Fall 2012 Quilt Market was this passed weekend and of course I was there!
It is in my neck of the woods every Fall so I'm lucky enough to get in the car and drive downtown to attend. Seeing as how it is an International Market for Fabric Shop Owners and Manufacturers come from all over the US and the world, it is sheer luck that I live in the city where the event is held every Fall~ niiiice!
For those of you who don't know, Quilt Market is quite literally a "Market" for Fabric Shop owners to preview and order new lines from the Fabric Manufacturers. There are HUNDREDS of booths set up by companies with not only their new fabric lines, but sewing and quilting notions, Machines (sewing, embroidery and Long Arm Quilting machines), patterns, batting and interfacing and furniture. Here's a photo of the Market Floor that gives you an idea of all the booths and how it is set up:
As you can see, it is quite massive! Navigating the floor is always overwhelming, so it is always a good idea to have a plan. This year, we planned to visit the booths of the manufacturers whose fabrics we currently carry and also scope out some new manufacturers.
We first visited Michael Miller's booth, and they did not disappoint! If you know Hypernoodle, you know we LOVE ♥ Michael Miller fabrics! They're booth this year was rather subued...which is odd for them, they usually win or place in "Best Booth" of the show. They did display a ton of very beautiful quilts this year, but no "theatrics" as what is known from them...guess this year they were trying to keep it straight to the point!
Now here are a couple of the new fabric lines coming from Michael Miller...
The top fabric is called "Honore" this is the SORBET colorway--notice the new "Play Stripe" fabric? It is called 'Tangerine'
Another Super cute line..."Small World"...(and yes, another great "Play Stripe"!, this one is called 'Malibu') along with "Busy Bee", "Small World Floral" and "small World Stripe"
There are a lot of really great prints coming from Michael Miller~we will get them all posted into the COMING SOON section on the website as quickly as possible for everyone to preview. For you ZOOLOGY lovers, there are 2 new colorways coming in that favorite print: "Orchid" for the girls and "Dirt" for the boys! We can't wait!!!
Here's a peek at part of Riley Blake's booth:
Riley Blake also has some AMAZING prints on the way! Including new colors of Chevrons!!!
Baby Pink, Lime, Purple, Rouge and Medium Blue are the new Chevron colors that will be printed next year and they will be just as popular as the current colors!
Here's a peek at another part of Riley Blake's booth with projects made from just DOTS
We love Dots! They are so versatile and can be used on their own--no other print required!
Last but not least, we have a pic of part of Robert Kaufman's booth:
Some very nice prints on their way from Robert Kaufman as well!
We also visited: Westminster/Free Spirit, Alexander Henry and Timeless Treasures booths. We placed orders with all of them for upcoming lines (as mentioned, we'll get all the new fabrics loaded into the COMING SOON section on our website as soon as possible)
Honestly, there are some GREAT new fabrics coming out from the manufacturers we already carry~ *but* we were under-impressed by most of the other fabric manufacturers as we were looking for new Fabric Companies to carry their lines...that is EXCEPT for Camelot Fabrics. This company has some great new prints so we will be adding them as a Manufacturer in addition to the current Manufacturers we carry...more info on Camelot Cottons coming soon in a future post!
We were looking at possibly adding MODA fabrics to our shop. We never cared for MODA fabrics and all of you, our great customers, did not express any interest in any of MODA's lines. However, it seemed that MODA has been trying to get with the program lately and add more fresh, young designs--they still have a long way to go because most of their prints are geared toward another demographic that just does not fit our shop or our customers very well. But they did have a couple of very hip/cool-looking prints that we notices---- but quite honestly, the people in their booth were rude and passive. They didn't act like the cared to acquire new vendors and brushed us off when we attempted to ask about getting some information. After sitting with a group of other Shop Owners at lunch in the convention center, they mentioned that MODA is quite "stuck-up" and if you are not a big time Fabric Shop that they don't have time for you. Well, that was exactly how they made us feel! It is sad that they would treat potential vendors this way...so I think it is safe to say that we will not be adding any MODA fabrics anytime soon!! LOL!
We want to offer you the things that you like and you have let us know what you like so we will always do our best to make sure we are offering you the newest, most fresh, hip, cute and fabulous prints that you can't live without!
We will also begin offering SOLID cottons by the end of the year/beginning of 2013. Some of you have expressed interest in having SOLIDS in some of the top basic colors, so we will have those for ya very soon!!!
LOAD of great new stuff is on it's way!! Stay tuned! ☺
Happy Sewing!!
