Paducah Day Four

It was a day filled with excitement. Much excitement. I went back to the booth that I was trying to buy my kit from and I got more details on the big theft the day before. This person stole over $400 in merchandise from this one booth.

Leanne got a booth award from AQS for "most stolen merchandise!" It was a joke of course, but what a shame.

So how did they catch the thief? Later in the day, I was chatting with another store owner. One that I deal with and she filled me in. It was her eagle eye that helped catch the thief. I had made a cute little bag for her booth from Northcott fabrics - I'll post pictures tomorrow - I don't have time today. At one point, she looked up and noticed that the bag that I had made was missing. Actually, two items were missing from her booth. She alerted a friend of hers who said she would scout the aisles looking for someone suspicious.  And because the dome is smaller than the main center and not quite so crowded, she zeroed in on a woman. She followed her and watched her acquire a few items from another booth. The friend tapped her on the shoulder and asked if she would like to pay for those items and apparently at this point, the thief started to bolt. She left her bags at the door - probably couldn't get all of it through the airlock door quickly, but then came back in to claim what she had bought from the bags!!!  She said she had actually purchased some of the stuff and might as well take it!   It would appear that she pilfered three of those AQS shopping bags and proceeded to fill them with goodies!  A get away car was waiting for her outside the building. I believe she got away, but they got the license plate.  If it wasn't for my missing bag, Laura's eagle eye and her friend's detecting skills, the woman would have gotten away!

I'm still in disbelief over it.  But she wasn't very smart. How many people buy THREE of those AQS bags?   Seriously??  Maybe one, but not three!!!   I doubt she learns a lesson. The police said there was likely a gang of them and they work together or apart. Are they quilters?  No idea.  I remember the woman - if you're going to be a theif, you should blend into the crowd. This woman stood out because she had a dark sling with an elastic bandage on her arm. It was quite distinctive.  And when she got caught she says "I have cancer!"  Really? so all cancer patients are allowed to steal?   A real nutbar!

The other excitement was in the main building. This was a comment overheard by one of my colleagues "it looks like the last of the quilt row that fell down is now back up!"   NOT something to want to hear at Paducah. Apparently some quilter was trying to get a picture of the back of a quilt and got too close and knocked over one of the metal stands and the dominio effect happened.  Seriously????   Did no one see what she was doing?  Do they not see the signs and chains on the poles?   People need to get more aware of their surroundings.  I've had this happen to me at a quilt show. I was the convenor and one entire row of quilts got knocked down. I do believe a kid was running around and hit the end pole and down the row went. I watched it and nothing I could do. An entire army of people came out to help and within minutes that row was back up!

Even more excitement in front of our booth. The day before a couple of quilters had asked Rich to take a panorama shot of them in front of Victoria's quilt - you know - the 30 foot one. So he did. There were about three of them. So I decided to get a shot of me in front of the quilt. It's pretty cool.

The group came back yesterday because the picture didn't turn out right. There were SEVEN of them this time.  I told them they better hurry because Victoria was doing her last walkabout in a few minutes. As they were lining up, who walks up but Victoria. So we got her in the picture as well!!!   It was great fun.  I did one shot for them and it didn't work. Then I realized part way through the filming how her camera worked - it was different than mine and we got a super picture with Victoria. She is a super sport and such a lovely person!  I'm trying to upload the pictures so you can see.  What a lot of excitement we created at the booth!!

We had a steady stream of people come by the booth even on the last day so that was good, although I did get out and had a whirlwind tour of the entire show. I should give lessons on how to do Paducah in one hour! And I still had time to chat with people.  I would like to spend more time, but I'm there for a reason and I don't like to be out of the booth for long periods of time. Still, I got to see everything I needed and I made a few purchases as well.

As we had a flight out last night, we had to leave our colleague to tear down the booth as we had to leave just before the show closed.  A two-hour drive back to Nashville where we returned the car and I packed everything into the suitcase. Amazing how much you can pack into a little carry-on bag. I had three tote bags, a pillow, my Paducah purchases and all my clothes!  I know how to pack stuff in!  I'll be taking pictures of everything and posting as I have time.  I'm so far behind in pictures!

