I’m obviously still sleep deprived since I’m giving this bag away. Alexander Henry has printed Natura on a home dec weight canvas, this is a swag bag I was given for placing my order. It’s going to Denise. Enjoy!

A big thanks to my Westminster rep who also represents Hoffman. We swung by their booth and she hooked me up with this absolutely gorgeous bag made completely with Hoffman Bali Pops. Winner: marg.

New patterns (all should be in the shop in the next few days):

Pink Fig Nie Nie Skirt – Michelle of Greeting Arts
Pink Fig Julie Top – Doris Threads of Conversation
Pink Fig Sweetheart Pants – Jan Richards
Pink Fig Scrapbook Jeans & Sweatshirt – Beth Modern Jax
Serendipity Studios The Bijou Traveler – yahaira Bitter Purl
Serendipity Studios Abigail Bag – Kristin Knit One Quilt Too
Serendipity Studios Little Luxuries – Margaret
Serendipity Studios The Emaline Skirt – Amber One Shabby Chick
Serendipity Studios Stella Strip Skirt – Deborah
Serendipity Studios The Torii Tunic – Barb Quilting Barbie

Fun vendor swag with a a little Japanese doll kit that was too fun to pass up:

Michael Miller Gnome Bag – Bekhy
Tape Measures (4) – Terriaw Terri’s Notebook, Mary on Lake Pulaski, Heidi, Emily C Creative Chicks at Play
Moda VW Bug Wristlet – Linda
Anna Maria Horner Note Pads – Linnea
Matryoshka Doll Kit – Stephanie Loft Creations
Grab a Roos Quilting Gloves – Deborah A

Fabric – some from me some from the vendors:

Cloud9 Fabrics Fat Quarter Set – Terri G
Robert Kaufman Fat Quarter Flannel Set – mary
Authentic by Sweetwater Charm Pack – Gretchen
Odyssea by MoMo Charm Pack – 2hippos
Panache by Sanae Charm Pack – Rebecca
Spook Tacular by Sanae Charm Pack – rachel
Figgy Pudding Charm Pack – Charlene
Hushabye by Tula Pink Charm Pack – katie See Katie Sew
Minny Muu Sushi Roll by Lecien – Regina Mostly Turquoise

Some fun French General Rouenneries Gift Items (my fabric for this collection is on its way, yay!):

Pin Cushion – martha
Tape Measure – Sarah Fabric Crush
Gift Bag Stripes – marit Quilt It
Gift Bag Floral – willy-nilly
Sachet Stripes – Stephanie Loft Creations
Sachet Floral – Liz Teeny Tiny Quilts

And a cherry on top, $10 gift certificates to Pink Chalk Fabrics:

Kaye Prince Miss Print
Laura Loving the Question
Laura
stephanie Providence Handmade
Ashley Film in the Fridge
Liz Sisyphus Knits
Sara Auntie FaFa
kathy
Susan V.
carolyn Laughing Duck

Yippeee! I finally got to meet Linda of CraftApple. Linda and I began our pattern publishing adventures at the same time. We each tested the other’s first pattern. No cell phones were needed, we ran right into each other on Saturday morning. I could have stayed and visited all day long.

Late on Sunday I got lucky and found Pokey Bolton in the Quilting Arts booth. Her boundless energy and creative passion is infectious!

My best friend in the whole world Jone Hallmark. Jone and her mother drove up from Austin for the day and we sure had a good time. We’re standing in front of a sample quilt (on the left) made with Jone’s Baby Toiles collection for Free Spirit. Jone has a blog now so be sure to say hello!

Susan Brubaker Knapp had lots to celebrate at market. She did a signing in the C&T booth for her new book Applique Petal Party. She also has TWO pieces featured in the Quilting Arts 2010 calendar including the cover.

Back to that Sunday night dinner. There were seven of us total including Windham designers Jessica Levitt and Paige Stanley Miller, Susan Brubaker Knapp, quilt artist Sarah Vedeler, Kim Kight of True Up (another long time e-mail friend, it was so fabulous to finally meet in person!), and my mom and me. You’d think with all those bloggers at the same table someone would have thought to take a picture! I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend a fun evening with all these creative women. It was a great way to spend our final evening in Houston.

