So let's talk fabric. Ballerina fabric, specifically.
New fabric lines come out to the public at a market in the fall and spring. Quilt shop owners come and purchase their fabrics and supplies for the next 6 months. This spring market was in Portland and we decided it would be pretty fun to be at market when we had something coming out. So Melissa, baby Benson, and I caught a flight to Portland and met our mom, who made the voyage from Utah.
Although I may have gotten a little fabric-ed out, it was pretty cool to be at market. We got to meet and chat with a lot of the celebrities in the fabric world. People who make cool fabrics, have awesome fabric blogs, or who make great patterns.
We put pictures of all the 15 prints in the line up on our website for your viewing pleasure. They should be coming to stores in America in July.
This is my favorite floral print in the line. I made this mini bow tie for baby Benson to wear at market. But I am going to make Calvin (his older brother) a matching bow tie. Pretty sure they will be adorable together.
Here is our display at the Kokka booth! They had made a bunch of samples and gave us a full quadrant of the booth to display Melimba prints. We were pretty ecstatic when we saw the cute little sign too!
My mom made the big quilt on display and one of the dresses on the rack, Melissa made the dolls up front, and I made the tote bag on the far left. A real family affair!
Here is a close-up of those great dolls Melissa made! She even put magnets in the hands and feet so they can hold hands and touch their toes. They were a big hit and we're all trying to convince her to make a pattern, because so many people asked for it at market. She's such an artist.
Here is a bag that Kokka made using the blue panel print. All of those fun designs on one piece of fabric!
A few more tote bags with the panel prints. How sweet is that blue dress on the left? I love it just on its own. In fact, I think the first thing I said when I saw it is, "How can I get this in my size?"
My mom made the orange panel dress on the left for little Tillie. And there's the navy floral again. Can't wait to make a blouse for me out of that print!
Another doll close-up. And some cute purses that Kokka made. I think that is a great pattern for a scripture bag.
A little blurry, but here is a close-up of the quilt my mom whipped up in a couple weeks. It has minky on the back and a great floral quilting by Cathy Barney on top.
Melissa approves of this booth. Thumbs up!
Here we are with Keiko who is the creative director of Kokka.
Ok, ok. That's enough Melimba Tiny Dancer fun. Another fun part of quilt market is seeing all of fabric celebrities. Here we are with another Kokka designer, Melody Miller. She's super famous and makes great fabric with typewriters, cameras, phones, bathroom scales, and metallic gold.
Here is Melissa with Heather Ross, who is holding baby Benson.
She is super cool and makes beautiful illustrations.
Heather's new line, Briar Rose.
The staple dress pattern was a big hit. I think this was an Art Gallery fabric.
I like this type of chevron quilt.
Some nice embroideries. It looks like Anna Marie Horner, but I'm not for sure.
A new quilt design from Kaffe Fassett. I forget what those fabrics are called but they have a heather-like texture on them. Super cool.
Love the quilting on this piece using Melody Miller fabrics.
Quilting that outlines all the birds. It's a little tough to see but it must have been so time consuming.
Super cute little animals and dolls from Ric Rac.
Love that applique of the oranges on the shirt, skirt, and table runner.
iPhone quilt pattern from Carrie of Such Designs. This new line from Windham fabrics comes out in this summer. She was super nice and we I loved her newsprint fabric that features all of her favorite quotes by other artists. Can't wait to pick that one up when it comes out!
So that was quilt market. Lots of fabric, lots of walking and chatting. And lots of beautiful things to see. We had a little time to explore Portland and it was so lush and beautiful.
Many people told us we needed to go to Voodoo Doughnuts, so we tried that out. The doughnuts were great but the location was a little scary.
As if we hadn't spent enough time thinking about fabric... we went fabric shopping one morning. There were too many great deals and prints that we couldn't pass up. Melissa was at the cutting board with a lot of lovely bolts and was trying to narrow down the collection.
She said, "I really like this one but I just don't think I'm a purple person."
I said,"Melissa. Look at your pants."
Perfect match! Turns out she is a purple person.
My fabulous friend, Hannah Judd, set me up on a blind date for one of the nights I was in Portland. Super fun! We were talking about Portlandia and how much I loved the episode "Put a Bird on It."
Turns out Portland is ok with the saying, because this was on our menu the next morning.
Portland, you were good to us. We loved your weather. We love the wildflowers and all the greenery. We also appreciate that so many of you dress casual and don't worry too much about your hair and makeup, just like us. We loved your food and appreciation for recycling. We enjoyed your hospitality and low speed limits.
And most importantly, we love that you love fabric.
Thanks for hosting quilt market. We'll be back soon!
I love this! Your designs are amazing. What fun!
hooray!!! thank you for updating about quilt market!! maybe we should have a chapter of the snyder family live in portland. that is one of the cities on my list to live in!
(boston, portland were the two main ones).