fun stuff at Quilt Market

I don't get much time to look around when we're exhibiting at Quilt Market; it's always such a busy show, and when I'm not in our booth I'm in meetings. So don't look at me if you want to know what's new out there. I mostly just catch glimpses of things that I pass on my way from the entrance to our booth.

That being said, here are two things that caught my eye last month in Houston:


This exquisitely simple contemporary quilt pattern stood out dramatically from all the other quilts at the show. The pattern is published by Galloping Pony Studio, which specializes in miniature art quilts. Yeah, sort of like doll quilts (you know me too well). But this particular quilt isn't really miniature (it's a lap quilt), and I think the design is terrific. It has a Japanese flair to it, doesn't it?


I followed this group quilt project [via Quilter's Buzz] before the show and thought the resulting outfits for the individual quilt blocks were so sweet. That outfit in the photograph above reminds me of something Ramona Quimby would wear (S is loving the Ramona books right now; those and Betsy-Tacy and Tib.) I've got a thing for cardigans. And, of course, for kids' clothes.

Thank you for the tips and comments about Soap Nuts, by the way. Extremely interesting and useful. How did our society ever drift so far away from natural products like these? We wouldn't have needed Tide Free in a fancy plastic bottle if we had known about soap nuts before, would we? I'm fascinated by where we've been and where we're going as a society with products and marketing. We charged into high-tech at full speed, and now we seem to be gradually slowing down again to rediscover the basics that are actually better for us and for our environment. Who knew they were there all along.