Quilt Market Report Spring 2012

Amber and I just got back from Kansas City for the Spring Quilt Market! This is where we get to shop for all the amazing fabrics and patterns we carry here at the store. We also get to meet and talk to fabric designers, pattern designers, bloggers and other shop owners. It was super amazing and we were really impressed with the strength of the new collections. Here are some highlights:

Amy Butler has a new collection coming out this July, Cameo. Her booth was a beautiful mix of vintage with her bright prints forming a fun contrast.

Anna Maria Horner's newest collection for Free Spirit is Field Study due in August. Natural elements such as feathers, flora and fauna inspire these designs. We loved the life-sized crouching leopard decoupaged with fabric!

Can you believe this quilt?! The pattern for this strip-pieced quilt by Anna Maria Horner will be available as a free pattern for her Field Study fabrics through the Free Spirit website. I can hardly wait to make one - it was stunning.

We really love what's going on over at Cloud 9. This organic fabric company started out so tiny and is growing into the most adorable fabric company of all time. Their current and upcoming collections are awesome, and they keep working with amazing artists. We have Monsterz in stock now so here is some inspiration with these awesome baby quilts.

Seven Seas is another Michele Brummer Everett collection for Cloud 9 coming out this summer. More of her adorable drawings, but this time with a maritime theme. Those little boys shirts are too cute!

We were thrilled that Denyse Schmidt had her first ever booth at quilt market. Her booth was amazing and featured an inspiration wall for her upcoming collection, Chicopee. We went ahead and ordered the full collection so you are all set come August.

We also got to see all of her quilts from her newest book in person - talk about inspiration! Meeting Denyse was awesome - she was lovely and it was so magical to chat with one of our favorite quilters.

The buzz of quilt market was the new Liberty of London quilting cottons. Quilt Market was the debut of this new venture for Liberty and we think it's going to be amazing! Their first collection is called Bloomsbusy Gardens and each of the 11 prints comes in 5 colorways. We ordered a ton of it, so you can quilt with Liberty to your heart's content come late August. The Liberty quilting cottons will be much more affordable than their Tana Lawn counterparts, but you can expect the same great designs and colors.

Melody Miller had a booth! Yay! Her booth was a perfect picture of her unique, vintage-inspired style and highlighted her newest collection for Kokka, Ruby Star Vinyl.

We couldn't resist a photo-op with the lady herself!

Oh Tula Pink. So much awesome fabric and I can't believe this Gem quilt!! Tula Pink has another new collection hitting the shop in July called The Birds and The Bees. We love the bright colors, but mostly I can't wait to get my hands on it so I can make this quilt.

Here we are with Ms. Pink in front of this amazing Gem Quilt. Looks pretty good, right?

And now here are some sneak peeks from the land-of-all-awesome-Japanese-fabric, Seven Islands! There will be a new Echino collection coming out featuring birds and animals, our favorite. I couldn't get over the giraffes and owls in ornate frames and of course the hipster deer-in-glasses polka dot print. The zebras are looking pretty hot too. We ordered all of it and several laminates so don't worry - there will be plenty to choose from.

Fancy Tiger favorite, Nani Iro, has a new collection out as well. She is working with some new and different colors and designs that we are excited about.

Finally we will leave you with this double gauze tunic - we need to make this!

Lots of great stuff is on the way - we didn't even show you the new Lizzy House, Moda, Sarah Jane, Lotta Jansdotter, Bari J., Dear Stella, Blend or Alexander Henry fabrics! OMG so much awesome stuff to sew!