Quilt Market - Day One

Yesterday was a terrible day.  Well not terrible in a bad way, but I (and many others) received some very sad news.  Our beloved local quilt shop will be closing.  Yes, Ruti's Needlebed will be closing at the end of the year. I know that we lament everytime we hear of a quilt shop closing, but this was my GO TO shop.  I was there twice this past week to get emergency supplies.  It is 8 minutes from my house.  What am I going to do???? 

DH says I should buy it as it will likely be less work than I'm currently doing!   I won't be buying the quilt shop, but this is very sad news.  I'm happy for Ruthi as she will be able to spend way more time with her family, but sad for me!

There was another baseball game last night, but the fans were a tad more subdued when they left the stadium as the Astros did not win.  In a way that's a good thing as if there was a chance that they could win the World Series tonight, the town would be wild.  As it is, there's heavy security EVERYWHERE.   There are helicopters flying overhead, snipers on rooftops, cops EVERYWHERE, streets are blocked off. I guess we should feel safe!

And did I mention the weather?  We are in Houston. Houston is south. South is supposed to be warm. Well, it's NOT warm here. I saw people walking around with parkas (well winter type coats with hoods) yesterday.  I have a sweatshirt!  I do have a nicer jacket, but it doesn't go with everything I brought with me. Thankfully I packed a couple of scarves - they are a godsend to staying warm. But yikes - it's cool!

Yesterday was a crazy busy day.  I met with a number of editors from magazines and got things set up for moving forward. They are a fun bunch and we had some great laughs. I sat in on a couple of sales meetings and I learned which is always exciting.  How does a quilt shop owner buy fabric?  Well - that depends.  It's just very interesting and I was able to help out on several calls so that was exciting.  I barely left the booth all day. I did pop out once to the washroom where I spent a few moments chatting up the APQS (American Professional Quilt System - the long arm guys) because I want something!  Something big and well I'm not ready to talk about it just yet.  But oh my!   That darn Marilyn - it's all her fault!!!

Here are a couple of photos that I snapped of our booth.  Good grief, there isn't even time to take pictures.  This is the Bold Beautiful Basics side of the booth.   I'll take close-ups of the quilts today.  I might actually take my camera so I'll remember?  I doubt it.

Northcott booth - Bold Beautiful Basics

 All the quilts on this side were made with Northcott basic collections.  Stonehenge, Toscana, Colorworks, and Shimmer.  It's very exciting to work with these basics. No dangers of not being able to get more.  But this one below is my FAVORITE --   I met the designer at Quilt Canada and she designed and made this quilt.  It's stunning in real life. And Marilyn quilted it.  I'll show you more another day!

Wolfgang  and Salvadore Dali

 Those eyes are very piercing.  It's a pattern that you can buy online.  I don't have all the info with me, but I'll put it up tomorrow.  Anyone want a class???

Speaking of classes, I started the day out with a mini-class. They are called Take n Teach.  I have to say that I was a bit disappointed in the class that I signed up for.  It was about an interesting topic, but there were issues.  I wanted to stop by our booth before attending the class. Can't into the booth area until 8 AM and the class starts at 8 AM.  I thought, oh boy - I'll be late - well that's OK.  By the time that I arrived - about 8:15, the instructor was just starting.  And then she muddled through a power point presentation.  About 1/3 of the class left which isn't a good thing.  I fiddled with my phone, did my nails but I stayed.  It did get better but was a wee bit disappointing.
I had appointments booked all day. When someone doesn't show, you can't say "oh I now have a free hour". Because what if they do arrive and then you could be meeting with them. But then I got involved in the sales calls so that was OK.  Will try to reschedule those appointments. 

Often times it's a question of the right time, wrong day.  Anyway - it's not a big deal.  Nothing life or death and it allowed me to get involved and meet a few more people that I wouldn't normally have done.

Here's something I learned.  When you make appointments for meetings in another time zone, you should include the time zone in the meeting set up.  Otherwise, the times are all wrong when you get to the new time zone.  It appears that you can't change that - it has to be done while you set up the appointment or I suppose you could edit each appointment, but you can't just change a setting on your phone.  Who knew!    I have a print out on paper so it doesn't matter about the time zone on my phone. I just look at the paper!

I went to the Modern Quilt Guild meet up last night after having dinner with a customer and some of our crew.  It was great and I got to meet up with some friends that I know and made new friends.  we're all becoming one big happy family. With the designers, with the competitors, and with the shops.

I hope to get out and walk the floor at some point. I did make a list of several booths that I'd like to pop by and visit.  Sometimes that is way easier than just walking the floor. 

Here are a couple of shots of the floor that I took last night on my way to the Modern Guild meet and greet. I was on the third floor of the convention center looking down.

Trade floor

Another area of the trade floor

While it's loads of fun to be here, you wouldn't want to have my job.  I didn't have lunch, realized at the end of the day that I hadn't even drunk any water all day, had to be "on" for almost 12 hours (except for one hour before dinner when I went back to the hotel after pulling my wagon with all the supplies for today's class so it could be sorted properly) and here it is early again so I can do the same thing all over again! 

I hope to make it to the quilt displays and I hope to walk the floor. But if I don't, well that's OK because sometimes your brain goes into overload and it's just not fun to do either of those things!

Don't get me wrong - I'm having fun!  It's just not the same when you're working versus visiting!

On that note, I'm out of here to get prepped for the day.

Have a  super day!!!!

Ciao!