Just a quick HELLO! from International Quilt Market. We are all afrenzied here in Houston, picking out amazing fabrics and goodies for the shop and meeting some amazing people. We want to give you a taste of what’s going on here until we have a moment to sit down, catch our breath, and tell you more.  Take a peek…

an original from the legendary quilters of Gee's Bend

Liesl Gibson of Oliver+S shows off upcoming patterns

You can hear all about our quilt market adventures and get a look at the state-of-the-industry this Thursday at the Suppose Creative Guild meeting where Kathy & I will be sharing photos and talking about what new & exciting things are happening in the world of fabric and sewing. If you’re not a member of the guild, just come (6pm at Suppose)–it’s a snap to join and you can get in on the action. It’s so worth it!

We’ll also be sharing the latest on-trend news as it relates to fabric selection in our Choosing the Perfect Fabrics Seminar this Friday. This will be a great one, (plus, it’s a steal) so don’t miss it!

It’s that time of year again: International Quilt Market and its frenzy of fabric where we choose the coolest, most super duper stuff to bring into Suppose for the rest of the year.  This time around we’re here in Minneapolis.  But before all that work starts, we have to have just a little time for shopping, right?

During our explorations we found this amazing antique shop, Hunt & Gather,  that we got lost in forever.  We ran into Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts there, scouting for her booth (hers are always amazingly put together).  We later regretted not getting a photo of me with her (Joanna & Joanna!).

I could have stayed in the vintage toy room forever.  And just when we thought we were done, there was a basement. With secret treasures like a fish tank full of dolly bits. (Did you know Kathy once made a lovely bouquet of old doll arms? It was amazing.)

Coming up, more Quilt Market goodness.

Oh how I’ve missed you! I just got back from the UK, where I was happy to be stuck by a volcanic ash cloud amongst such lovely people and pretty things.  Luckily my trip coincided with an exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Quilts: 1700-2010.  The exhibit was enthralling, so I wanted to share a few my favorite bits with you.

The quilts of the exhibit told stories of the history of quilting in Britain and were interspersed with modern quilts by British artists.  I am always drawn to patchwork that has an element of the unexpected–quilts made by people who don’t fit the popular image of a quilter, or quilts with unusual themes.  You might notice that many of my picks from this exhibit fit that description.

This appliqued map of England came from an intricately detailed bed quilt made in 1797.  That would be not too long after cotton became available for widespread use in home sewing and you can imagine how exciting it would have been to use new, beautifully printed cottons like these. I love the way each county is made of a different print and outlined with hand embroidery.  Gives me ideas…

cotton patchwork bedcover detail, 1797

Here is another charming applique, made more amazing by knowing that this scene was just one of 40 vignettes around the border of a large bed quilt, dated 1803-05. Those vignettes depicted military, patriotic, and domestic scenes many of which were taken from important events of the time.

1803-05

What I love about this one is that it is a recreation of an illustration of a story of a sailor, seen below. The patchwork interpretation has so much life while trying to stay true to the original, right down to those shoe buckles.

“Poor Jack” by Charles Dibdin, 1790

This next quilt is made entirely of wool hexagons. Notice the colors. It’s likely that it was made (at least partly) from military uniforms!

Here is a little more detail.

Apparently it was not uncommon for military men to work on patchwork on their down time.  I recall learning that this was encouraged as a way for them to keep out of trouble but maybe I’m just making it up.  This portrait implies that the men used their wool uniforms for their quilts, but they don’t know for sure that the quilt above didn’t include additional wool from India, where the Private was stationed when he made the quilt.

And I couldn’t resist including this fine soldier with his quilt, also made in India (can you see the influence?). But I can’t help looking at those chops instead of the quilt.

Maybe I’m just a nerd, but it’s fascinating how the popularity of and reasons for quilting change over history, sometimes it’s a hobby, other times it’s more out of necessity. During the Depression, the British government’s Rural Industries Bureau taught and recruited women to quilt in Northern England and Wales as a way to for needy families to make a living. The quilters were connected with commercial outlets for selling their quilts, which not only provided them income, but helped to expose the art and craft of quilting and sustain it’s popularity.  One order these rural quilters filled was for the new art deco wing of the Claridge Hotel in London.

