around, remember that our wonderful friends at SEI were also hosting a Field Notes giveaway! So if you also entered at the SEI blog, be sure to check there to see if you won!

And just so you know, we'll be doing our own three-part recap of Quilt Market beginning tomorrow, so stop by if you'd like to hear our thoughts and see some great pics from Houston!