Hello,
Can somebody tell me what is or are the latest and newly design(s) in the market? I need to get updated.
Thanks

New is the threads, colorful, metallic and gorgeous ! Fabric that looks like water color.

Check out your local area for quilt shows. April is a great month for them. Our "generation" has it's own flavor but I also think, all my own opinions here....err..sorry..

But, traditional always has a place !

I have yet to see a big repeat here. What interests me is the Underground Railroad quilts that come around ...

Save this as a 'My Bookmark" and maybe recharge it to see what all you get as an answer !

Ellen

Chairjogger I love the undergraound railroad quilts too. What a facinating story!!!!!

At the Paducah show this last week I saw a lot of hand dyed fabrics. Very pricey, $27 a yard for Ricky Timms hand dyed. (I wonder if his hands ever touch the stuff) Many vendors were showcasing fabric dyes. Also lots of the new big mod print quilts were hanging in a lot of booths. The patterns were very simple to show off the big print fabrics. So simple no pictures and no sketching or writing was allowed around the vendor booths. :roll:

Yes it would be nice to learn how to make them

Ok someone explain underground quilts to me. I'm to old I guess to know what they are.

underground railroad quilts were the quilts that women made during times of slavery and the opposition to it to help the black people find their way to freedom in the north house by house. There are quite a few quiltblock designs that would mean a certain thing to the slaves traveling north and the safest way (at the time) was to put them into a quilt that could be hung on a porch or fence to guide the slaves. Google "History of the Underground Railroad" and "Underground Railroad Quilts" to learn more.
It is totally fascinating how women find a way to communicate and help others in a male dominated time in our history. If the schools had taught this kind of stuff in history, I would have paid a lot more attention.

There is some specutlation that the story of the underground railroad quilts is exactly that - a story - unfortunately. Maniy quilt historians say that eome of the blocks which were meant to have significance in the quilts - such as the log cabin- orginated at a date later than the Civil War and therefore could not have been used in these quilts. Barbara Brackman has a good book out debunking this story. Eleanor Burns has a book out with the patterns and what each block means.