Each room had hand-quilted whole cloth quilts and pillows. Can you imagine staying in a hotel now with such finely crafted bed linens?

Back to the theme of quilters defying stereotypes, have you ever heard of prison quilters?  Fine Cell Work is a UK organization that teaches needlework to inmates, and their students have created quite impressive work.  The V&A commissioned a quilt for the exhibit from the prisoners at HMP Wandsworth, a London prison that is one of the largest in Europe.  The quilt is comprised of blocks each made by an inmate, featuring fine hand embroidery. Here is just a bit of the quilt.

2010

Amazing, right?

And finally, my favorite of the contemporary quilts in the exhibit, Liberty Jack.  Comprised of Union Jack (British flag) blocks made entirely of  Liberty of London fabrics.  It couldn’t get more British.

I could go on but I’d better stop there.  If you have the chance, I recommend visiting the V&A before July 4 when the Quilts: 1700-2010 exhibit ends.  And if you don’t have the chance, come by and we can look at my Quilts: 1700-2010 book together.

Final day! By Sunday we were exhausted but ecstatic because we bought this:

Our very own long-arm quilting machine! After tons of research on Kathy’s part, we chose the APQS Millenium. It will be here soon and in due time we’ll be quilting up a storm. We’ll update soon with our rates and details on how you can have your quilts quilted by Suppose.

We are happy to be home and back to our haven at Suppose, and anxious to get to work on all the goodies we found at market.

The days start to blend together during market as we hustle to see and do everything we can. Today we had a minute to stop and visit with Julie Popa at her booth for Sunflower Hill Designs.  Her debut fabric collection Sunshine Serenade arrived in the shop Thursday and we can’t wait to get home to see it. She’ll have a bunch of new patterns available soon too.  Oh we are so proud of our local talent!

Plus, how exciting to see hanging in her booth, the quilt she made with fabric she picked up at Suppose. I love her mix of colors and prints here.

We are big geeks at market when we run into our idols. At the American Jane booth we oohed and ahhed over Sandy Klop’s new quilts with her new fabric colleciton Happy Campers, which we will carry in it’s entirety.  For her booth display, Sandy got her hands on a vintage viewmaster with family vacation type photos, which we all had to try out.

And I totally geeked out with Liesl Gibson of Oliver + S. But how can I help it when she is so talented and so kind? As always their booth looks like perfection.

I wish we had photos of all our favorite booths, but there just wasn’t time. The big news today is that… drumroll… Suppose will now carry Liberty of London prints! We’ll be getting select Tana cotton lawn prints, and word is Liberty will start producing quilting cottons. You have no idea how excited I am about all of this!

Tomorrow: Market winds down and we make a huuuuge purchase.

Sometimes when people ask what on earth Quilt Market is, I like to say it is the Fashion Week of the independent sewing and quilting industry.  Basically, fabric designers debut their new collections in big, colorful fanfare. All day long we meet with our favorite fabric companies to choose the most exciting things to bring into the shop. Along the way there are so many new notions, patterns, doodads, and hoohaws to see that we can only stop if something really spectacular catches our eye. In the middle of the exhibit hall stands a quilt show where I had to stop and admire this quilt from Japan by Haruki Asada. I almost couldn’t get close enough.

The highlight of the day was the Moda boat party. We cruised up and down the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, catching views of the Heinz ketchup factory, a coal barge (remember how I am easily entertained?), a Pirates vs. Rockies game, and the convention center where we’ve been spending our long days. We enjoyed meeting shop owners from all over, including here in Pennsylvania and nearby Virginia. And we serendipitously sat next to the most darling ladies who, as it turned out, are from Seasons of Home in Midway, Utah, not so far from Suppose Preston!  We were so happy for their company.

There is just something about passing under a bridge on a boat. Am I the only one?

More exciting fabric related news tomorrow!

