We really like Moda’s visual and marketing team. Remember their dollhouse-themed booth we showed you the other day, with all that wonderful attention to detail? It all carries over into the effort Moda puts into their sales and marketing presentations, as well.

For example, here are some of the materials from the show (click on the photos to enlarge for detail):

The little yellow booklet on the left is Moda’s April catalog, put out in advance of Quilt Market. Notice the sewing pattern theme, with the emphasis on children? Let’s look inside:

We were excited to find illustrations from our sewing patterns scattered throughout the book, demonstrating how the various fabric collections could be used in children’s clothing.

The large book you can see in the top photo of this post, with the girl and the dollhouse on the cover, is the Moda Look Book, which is produced for every Quilt Market. It features all the new fabric collections, along with supporting materials like quilt designs, sewing patterns, etc. Here are the City Weekend pages (because we know if we don’t show you, you’ll accuse us of teasing):

See what we mean? Such a great presentation they do.

Moda is also well-known for providing all sorts of pre-cut fabrics so quilters can purchase a little bit of each fabric in a collection.

Here are some jelly rolls, which are 2 1/2″ x 44″ strips of fabric:

And here (starting from the right side) are a layer cake, a charm pack, and what we’re calling a petit four, which is not a standard Moda pre-cut but which they made specially for us to introduce our fabric collection:

Ok, you need to get a sense of the scale on that petit four. They’re a tiny 2 1/2″ square. This snapshot will help:

Cute, yes?

Inside that house-themed tin you saw at the beginning of this post are another Moda pre-cut, the candy bar:

So what can you make with jelly rolls, charm packs, petits fours, and candy bars? Well, I asked that, too. You can sew them together to make very easy quilts like these:

Or you can get much fancier, with quilts specially designed to make use of these special cuts. Entire books have been written about quilts made just from Moda pre-cuts. You can visit the Moda Bake Shop for free patterns and ideas, too.

Next week we’ll show you our first quilt design, which you may have glimpsed in the photos of our booth. We’ll tell you all about it shortly.

Hello there! We’re pleased to be back in the studio again after our quick jaunt to Quilt Market. I’m sure you’ll be seeing lots of blog posts from the show and may even grow tired of hearing about it over the next week. But many of you are eager to see some photos, so I thought I would do a little show and tell before we dig into all the follow-up work that awaits us.

To those shops and buyers who attended the show, thank you for dropping by! We are so inspired by all your excitement about the our new fabric collection, about the response you’re getting from our sewing patterns, and by the feedback you’ve given us. We’re feeling energized by you and hope that we’ve inspired you in return.

Let me start by showing you a photo from after the show, when we were all packing up the booths and getting ready to leave. This is one of the vintage doll houses that inspired Moda’s booth.

I’ve really enjoyed working with Moda and can’t say enough good things about the company and the people. They are an extremely talented and professional group. And before I show you their booth, I want to highlight a few details from it that feature the doll house theme:

Cute, yes? See all that attention to detail? You know how much I love all that. Not only was the booth designed to look like a giant doll house, but the tables and chairs all looked like grass with a picket fence surrounding it! And the little red wagons filled with ginger snap cookies. Well, it’s all just too cute.

So now I’m sure you’d like to see how it all looks together, right? From where we stood, it’s quite an impressive display. (Click to enlarge the photo for full effect, taken during a quiet moment near the end of the show.)

I enjoyed getting to know many of the salespeople, learned a great deal from them, and enjoyed being part of the entire process. It was also wonderful to meet and get to know many of the other Moda designers.

And now that you’ve seen the terrific people with whom I am so proud to be working, here is our little corner of the show:

There will be lots more to show and tell about, but I’ll leave you with that for the time being and will be back soon with additional photos and information. I hope you’ll be inspired, too!

Last week we ran an upgrade to our server. It was supposed to go off without a hitch, but they never do, do they? As a result, our shopping cart was acting funky for a few days. We’re happy to report that the issue is now fixed.

To say thanks to those of you who called the problem to our attention and held off shopping while we addressed the issue, we’re offering a little discount. Through Monday May 17, use coupon code MAYUPGRADE at checkout to take 10% off your order.

Will you find one of the treasures in your neighborhood? Mighty Girl

If there’s already Spanglish, why not Chinglish too: The New York Times

What sewing machines and pre-paid cell phones have in common: Harvard Business Review

Gummi bear surgery: Like Cool

Our next non-sewing craft project will be these cork vases: Paper n Stitch

Made me laugh; the horrors of long legs: Heather Bailey

Have vitamins and exercise replaced girdles yet? Paleo-Future

Nope, not yet. Not even close according to this data on U.S. obesity trends. I knew it was bad, but I had no idea it was this bad: Chew Your Grouse

The rest of the country may be carrying a few extra pounds, but these guys certainly aren’t; beefcake quilting fabric: The Selfish Seamstress