Set Up Day

 OH --- as promised, it was a long day! We loaded everything in the car—OH MY -- what a task! We were off and arrived about 8:30. It's been such a long time since I've been to the International Center that I kind of forgot the lay of the land, but it soon all flooded back to me. How many carts of notions did I push up that ramp for Alma or Gail? 

And then, how many boxes have I moved for SVP? Oh yes -- I have a long history with the International Center! 

But not only did I have to deal with someone else's booth this year, but I also had to ensure my show was set up. 

I CANNOT thank Cathy H, Jocelyn S, Mary H, and Maryke W enough for everything they did. The show looks fantastic, and I could not have done it without them. You guys are the best!! 

There are just a few small things to add this morning, and it's ready! 

The setup for our booth also went smoothly for the most part. But here's the thing—we are 100% reliant on the work crew for a lot of stuff. And that work crew is unionized—I'm pretty sure about that. Many are young, and I wonder how good their language skills are. 

If you want something, it takes forever! Case in point, we had a skid of sewing machines moved to a classroom. The plan was for the strapping young guy to remove the machines from the skid and place one on each table. OH NO - he says. I just drive the pump jack used to move the skid. I'll send someone else to do the lifting. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 

After waiting 10 minutes, I moved all the machines in about 10 minutes. By the time someone arrived, we were already unboxing machines. I just don't get why a simple task is so difficult to accomplish. I'm not going there, but it's frustrating, to say the least. 

While I'm not a fan of setup day, I LOVE being at the show. There is so much going on, so many people I haven't seen in a long time, beautiful quilts, enticing booths to tease money out of your wallet. Oh my --- it's a great show!!!! And I haven't even seen it yet, other than what I saw as I racked up MANY km yesterday walking back and forth through the hall. 

The chaos of the setup day!

One of the new retreat houses has a booth. I am checking this retreat house out in a couple of weeks!! If anyone is interested, there are still a couple of spots - we are firmly booked at 6, but I'd be willing to take one or two more if you are interested! It's in St. Clements, Ontario. It's called Anita Retreat.

Anita Retreat booth

As I was ripping around, I had a question for Vanessa, and was about to chat with her, but realized that she was live streaming as she counted up the inches of binding she had received from people! 

Vanessa is live-streaming about binding! 

I haven't taken any pictures of my show yet, but I'll document it this week and share it with everyone after the show. 

We finally left the SVP booth at 5 PM. I know—it's always a long slog. I don't know that it needs to be that long, but it is. I'm not in charge, so there is nothing I can do about that. It is going to be a very busy day at the show, and I can't wait. I must remember to drink lots of water, as I have a feeling I'll be chatting a lot with people! 

Getting into the show is not cheap, but you will get good value for your money. There are MANY quilts to see - you have the National Juried Show. We watched the awards ceremony online last night, and it was hilarious, as some of our Monday Sewing Group was also watching, and we were chatting back and forth on our chat app. It was almost like being in person, but no one had to SHUSH us when we talked too loud! 

There are the concurrent shows, and there are quite a few of them—my show (of course!), the youth challenge, rosette winners, and others. You can check out the complete list here. 

There is the Trendtex Challenge, which is a little different this year. First, all 82 of the quilts are spectacular!! I usually buy one, but which one do I want? So many to choose from. One of my quilts is in the show -- check that out! All those darn 3-D flowers! Made by hand! The silent auction is ONLINE this year. What? I'm not sure I'm a fan of that, but it allows people who can't attend the show to participate. I'll see how that goes - it will take longer to check on the bids!! But you can vote here. Don't vote for the one I want, as I'll outbid you! Just kidding - it has happened in the past - we've had bidding wars at the last minute! I should post my collection of Trendtex Challenge quilts someday. 

Before I go, I want to congratulate Cathy Harnish!! She won second place in the Wallhangings category—ones made from patterns or books—for her Long Time Gone, which is from the class I taught! I'll grab pictures later, as I'm running out of time. 

She also has her Tula Pink Butterfly Quilt in the Rosette Show, which was also a product of my class. You must check out Cathy's amazing long-arm quilting on both. She has a computerized long arm, and she knows how to make it sing! 

Be sure to stop by the booths to say hello and check out the quilts in the show celebrating my 25 years of teaching quilt making!! The quilts the students loaded are SPECTACULAR!!!! Thanks to everyone for loaning the quilts! 

Well, I need to get myself organized for the day. 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!