There's a famous movie line from "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" about "we don't need no stinkin' badges..."  It's been widely quoted, mis-quoted, paraphrased and borrowed.

And it's wrong.  We do need these badges.

Think Merit Badges - think scouting.  Think "really cute".  Better than buttons.

The badges shown above were given away at Quilt Market by the designers - though not all of the badges came easily.  Some designers required a story, the answer to a question or something a little "more".  While I didn't see any juggling, magic tricks or daring-deeds performed, there was some singing.

If you weren't at Quilt Market, these super-cute, super-collectible badges will be coming to a shop near you soon.  (Shipping is scheduled for late June.)  While some of the designer badges from Market won't be available, there will be several new, "I'm going to need those" badges.

If you're wondering how the badges came about, there's not a one of us in the office who doesn't like and collect this sort of thing.  From saving our old Girl Scout badges to buying vintage and new badges in trendy shops and online, it was funny how many of them everybody had.  So why not do something quilt- and stitch-related?

The designers!  If we liked this sort of thing, so would they, right?  Yep.  They loved the idea - right up until they were asked to provide what they wanted their merit badge to be based on their style, personality or whim.  Some were stumped and a few had a lot of ideas - a lot.  Fortunately, they had Joy - the uber-awesome graphic designer who created the badges.  She sent designs and options based on their requests, suggestions, fabric style, etc.  They got to pick their favorite - though in some cases, it was a first-come, first served sort of thing.

I think there are now 8,283 badges.  Okay, a slight exaggeration but there were about forty different badges at Quilt Market.  The pink International Quilt Market 2016 badge was only available at Market, it came with the bag shown below - it was the gift provided to shopowners with a Moda appointment.

The smiling yellow badge was given to everyone attending the Moda Customer Appreciation Party.  So just showing up at the right time and place to get a badge took a little effort - and it was duly rewarded.

So if you're wanting merit badges - they're coming!

And stay tuned... if you've spent any time here in the past year, you've probably already guessed that I might have a bag and a few badges stashed away for a giveaway.  Not today but soon.

Really.  You want these, don't you?