When the planets are aligned (or there is a deadline looming!)

I know - you don't have to tell me!  I just came away from 10 days of sewing at two different retreats, yet there I was last night madly sewing a sample that needs to be photographed for a magazine. Of course - it's urgent!  There are a few more things that need to be done by Monday evening - just a few. The total number of which I will NOT divulge to protect my reputation.

The mini-quilt I worked on was one that I just recently made, but it was too big!  Silly me - didn't think about what I was doing.  So the new resized center was already done and the pattern was written. Last night, I added the borders. Well, that went well. Let's get that BRAND NEW sewing machine out (no - I didn't buy one - it's for QUILTsocial but I'm not sharing yet - however it sews like a dream!).   Found a scrap of batting that was the right size, basted (with the iron), quilted with invisible thread on the top and the bottom -   NO broken needles. Matter of fact that machine seemed to be taunting me.  "Sew faster - sew faster!" And yet I was wary because of my previous experience with my own machine. But it worked like a charm. Let's trim and get that narrow binding on.  I cut the binding at 2" - something I NEVER do.  I was so focused and it went on beautifully. It was only when I was done that I realized that I had sewn it on the FRONT of the mini-quilt, not the back. That meant that unless I took it off, I would have to hand stitch it.

Oh crap - the hockey game is on, DH is watching it - I might as well go and join him.  So I did. I even had the hanging sleeve on and all got hand stitched in place - just minutes after the hockey game ended. I have to say that I ended up watching the game by myself - imagine - ME watching TV alone - only because he had to leave to get to the airport. I even managed to turn the TV off myself, but if I hadn't, I'm sure that Murphy would have appreciated that I left the TV on - she seems to love watching TV.

Yeah - all that remains is a label, but that won't be in the photos so I'm home free on this one.  Now to get the guys to take the pictures today and I'm good on this one.  Check, check and check!!!!

Then onto the next urgent things to be done.  I fixed the dog collar for the office dog. More on that another day!  I made the bottom insert cover for TWO bags - had to cut the plasticore and make the sleeve. Those are done.

Cut out the next mini project - hope to sew that today and get it photographed.  Got some supplies lined up for the next project.  Imagine - I need TWO  (not one, but TWO) cream zippers that are 14" long.  Oh, shoot- what are the chances of finding those in the zipper box cause who has time to go buy zippers.

Turns out the chances are very high.  Right on top - there were two zippers - EXACTLY what I needed.   YEAH!!!!!

TWO zippers - exactly what I need

See what I mean?  I didn't even have to dump this out. Opened the box and VOILA - two zippers!

The zipper box

So what was the other thing that I received yesterday????  Something very yummy.

Cookies

And not just any cookies - NO - these are cycling cookies.

Cycling cookies!!!

They came special delivery all the way from Vancouver. A big THANK YOU to M (whom you've all thought has probably died since you never hear about her anymore).   I had ONE last night and they were fresh and very yummy indeed.

A super, super productive 24 hours.  Now if only I would have done this while I was at the retreat?  That would make life way too simple.  Not to mention that I have two quilts to quilt by Saturday AM - one is half done on the machine and MUST be finished tonight (despite the fact that I have a meeting to go to) and homework to prep for the weekend.  Sunday - I'll be quarantined in the studio to get a lap quilt done in a day!

Most of what I'm working on is for Paducah which is NEXT WEEK, although there are two magazine submissions happening at the same time.  One is done except photos - the other - well I got all the fabric organized yesterday!  I'm not asking for sympathy - I'm just a procrastinator!  Besides - I love working under pressure and work better and faster when there is a deadline. Otherwise, I'm just coasting.

BUT - If you're going to Paducah - there is an amazing series of videos on this link to help you plan your trip.  Wait until you see where we're staying!  I thought it was weird - now I know it is. Very unusual and I was certain there was a mistake. If you are coming to Paducah, don't forget to come and visit the Northcott booth.  We are in the Pavillion, otherwise known at the bubble. Our booth number is 4715. We have free stuff to giveaway and you have to come and see what I've been working on that is part of our free stuff!   I'll take pictures for those that can't make it.

Going to be fun - once we get there!

Have a super day!

Ciao!!!

Paducah Day Four

Good morning.  Greetings from Louisville, Kentucky!  Home of the Kentucky Derby which takes place in two weeks.  Apparently, the next two weeks are crazy as they build up to that 2-minute race!  The main bridge was blocked off last night as we were getting to our hotel, but thankfully our hotel was on the right side of the bridge and we had the GPS to guide us past that detour as the highways leading to the bridge were blocked for a massive fireworks display.  We watched the display on TV in the bar as we ate dinner.

