Fun times at the Virtual Retreat

 Oh my gosh -- we had the BEST time on the Virtual Retreat! You have to LOVE technology!! I had to be absent for part of it as I played chauffeur, but I could connect in the car once I dropped my passengers off, and I got to chat while I drove home.

There are so many things that we can talk about -- why do we need to talk about such a controversial topic like COVID? I have no issues with discussing it or it being a topic of conversation. What drives me crazy is when it gets heated because people lack the correct information or misinterpret existing information! I get so frustrated during these conversations, I could spit! And I think I did yesterday! We have a PERMANENT NO-COVID rule on the Virtual Retreat, and when it starts to get out of hand, I shut the conversation down!

I had one goal in mind for the day, and I managed to accomplish that. The goal was to finish the LAST TWO rows of this All in a Row quilt. I'm happy to say that the row of stars (just above the owls) is DONE! All the seams of those star blocks are twirled, and they fit together very nicely. 

All in a Row quilt

If you think those stars were easy to sew? Think again! The center of each is 2". The pieces above are 2" by 2 1/8," and the corner units were 2 1/8" square. You know it's sad when you are sewing, and you can tell that one of the units is 2 1/8" by 2 ¼" without measuring! Fortunately, I only made that one cutting error, and it was easy to rip that out and fix it. Then it went together like a charm. 

The last major goal was to do the stitching on the applique camper row. I've been putting that off for months and well -- no time like the present to make that happen. 

Oh shoot -- I forgot to take a picture of the applique that I prepped for my UFO project. OK -- I just ran downstairs to get that photo. Hmmm -- maybe I could learn to really love applique. I LOVE the look of applique, but it's very time-consuming. 

Applique UFO homework

And I'm happy to report that the camper row is now done!!!!  Here are my trees. 

Trees are done!

I intended to stitch a blanket stitch around the edges, but I decided to do a satin stitch instead. I'm really fast with satin stitch, and I can go around the corners and indents with minimal issues, so satin stitch it was! 

And on the section that joined the two halves of the trees, I used a mossy satin stitch. See how both edges are not even. I LOVE that stitch. 

Mossy satin stitch

And there are my cute mushrooms!!!

The mushrooms

So all that's left is to trim the two applique rows and sew the rows together. I still have to stitch the applique for the two side borders (it's mostly prepped). The last step will be to decide on what final border the quilt will have. I know what I want; I just need to figure out the math. Yahoo!!! My goal is to have this done by the next class, which is not that far away! 

I'm doing not badly with keeping up, but it's a challenge, to say the least, and well, I have a couple of writing assignments that need to be done by - well, let's just say they need to be done ASAP. So that has been the morning's focus so far and will be for the rest of the day. 

I have some sewing to do before I can finish writing, so I'll do that during Monday sewing, but I think I'll have to leave them for a bit as I do some writing. 

I did have help last night! What a goof!! 

The helper!

And at one point, he walked over the keyboard and put me in airplane mode, so I lost the internet and the Zoom call. Silly boy!!!

Look at me!!!! 

And then seriously  -- why does Murphy do this? This bed is way too small for her, but she loves it. Her butt hangs over the edge, but she is quite content, so who am I to throw it out? 

Murphy in her tiny bed

We have company for a few more days, and it's a struggle with time to be sure. But we'll make it all happen. 

Oh, here's some eye candy for you. Some of the award-winning quilts were announced yesterday for the Quilt Festival in Houston. It's a weird world because normally the winners are announced on the preview night. Even better is that we viewed them as a group yesterday on Zoom and got input on them as a group. That was a fabulous experience, and thanks to everyone for that!! I really enjoyed the "quilt show." We didn't get to see the quilts in super detail, but we oohed and aahed collectively over the workmanship. 

Wow -- some of those quilts are beyond belief! Look at the two pineapple quilts. Those blocks are tiny with many pieces per block, and we were complaining about a 5" pineapple block when we did the Long Time Gone quilt!! How long did it take them to make these works of art? 

It's time to get moving and off to spin class at the gym. Then back to walk the dogs and then sewing and writing for the remainder of the day!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

My day off

Yesterday was supposed to be a day of getting things embroidered and sewn. However, I didn't even touch a sewing machine. Well other than to pack it up. I'm on my way to a sewing retreat this morning. I know - bad timing.

After the missed attempt at sending Bear home yesterday, I had to get to the vet so we could obtain a new health certificate so he could fly. Poor little guy - he was very out of sorts about the whole thing. I'm happy to report that he received a clean bill of health and as I write this, he's on his way from the cargo depot to the big plane that will take him home to Vancouver. His flight leaves at 7:15 AM. I think he's going to go crazy when he gets home. So will M. I kind of miss the little guy already. He was so darn cute and so fun and it was great entertainment to see what he would come up with next. Bye, bye Bear - we miss you already!

