We all know the kind of sorrow that can come because of the short runs of fabric printing these days.  There’s nothing like figuring out you need a little bit more only to find that the fabric is sold out and out-of-print. The fabric companies most often only run the lines once, and when they’re gone they’re gone.  When those companies actually listen to the wishes of their customers and bring back a beloved print, it can feel like a miracle. Well, in the case of the Ghastlies, it’s a Halloween miracle.

This line has by far been one of our most popular collections ever, and last year we used it for this quilt from the  Material Obsession book.

This year, not only has Alexander Henry reprinted the original Ghastlies print, but there is a whole new Ghastlies collection in that non-tradition Halloween colorway of grey/mauve/sage. And this time we find the Ghastlies hanging out indoors. Knitting together (what is that, a chicken cozy?)…

and having an angsty family dinner…

Don’t you just love all these perfectly dour facial expressions?

I do feel a bit bad for Mr Ghastly, who can’t even get Mrs. Ghastly to look at him before he leaves for a long day at the office. (Based on his bag, maybe he’s an old-timey doctor?)

But if you look closely, you’ll see that despite that irritated pucker on her lips, Mrs. Ghastly has got some rose-colored glasses! I hope you enjoy the Ghastly family as much as we do.  We’re working on a new quilt with them, photos soon!

We’re continuing our look at our new fabric collections today with Tula Pink’s Prince Charming. I highly recommend reading her interview over at Fat Quarterly where she talks a lot about this line and her design process.  What I love about her aesthetic is that even though there are often animals hiding in the fabric, her fabrics are not what you would call novelty or juvenile. She calls it “an elegant interpretation of a child like spirit” which is spot on. As always, there are unexpected things hidden in the designs in Prince Charming, and you can take that as a challenge: to find all those “Easter eggs.” I particularly like the fly in the frog prince’s stomach.  This line should also please fans of Neptune, one of Tula’s previous lines.  She has revisited some of the colors and themes of that line which is why those tonal toile and honeycomb prints may look familiar. The colors are similar, but more “electric” as Tula says. In fact, she considers aqua a neutral. How brilliant! And true. You can build nearly any color scheme or project around aqua.  Prince Charming includes quilting weight cotton as well as voile, in several colorways that can be mixed & matched.

Tula Pink truly is one of the most visionary designers in the fabric world today. Always original, and with such attention to tiny details, and always knowing what a quilter needs. Thank you, Tula.

I want to give you an idea of what’s about to happen over here. This week, we will have 17 20 boxes of fabric arriving from various fabric companies. And I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the deliveries the UPS man makes at the shop, but these are big boxes.  I still don’t think I am fully prepared for this. It will be like the Christmas of all Christmases.

And just imagining how much room all this new fabric will be taking up is why we are still having a Market Clearance sale, making room for everything we ordered at Quilt Market, which will keep coming for the next several months.  Continuing through this Saturday (if the fabric lasts that long) a huge selection is marked down to HALF OFF. We figured we’ve never had a sale this huge since we’ve been open, and probably won’t again for another 2 years. Now, those prices are in-store only, but we have also added new fabrics to our online Clearance section.

But back to my real purpose for this post, which is to share with you some of the new fabrics coming in. The indomitable Anna Maria Horner has a new collection that is her best yet, named Loulouthi, and in 3 colorways each named for one of her daughters.  Here is what she says about this collection:

Loulouthi is a treasure box of all that I love about flowers and fabric coming together in form and inspiration. The word loulouthi simply translates from the Greek as “flower”. But in an ongoing story, my cultural heritage has enlivened these fabrics with visions of needleworks in progress, the gentle tending of village gardens, and the luxury of living alongside everyday works of art. The language of flowers and floral handiwork has spoken to me since before I could thread my own needles, and this collection is my reply to all that beauty.

And here is what it looks like! These are the quilting weight cottons. The “Juliana” colorway:

the “Eleni” colorway:

the “Isabela” colorway:

some gorgeous voiles:

and the laminates:

These images don’t really do the real thing justice. The beauty of this collection is in the balance of fine details within the huge scales. I’m always a sucker for stripes and geometric prints, which combined with the massive florals are such a celebration of joyful design. I see some late sewing nights ahead.

It is SO nice to have quilt market in our own backyard in Salt Lake City!  Being able to drive our own cars instead of rentals and eat at our favorite local restaurants and have the entire Suppose staff come is making this market one of the best yet.  Not to mention all of the amazing quilty things we’re finding. I’m telling you, the bar keeps getting higher and higher in this industry. Rather than tell you, I’ll just show you. Here’s just a bit of what we’ve been seeing…

Tula Pink reveals her new fabric line, Prince Charming, in some new quilt patterns.  Look closely at the quilting, it’s pretty amazing and really accentuates the quilt design.