But wait - there's even more excitement!  We got to the airport, checked in and zipped through security. Had a bit to eat. The airport  - at least the side that we are on is looking pretty empty. We get to our gate at last with a half hour to spare. Of course, the plane is late. Then we, at last, get on. It's a small plane so all the rolling bags had to be Sky checked (leave your bag at the gate!).  At least it wasn't raining this time. Then we wait and we wait. All of a sudden, the co-pilot is helping load the bags onto the rolling rack?  Double dipping???   He gets back into the cockpit and we wait a bit more. Then he rushes into the plane and takes some bags from the overhead bins. Not enough weight in the back of the plane so they move some of the crew luggage into the cargo area. Yes - there were a couple of United jokes at that point.  Two rather large people got up and I thought they were being moved to the back of the plane. I'm not sure what was going on there.  The pilot was up as well, moving stuff around. It was pretty weird. At last, we take off, but we are now 1 1/2 hours late!  We arrive in Toronto (I missed the beverage cart because I was asleep and I was thirsty!). Of course, we have to wait for a ground crew to fix us up at the gate.  I arrived home and was in bed by 1 AM.

That was a lot of excitement for one day!  I told Patti that our travel woes were all her fault and I'm not going to fly with her again!

All in all, it was a fun show. We did what we were supposed to do and had fun, shopping, got to see amazing quilts. But I'm glad I'm home and today after I volunteer at some dog park event, I'm going to start to work on an urgent quilt for a magazine.  And I have a funny feeling that TWO different magazines picked up the same quilt and now I'm going to have to design a new one and make it fast as well.  I'm not sure how that happened, but I'll know on Monday.  ACK!!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

I'm waiting for my pictures to upload so will try to post them in tomorrow's post!

Paducah 2017 - Day Three

It's the last day of Paducah 2017!  So much to see and so little time!

I did manage to get out and have a look around at some of the other vendors. I just wanted to say HI to several people that I've been working with but every conversation takes longer than planned. I also had a chat with a few new people. Lots of interesting ideas and a couple of new techniques.

Remember the two authors that I met at Road to California and I bought their books?  Met up with them again and bought the second book in the mystery series. More on them another day. There is this one book vendor that has the most amazing books and I keep saying that I need to make an inventory of what books/magazines (back issues) that I would like, but I never do.  Oh well, I probably don't need another book or magazine anyway!

This is my second year at Paducah and I noticed that many people are in the SAME location as they were last year. I guess once you have a spot and you're happy, you get that spot again. People probably come to expect you being in that spot. We are in a different spot than last year and it's funny because one of the people I wanted to meet up with was in our spot from last year!

There is also this massive bookstore here called One Million Books. I'd forgotten about that store until we saw it the other night, but there isn't going to be time to get to it.

I wandered out into the dome yesterday afternoon as there were a few people that I wanted to chat more with. Three booths and every one of those three booths was busy. This was late in the day so that was good! I did manage to get back to two of them and chatted with the designers, got my information, and made my purchase.

When I walked into the third booth which I had been trying to get into all week, there was a bit of a kafuffle going on.  A HUGE pile of stuff was on the main table in her booth.  Apparently, all of it was recovered from a theft that had just happened. I don't know all the details, but someone saw this person put the items into a bag and left the booth. The thief was approached, the bag was dropped, the quilter ran?   I don't know, but what a shame. So I'm going back this morning to try and finish our business!  We are not talking one or two patterns here, we're talking a LOT of patterns and kits.

We had a very steady line of people at the booth all day. Not huge crowds but very steady. I would say that for day three, it was quite busy. Today is the last day of the show and I expect it to be much quieter. I hope to zip back to the convention center so I can have a peek at some of the quilts.

We also get to meet a lot of interesting people, including the retired couple who sold their home three years ago and bought an RV. They now live in the RV and travel around or stay for a while - whatever their fancy is. She has space in the 39 foot RV for two sewing machines, it's short enough to stay in a National Park and the two of them were happy as clams.  Now wouldn't that be an awesome life! You could pack fabric and projects like you're going on retreat. Then everyone once in a while, you need to head back to your storage unit to get the next batch of projects, stop somewhere to rent a long arm to quilt your quilts and you're good to go!  Yes - that could be a lot of fun! Although I can't see my two dogs living in an RV. They would drive me crazy!

They recommended a restaurant for last night - the Freight House which is located in the old train station. A very nice restaurant and we saw our new friend, Victoria there! They have a farm to table philosophy and everything was so fresh, it was amazing!  We were NOT going to have dessert, but after the descriptions, we all had to try something.  I've never tasted strawberries that were so good!  Well worth going. And thanks to the gypsies for the recommendation!