Bear and I spent a lot of time yesterday just hanging out and catching up on some sleep. Good grief - I was tired. Not only from getting up at a ridiculous time to get him to the airport which didn't work out but the travel day the day before as well. Not only did we go back to bed when we got back from the airport, but we had a long, long nap on the couch after lunch.

Then I had to get up because I was teaching a class. It was the second session of teaching the nine-year-old and her dad how to sew a dress. They had done their homework and it was well done. When the class was over, they just had to attach the skirt to the bodice and the ruffle to the skirt. So they still have a fair amount of homework to do. They didn't choose the easiest pattern for a total beginner. But they were making out just fine. Super excited to see the young ones take up sewing and this girl is going to go gangbusters. Now only on her own accord, but she has great parents (at least a great dad) to support her.

So that class was at Oh Look Fabric. If you have kids or know of kids who want to learn to sew, give the store a call and we can set something up. Even adults for that matter.

I'm making dinner tonight for the group at the retreat. My plan was to make the chili at home and take it with me. However, I sauteed the veggies and that was the extent of my cooking. I'll do the rest at the retreat right after lunch.

Thank goodness, I'm going by myself. I packed half of the car this morning and well, I still have the sewing machines (yes - taking two - one for embroidery and one for sewing). So I must get the rest of the car packed.

The winners of the International Quilter's Association quilt show were announced last night and here's a link to the winning quilts.  There are a couple of Canadians amongst the winners. I have to say that the pictures on the web do NOT do justice to the detail in these quilts. I did see most of the winners and I was certain that I had seen them all, but there are a couple that I don't recognize. And it's funny - there are some that I know I saw in person, but boy - they look different seeing them in a photograph. The level of detail and the workmanship are truly outstanding in all of these quilts.

As an FYI - I'll have some stuff to sell in an upcoming craft sale.  It takes place at The Hobby Horse on Friday, November 16 and Saturday, November 17. Be sure to mark those dates down. I'll be there for part of the day on Friday. There will be quilts, bags, runners, ornaments, and many other items. If you're in a panic about Christmas gifts, this is the place to be!!!

On that note, I'd better get the girls (no boy anymore) for their walk, finish loading the car and get myself off to the sewing retreat. I can't wait!!!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

We're coming home!

Oh boy - I'm totally out to lunch.  Last evening as we were getting ready to tear the booth down, I mentioned that the clocks were supposed to turn back.  My colleagues very politely told me that it was the previous night that the clocks were turned back!  With all the technology today and everything automatically turning back, I was totally oblivious to the change!    I thought it was pretty funny. Everyone makes a big deal of it and I never even noticed.

Although the last day of any show is always slow, yesterday seemed to be slower than usual.  But we still had people come through the booth. It did allow us to get out a wee bit more and well I shouldn't have because I spent some money and I'm going to blame this one all on Marilyn!  She told me to visit a particular booth because of Shelley and well, Shelly and I had a great conversation and I found a few cool things in the booth. Now to find time to make these things!

The other thing I noticed and this was probably a good thing was that a number of items that I wanted were sold out by the time I got there!!!!  One of the things that I wanted was sold out and I have to say that I did find it in the booth that Marilyn and Audrey had pointed out to me!   And now I'm the proud owner of three yards of a cool print that is 54 inches wide.

I did manage to get to see all?  of the quilts.  But a fast look through. There were some amazing quilts and I was very impressed.  I was standing in front of Marilyn's quilt, the name of which I cannot remember and this is what I heard.  A couple of people came by and said "that is so creative. I would never think of doing that with that fabric."  They were VERY impressed and so they should as Marilyn is a very creative and talented lady and I would aspire to be more like her!  She also has a heck of a lot more free time than I do!

By Marilyn Farquar

It's very cool with those tiny touches of red.  This is the one that was chosen for Judges Choice by David Taylor.  A pretty cool honor!

So I have to do some name dropping - sorry. But Jenny walked by our booth yesterday and waved to me!  Yep - I didn't have my glasses on at the show so I wasn't 100% percent it was her and thought - if I wave, I'll look like an idiot, but she waved to me and I waved back!!!  I've got stuff to do for her so that is exciting and I guess I made a good impression.  I went over to see Victoria Findlay Wolfe - well I was just wandering past her booth and she said HI.  We had a great conversation.  I did see Angela Walters wandering the floor on several occasions, but I didn't stop and chat with her. Hmmm - who else?  Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr - I spoke to Weeks and was going to have a further conversation, but that didn't happen.

Anyway, that added some excitement to my day so that was great.

I installed EQ8 yesterday on my laptop so I'm good to go. I'll have something to entertain me today as it's a travel day! Can't wait to try out some of the stuff that I learned from Barb Vlack. 

It was a long haul to be away that long, but all in all, it was a very successful show. Well, two shows.  I made or advanced some very important contacts, got loads of work to do to follow up.  Oh yes - forgot to mention that I had a great conversation with Patience Griffith who writes a book series about quilts (romance). And I also had a brief chat with Arlene Sachitano who also writes novels about quilts (mystery).  I saw a ton of books that I would love to own. Most of them were historical books or picture books of quilts. But I didn't buy any because I already have a ton (or two) of books and I really need to start reading my books and messing with my books so I can appreciate them more and then I won't feel so bad if I buy a few more.

