Continuing on the theme of Spring Quilt Market in Portland, OR, I thought you might like a tour of some booths that caught my eye. This is a trade show where the manufacturers and distributors sell to quilt stores. It was huge, with 480 booths spread over 24 aisles. If I owned a quilt shop and was buying, I would be totally overwhelmed. Below, the colorful displays at Moda Fabrics and Finca threads.

It took me a whole day to walk through all the booths in the exhibit hall. There were fabric manufacturers (over 100), publishers, and suppliers of every imaginable quilting notion and tool. I stopped by three booths that had interesting new rulers (more on these another time). Some of the vendors went to extraordinary lengths to make their space special and to stand out from all the others. Anthology Fabrics Incorporated had an elaborate pieced canopy, spectacular quilts and extra lights to enhance their booth.

Michael Miller Fabrics had neon orange, pink and yellow modern quilts and a giant swan.

It was fun to see two vendors from home, Bainbridge Island. Here I am with Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studios. A few aisles away, Laura Jones and Lynnette Sandbloom were there with their Beach Garden Quilts patterns.

I loved pattern and fabric designer Tula Pink’s booth. Here I am with Tula and I couldn’t resist a closer shot of that gorgeous butterfly quilt made from a variety of “modern” quilt blocks. It was inspiring to attend and a great opportunity for me to reconnect with old acquaintances in the quilting industry.