Spring Market - Day Three

Wow - Spring Market is over for another year. The time seems to fly by and next thing I knew we were tearing the booth down. I seriously did NOT get a chance to really walk the floor. I finally took a quick run through late in the day yesterday, but I don't think I managed to walk all the aisles.  Next time, I schedule my appointments with a big gap to walk the floor.

And why is that? Well, I had appointments and I had a fair number of appointments with various people. I also helped out the sales team if they needed questions answered about some of the projects hanging in the booth. You know - I never even took pictures of the booth.  Oh my goodness - what is happening to me?  I barely took any pictures at all. I must be slowing down!

And of course, if you had an appointment and they were a tad late, then you had to wait for them. I did miss chatting with one person. I think we got our times mixed up. I missed the text that she was at the booth and then we never did connect. Oh well, we'll go it via e-mail or next market. I already have a lot of stuff in the pipeline, it may be just as well that I didn't get a chance to chat with this editor.

We actually had a steady stream of people all market, but around 2 PM (show closes at 4 PM), everything just went dead.  The attendees were finished with their classes and wanted to get out of there. It didn't take long to tear down our booth although we had to wait a fair amount of time to get the crates to our booth. If only they would let us move them ourselves. They are on wheels!  However, all convention centers come with very strong unions so best not to step on toes.

We locked the final crate - 2 hours and 45 minutes. I had to laugh because, at one point, we're all sitting around waiting for the crates. The moment the crates arrived, it became a beehive of activity as everyone scurried around taping boxes, rollling quilts and shoving it all into the crates

I must be mad because I went back to Sugarfire for the THIRD time while I was here.  Call me adventureous!   Seriously, I don't mind eating at the same place - it's really good.  I loved the brisket and that's what I wanted. However, there was just an end left by the time I got to the counter. The lady wasn't going to sell it to me - policy I'm sure.  Finally I convinced her that I was OK with that piece (I like well done).  She said something and then cut up the hunk into chunks and slapped it on my butcher paper on my big metal tray!  It was great and so was the company as a couple of us had some good conversations and recapped the show.

Back to the hotel where I finished up some work that I had to do.  For some reason, I haven't been sleeping as well as I normally do. Not sure what the situation is, but I seem to be awake more than I sleep. But one more night out and then I'll be home tomorrow.

You see - while most of our crew goes home today, some of us are going on an adventure. Just wait! It's exciting.  To give you a clue, just remember we're in St. Louis and what state is St. Louis in? Think about it!

On that note, I'm out of here to finish packing.

Have a super day!

Ciao!!!!


It's also the first day of my week of posting for QUILTsocial.  Check it out.  Even if you don't have the Husqvarna Viking Designer Topaz 50 (which is the machine that I reviewed this week) or even if you're not in the market for a sewing machine, check it out as there are lots of tips in the posts that will make it worth your while to read.

Spring Market - Schoolhouse

I had finished my booth set-up responsibilities the day before so that left me with the day to check out Schoolhouse. That was super exciting. I've been to Schoolhouse before but always felt guilty as I went back to the booth to help out.

I went through the class/demo listings and picked what I thought would be interesting (in my day job capacity), not personally. There is a difference! I had a lot of fun checking out various projects/collections etc that are being introduced here at Market. Lots of block of the months (maybe some I can teach when I get home), saw lots of people I know, met up with a few people from back home.

I was planning on going to Victoria Findlay Wolfe's schoolhouse, even saw her, said HI and see you later and then I was called into a meeting and that just killed the rest of my day!  The meeting was interesting and worth attending so I can't complain.  I had also thought of going to Sample Spree, but by the time we finished the meeting, I was too hungry and tired to go to sample spree.  And probably just as well as I really do NOT need any more fabric or rulers or whatever.

I decided to jump ship and have dinner on my own.  While I like my co-workers, there comes a point when I need my peace and quiet. I'll explode without it! I asked at the front desk for a recommendation for a restaurant and they gave me the same one that we had been to the night before. Nope - I would like something else.  How about BBQ?  Perfect even though I'm not a huge meat fan.

