Today I’d like to highlight a fabric company. It is Northcott Fabrics. They are headquartered in Canada, in a suburb of Toronto. They started in 1935 as a fashion textile company. They changed focus in the 1980’s to cotton prints for quilts and home decor. Now they have their fabric in stores all over the world! They have beautiful cottons that “feel like silk”, as they like to say. Here are a few of their current collections:

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I’ve blogged about Anthology Fabrics before, in talking about their gorgeous batiks, but they also have a wonderful print collection! I’ll highlight some of the ones I like!

This first line is called “Deerfield”, and is available sometime this month. It has a cute, whimsical main print with a lot of great companion pieces. I like the name, because I used to live on Deerfield Drive! There is a designer for this line, but, honestly, on their website I can’t see it well enough to give them credit! (Sorry.)

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I haven’t posted about Moda Fabrics for quite a while, and they always have some new things coming out! Moda is a great fabric company, and is kind of the basic quilt fabric company. Every store carries some Moda. They cover all genres, styles and colors. Check out some of their upcoming lines:

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No, the Free Spirit isn’t me, it’s the name of another of my favorite fabric companies! They have lots of very fun and funky fabrics, as well as the more traditional lines. I love the way it feels, and it is great to sew with. On their website, you can download a free pattern that goes with each of their lines. So, without further ado, here are some of their fabric collections: [ MORE » ]

Today it’s another fabric company highlight! I love to do these, because I love to look at fabric, and to see what’s new out there. Michael Miller Fabrics was started in 1999 by two people, Michael Steiner and Kathy Miller. They were brought together by professional respect for each others’ abilities. They started out of their own homes, and eventually moved to offices in New York City, where they now employ a team of around 20 people.

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No, Robert Kaufman is not the name of my new boyfriend, but it is a fabulous fabric company! Robert Kaufman was a real person, though, that was born in 1899 and emigrated from Russia to America. He started as a menswear maker, and after the market crash in 1929 he started over with a company that was a jobber for men’s suits. It was the next generation of Kaufmans that started manufacturing fabric, and that company has continued to grow until today. It is also managed by decendants of Robert.

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Today I want to highlight another fabric manufacturer, Red Rooster Fabrics. They were founded in 2002, and they make high quality fabric for quilters and crafters. I’ve always loved the feel of Red Rooster fabrics. They are very soft and have a wonderful finish. They carry traditional fabrics, as well as some more contemporary lines.

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Today I want to highlight one of my favorite fabric manufactures, Lakehouse Dry Goods. Lakehouse was founded in 1988, and the founder, Holly Holderman had previously been an interior architect. She had always loved quilts, and she started collecting antique quilts and blocks as a teenager.

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Because I’m working on a book about batiks, I’m sharing some of the great batiks that are on the market! I’m sewing with batiks, writing about batiks, researching batiks, and, basically, thinking about mostly batiks!

If you’re not sure what batiks are, or are unfamiliar with how to use them, watch for my book, Chic Batik!,  coming out soon! (Okay, not so soon, actually, but it’s release date is tentatively January 2013.)

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After all the excitement of last week’s blog tour, it’s time to highlight some local events. Salt Lake City is the site of this year’s International Quilt Market. It is May 13-15 at the Salt Lake Convention Center, but is a trade show, so it isn’t open to the public. There are a few places you might be able to score a pass, though, if you try hard enough! I had the opportunity of attending this event in 2008 when it was in Salt Lake last time! It is tons and tons of products that you will be seeing soon in your local quilt stores.

International Quilt Market is the only wholesale trade show for quilting and soft crafts, and was founded in 1979. The fall market is always held in Houston, but the spring market travels to different cities. Here are a few photos from the fall market:

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