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Quilting > What's New

Quilt Market Review - Spring 2008, Portland, OR

Spring is in full bloom and the spring edition of the semi-annual Quilt Market has made its mark. Fabric, notions, sewing machines, designers, and more made their way to Portland, Oregon to celebrate the newest innovations in the quilting and home sewing world. There was much to be seen and heard, and we’ve highlighted a few of our favorites for you.

Darlene Zimmerman's Clothesline ClubThe Stand-Out
Among the rows and rows of beautiful quilts displayed each season at Quilt Market, there is always one that seems to catch hold of your senses and not let go. One such quilt was featured at the IQA exhibit, In Full Bloom IV: Floral Quilts in Memory of Helen Pearce O’Bryant. (Helen was a co-founder of the International Quilts Association, and the late mother of Quilts, Inc. Executive Vice President Nancy O’Bryant.) The original piece, titled “Chicory,” was made by Ruth Powers of Carbondale, Kansas. We thought her description offered a wonderfully insightful perspective into her creative process:

“Every summer I look forward to the brilliant blue of the chicory blooms that fill the roadsides. This piece was inspired by a photograph that I took and my challenge was to portray the transparency of the petals. I enjoy working with commercial prints and doing intricate machine piecing that results in the pictorial images in fabric. Chicory is heavily free-motion machine quilted using various threads to compliment the colors of fabric.”

One of our favorite quilt market pastimes is to walk the aisles of the show looking for inventive examples of how pattern companies have chosen to use our fabrics. Here are just a few we thought we’d share.

The quilt shown below was made by the innovative pattern company Blue Underground Studios and is named Jesters Court. It features our Carolina Chambray in a cool, calming color palette. The unique woven texture of this soft Chambray offers an irresistible iridescence to the surface of the quilt. We are so excited that these unconventional wovens have found their way into this pattern maker’s palette!


"Jester's Court"

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"Puppy Love"

We also loved the adorable “Puppy Love” vintage style doll patterns by Indygo Junction. This little pup features assorted fabrics from our ‘30s reproduction collections by Darlene Zimmerman and is made almost entirely from fabric yo-yos!

A Sweet Trend
We noticed an interesting trend at market. Cupcakes! Cupcakes everywhere!! We thought we’d stand out with our latest Kona Cotton Solids ad, but it seemed there are quite a few others with a sweet tooth out there. Check out this Cupcake Pincushion by Cindy Taylor Oates. YUM!!


Before & After
I always think before and after shots are fun. Despite a few technical set backs, everything came together beautifully and the show was a success. Here is a glimpse at what the convention center looks like when we arrive and what our booth looks like after the magic has happened. Take a moment to check out all of our newest collections that were released at market and will be arriving soon at your local fabric shop. And don’t forget to check back often for new patterns, ideas, inspiration, and more!


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