How Exciting Spring Quilt Market was for me and my hard working helper, my sweet Hubs! I told him over and over that I could not have done it without him to lift and reach and carry and of course act as my assistant while I was busy doing the Starch Basting Demo for English Paper Piecing. I thank him for his continued support and encouragement to follow my dreams through the years! We spent a few days on vacation before Quilt Market and here's a picture of my Sweet Hubs! (I never really think of him being so tall until I see us in pictures together!)
He was able to just reach up easily to assemble the pipes and drapes and hang the quilts! It's nice to have an extra foot in height for jobs like these! It really helped the booth go together very quickly! In the photo below we still has a bit of work to do, but you can see it looks pretty much the same as when I vend at shows, but there is only patterns sitting out on the table.
After we set the booth up we went to a heavy restaurant to gain some energy before Sample Spree. As we left for dinner, the lines were already forming to get in! They had several lines forming as we returned and must have let folks into the room in an orderly fashion from all of the various waiting lines.
For a display during Sample Spree, which is very basic and not as fancy as the booth area of Quilt Market, I made poster prints of many of my patterns and hung them from a home made pipe structure. I think it showed the store owners a bit of what I offer and the display worked very well!
When Quilt Market opened, it was busy pretty early on since I was in the first row. My booth was located all the way at the end of the first row and at first I felt I would be lost in the huge room, but after being there a while, I realized that shoppers keep organized and hit all the spots at Quilt Market so they don't miss anything! I'm sure glad they found me! It was fun to show them my English Paper Piecing Basting method so they can share it with customers. So fun to see how excited people get once they see it happen so easily! I know the woman in the photo below is saying..."What is on her finger?" A common question when I demo the technique!
I met many new friends from all over the world! Some I know from Face Book and others are brand new friends in the industry who are willing to offer any advice to help a "newbie" in the industry.
And still others were Shop owners from my own state. It's nice to see friendly faces wherever they are from!
Overall, Quilt Market was a success for my little business. I gained several magazine contracts and several more types of industry activities are "in the works"! I met so many wonderful people and look forward to getting to know them better as we work together in one way or another! Now, it's back to designing and getting some new patterns ready. It's been too long since I have held a needle in hand. Prepping is happening now...stitching soon to follow! I can't wait!
I leave you with a great photo of my family together in the Florida Panhandle just a few days ago. I would sure love to live there!! It's so beautiful! First, my parents,
And my immediate family,
And all of us together! We had an awesome time together!
I'll be vending in Duluth, MN at the Minnesota Quilter's Show June 11-13. It's an awesome show with many top notch quilts on display as well as lots of vendors. If you are free, come and see me! After that I'll be at a NEW show, The Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival June 19-21. It should also be a great show so please come on out and see me there if this is close to your neck of the woods! I'd love to meet you! One other note... Have you heard about the new magazine Punch Needle and Primitive Stitchery? The 1st issue is being shipped now and it sold out so they are printing another run! Be sure to subscribe if you want to get in on this new magazine. I've got a project in the first issue...can't wait to see it in print!
Take care and thanks for stopping by today!
Missie
Visit my web store www.TraditionalPrimitives.com
