Quilt Market 2017 - a recap

Whew. This past weekend I attended International Quilt Market in St. Louis, Missouri. This is the semi-annual trade show for the sewing/quilting/fabric industry and is only open to professionals within the industry.

I've attended each spring for the past six years. I love seeing the latest trends and upcoming fabrics and designs coming out in the quilting industry over the next 5-6 months. But this experience was a different one for me - this was the first time I attended as an exhibitor myself!

Here's what my booth looked like! It was such an honor to get to share my recent fabric collection, Gingham Girls, as well as the four new patterns I released as part of Penny Rose/Riley Blake Fabrics. I was so grateful for those who helped with projects to feature in the booth. Here are a few:

AnneMarie Chaney made this darling flag hoop quilt using her new hoop quilt pattern.  The cute dress is made using the Polly Pinafore pattern by Bebekins Patterns.  The dress was sewn by my friend Erica, who also made me the awesome navy-gingham Tova top from the new Riley Blake woven ginghams. I love it so much! I'm going to wear it all summer. (Erica also helped me with the vintage pattern covers I used to decorate my booth. Aren't they awesome?)

Having a booth myself was definitely exciting and an honor. At the same time, I definitely didn't get as much time to wander and check out what other people were making and sharing. And now that I'm home with the last week of school and a kid about to graduate from high school, life is just a little crazy. As a result, this Market report will not be as organized as usual. Usually I like to organize by manufacturers and designers - this time it will just be a few glimpses of what I saw that was inspiring. Hopefully you can enjoy the eye candy. 🙂 Although, I do have a disclaimer (my husband keeps telling me not to worry about disclaimers - lol) about the pictures - the lighting was just off somehow - and it made everything look just yellow. It was kind of a bummer. I tried color correcting some of the pictures as best as I could, but it was taking forever. So I know you'll forgive me and we'll just enjoy what we can right?

Others in the Riley Blake family included:

My booth partner - Melissa Mortenson - and her fun new collection Safari Party coming out this summer!

Paper-piecing extraordinaire, Sue Daley from down under. She was showing her new Linen and Lawn collection that arrives this summer. It's so dreamy.

Lori Holt's gorgeous new Bee Happy quilt pattern - which will be a fun Bee Happy sew along this summer!

 Preview of Heidi Staples, aka Fabric Mutt's new collection Five and Dime.

Chris Thompson, aka the Tattooed Quilter, debuted his first fabric collection as well - Blue Carolina. Coming to stores this summer. His booth was a stunner! Loved all the Confetting Cottons mini quilts too!

And speaking of stunning booths, check out this one from the girls at Simple Simon and Co. featuring their latest collection, Just Add Sugar. And even more fun - they won the award for best single booth!

More eye-candy and new projects from around Market:

Elizabeth Hartman and her new collection, Reef. Plus amazing new quilt patterns.

Amy Gibson debuting her first collection with Windham, Meriweather plus her gorgeous new patterns.

Also new from Windham, Daisy Chain by Annabel Wrigley - so bright and cheerful!

And Allison aka Cluck Cluck Sew's latest collection, Hello Jane + her new patterns.

Lee Monroe, aka May Chappell, and her amazing designs. (Plus, Lee is a hoot.)

Alison Glass is a perennial favorite. She featured her new Chroma and Diving Board collections.

Pat Bravo's latest collection Indie Boheme.

Also from Art Gallery: Maureen Cracknell's Soulful

and Amy Sinibaldi's latest collection, Little Town.

Carolyn Friedlander's booth is always a creative favorite. And now some of her most popular prints are available in knits.

Also from Robert Kaufman: Rebecca Bryan and her debut collection, Panache.

and Jennifer Sampou's  Shimmer On. For some reason, Jennifer's collections always speak to me. I love the combination of color and wovens.

I always love Jodi Carleton's collections,  - including her amazing softies - this time including starfish, seagulls, seahorses and octopi (is that the plural for octopus?) as part of her her collection Rockpool for Ella Blue out of Australia.

Moda Land - I always want to oogle Jen Kingwell's quilts and take note of the exact fabrics she places where.

Other favorites: Sherri & Chelsi's new collection, Creekside and Bonnie and Camille's latest, The Good Life.

Other favorites from Moda: Fig Tree, Zen Chic, and of course, Sandy Klop - aka American Jane. She's a perennial fave. Fun, surprise newcomer to Moda this time: Christine of Pretty By Hand has a gorgeous debut collection! I may have snagged a bundle at the sample spree. It'll be arriving in stores in the fall.

I really liked Rashida Coleman Hale's new line for Cotton + Steel, Lagoon.

I'm always curious to see what the Rifle collection for the next season will be and this one is called Menagerie. Kind of a jungle-y feel with lots of shades of green in this one.

New from Sarah Jane Studios is a Christmas collection called Nutcracker Act 1. As always, so cute in signature Sarah Jane style.

Another great talent I've come to admire so much is Amy Barickman of Indygo Junction. She has some really creative, new products we'll be sharing more this summer.

So there you go. A quick wrap up of some of the things that caught my eye on a quick run through Market. I'm always so inspired by all of the eye candy - but now the thing that I look forward to most is seeing familiar faces who have become great friends and mentors. Not only seeing familiar faces, but getting to know new ones too. I was so excited whenever anyone stopped by my booth to say Hi and introduce themselves. Thanks SO much to those who came to meet me in St. Louis. (see what I did there. 😉 )

For another perspective on Market, check out my Instagram feed, Allison/Cluck Cluck Sew, or Crazy Mom Quilt's post here. (I love Amanda Jean! I mean, who doesn't?) Probably one of the highlights of my Market is when she walked up to my booth wearing Gingham too! We were the twinning Gingham Girls in real life!