If you’ve never been to Quilt Market, take a little journey with me…

Well, what fun.  Today the actual market opens, but there have already been several days of antics.  For me, it started with an Andover Fabrics sales meeting and company dinner with lots of news of good things to come–new offerings in the batiks and solids (more to come on that), sponsorship of QuiltCon, and most exciting, a look at the new collections coming out. Quite invigorating.  More on Andover when I report on the fabric company booths later.

Last year I went to all the Andover schoolhouses which are incredibly well attended and have great give-aways.  This year I branched out and spontaneously went to where my nose led me, and I have some pics to show for it!  Then last night was the fabric 2.0 opening party, a place to meet new people, catch up with old friends, and meet in person people I’ve known online.  No pics of that so sorry, but here goes for some schoolhouse action–remember there are a million sessions and one cannot be everywhere at once – I wish!

First up was Dena of Dena Designs, the gal with one of the coolest booths at Surtex, showing her new fabric line “Happi”and projects she’s made with it.  Dena handpaints everything, and has a new book coming out, The Painted Home.

Next was Jennifer Paganelli, showing her new collection Happy Land, a fun video she did with Downy and a second book coming out called Happy Home. Jennifer was accompanied by Carla Hegeman Crim, who writes many of the Sis Boom patterns and has her own book out now, Sewn Hats.

Valori Wells was there with her new line “Novella”, some quilt patterns to go with it, a slideshow that included her photography that serves as inspiration, and new sewing cards.

Anna Maria Horner came with a variety of new fabrics (velveteen, voile, rayon) in her Field Study collection, her embroidery flosses and pearl cotton threads and projects that use all of these things together in new ways. Oh, and a new book, Anna Maria’s Needlework Notebook.

Amy Butler arrived with colorful projects using Alchemy and studio collections in satine, rayon, voile,  velveteen and linen. We were treated to a fashion show with music, and an appealing slide show of spreads from her new online project, Blossom Magazine, launching in November–patterns, photography and inspiration galore.  Its sort of a whole culture all its own.

Next I went one to see some of the new designers at Art Gallery. First up, Angela Walters, machine quilter extraordinaire, with her new fabric line “textures”

Then there was Bari J with her second collection with Art Gallery, Splendor 1920.

And Sarah Watson, Illustrator, with Luxe in Bloom.

And Jeni Baker, with her Color Me Retro due Feb 2013.

And Pat Bravo, the creative force behind Art Gallery Fabrics concluded the schoolhouse with a video and a view of her new collection, Rock ‘n Romance.

That’s it for now.  In the next few days I will continue to report on my Quilt Market 2012 journey and share pics of booths, designers, cool projects, and the quilt exhibitions. Follow along!