***

The blog giveaway. Leave a comment on any of these Quilt Market posts and you’ll have an entry into the random drawing. I plan to do all that late tomorrow (Monday, October 19).

***

I created a Quilt Market Fall 2009 set on Flickr to round up all the photos.

pink chalk fabrics ~*~ new arrivals ~*~ free patterns ~*~ on sale

Sample quilt from Tula Pink’s new collection for Moda called Plume. I had the pleasure of meeting Tula Pink aka Jen McClean while in line waiting for a Cuban Sandwich at the convention center food court. She was in front me and had on this fabulous bag. I asked her about her bag (always on the lookout for new patterns!) and at the same time was thinking ‘hey I just ordered that fabric from Moda how does this chick have it on a purse already’. Well, you know how that story ends. Too funny. And by the way, Plume is absolutely fabulous in so many ways as this quilt demonstrates.

New collection from French General. Their first collection Rouenneries should be arriving in the shop any day now. The prints are super French Country sweet, sophisticated and beautiful.

New from Sweetwater is Make Life. The aesthetic is very similar to their first collection Authentic that arrived just as I was leaving for Quilt Market. This time they’ve thrown a bit more color into the mix and it’s fantastic. I’m very drawn to the scale and simplicity of these designs.

Had to throw in one more picture of a simple table runner, very cute!

Sandi Henderson in her beautiful booth featuring fabrics from Meadowsweet, her latest collection for Michael Miller Fabrics. The colors are spectacular. Sandi also released 4 new patterns arriving in the shop soon.

Patti Young surrounded by the vibrant colors of her new collection Flora & Fauna. Patti also added several new titles to her ModKids sewing pattern collection.

Paula Prass and her lovely daughter Jennifer Storey. Paula’s new collection is Woodland Delight. Paula also has new patterns coming!

***

And if you’re beginning to wonder if it was overwhelming to see all these new fabric collections (most of which will be shipping in the next three months) then you’d be absolutely right. I’ve only been running my shop for a short 18 months but I’ve never seen so many new collections being pushed out at the same time. It required some serious priority setting and decision making about who I am as a shop.

***

The blog giveaway. Leave a comment on any of these Quilt Market posts and you’ll have an entry into the random drawing.

***

I created a Quilt Market Fall 2009 set on Flickr to round up all the photos

pink chalk fabrics ~*~ new arrivals ~*~ free patterns ~*~ on sale

Quilt Market was 3 weeks early this year. It generally crosses over with Halloween at the end of October. The Alexander Henry booth had this wonderfully creative and creepy display at the center. Details like the thread rack with all black, brown and grey spools.The witch sewing the quilt on an old black & grey industrial machine.

Alexander Henry is unique in how they present new designs and deliver their fabrics. New designs are developed and presented twice a year in the Spring and the Fall (obviously you can order all year long but those are the times the brand new stuff is shown). The collection is a series of drawings and paintings all glued into a large portfolio book (you can often see the brush strokes on the art). You go through the book the first time and mark pages with post it notes. You then go back through the book and re-look at the marked pages and ultimately decide what to order.

photo courtesy of TrueUp.net

The book is divided by collection. Some collections are ongoing like Folklorico, Fashionista, In the Kitchen and Nicole’s Prints. I am such a die hard fan of the Dia de los Muertos prints that fall under Folklorico I literally can not wait to get to that section and see what new design they’ve added. Other collections are more self-contained like Tillbrook and Natura.