The show closed at 4 PM and we made quick work of getting that booth down. There were six of us in total and we were finished, the crate doors closed and final paperwork done by 7:30 PM.  There are a lot of things to pack up and store and it all takes time.  And I got to shrink wrap the pallets! Along with Patti.  You learn something new every day!

I'm all packed and going home probably a wee bit lighter than when I came down as I had a big quilt top in my suitcase. All of my purchases went on the crate.  I think I ended up with three small boxes of stuff. How did that happen?  I'm not sure what was in those boxes but I'll sort it out when we get back to Toronto. It's going to be fun to unpack those crates as instead of having all the same thing in one spot - I think it's in several spots!  That's what happens when you do two shows back to back.

On that note, I'm' out of here.  I have 2 1/2 hours to kill before the shuttle comes to pick us up to take us to the airport. Hmmm - I guess I could do some e-mail.

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!!!

PS -- while it may have rained at some point, we never had to deal with a rainy day. But the humidity is a bit crazy.

Quilt Festival - Day Three

The weather here is very bizarre. Well, the weather all over the world is very bizarre. The first couple of days were very cool compared to what you would expect from Texas. After all, Texas is very far south. But that was OK and it was good for set-up day when there was a lot of physical work to be done and therefore you wanted it cool so you didn't overheat.

But now the temperature outside is quite high and it's humid. As a result, they have cranked up the air conditioning in these buildings so it's absolutely freezing.  And I mean COLD.  The people who are selling shawls and scarves are making a killing. Note to self:  pack a nice big SWEATER for the next show!  As it's often cold in the convention centers, but yesterday was really bad.  I had gone over with only a T-shirt as the previous day I had on a long-sleeved shirt and thought there wasn't much difference and I could be OK. NOPE - I had to walk over to the hotel to get a long sleeved shirt to put on and I was good for most of the day with that but towards the end of the day, I was COLD. Plus it was probably shorter to come and use the washroom in my room and get a hot chocolate from the Star Bucks here than it was to wait in the convention center.

It took the girl here a mere minute to make a hot chocolate. At the convention center - it's at least five and there's a huge line up there and not here.  Doesn't make sense. There are people walking around in shorts and T-shirts and little dresses with no stockings. Not sure how they are managing.  But the worst is that even when you go outside, you can't get warm. The air is so humid and clammy.  It's very uncomfortable from that perspective.  By the time we get to the hotel, I'm starting to feel OK and then back to cranked up A/C.  YUCK.   The first thing I did when I got in my room last week was to shut the A/C off and shut off the ceiling fan.  Last night, I cranked the temperature up a degree or two (turned on the heat) and wore my sweatshirt to bed.  This is why I hate A/C.  I don't mind it to get comfortable, but the extreme temperature change is what I hate.

We have one last day today and the show closes at 4 PM. Then we have the fun task of taking the booth down and packing up everything. We leave tomorrow.  Yeah - as much fun as it's been, I'll be glad to get home. This is a long haul to be here for the two shows. I'm OK with that as the opportunity is one not to be missed. 

I was over early yesterday morning and got to see some of the quilt displays.  There are some amazing quilts over there and I spent as much time as I could in the area before coming back to the booth to get it ready for the day. While it doesn't take long, it's still a matter of getting the fabric bundles out of the boxes to make it easier to hand out. Make sure the garbage is emptied and the tables look presentable. 

We had a steady stream of people in the booth all day and it was really only in the last hour that things slowed down. So that made the day go by relatively fast and I managed to get out and do a wee bit of shopping. I'm not really needing anything, but there are still about 15 places that I want to go back and revisit. What I'm finding is that the things that I want (other than license plates) are sold out.  ALL the fabric kits and books for the Cherrywood challenge are gone. Hopefully Shelly is going to come to the rescue for that one. I wanted a new Teflon ironing sheet - gone!  But no worries, I will be able to find these things elsewhere - at least I was able to see them here.  I sure hope I can get my bias maker!  The bundle of fabric that I had my eye on was still waiting for me so I guess that was meant to be. 

We got back to the hotel shortly after 7 PM.  The others wanted to hit some fancy restaurant, but no reservations could be made so they were going to have to wait.  Not happening for me.  I had HOT soup in our hotel and a sandwich. Made tons of notes about the show and I was in bed and asleep by 8:30.  I had a fabulous sleep and I feel great this morning.  It takes too long to recover from lack of sleep and too much to drink.   I do NOT have time to get sick.

I'll be heading over to the convention center for 8 AM this morning so I can check out some more of the quilts. There are two more exhibits that I want to see for sure and I should take a peek at the winning quilts. I really really hate to say this, but after a while, I become so conditioned, that I have no problem to breeze by these magnificent works of art with a mere glance!  Isn't that awful. 