On the way home, as I was driving over that darn scary blue bridge (Brookport Bridge), the lightning was amazing. Sheet lightening that NEVER stopped.  The sky was in constant flux and I didn't really get to enjoy it as I was driving. I've never seen lightning that never stopped like that. It was very weird. Constant flashes!

Patti accommodated me (or should I say humored me!) and we stopped at the Superman Statue where she took my picture. Thanks, Patti! I'll share that with you when I get home.

I forgot to mention that we stopped at Hancock's after the show. By the time we got there, there was only 1/2 hour left to shop.  Why would they close one hour after the show? Anyway, the place was packed with people, but it soon cleared out. I was NOT in the market for anything, but on the way in, I saw a lady holding up a gorgeous panel which I had to buy. And I found something that I had been looking for so I bought that as well. I didn't do too much damage. A very efficient lady cut my fabric and no line at the cash and we were out of there!

I had a good sleep under one of our American quilts last night. Very toasty warm. Now it's time to get ready as we are leaving right after the show today and will be home by midnight provided everything goes as planned!

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!

Paducah - Day Two

Yesterday was a very weird day at Paducah. This is the first time in all the times I've done trade shows where the second day was busier than the first day. It started off slow and I think part of that is our location. We are in the dome and while there are a couple of quilt displays near us, the main building is the convention center and there are three different areas of vendors and all the quilts tucked under one roof.

But after checking our numbers this morning and talking to several vendors, they all agreed that yesterday was busier than the first despite the slow start.

Got to see a few more Canadian faces - hi to Nancy even though she doesn't read my blog.

I have a new friend - Victoria Findlay Wolfe!  Her quilt display is right in front of us and she stops by whenever she has a book tour.  No tour today as she is teaching all day, but we'll see her again tomorrow. I would have to say that her giant quilt is the MOST photographed quilt in the show.  Let me rephrase that - it is the most photographed backdrop quilt in the show. While people are taking photos of the other quilts, it's hard to get in front of them and you don't want to get in front of them. This one is so big that people are standing in front of it and getting group shots, selfies, panorama shots (OK, so that was Rich and myself as I tried out a feature on my camera phone - works very well!)

So what else exciting happened?  Not much - we were in our booth pretty much the entire day. I was still signing people up 15 minutes before the show closed which is not normal. I did sneak out for a quick peek around our area. There is one thing for sure that I want to buy, several that would be nice to have and don't need. I hope to get into the convention center later today because I'm sure that today will be slower than the other days. Tomorrow will be the slowest.

Yesterday we decided to take the back route into Paducah and go over the BLUE bridge.  Rich has been trying to get us to go that way but I didn't want to get lost and besides the way that we normally go, we drive right past Hancock's which we'll probably stop at tonight. We were almost at the bridge when the traffic was stopped. We were on a bit of a tight schedule so we ended up turning around and crossing the Ohio River on our normal bridge. On the way home, we took the BLUE bridge.  OH MY GOD - this is a scary bridge. It's high, it's long, it's narrow, it's very blue and the surface is an open iron grid.  No room for cycling over that bridge!  We'll go over that shortcut bridge this morning - it really is a shortcut. It's called the Brookport Bridge.

I do love our dinners out.  I was awake last night!  And we had a good chat - you know the kind - "let's save the world, peace to all" and all that good stuff. Very interesting conversation threads. We spend so little time in our hotel rooms, I'm thinking a tent would be just fine!

I must say that I had a better sleep last night because I brought in TWO quilts to sleep under. I didn't keep both of them on, but it was nice to have that weight.  Silly I know!

I must talk about the weather here. Weather seems to be an important factor wherever we go. So day one - we're in the big white dome and the sun is out, it's hot outside. There were times during the day when I thought we would all faint from the heat. It was HOT in the dome.  Then it would cool down and the temperature changed drastically in various parts of the dome. It wasn't consistent at all. Yesterday, total opposite. I wore my jacket (with a light sweater underneath) for almost the entire day. It was frigid in the dome. The sky was cloudy, but no rain, but the outside temperature was cold.  I'm not sure what the forecast is for the next couple of days - I'll wear what I was planning, but dressing in layers is a definite must!

