Spring Quilt Market 2009: Lantern Bloom, Whimsy, Summer Soiree, Mezzanine

This post is part of a series reporting on the Spring 2009 International Quilt Market by True Up East Coast Stringer Mary Beth of Supafine.

Ready for some more from Michael Miller? Then onward, followers! To the first of the company’s four featured individual designers with new collections! Ho!

Let’s begin with+Pillow and Maxfield’s Whimsy.

Swirls, twirls, scrolls and mosaics, in pink and blue/green. “Light and fresh and really perky,” as Kathy Miller puts it, with large scale prints and a cheerful and focused color palette, coming from Valerie Pillow and Anne Maxfield. I love the french-looking two-tone motifs.

Also new is Laura Gunn‘s Lantern Bloom. Her display blew me away — there are bird cages and tree branches, and do you see those paintings? Those are the originals from which the fabric was created! I think that’s amazing.

This is Laura’s first collection; it’s very organic and textural, and you can practically see the brush strokes on the fabric. The colors — earthy aqua, saffron, green and brown — complement each other quite well.

See more Lantern Bloom here; Laura also has a new line of girls clothes and bag patterns coming soon for Michael Miller called Poppy Patterns.

Another new Michael Miller release is Paula Prass‘s Summer Soiree, previewed here on True Up. Paula was so fun to meet: she always had adorable shoes on and she was so friendly.

Her collection is named after evening parties, she said, and each color story has a place name. Black, grey, and yellow? That’s Manhattan. Aqua and green is, of course, Nantucket; pink, orange and white is Miami. The name of each print has to do with parties: Nosegay, Centerpiece, Canopy.

When I asked her the inspiration for this collection, Paula told me that, when she broke her arm, Kathy and Michael Miller sent her a bold, beautiful bouquet of flowers in a black and white square vase. Something kind of like this.

Neat! See more Summer Soiree here.

Lastly from Michael Miller is Patty Young and her new fabric collection, Mezzanine, previewed here on True Up.

According to Patty, her second collection for Michael Miller (following her first, Anda Lucia), was inspired by a 1998 trip to the Netherlands, Belgium, and France: iron gates, stained glass, classic gardens. Flowers and quatrefoils abound.

See more Mezzanine here.

“Really, though,” said Patty, “My girls inspire me to do this.”

You might be able to tell from her new collection of kids clothing patterns, Mod Kid, which is also debuting. For example, those models? Her daughters!