The last day of Paducah!  Funny how we use the word Paducah - while it is a town in the middle of Kentucky, it is also a mecca for quilters.  The aisles were much quieter today than the previous days. But we still managed to get people to sign up for our newsletter and we still had giveaways. Quilters love giveaways.

Patti and I managed to get out a bit on separate occasions, but with a steady trickle of people still coming by - our goal was to capture them! I did buy two more things from the booth next door to Northcott - a couple of cute bag patterns. While there are many shops here, there are also a lot of companies that only do shows.  Wow- that's a lot of hard work - setting up, standing all day and then tearing the booth down at the end of the show.

And it can be dangerous as well. As I was returning our cart to the loading dock area, a rather large man was running down the dock with a large cart that he was trying to control and well - I envisioned a disaster. He did manage to get control of the cart before it rammed into the side of a van that was parked at the bottom, but stuff fell off the cart.  Ah - I've learned over the years that it's best to back down those ramps or you are going to be in trouble!  He just got incredibly lucky or he was very strong to stop that cart - I think he was desperate and adrenaline kicked in and he had momentary, super-human strength to stop that cart.

We said our farewells to some familiar faces whom we'll see again next month at Salt Lake City, we said our farewells to the new friends we made at the booths next to us and then we were tearing down.

It took 45 minutes to get everything down and packed into boxes and then an additional 15 minutes and we had everything in the two cars and we were off. The back seat of Patti's car is a tad full, but we managed to get everything in that was to go back to the office so that is good. Rich went home with a much lighter vehicle!  Of course - we handed out a lot of giveaways so that emptied a box or two as well.

It was about a 3-hour drive to Louisville and we chatted up a storm. I have to say that I'm about chatted out!  Can you imagine that!  Patti regaled me with stories of the history of Northcott and it was fun to listen how the company has evolved over the many years of its' existence.

We have a long drive ahead of us today.  Guessing it will be about 10 hours in total so I don't expect to get home until dinner time or shortly after. Now who was it that said that travel was fun?  I enjoy the shows, I enjoy meeting the people, but the long days and the traveling to and from - well they are tiring!  Oh my god - could I be getting old?  Would I want to give it up?  Of course not!  The fun definitely outweighs the tiredness.

I was pretty stiff when I got out of the car last night, I can't imagine what I'll be like tonight! Better have a cane ready for me when I arrive home!

We went into the Central Time Zone on our way from Atlanta to Paducah which helped with our timing since we had a late start that first morning.  Somewhere along the way yesterday, we switched back into the Eastern Time Zone.  It was good that it happened last night - I would hate to be on the road today and thinking we will arrive at 6 when in fact, we will arrive at 7.

Oh yes - it was hilarious to watch people pack up yesterday.  I was sitting in the hotel lobby having my breakfast and people were trying to shove all their packages into their vehicles.  Vans with luggage carriers on top and I'm guessing they were packed full.  The backs of vans were jammed with stuff - it was great fun to watch!  It would appear that instead of going to the show and leaving on Friday after the show, that many stayed the night and then headed out on Saturday morning.

No pictures today - I did take a few and I'll get them posted this week coming up.

Have a great day!

Ciao!

Paducah - Day Three

It's the last day of Paducah for 2016.  As much fun as it's been, I'll be glad to get on the road later today. This seriously is the MECCA of quilting.  I'm not sure how big this show is compared to Festival in Houston - it's just that Houston is a huge city compared to Paducah and therefore having all these extra people doesn't seem out of place.  But here in Paducah with all the buses, people wandering from venue to venue or they can take the shuttle bus - well - it's just totally different and a load of fun!

We got to the venue early yesterday and thanks to a vendor badge, I could get in to see the main part of the quilts while it was closed to the public. Yeah as I had 40 minutes to quickly walk the aisles. Some amazing quilts and fun to see some "old" favorites as some of these quilts were in Houston, some in QuiltCon, some in Lancaster and now here in Paducah.

I snapped a pile of pictures. There were quite a few medallion style quilts and the quilting is over the top. The modern quilts have NO quilting on them compared to the quilting on these quilts. People have spent HOURS on these quilts - OK - more like days to quilt some of them. Bright colors, fabulous designs and quite a nice show from that perspective.

I didn't find the show was as busy as I was anticipating  (yesterday). Don't get me wrong - the aisles are packed, our booth is packed almost all the time, it's just they are spread out everywhere.  I think the first day was still the busiest day. I would have to say that we've accomplished our mission here.  People come into our booth gushing about our fabric hoping that we have some for sale. But everyone who comes in goes away with something and that makes them happy.