Got to run - another crazy day is about to begin.

Have a great day!

Ciao!

Paducah 2017 - Day One

I remember the days of travel when you had to hook up your computer in the hotel room with a cable. Half of the time it didn't work and it was a pain. That was many many years ago.

Now you just hook up to the wireless and things are good.  However, when I went to connect, I thought we had to pay and I refuse to pay a crazy amount for the internet, but there is free internet in the lobby.  Had to get dressed and zip down to the lobby to do what I needed to get done. Over to the breakfast place where I couldn't seem to get the internet, but there I'm sitting with a computer, an iPad and my cell phone and I needed all of them for what I needed to get done.  Total craziness!

Then I realized that we didn't have to pay for the internet in our rooms so now I'm still sitting in bed as I write this! I love technology!

Thank goodness hotels are learning that we have devices that need to be charged. I have a veritable charging station beside my bed. The lamp has a regular plug plus two USB outlets. I have two iPads to keep charged, my phone and I'm charging a new little camera that I bought. More on that another day. Thankfully the laptop doesn't need charging at the moment. I only have one cord for the two iPads, so must make sure that one is charged before bed and the other gets charged in the morning.

I had a good breakfast - that is the key when attending these shows. If I don't have breakfast - well, it's not pretty. If you've ever been to Paducah, our booth is in the dome.Which is much brighter and nicer than being in the basement of the convention center where we were last year. Although it's not as easy to pop out and see the quilts because they are in a different building. And I think we might have rain the next couple of days which will make it less fun to run from building to building.

That's OK and it might just save me some money!.

Our booth is decked out in Stars and Stripes fabric and our little giveaway is stars and stripes. Oh yes, I can now share the items I made but I can't upload the pictures. I must make sure to take those photos today. It's been fun to meet up with a few Canadians, some I know, some I don't. The more we do these shows, the more people you get to meet and they know you and you know them. In particular the vendors, but some of the quilters as well.

There is a quilt display right in front of us by Victoria Findlay Wolfe. The quilt directly in front of us is HUGE. It's 9 feet tall and 30 feet long. Imagine binding that one!  It was made for an art installation in New York City and I believe is going to hang in the lobby of Simplicity.  I had a little chat with Victoria. She is a very friendly person.   But for the life of me, I keep calling her Virginia!  I was chatting with someone else later who had attended Victoria's lecture and apparently I'm not the only one as she made mention of it in her slide presentation. No - she even had a slide - my name is Victoria, NOT Virginia.  Isn't that funny why we're all making that same mistake.

We have a one hour time change here and I'm not sure if that is affecting me or what. I was exhausted last night. We were in the restaurant and I had to leave. I needed to get to bed. The National Quilt Museum was open all night - it's still open and we had plans to go, but I couldn't. I came back to the hotel and I was trying to figure out how to charge my camera and my brain just shut down and I was out like a light!

I figured it out this morning - I had put the battery in backward. And it even mentions that in the online manual.  Now here's the thing - why make the stupid battery so that it can be inserted two different ways?   Make it fit only one way.  ah - that would be too simple.

So last night for dinner, we decided to walk to Fat Ed's which is just down the street about three blocks. Once we got seated, we noticed that the sky wasn't looking too friendly outside and sure enough there was lightning and thunder and torrential downpour. Hmmm - it's only three blocks back, but we're going to get soaked. After a couple of drinks - I didn't even have a beer as I knew it would put me out even faster, but I couldn't hold on to full alertness!  Thankfully by the time we left, the torrential downpour had subsided somewhat, but it was still raining and the puddles on the street - well my shoes got a bit wet. But not too wet. There was a HUGE flash of lightning as we were racing along the street and Patti is ducking down so that I'm the tallest figure running down the street. We had a good laugh over that one. I told her she would have to come out of retirement to replace me if I got zapped!

Anyway, I did have a good sleep, but I must remember to bring in a quilt from the car.  There isn't enough weight in the bedding to keep me comfy.  I like a heavy duvet on my bed and this one is pretty skimpy. But there are two quilts in the car that I could use and I've got to remember to bring them in tonight.

I guess I had better check on my farm of charging devices to see who needs more time. And I'll be able to have breakfast in peace and quiet with NO electronics by my side!

I did get out for a bit yesterday and chatted to a number of people, checked out the vendors. So many cool and interesting things, but I don't need anything! But I did find a couple of interesting things (not fabric) that I might just have to buy today!