And HI to Marlene, from back home, whom I ran into several times now.  I had to laugh yesterday as I had seen her at a booth as someone was giving a demo. (I need to buy Inktense blocks now - thanks to Swan!)  Marlene said I'm going back to the hotel and look - I haven't bought any fabric.  Not even five minutes later, she was in our booth with a handful of fabric that she found that matched something she had at home.  We had a good laugh about that!

The networking never stops here.  I've made another couple of good contacts and advanced some existing relationships.  I ran into Jenny and her husband from MSQC yesterday and some interesting things were discussed so that was my big excitement for the day.

On that note, I'm out of here to find a great combination of clothes to wear that I don't have to change for tear down and that will keep me warm during the 6 hours of being on the floor.

Oh - I should mention that it's so cold in the convention center that when you walk past the doors and someone opens it - there's this HUGE blast of cold air and we were about 10-15 feet away from the door.  It was like walking past the refrigerated section in the grocery store. 

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!!!

I did see the Van Gogh display by Cherrywood.  WOW is all I can say.  There are some amazing quilts and this is the display that will be at Seaforth, Ontario at the end of November.  Make sure you get out to see it.  I noticed that some used the same quote that I did!  There were a couple that I thought mine was equally as nice, but what the heck - I'm a winner just getting it done!

Quilt Festival - Day Two

We've survived another day at Quilt Festival!  I don't mean that in a bad way - it's just that the days are long. One of my knees, the non-surgery knee isn't all that happy with all of the standing around and it gets stiff real quick when I sit down.  But I'll survive and it's all part of the process.

I was over to the Convention Center at 8 AM and I was able to see the rest of the floor with my camera and my notebook.  I did find a few more treasures and I wrote them down in my notebook. Silly but I found, even more, license plates and well - I'm going to buy them.  Good grief - one day this has to stop. Maybe I'll cap it at 10 or I'll only buy the interesting ones?

Not a whole lot of fabric is on my list - a couple of patterns and a few odds and ends.  It won't take up much room.

Back to the booth where I got it set up for the day - sorting out the fabric for the giveaways and getting our handouts ready.  We've gone through a fair amount, but there is no danger that we'll run out.

While what we hand out is a very small little package of fabric with a link to a free pattern, it's amazing how many people want MORE than one.  Quilters are desperate to increase their stash.   Some of them signed up with us last year and we're OK with that. It's nice to see people come back and I'm totally OK if everyone signs up at each new show (once!).  But when asked if they did the project from last year?  NOPE -- so what is the big deal about getting a few more squares?  Giving it to charity?  You need a whole lot of these squares to make a quilt.  It would appear that quilters have a natural hoarding tendency.  It's pretty crazy!

So if you are one of the ones who want extra fabric here's a tip.  DO NOT wear clothing that is easily recognizable.  Like coming in with your friends in matching bright pink T-shirts for instance. It's pretty funny what people try and I'm not sure if they think they can fool us? trick us?  Anyway - that's part of the game for us!  And then to see how people react when we politely say, thank you, but didn't you already sign-up like an hour ago?

I did manage to get out and walk the floor a wee bit in the day - just taking breaks as we are not all needed in the booth at one given time. And we need to take breaks.  The day did seem to go by fast so that was great as the days are very long.  I'm not sure why the show is open until 7 PM, but that seems a bit long.

There was a parade for the Houston Astros (World Series champs) yesterday at 2 PM.  The downtown was a zoo and traffic was gridlocked for a long time.  I do hope that Audrey and Marilyn got out as they were planning to leave in the middle of the parade.  I think they may have changed their plans. It was great to see the two of them and they should be safely out of town by now and halfway back home. Well not quite, but on their way home.

We've got another couple of days before we head home. Today is the last long day of the show as it closes at 7 again and then tomorrow is 4 PM when we get the fun task of closing down the booth and packing up.

We all went out to dinner last night to an area not far from the hotel.  It was a zoo.  I think the parade had occurred on this street and there was ticker tape all over the street, the bars were full of wasted people and garbage was piled in bags on the street. We were able to find a quiet place just outside the crazy zone and had the best sweet potato fries that I've had in a long time.

No pictures today - I didn't sleep very well. I've no idea why but I had tons of design ideas for quilts that were tossed around in my head and I need to get them on paper!

Have a super day!

Ciao!

Quilt Festival - Day One

And so the show has officially begun - well there was preview night!  But this was the first of THREE days where the show opens at 10AM and closes at 7 PM   (and unofficially the show opens at 8 AM for vendors so that makes an 11 hour day on the floor).

I was at the convention center at 8 AM and the moment we could get onto the floor, I was there. I dropped my bag at our booth and then walked to the far end of the floor and started my walk.  I had camera, notebook, and pen.

I think there are 26 aisles and I was able to make it to 10 (starting at 26) in one hour and a half. It's amazing how fast you can walk that floor when there are no people on it!   I made notes - lots of notes of things that I want to go back and get. Nothing too exciting but I did see a couple of license plates - I know - an addiction that won't go away!  I see that some of them have plates from previous years and I don't know if I have them so I did stop myself from buying those.