I have some pictures on my phone and I'll have to share them with you when I get them loaded up. Let's just say that we had fun!  We weren't afraid to ask people for their pictures!

Thankfully the show closes at four today.  Standing for 9 hours and being UP the entire time is very hard work. Around four my feet and legs were about ready to cave. I'm not sure how Patti can stay standing the entire time. I don't mind to be on my feet, but I need to be walking around so from time to time, I did zip out here or there just to get moving!

And I broke down and bought a couple of things.  Someone who had been in our booth on a previous day stopped by to tell me that there were license plates for sale in one of the booths in the main hall. We'd been chatting about license plates the day before and she remembered and came back to tell me.  Now that was very sweet of her.  I popped up and bought all three plates - one from last year - what's one more plate to add to the pile!  And then each of the two plate styles from this year.  OH, what the heck!

After the show closed, Rich and I ran around trying to find a copy of the latest issue of Modern Patchwork which was just released.  Northcott has an ad in the magazine using my quilt that I made for QuiltCon.  How exciting is that!  There is a massive bookstore here in town - called Books a Million and at first, we didn't spot it and then yeah! - there it was.  This place was HUGE.

Sorry, this next picture is sideways - but there is my quilt called Uptown. You can get the pattern as a free download on Northcott website. And that's my couch in the picture - it's still in pieces after our trip home from QuiltCon - I  must reassemble it.  I love it so I don't have to dump my stuff on the floor.

The Northcott ad with my quilt called Uptown and my couch!!!!

While we were scouring the magazines, we had a surprise.  We had this most energetic, enthusiastic lady visit our booth and well - no story will do justice to her.  I had to take a picture and when we arrived at the bookstore, there she was.  She remembered Rich's name and well - you just had to be there. She was a lot of fun!

Rich and our best contestant of the day

Back to the hotel to regroup for dinner which we shared with Susan Claire from NEW ZEALAND. What a fun night we had - I'm sure Rich was a little bored as we did talk quilting for a great part of the evening. However, he may have learned just how silly and obsessed we are. And if Susan had her way, I'd be in her car tonight winging my way to Salt Lake City with her instead of returning home.  Oh my - she is wicked!  We even devised a plan that I could "quilt as you go" by taking Patti's sewing machine with us and getting my quilts prepped for Spring Market. Somehow, I don't think that would fly very well with the office, but it was tempting.

Susan, Patti, and Rich

We went out to Texas Roadhouse once again and they had a board at the front for quilter's to sign where they were from.  The picture above has Susan, Patti and Rich standing next to the board. Actually, there were two boards.

We had the sweetest server last night.  She kept making a mistake about Susan's drink, but because she was so sweet - you had to just love her.

Susan and Payton Raney

On that note, I must gather up all my belongings from this giant suite and get it all packed in my suitcase.  I'm not a spreader when it comes to hotel rooms as I'm afraid of leaving something behind.

Have a great day!

Ciao!!!!

Paducah - Day Two

Let's start off with a correction.  Susan Claire would be mortified if she saw that I wrote she was from Australia.    She is from NEW ZEALAND and there is a big difference.  She even corrected me when I spoke to her - I can't remember things!   Anyway - I changed it on my blog post from yesterday.  Susan Claire of Town and Country - 365 Day challenge is from NEW ZEALAND!!!!

Town and Country - 365 Block a Day quilt by Susan Claire

I learned a valuable lesson last night.  It is not a good idea to mix beer, brownies and very stimulating conversation until 11 PM.  I could not sleep.  Not so much from the beer and the brownies but from the conversation. Essentially we had a planning session for future shows over dinner. It was super productive - this kind of planning session is way better than any in-office planning session and hopefully we can have more of them - meetings and shows!  That's not to say that we didn't talk shop at the previous dinners, but this one was intense!

We went to Pizza Hut for dinner and we closed that restaurant at 9 PM. Came back to the hotel - no - we're not ready to stop yet. So off to a local bar and we closed that place at 10 PM. This time back to the hotel for good and sat in the lounge for another hour and finally up to bed at 11 PM.  Patti took notes, but I have more ideas to add to the mix after that sleepless night!  ACK - it's going to be a long day!!!

