International Quilt Market - Part 1

I invite you to follow the blog this week as I traveled from Pennsylvania to Portland, Oregan for the International Quilt Market!

I arrived in Portland late last evening and was quite thankful to have gained three hours in my travels. This morning started out well as I embarked on my 1st day at the Spring Market being held this year at the Portland Convention Center.

The actual trade show doesn't start until tomorrow.  So today I took part in what was called Schoolhouse. This was a series of short 30 minute presentations on new fabric lines and products, quilting techniques, notions, business tips and many other topics relating to the quilting industry. 

Some of my first classes were business related so I won't bore you with those details.  Instead I will show you all the beautiful product releases from Moda, Riley Blake and others that you have to look forward to over the next half of 2013! 

Riley Blake Color Pop Quilt

School Colors Quilt

Riley Blake Designs showcased beautiful new fabric lines, exciting patterns and gorgeous quilts. The quilt on the left was made using their Cotton Pop,  Shuffles and Solids which are all part of their basics collection. 

The one on the right is a black, white and red done as a school colors quilt with letters appliqued representing the school name.  What a perfect graduation gift.  And what perfect timing!  What grad doesn't need a quilt?

At just past noon, I had already learned so much and received some really fun freebies.  Check out this cool fat quarter bundle from Riley Blake.  I am a huge fan of navy so I was thrilled to get this:

as well as a sampling of thread from AURIfil. 

and I won a cool new iPhone case!!  I am sure you can guess what my favorite local quilt shop is =)

Towards the end of the day I participated in Moda's size matters block presentation. Some of the Moda designers were given the challenge to create a block of varying sizes to show off their newest collections. These free quilt block patterns will be available to you starting in June!

I was most impressed by, Laundry Basket Quilts designer, Edyta's passionate speech about how quilting comes from the heart and showed her newest collection called "Hope Chest." 

Next up was Bonnie from Bonnie and Camille.  She showcased her upcoming collection called Scrumptious. Another beautiful collection filled with pleasing colors and designs.

Another super fun line by Me & My Sister Designs called Giggles which was very reminiscent of the color schemes in Ticklish. It featured bold bright colors that matched their cheerful dispositions.

Next up was the lovely ladies from Sweetwater presenting their block using their new Road 15 collection. For this collection they asked for people to send them the street address of the home they grew up in and in true Sweetwater style designed a piece in this collection that listed those addresses, Road 15 being their own. 

And last but not least there was the BasicGrey designers with their new fabric line Sweet Serenade!  It was music for your eyes done in pretty shades of blues, creams, pinks and grays.  I am sure this will turn into a project for my daughter's music teacher!

My last stop for the day was at the Art Gallery Fabric release of Bari J and Jeni Baker.  I absolutely love the quality and whimsical designs they presented.  Bari J describes this line as that of a free-spirited woman who lives in the desert and loves to travel and collect beautiful things.  I love how her fabric line tells a story.  Want to see more?  Watch a video featuring Bijoux by Bari J.   I would love to hear what you think!

At this point it was dinner time but the night wasn't over.  Sample Spree was to start at 8 pm.   Sample Spree will be a post of it's own as I share my experience and discovery of new designers, companies and beautiful fabric.  Until next time.....