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Cherrywood Challenge 2025

Quilter’s Paradise On Display

A highlight of the International Quilt Festival and Market is the chance to check out the award-winning quilts on display. The George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston, Texas, showcases an extensive collection of quilts in various categories and themes. The outcomes are inspiring, colorful, and showcase the skill and imagination of the quilt makers.Cherrywood Challenge 2025

Cherrywood Challenge

I especially enjoy checking out the Cherrywood Challenge. Each year, the company offers up a new challenge. On display was the traveling exhibit from the Abyss Challenge. The rules are simple and direct.

  • Use only the colors designated within the bundle. This challenge used one of three collections: the Squid, Octopus, or Angelfish.
  • Create an original design.
  • The finished piece must be a square 20″ x 20″

Simple right? You might expect to see some similarities in the submitted quilts, but you would be wrong. These fabulous quilts show a vast variety in colors, designs, shapes, and outcomes.

The quilts are juried, and quilters are encouraged to use all the colors in the collection. The Abyss referred to the theme of – Creatures from the Deep.Cherrywood Challenge 2025

Plus, the way that the organizers display these square quilts is surprising. They are arranged on a display board. When you think you have seen all the quilts, you turn the corner and there are more quilts. And more quilts and more corners to turn. The outcome leaves you breathless and anxious to turn the corner and see even more designs.

Cherrywood Fabric

Cherrywood Fabrics are known for their cotton fabric that appears to be solid, suede-like colors. All the fabric is hand-dyed and made in Minnesota.Cherrywood Challenge 2025

If seeing these entries encourages you, the 2025 challenge, Storytime, is now open.

Check out all the quilts from the exhibition in the gallery below

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Quilted Bag Made Easy

The friendly folks at Clover have a great tutorial on making a quilted bag, just in time for the holidays. Everybody needs an extra bag, right?

Quilted Bag

The beauty in this tutorial is that any fabric will do and with a little experimenting it could be any size.  While the tutorial includes a set of handles, they could be eliminated if you are looking for something simpler.Quilted-Bag

Time for Quilted Bag

If you have the supplies at hand you could knock this out in less than two hours. If you get really creative you could even add some embroidery to the bag. 

By using Fusible Flex Foam, the bag has some structure and also a little bit of padding. With the fabric quilted through the foam, it will be a sturdy addition to your bags.  It would also make a great gift or to hold an additional gift.  After all the Christmas holiday is right around the corner!

Holiday or Not

Of course, this bag is not just for Halloween.  Change out the fabric and you are ready for an occasion.  It really is a delightful design and easy to makeQuilting-for-Bag

Tutorial – Quilted Bag

So check out this clever tutorial from Clover and enjoyQuilting-bag-clipped-before-sewing

Photos courtesy of Clover

 

 

Two Quilt Festivals Were Successful

The International Quilt Festival successfully wrapped up two exciting shows in the Western United States with great success. It was nice to see quilters getting a chance to see the latest offerings and become inspired by some of the judged quilts. We can’t wait for the Houston, Texas Quilt Festival in November.

The Salt Lake City Quilt Festival was July 21-23 at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Followed by the Long Beach Quilt Festival held this month August 4-6  at the Long Beach Entertainment & Convention Center. Both events had great attendance from both vendors and quilters. It’s been a while for a Long Beach, California show, and Salt Lake, Utah was a new addition. Quilters and crafters came from across the region to check out the offerings, classes, and friendship.

Celebration of Color

The quilt festival organizers also recently announced the top winners of their “A Celebration of Color” show, with unique selections. This annual judged competition is open to all quilters, with a focus on the vibrant use of colors. The three categories were Traditional, Modern and Art with each winner taking home $500 with the Best of Show being awarded $1,000.