This quilt shows off all the prints in the Prince Charming collection.

Lizzy House tells the stories behind the stories of her new fabric line, 1001 Peeps, which will be arriving at Suppose in a matter of days.

Anna Maria Horner is releasing a new fabric collection called Loulouthi, as well as a range of embroidery & cross-stitch patterns & threads. This pillow shows off a big-stitch quilted panel from the collection. We’re a bit ga-ga over Loulouthi!

Those are just a fraction of the highlights from Schoolhouse Series, which we attended Thursday. Stay tuned for more from the show floor!

I’m not joking. That’s how long it look me to make this skirt.  I just HAD to have something  ASAP out of the velveteens from Anna Maria Horner’s new collection, Innocent Crush.  They are just calling out to be made into Wintery party clothes, and at this rate there’s time to make several more.

And as it turns out, these 100% cotton velveteens are a dream to work with. They take a light steam iron very well–we had our doubts but the result was quite pleasing.   Since velveteen is a new texture for many quilters, and we’ve never had it in the shop before, you may have a few wonderments about it.  (Yes you can wash it… expect 5% shrinkage lengthwise…) Thankfully, Anna Maria spells out the basics of working with the velveteen on her blog–pretty  much everything I would have mentioned here so definitely check it out.

If you want to try your hand at this very simple project, visit the 1 hour velveteen skirt project page.

These next few months are a little unbelievable for new fabrics. SO many amazing  new collections coming out. Today I’m just going to mention Greenfield Hill, the new line from Denyse Schmidt, one of my idols.

Not only does this collection have 21 quilting weight cotton prints, but there will also be 9 voiles too, you know–just like butta! I love the way she describes the inspiration for this line:

Inspired by Ladies’ League luncheons and Preservation Society socials, Greenfield Hill evokes afternoon teas, polite gossip, the faded wallpaper in Mrs. So-and-so’s drawing room, the slightly musty library on the green, and motoring on a perfect, crisp and sunny day.

Take a peek at the other “New England/Goth” colorways, and start dreaming of what you might make out of this.  I’m thinking dresses, napkins, garden party decorations, summer duvet covers, and just maybe it’s time to design the urban bonnet!  Greenfield Hill will arrive this December at Suppose, from Free Spirit Fabrics.

Can you believe that Christmas fabric is arriving already? Here’s a little peek at BasicGrey’s brand new Christmas collection for Moda, Fruitcake.  Even though it’s only June, it’s beautiful enough to motivate a person to start early on holiday projects, like this quilt.

These reverse appliqued circles remind me of vinyl records. Ooh how I loved breaking out the Christmas vinyl as a kid.  But no, it’s still too early for that… right?

Go ahead and check out the entire Fruitcake collection or download the free Fruitcake quilt pattern.

I realized that I haven’t gushed about Little Folks yet on the blog, and I’m shocked.  You may have seen it around. This is Anna Maria Horner’s newest collection, and rather than regular old quilting cotton, it’s printed on the most luscious, silky voile. (Rhymes with wall, toile…)  There are also coordinating flannels, oilcloth, dobby dots, and solids.  I squeal inside whenever I look at them.

When the collection arrived, Jennifer knew just what she wanted to do with it first. Before we could even put the bolts out on display, she was working on a scarf inspired by this one from Anna Maria’s blog.

She has since made more, as have many of our shop friends, and how could they not! It only takes about an hour and it’s such an easy way to use and wear a favorite print.  To make your own, check out the Little Folks Voile Scarf Tutorial.

Jennifer (my right hand lady) and I have so many projects we want to do, it’s making us a little bonkers.  So like good organized girls we made a list and started scheduling (softies this Thursday!, pre-cut freestyle next month…) The first thing on our list?  Freeform blocks with Hope Valley.  This is the newest collection from Suppose favorite Denyse Schmidt, and we are obsessed. What’s new, right?  So, inspired by DS’s improvisational style and these, we picked out about 10 fat quarters each, plus a shot cotton here and there and just started cutting and sewing away.

Here are our first wonky log cabin blocks, J’s on the left, mine on the right. We were both drawn to the New Day and Piney Woods colorways, so they look like mateys.

Jennifer got all tricky with the center of her next block.  We’ll do a few more and then set them into a background and square them up before putting them in quilts.  I must say, sewing without rules is such a nice break from the pressure of perfect cutting and perfect seam allowances and perfect corners. Try it next time you feel intimidated by a project.

And for some more Hope Valley inspiration, have a look here.

There’s so much to be excited about lately, you’d think we would hit overload, but not possible.  Just like it’s always possible to love another friend or another child, there is always enough love in our hearts for more fabric.  Like Nicey Jane.  Check out this sweet little slideshow Heather Bailey put together to show off her new line, then check out the complete collection here.