So knowing the Apatcheez want to be at the forefront of fashion and also want to know what’s ‘chic on the streets’, this post is dedicated to what’s trending in the quilting world. As you know I had to attend AQC in Melbourne for two full days to determine what’s hot and what’s not (tough life) as well as do extra research to bring you the most up-to-date ideas on colour and composition. So here’s what I’ve found:

1. Vintage is In Vogue! Still!

You’ve all heard about the rise of vintage style in fashion and homewares and you may be a little bemused at the popularity of some items that you may have thought outdated – especially if you wore them the first time around. But don’t be fooled. Vintage is still big business and naturally the fashion flows through to all aspects of our lives – including our pastimes. So put the Ludo aside while I’m talking to you and concentrate!

Pantone just released their Spring/Summer 2015 Report and lo and behold the colours do seem to be a tad, well ‘granny couture’. A little bit like the shortie pyjamas Nanna used to give you for Christmas perhaps? Lucite green indeed!

Now don’t those colours correspond to the cushions above perfectly? And the cushions were made from vintage sheets! They were on The Crafty Squirrel stand.

We saw lots of quilts that have these cooler softer colours, generally they were teamed with white and they did look fresh and crisp. The look is called “en plein air” and flowers prevailed.

Remember yo-yos? We’ve been playing with their more sophisticated cousin the kanzashi flower for a couple of years but the standard yo yo is back – and it’s vintage now!

2. Whimsy Rules

Designers are keen to show you the sweeter side of life – probably a reaction to the constant onslaught of bad news we seem to be under. We saw this in all manner of projects from large quilts to small items like the mouse above.

I showed you the Kellie Wulfsohn stand yesterday and it underlined this style perfectly. I noted with interest that she has changed some of her standard patterns to more subtle colours. For example, the Alphabet quilt below was originally in primary red blue and yellow.  Her designs have been sought after since she started and always have a ‘delicate’ look even when they are in primaries – maybe it’s the raw-edge applique technique she uses. Whatever it is we will continue to stock her patterns because they make us happy.

A very clever stand was this one promoting the Alice in Wonderland fabric:

and another was the Material Obsession girls:

3 Pincushions are Back

Well they never really went away did they? We always need a pincushion and some of us have collections. Making a pincushion is a great way to use up fabric remnants and is a lovely gift for someone when a large quilt is out of the question because the UFO list is already too long.

Helen Stubbings has a lovely wrist pincushion as one of the Hexie Club projects so look out for that – here it is in Helen’s colours:

You can make lots of other projects if you have the energy and you can see that cushions were also big this year.

Sorry about the picture quality there but I was dazzled by the colours and that brings me to the next trend –

4. Felt is In

Felting has gained popularity over the past few years and there are some very talented people around who can conjure up chic bohemian garments and even arty farty compositions. Putting felting together with quilting has not been seen too much until now. Well it’s been seen but not with cotton fabrics and not in general quilting world.

This is one of Segolaine Schweitzer’s quilts and she predominantly works with wool felt.

And here’s a basket of felt matched with fabric that is just crying out to be taken home:

I think it was at the Material Obsessions stand. Sue Spargo has been utilising this medium for some time and I think these were for one of her cushions (should’ve taken better notes).

Marg Low, who I mentioned yesterday, had a perfectly delightful stand with all kinds of felt applique from tree skirts

 – to Christmas baubles –

to bunny-related designs –

which brings us to the next trend –

5. Embroidery is Hip

Now my Embroidery Guild ladies already knew this but embroidery is certainly making its presence felt in the quilting world. While it was almost unheard of in Europe and America for quite some years it is now quite common to see some embroidery incorporated into a quilt. I also showed you Segolaine Schweitzer’s work yesterday. Here it is again.

And here are some closer details of the embroidery she did on each week’s ‘block’

I think this little guy ticks the whimsy box as well. Isn’t he charming?

And while we’re looking at these blocks we can’t help but notice that they are hexagonal which brings us to:-

6 Hexies are still taking the world by storm

They’re everywhere!

You see them in kitchen shops

and you see them in stationery shops

and you see them in the quilting world too of course. The Apatcheez have been working away at the Hexie Club projects that I mentioned before but you could really decorate the whole house in hexies

Linda White from Gum Valley Patchwork had this beauty on her stand that I think also ticks the vintage box.

Maybe the whole world could be covered in hexies. Think about that until next time happy quilting

Kaye