The Best of Show was given to Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry for Celebration #2. Fallert-Gentry used an original design and hand-dyed fabrics.celebrations-2

The Art category was claimed by Lou Ellen Hassold for Clamshell Surprise. Her variation of the Judy Niemeyer design is bright and colorful. She discusses her work here.

clamshell-Surprise

Susan McKinney won the Modern pick for Chroma Infinitum. It was paper-pieced with over 50 colors.Chroma-Infinitum

Twenty Baskets Full of Flowers by Rossillis Rosario won the Traditional selection. It took two years to make.Twenty-Baskets-Full-of-Flowers

Houston Quilt Festival

The next Festival will be held in Houston, Texas on November 3-6, 2022.  Here are some details. We can’t wait to see the vendors, classes, and quilts on display.

Which quilt did you favor?

Images courtesy of International Quilt Festival

Texas Quilt Museum – New Exhibits for the New Year

Starting this month, the Texas Quilt Museum is presenting not one, but TWO new exhibits. What a way to kick off the new year, right?

SAQA: Musica!

GuitarsMuisca consists of thirty-one works by members of the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), juried by quilt master Joe Cunningham, who is based in San Francisco California. He has been a professional quilt artist since 1979 and was an artist in residence at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. He has written ten books on quilt making and his blog showcases how he crafts his quilts from start to finish.

Can’t make it to Texas?  Here is a video of the exhibit when it was recently at the National Quilt Museum. 

 Super Samplers!

Who doesn’t love samplers? They are timeless treasures that showcase a quilter’s artistry.  These quilts in the exhibit are mostly from the International Quilt Festival archives, and the twenty sampler quilts are dated between 1795 and 2014.

You may recognize the Baltimore Album style as a leading example of samplers and the exhibit features three of this style quilt.Sampler

Hours and Dates

The Exhibits are scheduled to run through May 1, 2022, so hurry into the Texas Quilt Museum before the music ends and the samplers disappear.

The Texas Quilt Museum is at 140 W. Colorado St., La Grange, Texas 78945.

Limited hours and days

Hours are 10 am-4 pm only on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Photos courtesy of Texas Quilt Museum

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Classes Announced for Houston Quilt Festival

Great instructors and classes just announced

The Houston Quilt Festival is a great event. Besides buying tons of fabric, patterns, and tools, the Festival offers over 350 classes from renowned instructors.  This is your chance to get close-up and personal instruction from some of the best of the best.Houston Quilt Festival

The wizards at quilts.com announced the lineup of instructors and their classes at the Houston Quilt Festival. You cannot register for these classes quite yet but you can start figuring out which instructors and classes you want to be. Some classes are full-day events and some are two-hour meetings.  

Registration will open up in July 2021. So mark your calendars now. While making your plans a reminder that they have a preview night for their quilt display on October 27, 2021. So if you will be there early why not plan on seeing the quilts without as much of a crowd?

Faculty at the Houston Quilt Festival

How about if we do some name dropping?  Among the instructors is Teresa Coates (you probably know her from Shannon Fabrics and the Cuddle fabric), Laura Heine, Paula Nadelstern, and Ricky Tims.  Can’t overlook Arizona’s Cindy Lohbeck and her fabric dyeing classes that we have discussed before.Hand Dyed Fabric

The Festival starts on October 28th and concludes on Halloweens, October 31, 2021.  It is held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston, Texas. Some of these classes start early on October 25 and 25.  After all how else do you squeeze in more than 350 classes?

quilts.com

Houston Quilt Festival Housing Info

Since the event is in downtown Houston, Texas there are plenty of hotels within walking distance to the George R. Brown Convention center. Two have walkways that adjoin the convention center and more are within a few blocks away. Best to make hotel plans now as some already are booked full. Don’t forget two airports service Houston so you should have plenty of options to fly into the Houston area.

Will we see you there at the Houston Quilt Festival?