The delivery dates are very loose, sometime over the next 6 months boxes will appear. This drives some retailers nutty, for me I have a budget for my Alexander Henry fabrics and I just take them as they arrive, excited to tear open the box and see the design on cloth for the first time. I also like that they’re not all matchy, matchy and not at all trendy in the traditional sense of a ‘fabric collection’.

photo courtesy of TrueUp.net

10/28/09 – I’ve updated this post to correct some misinformation I originally posted about the operation and ownership of the company. Please accept my apologies for the mistake, I need a fact checker! Kathy

Alexander Henry Fabrics is owned and operated by Marc DeLeon and his two children Nicole and Phillip (thank you to Kim Kight from True Up who took this photo of them together at the Fall 2008 Quilt Market). Marc is President of the company and originally the sole designer of the Alexander Henry Collection. Nicole shared with me that he is still very involved with the design process that Phillip and she oversee and paint. At Spring Quilt market I had the pleasure of hearing Phillip talk at length about their methods of drawing and painting as the base of their fabric designs. It’s such a unique manufacturer in the industry, truly one-of-a-kind. It makes me appreciate what they’re producing all the more.

***

The blog giveaway. Leave a comment on any of these Quilt Market posts and you’ll have an entry into the random drawing.

***

I created a Quilt Market Fall 2009 set on Flickr to round up all the photos

***

I need to wrap up this re-cap and get on with my life, please bear with me as I crank out the final posts today!

pink chalk fabrics ~*~ new arrivals ~*~ free patterns ~*~ on sale

A sneak photo of Rosalie Quinlan showing off Grandmother’s Flower Garden in the Lecien booth. Jen McLean (Tula Pink) on the far right. Rosie has lots of inspired creations using the new fabrics on her blog.

Rosie gave me a personal tour of the new collection. I have to mention that she radiated a kindness and beauty that was so truly genuine I’m still feeling the good vibes. She’s doing exactly what she was sent here to do and it’s spectacular.

A snippet pic of Melly Hurlston working the Melly & me booth. The samples in the booth were fabulous. Non-stop goodness.

Samples from Melly’s book Kaleidoscope.

Amazing detail!

***

The blog giveaway. Leave a comment on any of these Quilt Market posts and you’ll have an entry into the random drawing.

***

I created a Quilt Market Fall 2009 set on Flickr to round up all the photos. Click over to see more detail. I tried to take a lot of up close photos of projects in the booths for inspiration. All pictures have now been added. They’re all wacky in terms of the order and I have absolutely no idea how to fix that!

pink chalk fabrics ~*~ new arrivals ~*~ free patterns ~*~ on sale

Japanese designer Etsuko Furuya surrounded by her new Echino collection. Wow. The new designs (all on the heavier weight linen) are spectacular. Lots of birds and quite a few coordinating smaller scale designs like the medallions. The colors are absolutely amazing: fresh, new, exciting yet they all coordinate with past collections.

I still use the original Note Taker I made using Echino prints (I LOVE that collection as much today as I did 2 years ago). Etsuko’s friend translated our accolades but the universal language of creating something with a designer’s fabric ruled. She was smiling very wide when she saw the portfolio, even more when I opened it up.

The samples were over the top beautiful.

I think it’s amazing that you can create fabric that looks as good on a bag as it does on a dress. Truly inspired design!

There were a ton of small bag samples, extremely inspiring! I took lots of pictures just to remind myself what these fabrics are all about. The weight of the Kokka linen is extraordinary.

OK, I don’t remember seeing the gingham, note to self to follow up on that!

***

The blog giveaway. This one is all about quality vs. quantity. Leave a comment on any of these Quilt Market posts and you’ll have an entry into the random drawing. Planning a photo shoot tomorrow!

***

I created a Quilt Market Fall 2009 set on Flickr to round up all the photos. Be sure to click over to see more detail. I tried to take a lot of up close photos of projects in the booths for inspiration. I’ll be adding to the set as I go along this week. Note:  All pictures have now been added. They’re all wacky in terms of the order and I have absolutely no idea how to fix that!

pink chalk fabrics ~*~ new arrivals ~*~ free patterns ~*~ on sale

Anna Maria Horner’s new collection Little Folks is drop dead gorgeous. It features an amazing variety of textiles that has my creative brain whirling. The main collection is printed on Cotton Voile at 54″ wide. There was a lot of discussion all weekend about exactly what Voile (pronounced like Toile) is and why it’s different than the sheer silky voile my mother and many of her contemporaries remember (they also remember pronouncing that as ‘voil’ like ‘foil’). After seeing and touching it in person I would describe it as being very similar to cotton lawn, ala Liberty print quality cotton lawn. It is spectacular!

