Whether you consider yourself a traditional quilter or an art quilter, not a year goes by that Quilt Market ushers in new items to enhance your quilting. Specialty threads, fusibles, beads, paints, stamps, found objects, hand-dyed fabrics, and new fibers are appearing on today's quilts. As you experiment with one or more, you soon realize it's easy to expand your art.

Specialty threads create or accent designs on a quilt. Quilters can add to a design by "painting" the surface of the quilt top with different threads. These come in variegated colors, weights, and materials, from silks to metallics. Extremely realistic pictures and portraits are created this way, as the threads accent the fabric base.

Fusibles come in many brands for different purposes. You have wash-away stabilizers that allow you to create a design in thread and then dissolve the backing. You can then attach your creation to your quilt top. Some fusibles are designed to permanently hold fabric in place while you quilt over it. Some have a thin layer that allows you to reposition a piece of fabric until you are satisfied and then sew it down. With fusibles you need to carefully check each manufacturer's directions, as application can vary extensively. Test pieces are critical to see if you can sew through the fabric the way you want for your design.

Beads of all sizes and shapes are popular, from seed beads to bangles in multitudes of colors. Also available are small crystals, rhinestones, smaller gems, and hand-crafted glass. Some quilters use a few beads to accent a design, others will bead extensively along geometric borders. The amount and kind of beading depend on your design; you need to determine what will enhance your quilt. Don't bead just for the sake of adding beads to your quilt. Let your quilting and overall design tell you what is needed. Watch for needle size and specialty thread to attach beads. For quilts that receive a lot of wear, be very careful with attaching beads for durability.

Paint might not seem like something to use on a quilt, but paint sticks, colored pencils, and dye paints can all add interesting effects. Colored pencils enhance shadowing in a design, as do paint sticks. Dyes can be used to create your own fabrics before you even cut out a design. Fabric paints allow you to add children's handprints to a family quilt. Fabric crayons can let you create special memory squares for a family event. Read manufacturer's instructions, and test-drive first on small scraps of fabric.

Stamps aren't just for scrapbooks and cards anymore. With fabric paints, stamps can be used all over a quilt top to enhance motifs, like stamping shells onto a "watery" quilt top. You also can make your own stamps. Whether it be cotton, silk, or even velvet, stamps add design elements and texture. Stamp a basic design, then use specialty threads to add color, or use fabric paint to enhance the design.

Found objects are exacty that - things hanging around that suddenly have a new purpose. Maybe it's something you found on a walk, like an odd-shaped piece of scrap matel that would enhance the theme of your quilt. Maybe it's grandma's button collection. Or - maybe it's petals off some silk flowers that will add a three-dimensional effect to a design.

Hand-dyes, batiks, and marbled fabrics are some of the new specialty fabrics you will find on the market. Subtle to wild backgrounds or accent pieces, these fabrics are not necessarily commercially produced; you will be dealing with individual artists who create these fabrics.

New fibers are coming on the market yearly. Yarns that are reminiscent of ocean waves and bird feathers can add wonderful texture and dimension to a quilt top. Silk ribbon is popular, especially for crazy quilting.

Whatever you want on or in a quilt, today's market will have something to appeal. And if you can't find something, chances are someone will have produced it for the next quilt market.

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