 

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Tula Pink Curiouser and Curiouser

Well, Tula Pink hit pay dirt again with a beautiful collection of prints based on Lewis Carroll’s tale of Alice in Wonderland. Twenty-five fabrics capture the whimsical spirit of Lewis Carroll’s beloved story. As the folks at Free Spirit Fabrics say –

” When the weight of the world is too much I turn to needle and thread. This collection focuses on some of the most memorable themes and characters from the story. Our two main characters for the collection are Alice, of course, and the Red Queen. Alice sits in a sweet wreath of daisies with her cat Dinah on her shoulder. In the background are the white rabbits poised to lead Alice down the rabbit hole. Both portrait prints are designed to easily cut down to 8 1/2 inch squares without cutting into the next portrait. There is a lot to discover in this collection and everything has meaning from the original story. Alice falls down the rabbit hole surrounded by curious objects in “Down the Rabbit Hole”.

When Alice first gets to the bottom of the Rabbit Hole she grows so tall that she can’t fit through the door to Wonderland and she begins to cry. As she shrinks, her tears flood out the little door taking her and many Wonderland residents with the current in a print called “Sea of Tears”. The “Cheshire” cat looms in the night sky watching over Wonderland. Painted, spotted roses still dripping with wet paint sit on a background of oversize spots just hoping to blend in and escape the Queen’s notice.

 A wide stripe of vines grow out of the selvage scooping up a Mad Hatter’s tea party. There is so much more to discover. Curiouser and Curiouser features a total of 25 detailed prints in full, vibrant color, plus two, 108 inch backing fabrics. The collection is designed to be loud and exuberant while working seamlessly with True Colors!”

Yep loud and exuberant is a good definition for anything from Tula Pink. Besides her fabric, Tula Pink also partners with Aurifil for a curated thread collection to match up with her line. The thread collection consists of 20 small spools of 50 weight thread in the perfect shades to compliment her fabrics.

But besides her fabric, the folks at Free Spirit offer some gorgeous FREE patterns for these fabrics, all with an Alice in Wonderland motif. So let’s check out their offerings.

Checkmate with Tula Pink Fabric

The center of each square features a Queen or Alice in various shades. The pattern requires fussy cutting and piecing, and the square is finished at 86 inches for this Checkmate Quilt.Checkmate

Cheshire Cats Diva

This is the perfect quilt pattern for the cat lover. The colors selected by Tula Pink make this pop. The quilt finishes at 74 inches by 86 inches. The Cheshire Cats Diva Quilt is similar to the next one.Cheshire Cats Diva

Cheshire Cats Flake

If you are really into cats, how about two quilts from Tula Pink’s collection? Same size as the Cheshire Cats Diva quilt but just slightly different. The Cheshire Cats Flake Quilt would look great in any décor.Cheshire Cats Flake

Pawn to Queen

Get ready for your eyes to go batty on this pattern. The black diamonds make the quilt pop, don’t you think? The finished size is 60.5 inches by 70 inches and the designer felt this requires intermediate skills for the Pawn to Queen Quilt Pawn to Queen

Queen of Hearts

Look closely to see the queen and hearts in this 70-inch square. Another intermediate skill level quilt but the Queen of Hearts Quilt will likely steal yours.Queen of Hearts

The Hatter

Of all the quilt patterns this one utilizes the overall motif the least. Look closely and you will see a character here and there but the focus is on the beautiful fabrics and the colors used by Tula Pink. The Hatter Quilt is memorizing.Hatter Quilt

Suit Yourself

This pattern has the suits from a deck of cards as the focal point. Any card player would love the Suit Yourself Quilt that finishes up at 62 inches square.Suit Yourself

 

The fabric shipped already to the local quilt shops that pre-ordered it and any new orders should show up locally in June. So get out there and start Tula Pinking. So which quilt is your favorite?

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Benartex Virtual Fabric Show

Benartex held a “Virtual Fabric Show” to present their upcoming lineup of fabrics from a variety of designers. What a smashing set of collections from some innovative designers. Colors were abundant and so were some clever designs and motifs. Although they had plenty to look at during this daylong event we choose to highlight just a few of our favorites.

