Spring 2009 Quilt Market Reviews

The International Quilt Market is the place to be for everything new and fabulous in the quilting world. Too bad you have to be a quilt shop owner (or equivalent) to attend. This is where store owners go to place orders for all the new fabrics and other products, as well as take classes and meet the designers. For those of us dying to get in and catch a glimpse of all those yummy new fabrics, cool new tools, and amazing designer celebrities, here is a round up of a few Spring 2009 International Quilt Market reviews from blogland.

The most comprehensive Spring Quilt Market review I’ve seen is from Checker, a Market vendor with the real inside scoop.

Store owner Kelly from I Have a Notion has a multiple-part series about her first trip to Quilt Market.

True Up offers a series from guest blogger Supafine.

Julie at Quilt Market is a blog started just to share Julie’s adventures at Quilt Market!

Fabric and jewlery designer Genevieve Gail Swinford has a four-part series from a designer’s point of view.

And Fabric Worm has a great two-part blog post with lots of pictures of fun fabrics.

As if Diwali weren’t colorful and fun enough, The Festival of Lights: A Lift-the-flap Diwali Celebration by Namita Moolani Mehra, illustrated by Darshika Varm, makes it even more fun to read about with flaps and things to lift and pull to see more information or details in the illustrations.

The book is a story about a family getting ready for Diwali and what happens on the different days of the five-day celebration. There’s cleaning, shopping, crafting, food preparation and getting the home altar ready for the big day.

It covers decorating the outside of the house with rangoli, diyas and lanterns, buying sweets to share with family and friends, the sights and scents of the mandir (home temple), getting dressed up in new fancy clothes, the story of Diwali and celebrations with relatives.

Flaps (there are more than 140 in all) give you vocabulary words for different foods and definitions, as well as fun things like what’s inside the shopping basket or where the cat is hanging out. They also help illuminate the story of Diwali, which is the triumph of good over evil as Lord Ram defeated the demon Ravana to save his wife, Sita.

This pretty and colorful book helps kids understand what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, regardless of whether they practice it at home. This would be a nice book to keep in a classroom (it’s rated for kids ages 3-7) or to have at home to teach kids about Diwali even if it’s not something you celebrate. Where I live there are a lot of people from India so we are probably exposed to Diwali more than some other regions of America, but it’s a nice holiday to know about wherever you live.

Combine with the book Diwali and check out some fun lantern crafts and printables for kids to round out your experience.

About the book: 24 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail prices $22.99.

Have you read?