Spring Quilt Market was held a few weeks ago in my hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania! I was there for “Quilting Arts TV,” to meet with sponsors and seek out new talent. Here are some of the things that caught my eye.
Ruth Chandler of Textile Evolution has a new book out called Modern Hand Stitching (Landauer) that is a fabulous resource for those who want to delve into contemporary hand embroidery. It has large photos that clearly demonstrate how to create each stitch, and fabulous gallery shots of what you can do with those stitches.
Melanie Testa was printing in her booth, and launching her first fabric line, “Meadowlark,” with Windham Fabrics. It is beautiful!
While I was there, I ran into Teri Lucas, a talented free-motion quilter and teacher, and we just had to take a selfie:
I got to see some friends I met while teaching in South Africa in 2012: Barb and Mary of Me & My Sister, who were there with a lovely new fabric line from Moda:
I tried to take a lot of photos of the floor before Market opened, when you could see the booths more clearly:
Alexander Henry’s booth featured Ghastlie decorations celebrating its new fabric line:
Linda Poole (left) and Sherry Rogers-Harrison were doing demonstrations in The Warm Company’s booth. They have been teaching together recently. Sherry is a professional
longarm quilter known for her coloring techniques called
Ink-Liqué and Paint-Liqué. Linda has a new book with AQS called Painted Applique: A New Approach.
psssst… if you’ve been waiting for the return of The Warm Company’s Steam-a-Seam 2 or Lite Steam-a-Seam 2 (the fusible adhesive that works best for my fusible appliqué technique), it sounds like they may both be available later this year! I can’t wait, as my stockpile is running low. There’s an update on their website here.
Here is Elaine Quehl’s beautiful new line of batiks, “Falling Leaves,” for Northcott:
Ellen Medlock has some new fabric line with cute little houses called “Charmville” that is, well, simply charming!
Oliso is coming out with this limited-edition darling pink iron in July. For every purchase of the TG1100 pink, Oliso will donate $10 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Linda Lindsey of Square Rose had some innovative bag designs I loved:
Most of the time, the floor was busy with quilt shop owners and other industry professionals. The credentialing process was tightened up this year, and the event was only open “to the trade.” Most of the vendors I spoke to were pleased with this, and said that orders were up at this Quilt Market.
The David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh is a great venue for Market. Pittsburgh (and it’s spelled with an h, folks!) is where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio River, and the convention center pays homage to that, both with some beautiful waterways and fountains on the ground level, and with spectacular views on the Allegheny River upstairs. The structures in the ceiling inside echo the shapes of Pittsburgh’s many bridges.
Mixed-media star Tim Holtz was at Market with his “Eclectic Elements” fabric line with Coats. He’s done some neat dies for Sizzix that look like cathedral window and hexie designs.
I took a lot of photos in Alison Glass’ booth, as it was beautifully designed and decorated with her quilts and her fabric collections for Andover.
Fairfield was showing of a nifty product called Foamology Design Foam that has a sticky surface on the back, so you can wrap fabric around and secure it to the back easily:
Design Foam
features a stickybase™ self adhesive foam board back for foolproof
covering and wall application. When you have a stickybase™ to help you,
0nly ordinary household tools are needed — just choose your fabric (or
other fun material) and simply peel, wrap, stick and done! Create wall
art panels or fashion unique wall hangings of no-sew patchwork designs —
even create memo boards with tufted effects — the options for creating
with Design Foam are endless - See more at: http://foamology101.com/#sthash.xvrKDHF7.dpuf
Design Foam
features a stickybase™ self adhesive foam board back for foolproof
covering and wall application. When you have a stickybase™ to help you,
0nly ordinary household tools are needed — just choose your fabric (or
other fun material) and simply peel, wrap, stick and done! Create wall
art panels or fashion unique wall hangings of no-sew patchwork designs —
even create memo boards with tufted effects — the options for creating
with Design Foam are endless - See more at: http://foamology101.com/#sthash.xvrKDHF7.dpuf
Kathy McGee of Hemma Design has a new line with Swedish influences by Red Rooster, and her booth had some darling projects made with oilcloth/laminated fabrics and three-dimensional elements.
Art Gallery Fabrics’ booth was so fresh and springy!
Serbian designer Katarina Rocella’s collection for Art Gallery Fabrics, “Indelible,” caught my eye because of its mix of cool and earthy colors with woodland motifs and strong graphics:
And of course I loved Carrie Bloomston’s new line for Windham, “Paint,” with its images of paintbrushes, paint swatches, and newsprint:
Olfa is celebrating 35 years since it created the first rotary cutter, a device that revolutionized quilting. They had a gigantic rotary cutter and everyone (including me) was posing with it:
Camelot Fabrics has a fun new line featuring Star Trek motifs:
Oooooh, there are some gorgeous designs in Interweave’s “The Unofficial Downton Abbey Sews”:
Overall trends I noticed:
An emphasis on hand and “slow” stitching, including embroider
Fabric lines with rich, saturated color schemes
Fabrics with graphic themes
An explosion of batiks in every pattern and color
Many fabric lines with a Nordic or Central European feel
Lots of darling patterns for children’s clothing
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