Another component of the collection, Folksy Flannels, features different yet coordinating designs on flannel. There are also new laminated cottons. The Cotton Voile collection includes solids in yummy colors to be used as underlinings and accents as shown in this zig zag dress (a new pattern). Anna Maria said the gathering on that dress was 3 times the width. Look at that drape!

This Schoolhouse photo shows everyone in clothing made from the Voile. Her daughter designed and made her own skirt (it also features a solid as an underskirt). Anna Maria shared that the back and forth process to find the ‘perfect’ base cloth involved over 40 samples. I think she landed on the ideal choice. It’s so incredibly fabulous that we have dedicated designers like this taking an active role in ensuring the final product meets their vision!

The curtain hanging over the bassinet is made from yet another textile in the collection, Cotton Dobby. The panel can be used as-is or cut into pieces for quilt blocks and other projects. The receiving blankets feature voile on one side and flannel on the second with a simple binding.

And yes, Roman (her new baby) most definitely stole the show!

Amy Butler’s booth featured endless inspiration for using her new collection Love. The quilting cottons arrived a couple of days before I left for market, still to come is home decor, laminated cottons and flannel! One trend I noticed was putting different designs into each of the base cloths. Amy’s home decor designs are bigger and bolder, something you wouldn’t necessarily want on a quilting cotton but work perfectly on the home decor weight cloth. A wide palette of materials that still coordinate as a collection is truly exciting.

Denyse Schmidt’s new collection Hope Valley is simple and stunning! I enjoyed seeing Denyse’s signature quilting pattern on the sample quilt.

Tanya Whelan’s new collection Dolce is absolutely beautiful. Delicious tangerine, candy pink, sky blue, grey and chartreuse. Lovely colors, lovely designs.

Heather Bailey’s booth was extremely cute, I loved the life sized photo backdrop. A laminated cotton creates a simple table cover.

I attended the Kaffe Fassett Schoolhouse. The quilt samples were spectacular. I’ve shared before that I purchased Glorious Color many years before I ever learned to quilt. Each book by Kaffe and Liza Prior Lucy is inspiration in its purest form. They announced a new title called ‘Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts, 23 Original Quilt Designs’, scheduled for a March, 2010 delivery. This will be their first book published by STC Craft/Melanie Falick Books. A fact that both Kaffe and Liza were extremely excited about. I can’t wait!!!

***

A note on the Quilt Market schedule. ‘Schoolhouse’ takes place the day before Quilt Market begins. The sessions run between 15 and 30 minutes each. They are presented by the Quilt Market vendors. It includes a wide range of topics. For each time slot there are at least 15 sessions to choose from. It runs the gamut from designers presenting a new line to a website developer talking about SEO for quilt shops.

Quilt Market then runs for 3 days from 9 am to 6 pm. I stayed for Day 1 and 2. I definitely could have used a Day 3!

***

OK, the swag. The prizes. The blog giveaway. This one is all about quality vs. quantity. Wait till you see the bag from Alexander Henry, definitely a ‘hmmmm, maybe I need to be keeping that one for myself’. Leave a comment on any of these Quilt Market posts and you’ll have an entry into the random drawing.

***

I created a Quilt Market Fall 2009 set on Flickr to round up all the photos. Be sure to click over to see more detail. I tried to take a lot of up close photos of projects in the booths for inspiration. I’ll be adding to the set as I go along this week.

pink chalk fabrics ~*~ new arrivals ~*~ free patterns ~*~ on sale

I had the pleasure of hearing Mary Lou Weidman speak to my quilt guild several years ago. Her amazing story quilts radiate a beauty and happiness that instantly captivated me. Closer inspection reveal Mary Lou’s master level of craftsmanship. Her skilled needle turn applique, beading and embellishment are truly spectacular. And they’re big, like REALLY big quilts as you can see in this picture.