Sugarfire was not far away from the hotel so I walked over.  Whoa - this is a popular place. It was about 8 PM by the time I got there - and the place was packed and there was a line.  ACK!  Do I want to wait?  I had no choice - I wasn't going to wander around and find something else. I'm not a big meat eater so what am I going to choose?  I settled on the Big Muddy (I wonder why it's called that?). Sides?  Nope - wasn't into potato salad or coleslaw so I thought I could have a milkshake. Live it up a bit.  Nope - they were long sold out of ice cream. The cashier said they must have made over 1,500 milkshakes that day!!!

This restaurant is cafeteria style. You get a big metal tray with a sheet of paper on it.  They plop your meat choices right on the paper. The salads are in small paper trays - no dishes to wash. My big muddy was actually a burger with a sausage and some brisket.  Lots of other stuff got thrown on and it looked like a huge mess, which it was. But it was AMAZING and that's from a very fussy meat eater.  Tender, tasty and well, I just ate the meat!!!  The rest of the mess, I left on the paper!

Seating was home style. Long rows of tables with old kitchen chairs. It was pretty cool.  I met up with a person who was here to help a friend with their booth for Market and an educator for heart valves.  An interesting dinner conversation and I laughed because if one ate all their food, it was a heart attack waiting to happen!

Back to the hotel and to bed. I had to shut the A/C off last night. Just can't get it controlled, I hate it and I was just fine without it. No headache this morning.

I see that we had a big thunderstorm this morning but I was busy on the computer. It appears to have settled down which is fine since I need to get my butt to breakfast in a few minutes.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Spring Market - travel day

Here I am in my hotel room in St. Louis!  And yes all my quilts got done.

I finished the quilting on the big quilt (after I had a small ripping out session). The lesson here is never attempt something that you're not 100% sure of especially when there is a deadline! The binding got put on (I'm getting super fast - did you know that I sewed the binding on by machine and it probably took less than one hour.  Both sides and the quilt was 80 inches square!  The sleeve got made, but not sewn on. I was leaving that for when we got to market. A big thank you to Shirley and Hania who sewed my two sleeves on!

I was up super early so I could pack. I know - there literally was no time to do it before.  Then I was off to the airport. Our flight was uneventful except for the landing. It was windy in St. Louis and I swear that plane tipped upon landing. Thankfully it was righted before any damage was done and we were at the airport.

There was quite a contingent of us (thankfully the plane did make it or well you wouldn't be getting new fabrics from us!), so we rented a bus to get us to the hotel. Very efficient way. Did you know that St. Louis is a city divided?  Apparently, there is one street that sort of separates the high income and low-income sections. I must say that there is a lot of abandoned buildings here.  Hmm - could buy one, fix it up and have an amazing loft space!

We arrived early in the day which was a treat as we don't usually get to our booth until the afternoon.  However, I discovered that our crates had not arrived!  Yikes, that's not good.  A little investigation and it appears that our truck driver was a little bit delayed but everything was good and soon we had those crates open and rushing around like bees to get everything set up.

And I'm already scouting out, chatting up people, working out deals and arrangements for future events. I love coming to these shows and it technically hasn't even started yet!

But around 5 PM, I said, "that's it for me".  I was tired and just not functioning anymore.  I had to pop out to pick up a quilt from someone anyway. Once I had walked down to the hotel where they were taking a class, I thought I'm very close to the Arch so I'll just walk on over there.  Wow - that is such a cool feature/sculpture/structure?  It's huge and you can go crazy looking up at it.  Apparently, you can go up in it, but as I was on my way there, a lady told me that the tickets were all sold out for today.  No worries - I didn't have time, nor did I want to. But I took a few pictures.

The rest of the gang was meeting up soon and so I walked back to the hotel to meet up with them.  It was super windy and I was certain that I was going to get caught in the rain. But nope - no rain. It's a bit humid here, but not bad.

We went out for dinner but again, I didn't linger.  I mean really - don't these people get tired of being with each other all day?  I need a break! I like my solitude!

The temperature in my room is bizarre. Of course, it's set to FREEZING when I arrive. I turn the fan down and make a couple of adjustments, but it's cold when the air conditioning is running and HOT the moment it stops. It's crazy.  I didn't sleep well last night and usually wake up with a headache the first night in a new room. My head is pounding right now which isn't fun. But hopefully once I get up and moving and have breakfast, I'll be OK. Oh and the sheets are so tightly tucked in, I can barely get them out!

Anway on that note, I'm out of here to have a shower and get on with the day.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!