Until the Houston Quilt Market arrives this fall, we will be relegated to more of these virtual events. But at least the designers and fabric manufacturers can deliver some fresh new looks during this “new normal”. Let’s check out our favorites from Benartex.

Amanda Murphy and Benartex

Amanda Murphy added two collections to the fall mix. Her Frolic collection featured “vibrant floral and geometric prints in the designer’s signature style. The array of scales, motifs, and colors gives you endless design possibilities.”

Clamshells have been in vogue since 2019 and her Stepping Stones help provide her interpretation of this classic look. The frolic lineup should show up in your local fabric store by late Fall 2021FRC_SteppingStones_plum3

Amanda also presented her latest, Cotton Shot Pearl. Take some of the best colorings that she has offered in the past and add on a shimmer of pearl on top for a new look. Sparkle and glam galore will rule this collection with a very rich but subtle look. This set of fabrics should be in the quilting stores by July 2021. We can’t wait to see it in person!Cotton-Shot-by-Amanada-Murphy

Cheryl Haynes and Benartex

Hailing from Prairie Grove Peddler, Cheryl Haynes also offered two new collections for the fall. A Wooly Garden “is filled with the sweetest little bunnies dressed up in bows, bird houses, flowered wreaths, and polka dots – all with the snuggly look of wool.” Those bunnies and other designs will be at the stores by September 2021.Wooly-Garden-by-Cheryl-Haynes

We have always been fans of houndstooth and Haynes’ version of Blushed Houndstooth shows us why. It can serve multiple purposes in your quilts and love the variety of pastels and earth tones she selected. It too will be available in September 2021 so keep your eyes open.Houndstooth-by-Cheryl-Haynes

Andi Metz and Benartex

The Fun in the Sun collection from Andi Metz will remove the gloom and gray skies in any location and perk you right up. “These upbeat and colorful fabrics featuring bold and bright sunglasses, fun flip flops, and tropical flowers will transport you straight to flamingo beach!” Since they will be available in December 2021 it will be perfect timing to get something done for springtime. They will certainly inspire the avid quilter to reach out and craft a gorgeous colorful quilt.Fun-in-the-Sun-3-by-Andi-Metz

Karla Gerard and Benartex

Wow. Normally we would stop at three wonderful designers but had to include Karla’s latest collection. “Folkscapes” offers a vivid collection combining her love of folk art and primitives in one stylish look. You will be inspired when you see this lineup at your stores in October 2021.Folkscapes-by-Karla-Gerard

So there you have it four designers and six great collections from Benartex. Which is your favorite?

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Illustrations courtesy of Benartex

 

 

 

 

Pillowcase for all

Pillowcase is an easy sewing project for all. Easy to make, fun to personalize, and helps to let your brain think about something besides the big quilting project that has been occupying your time.Car-pillowcase

Pillowcase style

The nice thing about pillowcases is they are generally one size fits all and can be easily customized. You can pick two pieces of fabric for some style and even put them in a binding strip. Have a little one with a fascination for all things unicorn? I bet you can find some unicorns in your stash or at the local fabric store. If you wish, you could monogram their initials on an edge or maybe embroider a favorite character from a book or movie to make it special.

Or maybe even add a favorite quote or saying for their very own pillowcase?

If you don’t watch out others will start asking for THEIR pillowcase.Paw Patrol Pillowcase

Pillowcase for Children’s Hospitals

If you don’t think others would want your pillowcase, there is a nationwide foundation Ryan’s Cases for Smiles that works with local children’s hospitals to bring some cheer to little ones facing long stays in a boring, sterile hospital. If you go this route, be sure and note they have specific requirements to ensure they can be used by your local hospitals.

Pillowcase Tutorials

Now that your heading to make a pillowcase let’s talk tutorials.

