As always, Quilt Market is inspiring. Fabric companies have new lines to show, pattern designers have their latest releases, and new products are introduced to the quilt industry. Here’s some of what I saw.

1. Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star. Following up on her success with the Rapid Fire Hunter’s Star, Deb Tucker has introduced a ruler for this block.

2. Big Beautiful Bugs! Andover Fabrics introduced this latest line from Lonni Rossi that features moths dragonflies and bumblebees, bugs with wings. The bugs, all drawn with dots, are available in 3 colorways: spa colors; red, gold and black; and green and brown.

3. Shabby Chic Hits Quilt Industry. Rachel Ashwell of Shabby Chic fame has released a line of cotton quilt fabrics. The 46-SKU line is her first for quilt shops and will be followed by a home dec line. Rachel told me that she was humbled by the tradition of community of quilters.

4. Quilt Designed Hot/Cold Bags. Kona Bay Fabrics introduced a line of hot/cold  bags in 11 designs. Available in two series, the Great Northwest and Elegant Beauty, the bags retail for $8. These would be perfect for shop hops that want to include a meal.

5. Bag, bags, more bags. We continue to see lots of bag patterns. Sometimes I wonder why, and then I remember a bag always fits! I also saw lots of patterns for aprons and little girls’ clothes.

6. Water-soluble, iron-on, pre-printed guides for crazy quilt stitches. These came in kits with wool pieces, threads and the guides. I saw people on the plane using the product and the results were lovely. They were from Sew Cherished.

7. Lots of bright, clear colors. I really like the clean look of today’s fabrics,  and I found lots to like in many booths. I particularly liked the display in Michael  Miller’s booth with the story boards of the colors that went with the new lines.

8. On the gift side, I liked the lotion bar from LaviShea. The bars melt with your  body heat and absorb quickly and completely without leaving a greasy residue, perfect for quilters and fabric.

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Morna McEver Golletz is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Professional Quilters, an association to help quilters, fiber artists and other creative arts entrepreneurs build business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a F.R.E.E. subscription at http://www.professionalquilter.com.

Tags: Andover Fabrics, Deb Tucker, Kona Bay Fabrics, LaviShea, Michael Miller Fabrics, Quilt Market, Sew Cherished, Shabby Chic

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 at 11:20 am and is filed under IAPQ, Marketing, Quilt Market, Quilt Patterns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.