My Favorite April Shipping Collections

I hope you all had a nice Easter. I am very excited about April as the weather is starting to get warmer and the summer is getting nearer….my favorite season. I am even more excited about some of the Jaftex April shipping collections as this is when all of our harvest and Halloween collections ship. With that, let me do a little run through of some of my favorites for this month.

As you can tell from the above logo, I am going to start with the Blank Quilting Corporation. My favorite line is Front 9 by Elizabeth Medley. This selection leads back to what I said earlier about summer being near. Summer is when I get a chance to play golf and as such, this line hits the sweet spot. It’s a small group with only 9 designs, but it sure is mighty for all the golfers out there waiting to hit the links. It has all the essentials including golf balls, tees, golf carts, golf clubs, golf gloves and so much more. To me, this one is an ace in the hole. Speaking of ace in the hole, did I ever tell you that I had a hole-in-one? Just sayin’.

By the way, how enticing is this image below? I can’t wait. Let’s just hope my 50-year-old back can hold up for a season….or a few rounds for that matter. Who wants in my foursome?

Since we have a lot of lines shipping in April, I am also going to pick a quick honorable mention. My second favorite line is Ocean Menagerie by Urban Essence Designs. There are a few reasons for this selection. For one, I am a little bit of a nature boy at heart. Secondly, fishing is/was one of my favorite nature boy activities. I have great memories fishing with all the Fortunoff boys from the 2nd generation to the 5th and I look forward to many more in this lifetime.

Another reason I like this line takes me back to my earliest years in business. It was when my dad said something to me that I will probably never forget and probably won’t stop repeating. At some point you will probably hear my kids say it too. All prints look good on black grounds. Have you ever thought about this? I always find this to be very true!

Alrighty then, moving on to FreeSpirit. For my top choice, I am going to have to go with Everglow by none other than Tula Pink. I just love how Tula continues to keep us on our fabric toes all the time. Just when you thought she had done it all, she drops Everglow! I remember when I saw this fabric for the first time at quilt market. It just blew me away. Amazing! I can go on, but the fabric speaks for itself and I am sure you are all very well aware of this line. Let me give you a taste if you haven’t seen it yet.

For honorable mention, I am going to have to go with Reflections by my dear friend Brandon Mably. This is a great basic to follow his ever-famous jumble. Let me show you a few of my favorite color combos. What’s your favorite?

Next up, we have Henry Glass! As I mentioned at the opening of this post, April is when we ship harvest and Halloween collections. I didn’t want to overdo it with picking too many Halloween favorite collections. As such, I picked one and it’s called Halloween Ball by Color Principle. The art for this collection is so clever. I just love the depictions of Frankenstein, Dracula and what looks like Elvira. How fabulous is this panel below?

Look how good it looks in the free project. Look at the moon over the top of the house with the people hanging on for dear life….what a great touch.

Before I move on to honorable mention, I wanted to show the trick or treat bags.

OK, maybe one more. Love this one below too!

For honorable mention, I am going to have to go with Stand Tall by Janet Rae Nesbitt of One Sister Designs. I am going to call this my favorite fall/harvest/autumn line. It’s great because Janet brings us a line that is not what you would expect. That’s always a great thing when designers go out on limb with an entirely new look. For starters, this panel below is really neat and different. It combines a nice selection of words with a partial sunflower and lots of the coordinates in the background that are in the collection too.

I also love some of the neutral basics for this line. They will be very functional for all quilters. Let me show you a few.

Last, but not least. You guessed it, Studio E Fabrics! For my top pick, I am going to have to go with Night Owls by Kathleen Francour. I can talk about the great art and owl prints, but I wanted to share something interesting. When I started in the business around 16 years ago, Kathleen Francour designed for A.E. Nathan. She had a nice run and then one day, she wasn’t designing anymore. It was so great when she reached out to start designing for us again. It’s cool how things go full circle sometimes. I look forward to sharing many more of her lines with you. Allow me to leave you with one of the images of the free projects we are offering for this collection.

And for the Studio E honorable mention, I am going with Paws For America by Jill Meyer. This has two things that I love dearly, my great country and my dog. The free project below sums this line up wholeheartedly. So cute!

That’s all she wrote folks. Which is your favorite? Let me hear about it in the comments.