Lots More from Houston Quilt Market

I have actually arrived back in Sydney and now have the pleasurable task to sharing the highlights of my whirlwind trip with you and my wonderful staff who have been doing a stirling job in my absence.

Pictured (left) is Anne from Breckling Press and we are clutching very possessively one of the first copies of Jinny Beyer's fantastic new book "The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns" , an epic publication of 4050 unique block designs.
The designs in this 488 page, hard cover visual encyclopedia are categorized in a way that eliminates duplicates and allows quilters to understand exactly how each block is successfully pieced. It is one of those 'I must have this in my patchwork and quilting book library' kind of temptations. We only received two into our showroom yesterday, and today they both walked back out again with the first two customers for the day, who couldn't resist. It really is one of those kinds of books! Don't panic, we will have more very shortly!

Pictured right in my favourite animal print top (I am a tragic for animal print shoes, jackets, dresses etc), I am surrounded by the softest and most devine Minke fabric samples, all in animal prints!!

Did they know I was coming?!

Pictured left, an expose of Kaffe Fassett fabrics (note the to die for Kaffe covered chair). He has yet another new book due out in April 2010 called "Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts". Kaffe works with a number of designers and one in particular stands out to me; "Phillip Jacobs". We will have new Kaffe fabrics in stock in November and we will be introducing Phillip Jacobs to our collection. His designs are truly remarkable and work perfectly with Kaffe fabric. I look forward to sharing this range with you.

There are so many things to enjoy at the Houston Quilt Market and I must say one of my joys is running into award-winning quiltmakers, authors, designers, publishers and all those wonderfully creative people who add their flair to our industry.

I had the pleasure of meeting one such Author and Designer of "Appli-Curves", Elaine Waldschmitt (pictured left). The quilt featured on the front cover of her book is actually hanging on the wall behind her in this shot. Elaine has recently designed and released a pattern for the jacket featured in the top left corner of this image which we will feature soon in one of our catalogues. Look out for it.

On Monday before heading to the airport to start my 20-odd hour trek home, I came across this interview taking place between renowned author (of many outstanding Quilting books), Alex Anderson and Quilter's TV host, Cindy Walter. They were filming a segment for the show with Alex talking about her 3rd edition of "Start Quilting" (we highly rate this book as an excellent beginner quilting book). It was enthralling to watch - and I was seriously wondering how I could get The Craft Mailbox logo into the scene). Alex was also showing off her new quilting 5-in-1 tool still in design phase, but sure to be highly sought after when it is ready for market.

Sandra May.