As goes the blog world, one day Mary Lou commented on a post I’d written. The evening went something like this: “No honey, you’re not comprehending the magnitude of this, MARY LOU WEIDMAN commented on MY BLOG!!!!”. So began our e-mail relationship.

I had read on Mary Lou’s blog that she would be signing her new book Out of the Box in the Martingale booth on Sunday afternoon. I missed the book signing but decided to go by the booth late in the day to see if I could find her. My market trips have been especially serendipitous and this one was no exception. There was Mary Lou. All by herself. I introduced myself and sat down to enjoy a very special talk.

Mary Lou inspired me to take my mom with me on this trip to quilt market. Several months ago she wrote a very moving newsletter. She shared a story of the time she had spent with her mother before she passed away earlier this year. Mary Lou talked about how they had hung out together, shared the same bed, and leisurely reminisced telling stories that made them laugh and cry.

My mom lives in Missouri and we do not have the opportunity to spend time together by ourselves. Certainly not overnight trips! There are always kids and husbands to be tended to.

The restaurants cooked and the maids cleaned. We walked to the bookstore and made each other buy books we thought the other should read. We ordered lattes and tea. We enjoyed a meal at the Four Seasons with shared plates and a glass of wine. She wore her Mail Sack and bragged about her daughter. Her face radiating with joy at the experience. My heart smiled every time I caught a glimpse of it. We told stories and welled up with tears when talking about how my grandmother would have enjoyed such a trip.

This is a good story to set the stage. More to come with pictures of new fabrics, patterns and more friends. Ultimately it’s all about the joy that being a quilter and a sewist brings to our souls. We know what it means to create and share and connect.

pink chalk fabrics ~*~ new arrivals ~*~ free patterns ~*~ on sale

1,773 comments later the winners have been drawn! Thank goodness I wrote SQL for 10 years. You just never know when you’ll need those skills to manage a blog giveaway.

I’m sending Jan Richards a ticket to meet me in Las Vegas. In the first round of random numbers she won 3 different prizes! After putting the duplicates back in the hat she came up again on the re-draw. Really unbelievable.

Congratulations to all the winners. I’ll be contacting you via e-mail to get your mailing address.

Holiday Quilt Kit by MM    nicole 05/19/09 06:21 PM
Flower Sugar FQ Set    Tamara 05/20/09 10:19 AM
Flower Sugar FQ Set    jodie 05/19/09 09:00 PM
Moda Promotional Dishtowel    Mary on Lake Pulaski    05/20/09 07:04 PM
Japanese Embroidery Threads    Marit 05/20/09 09:36 AM
Indygo Junction – Pillow Party    Martha    05/21/09 06:39 PM
Indygo Junction – Jack & Jill Jammies    Sarah 05/20/09 09:00 AM
Indygo Junction – Boudoir Basics    Edith 05/20/09 01:08 PM
Indygo Junction – The Saddle Bag    Tammi    05/19/09 11:19 PM
Indygo Junction – Audrey’s Afternoon Dress    Kathie    05/20/09 12:49 PM
Del Hi FQ Set & Pattern    doris 05/20/09 11:25 AM
Bamboo Rayon Felt    Sarah 05/20/09 07:57 AM
French General Lavender Sachet    Sarah 05/21/09 11:22 AM
Animal Party Charm Pack    Annalee 05/19/09 09:10 PM
Indygo Junction Stencil    Amy in MI    05/19/09 09:51 PM
Pink Fig – The Mia Top    Concha 05/21/09 09:45 AM
Pink Fig – The Mia Top    Rita 05/20/09 10:50 AM
Pink Fig – The Darling Jeans    Carol    05/19/09 09:30 PM
Pink Fig – The Darling Jeans    Virginia    05/26/09 05:06 PM
Pink Fig – The Sophia Dress & Swing Top    Jan Richards    05/21/09 01:25 PM
Pink Fig – The Sophia Dress & Swing Top    Shelly 05/21/09 02:00 PM
Bananafana My Groovy Family Room    Gretchen    05/19/09 10:02 PM
Bananafana Once Upon a Time    Amy 05/20/09 02:18 PM
Bananafana The Lipstick Skirt    Sarah Jackson 05/19/09 07:55 PM
Fig Tree Bon Appetite    kristine hanson 05/20/09 08:23 AM
Fig Tree Bon Voyage    Jennifer Ladd 05/22/09 05:55 PM
Fig Tree Little Picasso    Tracy    05/20/09 11:34 AM
Kona Cotton Charm Pack    Bonnie    05/18/09 01:06 PM
Deco Park FQ Set    Sherri 05/21/09 02:38 PM
Moda Petite Fours    Christa 05/21/09 01:57 PM
Busy Bee Quilt Designs The Pearl District    malle 05/19/09 04:54 PM

