Bonnie Sullivan has released her third Block of the Month program featuring Bertie at Quilt Market.  And, I can tell you right now – it is wonderful!  Here is a sneak peek image of the new Bertie’s Spring by Bonnie Sullivan, it will be release in April/May. We have gotten all of the patterns about Bertie, Bertie’s Year, Bertie’s Winter – and what makes them so special besides their whimsical designs is that they are made with the soft Maywood flannel. We have designed our kits as individual blocks so you can pick and choose the one you would like or get them all.  This is a great little project you can still finish by the holidays.

I love the bags that byannie.com has. Annie is the lady that created the Soft and Stable product that I LOVE to put in all of my bags. She has many new items and I grabbed most of them. My favorites are the Back At Ya Mini Backpack purse, The Grab some Grub and a cool travel bag. All of these are available at Prairie Quilt right now! So tell me, do you like to take classes to make bags or are you confident to do it yourself?

I have been a follower of Sue Daley, an Australian that had a delicious pattern named Pies and Tarts(pun intended).  I loved this quilt and started making it a few years ago, it is offered as a Block of a Month on the quiltnow.com website.  Although mine isn’t finished I still occasionally work on it.  Some of you who know me may be surprised that I would do English Paper Piecing since I LOVE using my Pfaff sewing machine but once in awhile there are times when there is no sewing machine around such as waiting in the doctor’s office.  All you need to work on paper piecing can be kept in one small sandwich bag so it is very portable so even if you have a few minutes to spare you can whip out some pie wedges.

Sue Daley is certainly not the only Australian anymore featured at marked.  I noticed a definite trend today on the market floor, sooo many Aussie’s here with new pattern designs and very new ideas on fabric design.  At first I was a bit confused about the designs.  Were they reproductions of 1940’s grandmother style aprons?  They threw all different types of prints and stripes into together that just didn’t seem to gel but I couldn’t stop looking at them.  Jen Kingwell is a new Moda designer that displays a perfect example of this eclectic look.  I think you will either love it or hate it, as for me it is really growing on me.  Her fabric comes out in April.  To delve into Jen’s look pull her up on Instagram.

I noticed even some of the American designers had a similar style.  The one I liked the most was Fig Tree Quilts Aloha Girl.  I don’t know how she decided the name as I see no Hawiian theme to it but I do love the colors and prints in peaches, teals and navy.  I liked the sample quilts she had, this fabric line comes out in March.

Another new Moda designer is Brenda Riddle, she created lovely florals in pale pink, grey and green going by the name of Ambleside.  This line would make a stunning spring quilt, delivery is in March.

First day of market consisted of Schoolhouse classes lasting anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes each.  The market floor doesn’t open until tomorrow so this is an opportunity for fabric and pattern designers, notions creators and event promoters to get a shot at their audience for a few undivided minutes.

My favorite class was of my heroine, Eleanor Burns.  She has a new book out and if I only buy one book at this market, it will be hers.  It is entitled All Stars, it consists of some of the prettiest quilts I have ever seen made in a feathered star pattern.  Her video malfunctioned which was to be almost all of her presentation but she never missed a beat.  Still as sharp and funny as ever, she had everyone laughing while she showed sample after sample.  I am embarrassed to say that I was so caught up in what she was saying that I forgot to take a picture of any of her quilts!  I managed to get a picture off of her website so you could see one.  I am going to be bringing some of the books back – ok, market hasn’t even started and I am already breaking my rule of “no lugging stuff back, have it all shipped” but I can’t help wanting to start this quilt so I am going to start reading the book on the plane trip home.  It is not nearly as hard as it looks with Eleanor explaining how to do it.