Have a super day!

Ciao!!!

Travel day - again!

There was ZERO time for blogging yesterday.  It was a travel day.  I could confuse you all and I think I did when I posted the picture of arriving in Nashville. Yes – Nashville, Tennessee.  Is there a quilt show in Nashville?  Perhaps at some time, but not now!

It was a bizarre travel day – so many silly things.  I had completed all my projects the night before. How?  No idea, but every one of them got done. I still had the bindings to sew on two small projects but at this point, I can live with that!

I had to get to the airport a tad earlier than usual as we had to drive someone else to the airport who also had an 8 AM flight and was a bit nervous about getting there on time. Bottom line, I arrived ONE full hour before the flight was to leave. That is UNHEARD of at our house!  And not because we’re in a mad rush, no – there is no sense to get there super early.  I have a NEXUS card, I never check luggage and you can do your check-in online.  I didn’t make it to Tim’s line but that’s OK.

Patti arrived and we chatted. I should have stitched on that binding, but I didn’t.  Anyway, after ½ hour, we find that our flight is now delayed by a half hour. The flight attendant is stuck in US customs. Seriously?  They can’t expedite her through the line? Then the flight got delayed until 8:45. Still no flight attendant.

At last, we were able to board the plane which is a little jet with zero room on board so all rolling bags had to be sky checked. And it’s raining outside. Now we are on the plane, our luggage is outside and guess what? There is no ground crew to load the luggage. That luggage must have sat outside in the rain for at least 45 minutes.  I know – what the heck was going on? Based on all the airline issues lately, I was tempted to take a picture and post it, but I was on the opposite side of the plane. So this time, I was smart and I pulled out one of the mini-quilts. 16” inches square. 

At last the flight attendant is with us and the ground crew is with us, the plane is finished loading and we are good to go.  I’m still stitching. We must have taxied on EVERY runway and every slide road in that airport. Do you know that I managed to finish up the stitching just as the plane was taking off?  And you know how slow I am at blinding. We left at 10 AM!!!  A full two hours late.  GRRRRR!

Turns out there was some sort of lock down?  In customs and for the ground crew?  Seriously???   Air Canada – that was not good timing. I don’t know why we had to sit on that plane and our luggage sat in the pouring rain for so long. My bag was on the second shelf and my stuff was wet inside!

We arrived without further ado in Nashville. Not after we oohed and aahed over the HUGE homes that we could see from the air.  I wonder which one was Carrie Underwoods?

Patti and I got in the rental car and I got out the GPS so we could arrive at our destination. I plugged the address in before the GPS connected and almost had a heart attack. Over 1,000 KM to our destination. What?  NO WAY!  I plugged in a different address and same thing.  Then Patti had the brilliant idea that the GPS was NOT registering our current location – it was thinking I was back home. DUH!  She was right! Let's just say that a thousand thoughts went through my head before we figured out the problem!

We exited the parking garage and there were a few cars waiting there as their GPS clicked in. We did the same thing and within a few minutes – we were good.  AH – a two-hour drive to Paducah.  The countryside is beautiful here and everything is in full leaf!

A quick stop for a bite to eat and we were on our way again. But not before we had to get to the hotel to pick up the boxes that were shipped to me. Then to the dome where our booth is.   It took us a couple of hours to get everything set up – a few more SNAFUs along the way. Let’s just say that a quick last minute intuition on my part when I packed our boxes to ship saved our bacon and we could hang our quilts.  Each show is a learning experience, to say the least!  But we’re in the dome which is one of those inflatable spaces so there is an air lock when entering.  One door has to be closed before the other is open – I feel like an astronaut!

Oh, I should mention that I’m NOT in Kentucky as I write this. We know that Paducah is in Kentucky – right?  Well, I’m in Illinois and have to travel back to Paducah for the show.  No worries – we’re just on the opposite side of the river – the river being the border between the two states.  I’m in Metropolis, home of Superman and Harrah’s Casino which is where I’m staying!!!

On that note, I need to get out of here. A lot to do this morning and I don’t have easy access to the internet. Free WI-FI in the lobby so I'm in the lobby of the casino.  There appears to be a lot of quilters staying here.  Does that mean there will be a good attendance at the show since all the hotels in Paducah are full??

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!!