Quilt Market :: Portland, Oregon Edition

I took a day off to attend Quilt Market, as it was in Portland last weekend. 

Quilt Market is the trade show for the quilting fabric industry, and it is only open to the trade. They don't mess around when you request a badge- they wanna see credentials, yo! 

The market has a special place in my heart- I was a buyer for Fabric Depot (one of the largest independent fabric stores in the country!) before BAM was born, and it was SUCH a great job and experience. After BAM was born I realized I wasn't doing anyone any favors by having a newborn, a 3-year-old, and a handmade business, so I stepped away and let someone else with more time on their hands be able to dedicate themselves to the very big job.

Attending Quilt Market is usually where all the fabric manufacturers bring their best- the displays and quilts are on-point, creative, and innovative, and they meet with buyers to stock quilt shops...or manufacturer's shelves (like mine!). So read on, and I'll show a sneak peek into the fabrics I selected for my Fall/Winter 2018 collection!

Yes, I was a dork and did a selfie in front of the entrance. It's been like three years since I went to Quilt Market, so this fabric nerd was excited!

My friend Violet is phenomenal when it comes to developing her own paper piecing patterns, and her new wolf pattern is no exception!

I got to see Janet Clare again, who is one of my favorite Moda designers. She lives in England, and we got to chat about her amazing map appliqué (hanging to the right of Janet in the above photo), which can be made with a fat quarter pack and some extra yardage!

This was the very last Quilt Market for the ladies of Cotton + Steel, and it was absolutely surreal to see them again in person (I was too shy to introduce myself, for once, haha!). I got to meet them when they first launched Cotton + Steel, and days before Quilt Market this year they announced they are all walking away from the fabric brand, housed under fabric manufacturer RJR. It was definitely a shock to the industry. Craft Industry Alliance wrote an in-depth article about what happened. 

I then got to see my friend Jessica Swift and check out her new line Serena for Art Gallery Fabrics! I've known her since my Fabric Depot buyer days (we were lucky she lives in Portland!). After departing Fabric Depot, I got to know Jessica a little more by taking her Pattern Camp course (multiple times, mind you...sometimes learning new stuff takes me a while), and then enrolling to be a member of her Campfire community. I CAN'T believe I didn't get a photo with Jessica, but I think this was the part of the day where I hadn't eaten yet and my feet started to hurt!

And OF COURSE I got a photo with Tula Pink (this was obviously after I managed to grab some lunch and got off my feet for a while). Tula is one of my favorite designers, and it's always super rad to see her.

While I only got to visit for one day and I had only a couple of appointments, when I was a buyer for Fabric Depot, my appointment calendar was usually so full that I had to purposely schedule time to independently walk the floor for inspiration and seek out new lines and products. 

I thought one day was going to be enough, but I fortunately ran into some of my old fabric reps, got to hug my old coworkers at Fabric Depot, and add three buying appointments, and it was suddenly the end of the day!

I've been missing this connection to the industry lately and going to Quilt Market was THE best way to reconnect with some amazing and creative folks in person...and buy some fabric, too. 

OK, now without any further delay...here are my picks for my Fall/Winter 2018 collection!

Aaaaand here's a sneak sneak peek for a line I'm considering for Spring/Summer 2019:

Thanks for reading along, friends! I'm super excited to work with these new prints, and I hope you love them, too!