Quilt Canada - Day Three

Holy smokes!!!!!  It was Day Three of Quilt Canada yesterday and I got to take lunch at 3 PM. YES - that's how busy it was yesterday. Unbelievable. I've no idea where all the people have come from, but it's been amazing. Loads of people popping in to chat about sewing machines or quilting machines.

We had one lady who had spent the previous two days exploring all the options of a sit-down quilting machine. She had collected brochures and made notes. She came back to our booth and asked a few more questions and then bought. She was the BEST prepared customer I've ever seen.

A lot of friends and followers came by the booth and hard to name them all, but it was great to see you all!!!  Two ladies came by from Sudbury. Now I knew I was never going to remember their names, so I made myself a note!!  Hi to Fran and Julie from Sudbury. Thanks for following the blog and thanks so much for stopping by to say HI. Gosh - I should have been taking pictures with people, but there just wasn't time for that.

I heard from many vendors that they are madly selling stock and a lot of them were going to run out of their main products by noon yesterday. People were taking kits apart so they would have fabric to sell. That's an amazing thing to happen.

I did get to the show early yesterday so I could pop around and look at some more quilts. I'll be back early again this morning to finish my tour since it's next to impossible to get out of the booth, although I expect that today will be much quieter.

I stopped by the Quilts of Valour booth. I was chatting with one of the reps and I was looking at a replica of a quilt made for the First World War. It was a signature quilt. I don't know what happened to me, but I had a very emotional moment. Huge waves of emotion just poured out - it was very bizarre, to say the least.

They have a call for blocks- they are log cabin blocks. You can make a block, you can make a quilt top or even better - you can make an entire quilt!!!  It's better to make an entire quilt. We're going on a retreat in a couple of weeks - I'm going to challenge my group that we make a Quilts of Valour quilt while we're at the retreat and I'll get it quilted after the retreat. I might even have all the fabrics needed in my stash. I'll check that out when I get home. Maybe we can even have a Quilts of Valour sewing day at my "new" studio B.

Being as busy as we have been has meant that I didn't get a chance to buy a single thing. Not that I need anything, but it would be nice to get out and at least look. There are a couple of vendors that I'd like to chat with about certain products and I hope to get out today for a bit to check it out.

So many people to chat with - so little time. I've been juggling my evening dinners with people. Last night I went out with Leslie and Luana. Luana owns equilter.com. It's an online quilt shop that's been around for 20 years. I love chatting with her as she's got a very good handle on the quilting industry including trends in fabrics and colors and styles. I didn't get to hear her lecture at Quilt Canada, but the dinner conversation helped to compensate for that.

It's all about networking!!! And I LOVE to network!!!

Trying to keep up with the urgent e-mails while I'm away, but I know I'm neglecting some stuff. I got TWO good pieces of news yesterday. First, it appears that the magazine section of FW (which owns the popular quilting magazines - Quiltmaker, McCalls, Fons and Porter) has been purchased. We're not sure what this means yet - how many titles will continue? all or none or some? But at least there will be money in the coffers. I went ahead on a leap of faith that they would continue. I now have three quilts to make this summer.

The second piece of good news is that my floor should be done by the END OF JUNE!!!!!  Yes - I'm so excited, I can hardly wait. That means when I get home, I've got to bring up that stuff that I want to get rid of. I could get the guys to do it, but well - I don't mind doing some of that stuff. I need to make a decision about the work tables. Do I bring my two personal tables up to Studio U?? I'm so tempted because they are very good expensive tables and I really should be getting my money's worth out of them. Since I plan to sew more upstairs - I should bring them up. OK - a decision is made - they're going up!  Then all the tables in the studio will be the same and hopefully, I'll find a new configuration for them.

That means that Sit n Sew days will be back in business in July. If you're on the list - I'll be sending out the dates once I'm home. I also plan to have some days for charity quilts to use up those five tubs of fabric. I'll be putting together more information on that and sending that out. I'm so flipping excited - I can hardly wait!!!!   Thanks to Pat for the great suggestion. If anyone has ideas on how to use up that fabric and make use of that great space - let me know. I'm open!!!

I'm also so inspired and motivated to get back to the sewing machine - I told the others in our booth yesterday that I need to go home - NOW. They asked if I was sick. Nope - just motivated!!   My brain is going to explode.

I'll be heading out very early tomorrow morning so if there isn't a blog tomorrow - don't be alarmed.

The show closes at 4 PM today so that's a good thing and hopefully, it won't take too long to get everything together and on the skids for shipping back to Toronto.

I feel a sore throat coming on. I hope that wasn't from Leslie who has a cold. It's probably from all the talking. I've been trying to drink as much water as I can to prevent dehydration. I'm doing OK, but probably not enough.

I'm going to be bidding on some of the Trendtex challenge pieces today. Some of them are so fun and there's one that a few people I know want. I hate to bid over them - although I've done it before and was totally shameless in my bidding. Sorry, Peggy!!!

On that note, I guess I had better get myself organized for the day.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!