Technically, I'm window shopping and then I'll re-evaluate the list and go from there.

I did find one very interesting tool and the owner was in the booth to demonstrate to me and I'm going back later today or tomorrow to buy the tool.  It was amazing and something that I have been looking for forever.  Wait until you see what it does!

In my second walk, there does seem to be a lot of jewelry places and things for finished goods but probably no more than previous years.  For those that think the CreativFestival has some "non-quilt" places, ALL shows - even this big one does.  It's just the nature of the beast and of course at the end of the day, the massage places are making a killing!

I did pop out during the day to the Cherrywood booth to see the challenge fabric only to find that ALL the half yard kits for the new challenge (the theme is Prince - the singer)  were SOLD OUT!!   Yes - they had brought well over 50 and all were gone! At a mere cost of $64 US!!!!!   It's totally insane and why this particular challenge is so popular, I've no idea.  But wow!!!!  The purples (like all their other colors are to die for - they are rich and very saturated and well, I know that Ronda would love to pet them!  Looks like we better put in an order with the shop in Seaforth and Shelly is going to be our fabric mule!

For some reason, I can't upload the pictures that I want! 
Ok - now properly connected to the internet.   Nope still can't upload a picture.





If they do get some more in, I'll try to fill my requests but I'm not holding my breath!

I'll be back early this morning so I can walk the rest of the floor and then it'll be easy to pop out for a few minutes here and there to pick up what I want or at least to investigate it a bit further. One of the problems is that I get excited about the same booths every year and so I'm reluctant to buy something from them unless I know it's brand new because chances are, I bought it last year!

The lesson here is to get things done that you buy!

We had very steady traffic flow in our booth all day.  There are five of us staffing the booth (oh shoot -  just realized I forgot to charge the iPad last night!)  It's now plugged in!  We have three iPads to capture e-mails and people get to spin the wheel and get a prize.  Not only do we had out a small fabric pack, but they get a pattern to make a project as well which is fun. Have I ever posted those projects online?   I don't think so - well I'll try to remember and try to get them on our Northcott website so that even if you didn't get the pack, the patterns are there.  People are very receptive to the idea of the patterns so that's a good thing. 

The show closed at 7 PM last night and by the time we got to our hotel and getting ready for dinner, it was 7:30.  Then the discussion of where to eat.  That drives me absolutely crazy.  I ended up going to the local sports bar and had a great dinner by myself.  No offense to my colleagues but after spending the entire day being "on" with our customers, I like a wee bit of quiet time for myself.  I had a few words with the people in the bar and the bartender and that was as much conversation that I wanted. I was back at the hotel and in bed by 9:30.  I woke up this morning feeling awesome so that is a good thing.  I'm too old to spend all this time without sleep - it just isn't good for me anymore.

People are loving the wolf quilt.  Ooohing and aahing and hopefully, we're directing traffic to Yanicka's web site.  It's a pretty stunning piece of art and of course, Marilyn quilted it for her.  I love it and I want it!

We've had a great response to our other quilts as well so all in all, it's been great and that was only the first day.

Shoot, I'm not sure that I have any pictures that I want to post on the blog.  I'll try to snap one or two today for you. sorry about that!

I've got to run as I have to write out a few notes as to how to change things for next year!

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!

The town goes wild!

Oh yes - last night was a crazy night as - well - the Houston Astros won the World Series! Now they were not playing in Houston, but there were 40,000 fans at the Minute Maid Stadium watching the game on the big screen.

We happened to be at the Convention Center doing Preview Night which started at 5 PM. There were people walking around watching the game on their phone!  And we did get announcements from time to time to update the score. There was a HUGE roar through the center each time they did that and there was an even bigger roar when they scored three runs (or whatever it was).  It was great fun to be part of that and hopefully today things will go back to normal?

I went over to the convention center in the morning and got everything all tidied up in the booth. So that meant we didn't have to worry about it later in the day.  Then off to meet with someone and then it was time for a couple of lectures.

While I enjoyed the first lecture, I was a teeny bit disappointed. The lady was chatting about how many UFOs she had and how to get them under control. I really think I could have done a better job and provided way more information to the audience. It was entertaining, but not enough meat. I met up with Anne from back home so we had a good chat. But with all the going that we have been doing, the moment I sat down, well I wanted to go to sleep. I was tired and I think I drifted off for a moment or two.

I'm not bragging or anything, but honestly sometimes these BIG names speakers - they get a draw because of who they are, not because of the content of their presentations.  In many cases, I could do way better!  But no one would come because they don't know who I am.

And I hate the fact that when I'm tired or bored, I'm restless.  I just can't sit still and it's bad! Sometimes one of my legs gets extremely annoyed and is restless.  It's totally crazy!

Then I popped over to the line for the banquet. It was the winner's circle banquet and while I didn't get to sit with Marilyn and Audrey, I had a chat with them and found a spot at a table where I chatted with ladies from various parts of the US. A very entertaining story about publishing a book which I had heard before, but it was still good.