Yesterday was a repeat of the first day.  I didn't think it was as busy as the first day, but then it's so hard to judge. I think we had a steadier stream of people for longer in the day, but not always as fast and furious as the previous day.  Doesn't matter - I said my demo a thousand times or so it seems. So here is a question for you - what gets you excited at a quilt show?  Free stuff - patterns and/or fabric? Playing simple games? Looking at quilts, shopping?  Of course - we are a bit of an odd ball since we are NOT selling anything. Anytime you want to chat about quilt show stuff - let me know - I'd love to hear it!

We stopped at the grocery store for sandwiches again - I have to say, they were awfully slow this morning and we waited almost a half hour for those sandwiches!  I think today, we're going to try the food tents at the event. Just for a change.  Managed to get out for a quick lunch and while I needed to get back to the booth, I did take a fast run around of the floor above us.  There were quilts there, but I didn't even stop to look at them. I very quickly checked out the vendors and back to our booth.  Even at the end of the day - there wasn't much time and let's not forget that we're there not just to promote Northcott, but to support the vendors selling Northcott, check out patterns and ideas for future shows/events which leaves very little time for personal shopping.

Did have some interesting conversations with people. Marti Michell was wandering the aisles late in the day and I spoke to her and she ended up staying in our booth for 15 minutes. Rich and I had to leave to chat to one vendor.  Vanessa from Crafty Gemini came by (I had already seen her at her booth upstairs). I saw Ricky Tims in the parking lot, but he doesn't know me from a hole in the ground, but I said HI anyway.

Vanessa - The Crafty Gemini  

I caught her in action at her booth.  See the gray/black quilt on the left and the blue/white quilt behind her?   Those were the two quilts she made for her QuiltCon demos with Northcott fabrics.


Let's see - the more you come to these shows, the more you can name drop!  A young girl came by our booth and gosh - I knew her face.  Then it clicked - she was a winner that I met in Houston.  Her quilt won in Lancaster and again here in Paducah. Her name is Angela Petrocelli.  She won second here at the show.

LARGE WALL QUILTS: Home Machine Quilted sponsored by Baby Lock USA
1ST #505 VICTORY, Colette Dumont, Saint-Romain, Quebec, Canada
2ND #522 WHY NOT?, Angela Petrocelli, Prescott Valley, AZ
3RD #525 OSCAR THE GREAT, Nancy Sterett Martin and Karen Sistek, Owensboro, KY
HM #526 BLUE PLATE SPECIAL, Susan Stewart, Pittsburg, KS

Why Not? by Angela Petrocelli

The luminosity in this quilt is absolutely stunning.  What is equally stunning is that Angela is NOT a quilter and this is her first quilt. I chatted with her and her mother at great length - well 15 minutes. Lovely people and I think we will see much more of Angela in the future.

To be fair - here are the winners in the group category - our friends from Waterloo.   I will have to get a picture of the quilt since I don't have one and not sure where to find it on the internet.

GROUP QUILTS: sponsored by Innova
1ST #903 THE BOTANICAL GARDENS OF BALBOA PARK, Bobbin Buddies, San Diego, CA
2ND #909 SPIRIT OF SEDONA, Mavericks Ladies, Mesa, AZ
3RD #904 VINTAGE BLOCKS—TOSSED BUT NOT FORGOTTEN, Jane V. Cole & Quilters, Waynesville, NC
HM #906 SLICES OF MARKET LIFE, It’s Been A Slice, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada


Met another lady who we saw at Quiltcon. Her quilt didn't win at QuiltCon, but it won here.  I couldn't remember what her quilt looked like and she had a small sample in her bag!  AH - now I remembered her quilt!!!  Her name is Cassandra Ireland Beaver and her quilt won first place here

LARGE WALL QUILTS: Modern Quilts sponsored by Statler Stitcher
1ST #802 THE WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS, Cassandra Ireland Beaver, Urbana, OH
2ND #815 FACETS, Christa Watson, Las Vegas, NV
3RD #805 BIG LOVE, Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill, Woodbridge, CT
HM #811 CELESTIAL ORBS, Sylvia Schaefer, Athens, GA

The Whole is greater than the sum of its parts by Cassandra Ireland Beaver

 
I remembered this quilt from QuiltCon because of the colored thread she used to quilt it.

And then I was chatting to a lady and she had a yellow ribbon on her badge.  What is that?  Ah a sponsor.  Then I really looked at her name badge - oh my god - this is Katja from Katja's Quilt Shop in Kamloops.  She wrote a book and she's the one who has this crazy project - the millifiore quilt that everyone is going ga-ga about.  Shirley and I chatted about it in Lancaster.  Hey Shirley - were your ears burning - we were talking about you yesterday!!!!

Me and Katja - two orange junkies!

Her case for her phone is bright orange!  I'm stuck with a boring old black Otterbox!

