Carrie’s photograph-filled posts gave you an excellent idea of the hands-on labor that goes into building Moda's Quilt Market booth. Looks backbreaking, doesn’t it?

But there’s another kind of work that goes into Market, and it's the kind that requires lots of looking, listening, and note taking. While I didn't burn nearly the calories that those who were setting up the booth did, I noticed that while my muscles may not have hurt, my brain did. That’s because there is just so much to see and do. I carried my pink Moleskine notebook everywhere, jotting notes about patterns that appealed, notions that struck my fancy, and of course, the fabric lines I loved.

I also tried to sniff out trends. While it’s not brand-new, one that’s continuing to make its mark is big-stitch quilting. It’s a little ironic that quilters have taken the hand stitching previously prized for its small, unobtrusive look and turned it on its head. Today’s hand-quilting calls attention to itself with threads in colors that contrast and lines that echo or cross over design elements. You can find it in both modern and traditional quilts.

Laurie Simpson of Minick and Simpson used big-stitch quilting in Circle Garden, the pattern she created using their Polka Dots & Paisleys . Laurie uses 12-weight Aurifil thread and size 9 John James Darners or sizes 8, 9, and 10 Tulip Milliners needles. She only marked one of her lines—the first one—and then eyeballed the rest. The not-perfectly-even look reminds her of Indian kantha quilts, and she likes the handmade ambience it gives Circle Garden.

Corey Yoder highlighted a couple of quilts in her new Prairie line with big stitch quilting. She chose to use multiple colors of Presencia 8-weight perle cotton on a single quilt, and these two provide a great example of the way it looks on both a light and dark background. (The light background is her Floret Mini Quilt, which is included in her Sweetness patterns, and the dark background is Gingersnap.)

And then there was Moda fabric rep David Evanciew. Though he didn’t sew it himself, his shirt was evidence that the big-stitch trend extends beyond the world of quilting. Here’s David posing in Joanna Figueroa’s booth (where the black of his shirt and jacket works perfectly with the accents of black in her new Farmhouse line), and a close-up of the big stitches on the placket of his shirt.

If you were at Quilt Market, did you pick up on any trends? Do tell!