I forgot to mention that one of the big prizes went to a lady from Nelson, BC.  I want to say her name was Donna James?  Machine quilting - very amazing!  Anyway, we got to listen to the stories of the top 8 winners.  Three from Japan, one from Spain, one from Canada and the rest from the US. These are the kind of quilts that take YEARS.  I think the longest was 6 years.  Seriously?   I couldn't do it.
And Donna?  Her quilt was on her long arm frame for 4 months!  And it's about 60 inches square.

Then to another lecture about making bags and using various constructions methods for dressing them up.  The lecture was good, but I was not.  I actually fell asleep in this lecture. I just couldn't help myself.  The least amount of downtime and I'm out!  But I did learn some things so it wasn't a complete wash.

I had one hour before I was to meet the rest of our crew in the booth so we could get ourselves organized for the evening. I walked the floor - very quickly.  I had pen and paper and I had my camera to record certain things. The set up seemed a wee bit rushed as it seemed that people were still way behind in the setup and the show opened in an hour.  It all gone done, but for some it was close.

There are some interesting things, but it sure seems like the jewelry category is large and it seemed to me there were a lot of finished goods?  I'm going to check with my colleagues on that one. Or I'll see again today as I'm going to be there at 8 AM so that I have two good hours to walk the floor. 

The evening was fun but ended at 10 PM at which time we came back to our hotel and watched the last of the game. I really wanted to go to bed, but I stayed up and it was midnight before I got to bed. I'm a tad tired this morning so you're not getting pictures.  It just isn't going to happen.

And last night they announced the new theme for the Cherrywood challenge.  The color is purple, the theme is Prince - as in the singer Prince.  I'm picking up a kit (with half yard cuts!) and I might buy a few more purples to go with it.  I have months so need to get myself in gear. It's a great learning experience even if my piece doesn't get into the show. I know not much about Prince so a bit of research is going to be in order.

I have to run as I have one e-mail that I have to send this morning before I go down for breakfast. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

A learning curve

So sorry about forgetting to publish that post yesterday.  I had done a lot of research in the morning about what class I could take.  I saw that I could get into EQ7 so I had breakfast and zipped off to the convention center. I was thinking that the class started at 8 AM so I was in a bit of a rush. I arrived at the classroom only to find it completely empty. After looking at the schedule I realized that it started at 9 AM and ended at 5, not 4.  Oh well.  Not a problem. I also thought we had one hour for lunch and so after rushing at lunch only to find that I had one more hour.  It appears that I'm not good with times or something!

I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to the others from our office as I was gone. But that's OK.  It's a bit of a bittersweet moment.  They get to go home and I get to stay. Which is the better of those two worlds?  Afterall, it's now Quilt Festival and there are literally hundreds of people with stuff to sell to me and I haven't seen the quilts yet.  I'm OK with staying. BUT one week from today, I'll be in the car on my way to a sewing retreat. A very well deserved sewing retreat and I can't wait.  I think I'll have to rejig what I threw in that laundry basket or just take it and wing it.  As long as I'm sewing and advancing projects, it doesn't really matter what I sew.

The class I ended up taking was EQ7.  For those in the industry, you'll be wondering why I took this class when EQ8 is on the Market. And how did I get into such a class at the last minute?  Because it was EQ7 and NOT EQ8.  If it had of been EQ8, I wouldn't have gotten near it.  However what people don't realize is that many of the functions are the same - it's just the look that has changed (I know there are improvements, but the underlying functions are the same).  And as compensation, we all got a FREE copy of the EQ8 upgrade.

Barb Vlack was the teacher and honestly, she was amazing.  This was the BEST class that I've taken in a long time. It was for confident beginners and I was a bit worried as I've been using the product for a long time. But I knew that there were things that I just don't touch and I would say that within the first hour, I had more than recouped my money.  What was nice is that while Barb had an outline that she was following, she did allow us some questions outside of that outline and things that I had really wanted to know how to do better.  I could have asked more questions, but my head was already swimming with information and best to get really comfortable with what I now know.  Get used to all that and then go back!  What I really must do when I get home is to download the manual to the tablet and go through the darn thing.  I keep saying that everytime a new version comes out and I never do. But after doing that with the sewing machines, I know that a lot can be gleaned from the manual!   AHA - writing the word tablet made me remember that I had to charge up the iPad so it'll be ready for this evening. All plugged in and ready to go.

I even tried to use my phone as a hotspot when I realized that I hadn't posted the blog, but I couldn't get it to work.  My computer couldn't find the phone.  I must ask Ronda about that next week.