The New Hexagon by Katja Marek

The Millefiore quilt

Wow - that's a lot of name dropping.  Of course, I saw Susan again yesterday - Susan from NEW ZEALAND!

I think I'm going to buy the back issues of Modern Quilts and Modern Patchwork that are at the next booth over - I was going to order them and would have had to pay shipping so now I can get them and not pay shipping.  Sad - but why not buy something that I was going to buy anyway!  Seriously - I do not need to buy fabic and I can get some of the other things cheaper through work.  I'm OK with that!!!!

On that note - I guess I had better check e-mail before the show and hopefully we can get in to see some of the quilts before the show opens today.

Have a great day!

Ciao!

Paducah - Day One

Can you spell    B  U  S  Y???   Even though our booth is in the "dungeon" and we're at the back of that area, we were swamped the entire day!  Sometimes at shows in a location like we're in - it takes an hour or so for people to trickle in. Not so with Paducah. It did quiet down a bit around 4 pm but was still pretty steady almost to closing time.

I've said my label spiel many times.  Thankfully I didn't dream about labels. People are loving the demo and loving our booth.  So bright, so colorful and everyone loves Stonehenge. The fabric that is!

We've had people from Australia, England and the Netherlands stop by the booth.

Eating and drinking well at these shows is sometimes a bit of an issue. But we found an excellent solution - we stop at Kroger's (the grocery store) on the way and have sandwiches made.  These are excellent sandwiches and for the price - well worth the stop.  There are tents outside the convention center for eating, but I would imagine the lines are long and we don't have time.

I think I managed to eat my sandwich around 2 - I had to - I was fading fast.  I took my sandwich outside the convention center and had to sit on the curb to eat.  I'm sure if I walked over to the tent, I may have found a chair.  But here's the deal - the outside of the convention center looked like there had been a fire alarm.  There are people EVERYWHERE.

The lunch tent

People come rushing up to our booth - OH - you're here - I need help.  They are looking for fabric they can no longer find in the stores.  I'm sure if we brought fabric to sell, we would be busy.  Very busy!

There are some quilts in the area where we are located - Tentmakers of Cairo and a display of Japanese quilts (I think).  No time to look at them.  Since we are at the back of the room, I take a different route every time I go in and out and so I've seen a lot of the booths there. I might buy something at the booth across from us - The Christmas Shoppe from NH.  She has gorgeous stuff in her booth and well - I could just say - I'll take one of everything.

Once we were finished for the day, Patti and I headed to Hancock's of Paducah.  Oh my - what a place.  I've heard stories about this place, but until you actually go there, you have no idea.  It's huge - I mean warehouse huge. And the place was packed!!!!

Employees only area - it's crazy!

Kits and pre-cut area

One of the first things we saw when we went in was Susan's quilt from New Zealand.  The Town and Country 365 Block a Day quilt.  They had starter kits and the background fabric.  Susan is there every afternoon to chat about her quilt. After looking at hers again, I must get started on mine - it really is a gorgeous quilt and so much fun with all the personalizing you can do.

Town and Country 365 quilt - Susan Claire

I'm on the hunt for something extremely specific and I keep asking, but there is NO ONE who is even stocking the brand of fabric (yes - it's a competitor product) that I want.  Hmmmm  - that tells me something!  Maybe I'll get a chance today to sneak upstairs to have a peak around, although we've heard from the AQS folks that yesterday was a slow day and today and tomorrow are the busy days. I didn't believe them in Lancaster, but they were right so I'm guessing they are right again for this show.

Anyway - wandered around Hancock's of Paducah and I glanced at a few bolts, I browsed through the patterns and I took a couple of pictures. But I bought NOTHING!  I think I was too tired, I was too hungry and just overwhelmed by all that fabric and with nothing specific in mind - well - it's not like I need anything.   I didn't even look at prices to say - oh - it's a better deal here than back home.  No idea what the prices were like.  How's that for an exciting visit to a HUGE quilt shop!!

Have run into a few people that I know - there are the girls (Audrey, Marsha, and Marilyn) from Waterloo and I saw Marsha again at Hancock's of Paducah last night.  I ran into another person from Toronto who used to be in some of my classes and oh yes - Elspeth, whom I've just met last week in Toronto. And I think that's it!

The aisles are jammed with people in our area and I can only imagine that it's jammed equally everywhere. We did have another quick peek into the main quilt display and some of them are stunning. You know, I'm not even antsy to see them.  Hmmmm - I've been quilted out and it's only day one!

Anyway, time to get ready for the day and to find some pictures for you.

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!