I think I'm as recovered as I'm going to be from the fabric hangover I experienced on my trip to Spring Quilt Market in Kansas City, so I figured it was time for a wrap-up post. It was a fantastic trip, with boatloads of gorgeousness to see and super fun people to visit with. Aren't quilty people just the best people?
I saw a zillion things at Market, more than I could possibly remember, but here are my Top 10 fabric-related highlights from Quilt Market...
10.
Riley Blake Chevrons - I love that
Riley Blake is bringing these
chevrons in multiple sizes, I think it is a super smart decision on their part, too. There will be not only small, medium and large chevrons but also tonal varieties in each size. All of the varieties should begin shipping in August, and I know I will be picking up quite a few of these for my stash!
9.
Art Gallery -
Art Gallery swept many of the booth awards at Market, and rightly so; their booths were just so
stunning. The wall of their main booth was covered in squares of all of their fabrics, all mixed together and backed with foam core. Their
Summerlove side booth was also gorgeous and so cozy feeling. I couldn't resist, I just had to pick up a little Summerlove to bring home for a new project! I'm also really excited about their upcoming
Rock & Romance collection, coming out in September.
8.
Odif - Odif is the great company who makes my favorite spray baste, 505 spray. They also make a cleaner spray, DK5, for those moments when you overspray your 505 (and other various craft sprays)!! You can pick up a can of your own at
Sew for Less. The Odif folks also let us in on a little secret: if you can see your 505 when you're spraying, you're using too much. I think I don't mind using too much, as I like seeing the spray so I know it's there, but I thought I would share :)
7.
Chicopee - I adore Denyse Schmidt's fabrics, so it was really exciting to get to see
Chicopee in person before it comes out. Denyse's booth had a few precut samples to thumb through and also a wonderful wall of inspiration for the collection, complete photos of Sonny & Cher, Mary Tyler Moore, and many other remnants from her childhood. The collection is full of what Denyse is best known for: beautiful small-scale prints with rich colors. I'm seriously looking forward to this collection when it ships out in August.
6.
Simpatico - Coming in June from
Cloud 9 fabrics,
Simpatico is full of soft peaches, grays, and blues. I'm super excited for this line. The prints have a real classic feel to them and I think this line will make a great addition to any stash. I also spotted
GeoCentric, a new canvas collection coming late summer, full of super fun geometric basics. Awesome line for bag-making!
5.
Storybook Lane -
Kelly Lee-Creel is a new designer for Andover Fabrics, with a new line called
Storybook Lane, shipping in the next few weeks, and several new patterns for her Ever Kelly brand as well. Her booth was gorgeous, and I especially enjoyed the star quilt Kelly featured.
4.
Ruby Star Vinyl - Melody Miller's new line
Ruby Star Vinyl is so hotly anticipated and rightly so. Her booth was total retro chic, from the Ruby Star Shining sofa to the cool retro record wall installation. No one does retro quite like Melody.
3.
Mama Said Sew - Coming out in August,
Sweetwater's Mama Said Sew is full of black, cream, gray, and red prints that celebrate sewing. There's some beautiful text prints as well as an adorable gingham. I think this was one of the first lines to sell out at Sample Spree and I think it's going to be super popular!
2.
Madrona Road - I positively adored
Violet Craft's first collection for Michael Miller, Peacock Lane, but I think I might just love
Madrona Road even more. I'm not sure if it's the soft colors or the cursive print, but I'm head over heels for this collection. Is it August yet???
1.
Bloomsbury Gardens - Some of the biggest buzz at Market was all about Liberty of London releasing new quilting cottons. One of the things I really like best about the new line is that while still gives the Liberty vibe, the colors are very different. Very vibrant, very bold, and perfect for quilting. I recall a while back that Liberty did a quilting cotton collection with Westminster Fabrics, and I think is a very different line from that one, consciously so. We got to meet the designer behind the collection, who said that the color choices and motif choices were very deliberate, that they truly thought about quilting and how to make the collection work best for quilters. I think this
collection is a full-on home run, and I cannot wait to get some!
Sample Spree was also quite fun, with boatloads of grown women squealing when the line finally started moving and we were allowed in. The Moda table, by far, was the busiest, with a huge crush of people swarming around it. The Art Gallery table also seemed quite busy, with gorgeous stacks of their solids, Oval Elements, and other print collections as well.
In other Market news, I got my hands on my some fabulous new quilting books that I cannot possibly recommend highly enough:
Quilting Modern
,
Modern Patchwork
,
Zakka Style
and
Sunday Morning Quilts
. Not only that, but the authors were some of the nicest people I met during the entire trip. My flight home was made
way more bearable by these wonderful books.
All in all, Market was simply amazing. I could probably write a post a day about Market and still have more to tell, but for now, this will do. There were so many fantastic things to see, and while I do think I saw them all, these were the ones that stood out to me. I also had the chance to meet so many wonderful people that have shaped me as a quilter and to meet even more people that I've only known online, who were even nicer in person. This trip to Spring Market is definitely going down in my book as one of the best trips I've had in a very long time. For more Market wrap-ups, you can visit
Freshly Pieced and
Sew Sweetness.