 Then after the class, I made it back to the hotel to dump off the laptop and then hustle into the line back at the convention center to be part of the awards ceremony (the audience part!).  I knew that Audrey and Marilyn would be there as we had been messaging all day.  Those girls are like Thelma and Louise. I'm not sure I would trust them!  But it sounds like they have a good time. When your quilt wins something at these major shows, you don't know know what.  You just know you have won. Marilyn won a Judge's Choice. The judge was David Taylor which was funny because they know each other.  But when the judges are judging, they have no idea whose quilt is whose. They might guess from the style, but they don't know.   I'm absolutely thrilled for Marilyn.

And it sounds like it was a huge ordeal to judge the quilts which happened around the time of the hurricane.  The quilts had to be moved down five flights of stairs because the elevator shaft was full of water.  Anyway, there was much thanking last night because of the huge efforts of people to make this show happen and all the while some of them were dealing with the hurricane on a personal level.  HUGE KUDOS to the staff at Quilts, Inc to make that happen.

For those of you who don't know Marilyn, you should!  She is an award-winning quilter, not just at this show, but she's won at Paducah and QuiltCon and probably a few others that I can't remember. Her machine quilting is to die for and well, we just love her!!!!   I'm not sure that I should say this, but Marilyn's quilt almost didn't make it to the judging process because of a couple of SNAFUs which is a very entertaining story.  But the bottom line is that when you send anything via courier or even the mail, make sure that EVERY piece of information from the previous shipping is completely obliterated or use a new box!!!!  Gosh - I remember when we wrapped boxes in brown paper before sending them.  Does anyone else remember doing that?

Marilyn and David Taylor

I'll try to get a better picture on the floor.  It was hard to get this picture because there were so many people milling about and wanting pictures but we shooed them away so we could get this.  We need to get Marilyn some web presence.  I know she has a blog and Instagram - I just can't find the link this morning.

We had a number of winners from Canada and Kathie Wylie won first place in the Traditional Applique category.

Kathie Wylie and her winning quilt

Oh - that picture is even fuzzier.  It's very hard to take pictures in that ballroom because of the lighting. I'll try again for a better picture.  There was another first place for Canada in an art category and I can't remember the category. It was Ana Buzzalino from Calgary.  I also can't find the list of winners on the website. Perhaps it will go up the website today!

The workmanship in those quilts is amazing.  I will never get to that level because I NEVER EVER want to spend that much time on one quilt.  I would die of total boredom. And there would never be an excuse to buy new fabric!   A lot of winners from Japan and a lot of them were in attendance last night.

Back to the hotel where I had dinner with a couple of the others that had already finished up but the baseball game was on.  The stadium was packed with people and so there was a heavy security presence again. Police on bikes, police on horse, helicopters hovering. I'm sure the snipers were in place again. However it was a subdued crowd that left that stadium.  While I'm not a baseball fan, it's hard to not get wrapped up in the excitement of being here.

I booked a couple of lectures and the winner's circle luncheon today as I have nothing else to do. The preview night opens at 5 PM until 10 PM and my experience in previous years is that the place will be packed!  Tomorrow will also be a long busy day and then the remaining three days will be significantly calmer so that means we get to get out of the booth for a bit.  I plan to get to the convention center two hours before the show starts and you can do and see a LOT in those two hours. It makes for an extra long day, but that's just the way it goes.

I think I've blathered on for long enough!   I'm out of here to have a leisurely breakfast and get ready for my first appointment of the day at 10.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

The last day of Quilt Festival 2016

Yesterday was the last day of Quilt Festival and we all survived!!!

I was at the convention center shortly before 8 AM, but they wouldn't let us on the floor until 8. No worries. I dropped stuff at our booth and then hurried over to the quilts. I managed to get through them all, took tons of pictures. I spent a fair amount of time in the IQA show quilts. There were a LOT of categories where I questioned why this quilt or that quilt won a prize, while others did not.  There were a lot of questions in my mind and would have been fun to be in the judging session.

I had a couple of meetings yesterday so wasn't doing my regular spiel with our little chips, which was a good thing as it gave a chance for some of the others to be included in the fun.

I had a list and I was sticking to the list as there were a few patterns that I wanted to get. Might as well get them while I'm here. I also had a few errands to do, check out a few other places, chat to a few more people. It was kind of like my prepping for the shows - the closer it got to the end of the day, I started to prioritize the places to visit and what I wanted.

I could have bought more, I'm coming home with cash and I didn't use my credit card, except when we went to visit Joey the dog's store. I did run into one more person that I knew and of course had to get a picture with Jenny.

Me and Jenny Doan

I know that I'm not wearing my orange scarf, I think it was the only day. I decided with the sweater that I was going to be too hot.  But that darn convention center was cold as ice and I probably could have used the orange scarf. I get it that you don't want the attendees fainting from the heat, but it was COLD!

Then we had the funtastic task of tearing down the booth.  It actually went pretty fast, but then we had to wait for the crate to arrive so we could pack it up. Let's just say that with all the dealings I had with the show office, I got to know those people pretty well. But we all had fun and that's what it's all about. They moved in the smaller stuff to the vendors first, like their empty palettes and then started to move in the crates, but I think we had to wait about 45 minutes for it.

