Spring 2010 Quilt Market - Schoolhouse Part One

This May, the International Quilt Market came to my hometown of Minneapolis.  Since I live only an hour away, I had to go! This was my first Quilt Market and first experience at a Trade Show.

The first day, I had an early check-in and I registered for something called "The Schoolhouse Series".  Schoolhouse is a series of 15 to 30 minute sessions hosted by a fabric company, designer, pattern company or really any vendor related to the quilting industry.  You select which sessions you would like to attend during each block and there is a five minute break between sessions to run to the next one.  The sessions run from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm and there were 15 blocks for me to pick.  I had another class from 9:00 am - 10:00 am, so I was off running right away for my first Schoolhouse Session.

My first session was with Pillow & Maxfield, designers for Michael Miller fabrics who introduced us to their new line shipping in June, "Pretty Bird".  This bright, modern fabric will be available in three colorways - Parrot (Pink/Green/Aqua), Blue Jay (Blue/Yellow) and Spice Robin (Brown/Red).  These prints are lovely to look at but they come alive when used in a project.  Sample projects included decoupage birdhouses, aprons and directors chairs.

Next up, Joel Dewberry talked about his new line, Modern Meadow, which was inspired by the views from his Utah home.  I personally love this line and reordered more of the Lake Blue, Timber and Berry colorways.  The scale of the prints vary and the projects shown included smaller scale items such as wallets and the larger scale print looked gorgeous on a skirt.

My next visit was to see Anna Maria Horner.  She discussed her new line of voile prints, Little Folks Voile and her new book partially inspired by her latest creation, her son Roman.  Her new book is entitled, "Handmade Beginnings" - and she stressed that the book is not just for expecting Moms, Babies and Families, but projects that anyone would enjoy.   I am a big fan of the voile collection.  It is a change from cotton quilting fabric in a good way.  It feels so soft yet is not sheer like a typical voile.  The quality is amazing and the range of uses is unlimited!  In another post, I will show how Anna Maria used this fabric in her booth.  Stunning!