Oh boy oh boy. Quilt Market always proves to be such an inspiration.  Our second day here we went to Schoolhouse Series in which you get to choose up to 15 mini-classes/lectures to attend.  It lasts all day and is just a flurry of excitement.  I decided I’d better just pick a few highlights of the many things we saw, otherwise you’d probably feel just as overwhelmed as we are.

The Kaffe Fassett Collective shared quilts from their new book Quilt Romance and showed off some new fabrics.

Confession. I have a total art crush on Kaffe. His talent with design and color is just unreal. I think I have to make this Kaffe Log Cabin.

I learned about the process of making Batiks, and now they are even more alluring to me. The painstaking labor, time, and skill that go into these hand-dyed fabrics is unbelievable. This is the type of stamp that can be used to stamp a wax design onto fabric before it is dyed.

Eleanor Burns, creator of Quilt in a Day series and author of Victory Quilts is another idol of mine. Her charisma and energy are infectious.

Electric Quilt and Amy Butler showcased bags and projects from their new pattern software. If you are a fan of Amy, this program will be a must-have: 22 new patterns plus customization and other cool tricks.

Sue Spargo spoke about how she uses silks and texture in her creations. I love Sue’s identifiable folk art style and have lots of ideas for new projects…

And oh, Leisl Gibson of Oliver + S patterns! Showing off some of her designs using new fabrics, Leisl lectured on her principles of fabric selection. She has impeccable taste and is a fine example to this industry. Her presentation might just have to be another post unto itself because it is such good advice.

Walking back and forth to classes, with anticipation building, we stopped to spy on the exhibits being set up down below.

And finally, the day ended with Sample Spree, a 2 hour rampage of voracious quilt shop owners clawing for the prettiest, newest fabrics and products of limited availability. People queue up early, and this is the view from our spot in line which was not at all close to the front. No end in sight.

And oh boy we took home a lot of loot to put in the shop and make samples with. We can’t wait to get it home and start playing with it all!

Quilt market is THE trade show for the quilting fabric industry (and by quilting fabric, I mean high quality cottons, etc. used for many many awesome things), and we always get a little giddy when it’s market time.  Market is held twice a year, each fall in Houston and in a different location each spring.  This time we are in PIttsburgh, and just 1 1/2 hours from Falling Water which I really wanted to visit (I am a huge Frank Lloyd Wright fan) but it was closed on our only free day. Argh.  But Amish country is only 2 hours away, which turned out to be a satisfying second choice.

First we visited Pittsburgh shop The Quilt Company, home of Karen Montgomery, a designer for Timeless Treasures, where as usual, husbands wait outside.

Then we headed west into Ohio towards Amish country. Google Maps on my iPhone told me to turn onto some tiny little road, winding past lovely large Amish farm homes, and some less large but also lovely old structures.

I worried that we were getting lost, but alas we came upon Charm, Ohio, home of Miller’s Dry Goods.

Several young Amish (or Mennanite?) girls ran the shop.  I tried to decipher their Pennsylvania Dutch but I don’t think it’s actually anything like German. Actually, it’s not like my German is that good anyway.  Miller’s Dry Goods possibly had more bolts than I’ve ever seen in one store. This photo is just one little corner.

Ohio was beautiful and picturesque, so much so that I almost thought this little bridge should have been a miniature at the storybook boats at Disneyland.

We took many shots from inside the car window that didn’t turn out fabulous, but here’s proof of the Amish. I thought they were just charming.

We stopped at the Guggisberg gift shop for some delish cheeses and the Disneyland allusions continued with a miniature Matterhorn! I would recognize it as a Swiss allusion if I’d been to Switzerland but–oh wait, I have. Disneyland is just my point of reference in this world, I guess.

Maybe I’m just easily thrilled, but I loved this brick factory we passed, near (ish) New Philadelphia. The rain made it even better–driving in the rain is so peaceful, but it made for sloppier photos thru the windows.

With brick kilns (right?) even!

And finally, from Ohio to West Virginia, to Pennsylvania, just in time to rest up for the big day ahead.

Stay tuned for more Market adventures!