Oh my - is it day three or day four? My brain has gone into over drive and it's full. Just plain full of ideas, contacts and excitement!
I have to say thanks to my roommate. I don't normally room with someone when I'm on these trips, but as a freelance person, you want to room - it's way cheaper. Margaret was a good roommate when we were at the SVP event. Shirley has also been a great roommate this time. I'm actually liking having a roommate because it gives you a chance to decompress with someone who has seen the same stuff. It's been great to get back to the room and compare notes, get contacts and all kinds of other stuff.
Had breakfast with some friends which was a lot of fun. Thank goodness we did arranged that. As we were sitting eating, it started to pour rain. I'm not talking pouring rain - I'm talking pouring buckets. If we had of followed our normal routine, we would likely have gotten soaked. But we were near the convention center and were able to walk to it via a walkway so we stayed nice and dry. It was awesome.
I was late for my morning class because of that, but no matter. I went to the class, talked to the instructor, took pictures of the sample, chatted with Laura who was also in that class and talked to my colleague from SVP who was there to help with the PFAFF machines that were in the room. I took the sample and I left the class. It was a cool technique, but I'll do it at home.
Then I headed off to look at some of the quilts. Oh my - that hall is HUGE and there are so many different shows. I did see the main juried show. The winners won't be announced for a day or so. I saw so much inspiration that my head was swimming. I barely made it half way through and then I needed to be on the complete opposite side of the convention center so I booted it all the way down there.
I got the location of Jeannie's book signing and she had a couple of books left. Phew - I was certain that I would have missed the event, but I walk fast! So I had a really good chat with Jeannie. That was great and I'm so excited for her new book. It's called Contemporary Paper Piecing. I think that's the name.
Since I was now on the trade floor, I wasn't going back to the quilts and it was about noon anyway. So I took up where I had left off the day before and I was good to go. I saw so much cool stuff. New patterns, new designers, new fabrics and so MANY ideas. It was a crazy day, but so exciting that - well it was exciting and let's leave it at that.
I started to run out of steam around 5 PM. Hey - I have to carry my silly tote bag with me and it gets heavy with your water, snacks and all the stuff I picked up. I tried very hard to only pick up what I truly wanted. And when I got back to the hotel last night and started to go through the stuff, there was very little that I put in the garbage. It's all good stuff.
The question was - could I put it into my suitcase? We had stopped at the food market on our way to the hotel and we picked up dinner. That little market is just the best and it's very close to the convention center. They must make a killing when there's a convention in town.
Anyway after dinner which we ate in our room (it's really nice to have a suite so we're not eating on the bed!) and I had gone through all the stuff I collected in the day, it was time to see if it fit in the suitcase. I come very light (as usual) and YES - it all fit. I didn't even have to sit on the cover in order to close it, but I still need to put my pjs in there and the sweater I wear on the trade floor. I don't think I'll have any problems. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's a tad heavy - not that heavy, but a wee bit heavier than when I came down. I'm hoping that we're on the same plane and that Air Canada will gate check that suitcase. I'm good with that because then I don't have to pay for it. I'm all checked in, but didn't check luggage.
The shuttle is coming to pick me up from the hotel around 2 PM today so I have to make sure that I get back here and swap sweaters and be down at the front desk. I think this plane ride home is going to be filled with Canadians who came to Market. We should arrange a party in the lounge, but I would bet that we're all going home totally drained. Excited, but drained if that makes sense.
I have another class this morning which I'll get to on-time today since we're back to our regular routine. I made a list of stuff that I want to recheck out today and I have one more meeting. It's going to be a jam packed day and then it'll be over. The show closes at 3 PM today which allows two extra hours for the tear down. And I'll be gone!! I'm so super excited about part.
And that's that!
I've got to run and get ready for the day.
Have a super day!
Ciao!!
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