Winners of a $10 Gift Certificate to Pink Chalk Fabrics:

Jenny    05/22/09 08:50 AM
Irene    05/20/09 05:24 PM
MegVS 05/18/09 01:31 PM
Tanya    05/20/09 07:42 AM
Leslie    05/19/09 01:46 PM
Kelley 05/20/09 01:38 PM
Yvonne 05/23/09 06:27 AM
Sarah    05/20/09 02:16 PM
Amanda Elizabeth 05/21/09 09:59 PM
Amber 05/19/09 10:39 PM
Jane 05/19/09 09:39 PM
Sew Spoiled 05/21/09 07:07 PM
nichole 05/19/09 08:02 PM
Katrin 05/21/09 04:00 AM
mary    05/20/09 06:02 PM
sarah 05/20/09 08:19 AM
Melanie    05/20/09 08:16 AM
Marianne C    05/20/09 02:18 PM
Cindy    05/18/09 11:36 AM
LAURA    05/21/09 04:58 PM
Tonya    05/19/09 08:46 PM

Thanks to everyone for playing along. It’s a busy week here behind the scenes so you may not see me for a bit

pink chalk fabrics ~*~ new arrivals ~*~ free patterns ~*~ on sale

The following is a gallery of quilts that were hung along the Free Spirit aisle. Available for download on the Free Spirit website. The Jennifer Paganelli Pretty Please quilt pattern is not on that page but can be downloaded here.

I’m either carrying or will be carrying all the collections below.

5/20/09: I’m updating this post to mention that Scott Hansen of Blue Nickel Studios designed the Monaco and Christmas Snow Flower quilts. Very nice!

Monaco by Dena Designs. I just LOVE this quilt. The contrast is fantastic, a great way to show off the saturated colors in this line.

Pretty Please, Flower Power, and Dance with Me (coming soon), 3 new collections by Jennifer Paganelli. I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer during my Free Spirit appointment. What a lovely person. She radiates pure joy.

Oh Boy! is a new fabric collection by David Walker (I sold out of Robots last December in about 10 minutes). I will say I think the individual fabrics are cuter than maybe this quilt shows off, I do like the way the animals were fussy cut and then quilted around in the blocks. The saturated red orange is fabulous.

Christmas Snow Flower by Dena Designs coming soon. Featuring a fantastic mixture of true red, green and sky blue. I’m really excited about the contemporary design of these traditional holiday motifs.

This sample quilt hits a home run in showcasing the Wildwood collection by Erin McMorris. This pattern is not on the Free Spirit website. Given it’s a great big Grandmother’s Flower Garden I did some searching for instructions on how you could machine piece hexagons. This Flickr discussion thread has links to some very good resources. As the discussion thread mentions at the bottom, there is a book called One Block Wonders which also came to mind when I saw this quilt. I think I’ll check that book out from the library to explore their piecing technique further. I want to go make this RIGHT NOW!

Love at first sight. The new Del Hi collection is fabulous. I always appreciate the beauty of Valori Wells’ sample quilts. They showcase her fabric collections perfectly. The detail of the quilting around the flowers in the design was amazing.

Leave a comment on any post this week to be eligible for the prize drawing Monday morning, May 25th. You get one entry for each comment left. One prize per person so we can spread the goodness.

pink chalk fabrics ~*~ new arrivals ~*~ free patterns ~*~ on sale