Appetizers first - then the main dish.

Because I know so many of the names entered, one of the ladies in the office wheeled the computer mouse back-and-forth and picked a random winner from the comments... Michelle of Island Life Quilts.

To everyone else - thank you!  I promise to save more stuff "next time".  I loved reading the comments about what you were doing for the weekend, your thoughts on going to Quilt Market maybe-someday-eventually and what you thought that would be like.  I liked that many of you wanted to meet the designers...

You know they're a little goofy, don't you?

I rest my case.  Goofballs.

Yes, all of these ladies design fabric for Moda and create all sorts of beautiful quilts, bags and other lovely things.  In the front, that's Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts.  From the left, Sherri McConnell and Chelsi Stratton, aka A Quilting Life, and on the right, that's Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique.  Vanessa is the only fabric-veteran of the group, the beautiful Gooseberry is her second collection for Moda.

Corey?  While Linzee was able to introduce you to Corey a few weeks ago, I get to show you her big-splash debut collection, Prairie, and the awesome quilts she designed for her new company, Coriander Quilts.

This is it - the colors Corey used in Prairie are tweaked just a little bit to make them fresh and original, but they still mix beautifully with many of the other new Market fabrics.  (More on that soon - I promise.)

The quilt on top is the mini version of Idyllic and the quilt on the bottom is Gingersnap.  Corey made Gingersnap and then her Mom spent two days adding the big-stitch quilting with perle cotton and embroidery floss.  It was the perfect finishing touch.  (Way to go, Mom!)  If you're curious, Corey used Bella Solid No. 9900-97 for the white squares in the quilt, and the dark solid is Etchings Charcoal, Bella Solid No. 9900-171.

This is the mini version of Floret, it has more gorgeous big-stitch quilting.  It's part of the Sweetness pattern that includes the mini versions of Idyllic, Floret and Gingersnap.  The two quilts behind mini Floret are Idyllic.  (The yellow in the two-color Idyllic is Bella Solid No. 9900-81 Goldenrod.)

You can see the quilts behind Corey - isn't she a sweetie?

If the name Corey Yoder sounds familiar but Coriander Quilts doesn't, you might know Corey as "Little Miss Shabby", the author of the very popular blog of the same name.  Corey first debuted with Moda on the Moda Bake Shop in 2011 with Sunny Trails, and became a very popular and prolific "chef".  She was a contributor to the Bake Shop's Sweet Celebrations book, and she published her first solo book last year, Playful Petals.  You can read about that on The Cutting Table here.  Corey had another gorgeous quilt at Market - Dashing - but we don't see to have a picture of it so you can see it here.

Sherri McConnell is also a popular blogger - A Quilting Life - who debuted with the Moda Bake Shop in 2012 - Four Square Layer Cake Quilt and was also a contributor to Sweet Celebrations.  Sherri's pattern company - Quilting Life Designs - debuted in 2013 and while this was her first Quilt Market with a booth, she's been attending Market regularly for the past four years as a magazine contributor and individual author - A Quilting Life and Fresh Family Traditions.  (She's such a terrific, uber-fast piecer that her talents as a stunt-sewer are well-utilized and much-appreciated by several other designers.)

Bright Sun is a collaboration between Sherri and her daughter, Chelsi Stratton, a talented artist.

From top to bottom, the quilts are Shangri-La, Omaha and Anasazi.

I mean this in the best way possible - Sherri is a "bag lady".  Meaning, she makes a lot of bags and she makes them very well, so she always knows which fabrics will work well for bags.  Since Sherri only received her sample yardage two weeks before Quilt Market, she had Kaitlin Pallas make this Carry On Travel Bag using Bright Sun.  (Kaitlin is also a terrific bag-maker, she makes all the samples for the Patterns By Annie company, the makers of Soft & Stable.)

The bag is sitting on two of Sherri's mini quilts - Star Bright on the left and Summer Star on the right.

Sherri and Chelsi.

Carrie and Beth... sans Carrie.  Or at least not the Carrie that is part of One Canoe Two.

I hope you read about the terrific story of childhood friends Carrie Shyrock and Beth Snyder here a few weeks ago.  Sharing the vision and the work is nothing new to this pair, and they had to do it during the week of Quilt Market.  While Beth was in Minneapolis setting up the booth and handling things having to do with Tucker Prairie - their spectacular debut collection for Moda, Carrie was in New York City getting their booth ready for the National Stationery Show that started the day after Quilt Market ended.

These are some of their cards - they're terrific and yes, a few of these might have accidentally come loose and fallen into my bag.  True story - I first learned of their letterpress company a few years ago and I have one of their quilt-y calendars from last year that I am never, ever throwing away, it's that pretty.

That's Geese on the Prairie hanging and Prairie Pinwheels on the chair.

Can you tell that these girls are just natural-born artists and designers?  Those pattern covers rock!  Missouri Troubles.  Sawtooth Stems.  Tuckers Hex.  Prairie Diamonds.

And finally, one of my new favorite people, Betsy Chutchian.  Even if she is a diva!

While the others were off misbehaving, Betsy was in her booth, working hard and promoting her gorgeous debut collection, Eliza's Indigo.  (This doesn't mean that Betsy's not just as goofy - or goofier - than the others, she's just more adept at avoiding having it photographically recorded for all eternity.)

Betsy is one of those quilters whose name I have known for several years, but who I'd not actually met in person until last year.   I collected all four of the books she published with Kansas City Star.  (History Repeated is my favorite... but Just Treats No Tricks is a close second.)  And Betsy really IS a diva!  She's one of the 19th Century Patchwork Divas, a group formed ten years ago by Betsy and her longtime friend, Carol Staehle.  It's a block exchange group that insists on skilled workmanship with intricate piecing and appliqued quilts made with Reproduction fabrics dating between 1800 and 1899.

The quilts behind Betsy are Garden Hill on the left - the big print in the border is amazing, so much better in person - Eliza's Indigo in the upper right, and Belmont in the lower right.  An interesting tidbit - Betsy makes all of her quilts in a miniature version first to check for color balance and fabric placement.  (Is it just me or are you thinking Betsy needs to show us those minis?)

So there you have it.  The newest part of the crew.

I still say they're goofy but they're also very nice, hard-working and pretty talented.  They're all working on collection No. 2 - coming soon to one of those big congregations of quilters that I'm still not allowed to mention as officially being on any kind of calendar.

Like it's not going to happen anyway.

Happy Tuesday!