Of course, Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Company has a great tutorial. It must be good since it has over 2.7 million views. She makes it from a sewed tube which is quite ingenious. It may sound difficult but once you do one you won’t quit. We highly recommend it! Shannon Fabrics just released a tutorial and video on how to make one with their super soft Cuddle fabric.Star Wars Pillowcase

So grab some fabric and get sewing!

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Virtual Quilt Market

Like many other events, the Spring Quilt Market has transitioned to the Virtual Quilt Market this year. From the producers at Quilts.com who are world-famous for their Houston shows, the Quilt Market Houston, and the Quilt Festival Houston, the Virtual Quilt Market is a must attend event for those in the fabric trade.ed63a33b-7c26-4501-bdfd-00c2d5ac5443

Virtual Quilt Market Details

Here is what you can see after registering for the Virtual Quilt Market. Some selections are extra fees beyond the registration but well worth it.blade-saver-thread-cutter

  • 90 Exhibitor booths
  • Over 80 Schoolhouse demonstrations of products and techniques
  • 18 Take and Teach Classes
  • 8 business Seminars
  • 6 Legal Seminars
  • Sneak Peek section of new products
  • Plus “Today’s Quilting Trends 2021” will be offeredMiller

Of course, the Virtual Quilt Market is limited to the “trade only” but this is a prime way to learn about new offerings and products.

After all who wouldn’t want to see the latest Kimberbell, Michael Miller, and Moda fabrics? We can’t wait to see all the new offerings.gray

Virtual Quilt Market Registration

The Virtual Quilt Market is available from March 23-25, 2021. 

You can register here. Don’t wait, do it NOW!

Subscribe to this blog and learn about the offerings at the Virtual Quilt Market this week and beyond.

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Images courtesy of Virtual Quilt Market.

Colors to “Dye” For

The Houston Market/Festival is a huge quilter’s paradise held annually in the fall. The Quilt Market is a show for “trade only” qualified buyers, with over 1000 vendors showing quilt shops what the newest merchandise, lines, and fabrics will look like. Then it magically transforms into the Quilt Festival where retailers set up booths covering the George R. Brown Convention Center for four days of sales. It is the largest annual quilt show in the United States. But an oft-overlooked part of the event is the chance to attend some of the 550+ classes offered each year during the shows.

Cindy Lohbeck – Hand Dyeing Fabric

That’s where we ran into Scottsdale, Arizona resident Cindy Lohbeck who was teaching one of the six classes she taught during the show. She gave a day-long, hands-on class “Rad Ombre” where students could hand dye her custom cotton fabric in a variety of hues and styles. In the hallway outside the classroom hung rows of colorful fabric.Hand Dyed Fabric

Lohbeck explained that her process uses a compact and tidy process that avoids constant dipping and bending. At last year’s show, she was using PVC pipe to serve as her drip rig but now has converted to a thinner “tent pole-like” structure. She has been involved in dyeing fabric for over 13 years.Hand Dyed Fabric

Hand Dyeing Classes

Normally (pre-Covid-19), Lohbeck would travel the country offering classes at select shops. She typically offered sixty classes a year. Now she is offering an on-line class exclusively through her website, www.handsonhanddyes.com. That is also the name of her company’s Facebook page – Handsonhanddyes. She also sells kits that include not only the tools for dyeing the fabrics but also clear instructions. Plus her website offers replacement dye sets for repeat customers. She is also now cautiously resuming in-person classes.Hand Dyed Fabric

Lohbeck noted that she “teaches what she knows” and that if people see the demonstration they will buy her kits. She typically offers an on-line class once a month now and felt that this way she “could seize the opportunity that this crisis offered”. The class gives each student a chance to “glance” over her shoulder and see exactly what she is doing. Plus she is available after the class for personal advice and follow-ups.Hand Dyed Fabric

Presently both Houston shows are still scheduled for this year (October 24-31, 2021) and classes will be announced later this year. Check out http://www.quilts.com for more details about the Houston shows.Hand Dyed Fabric