We're getting good about packing up and everything got loaded, we had less stuff than when we came so that was a good thing. I got one more box of stuff on this crate -yep - three boxes of stuff came home with me.  Not sure what all that is, but I'll get the fun of going through it when the crates come back.  And three items were not available at the show, so they are being shipped to me. Actually, now that I think of it, there are other items from Market that are also being shipped to me.  It's going to be like Christmas!

We had a helping hand from Susan Claire (the scooter lady who is also known as The Gourmet Quilter) from New Zealand.  And we ended the day by having dinner together. I was so tired that I could barely stay awake. But then I'm wide awake at 3 AM.  I do not need to be wide awake at 3 AM so I got up and wrote some more notes, read for a bit, and at last, I was able to fall asleep.

Speaking of my book, I was part way through this book when I left home. I debated bringing another one (and I did - but an audio book).  I haven't even finished this one but will have time on the plane to finish it.

So my computer decided to die in the middle of this post. Fortunately, with auto-save, I didn't lose everything. Good grief, not sure what that was all about.

I've got time this morning to have a leisurely breakfast and then we leave for the airport. And back home later this afternoon and then the whirlwind will begin all over again. Actually, it's going to be a pretty fun week and I can't wait!!

On that note, I'd better finish packing and get downstairs to breakfast.

Have an awesome day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Sleepless in Houston

Yes, the clocks turned back one hour last night. This is probably the best place it could have happened because we need all the sleep we can get. However, I was wide awake at 4:15 or was that 5:15? My phone was providing only one time! 

What does one do when they are wide awake and there are hours to kill and I'm not ready to get up? I got my handy notebook and wrote more copious notes of observations, got my shopping/networking list ready for the day and once my brain was empty, I could go back to sleep again. I must have fallen into a deep deep sleep because next thing I know, I was dreaming about having a wrap-up meeting and taking down the structure!  Go figure!

Today is the last day of the show and while it's all been fun, I'm looking forward to getting home. It's been a long haul. 

I did get to the convention centre early yesterday and they let me in at about 7:50 AM.  I managed to zip up and down the remaining aisles of the show. Some of the booths are completely wrapped up and you are not going to see what's in there, but I've already so much on my plate that if I miss one or two things, that's OK. 

Then it was off to visit the quilts. Now there are a LOT of quilt displays. I power walked through almost half of them.  Yes, there are some beautiful works of art that I'm missing, but seriously - how many Log Cabin quilts or compass quilts do I need to see in one life time?  I'm on the prowl for different things these days and so it made going through the displays a whole lot easier and faster. It's like speed reading - you get the story without reading all the detail. And technique?  I'm not looking at technique or workmanship - I know all these quilts are well put together. I'm looking for ideas and inspiration and I won't get that from technique or workmanship. 

Just so you can get a slight appreciation of the size of this place, the convention centre floor is split into two sections. One is for the vendors. There are 26 aisles. 

The main aisle of the vendor section

And then you have the other half of the centre which is where the quilts are displayed. 

The main aisle of the quilt display

This one starts at A and goes to - well I didn't see, but it pretty much spans the alphabet. 

The most impressive display was the Cherrywood Lion King Challenge.  There are no words to describe this challenge. The background of the display is black, the quilts were mostly yellows and golds and they were spectacular. 

Cherrywood Lion King display

There are 45 different quilts on that wall. They each measure 20 inches square and each is a masterpiece. They are creative, they are beautiful, they are stunning. 

As I was standing there taking it all in, who walks up by Alex Anderson. So we had a little chat about how breathtaking the quilts are. I'm sure she doesn't remember that I've accosted  her for photos on several occasions, but doesn't matter. We're both quilters!

By the end of that power quilt tour, I was ready to get back to the booth. Got it all set up for the day and we were ready for the crowds. This was day Four (technically three, but with a five-hour preview night - it's day Four for me). I had been told by a number of people that day four is slower than the others which was right on the money. Today is going to be very slow and so we can get out a bit more. 

We did shut down our prize wheel later in the afternoon which was good. I'd like to know how many times I said my little spiel. But people are zipping over to our secret website to get the pattern. Don't worry, I'm sure it will go up at some point on our regular page. 

I did manage to get out and get a teeny bit of shopping done. I've accumulated 9 license plates on this trip.  I know - crazy that I need more!  I did get a couple of patterns and I signed up for the new Cherrywood challenge. Vincent Van Gogh!!!  I have a few things on my list today - mostly to go back and check stuff out, not really to buy. I mean seriously - how much stuff do I need and there is only one fabric that I'll be buying and it has bicycles on it. 

We had a bit of excitement at dinner last night. Four of us went to a local restaurant in the area and as we were sitting there, we saw a group of cyclists. Apparently, it's a thing to do - get on your bike and bar hop?  I wasn't sure about that part of it. But the second time they went around, there was also a group of protestors and I think they got into a bit of an altercation. Next thing we knew, there were a few cops around. Then there were cops on horses!  It took a bit of time to clear things up. We were sitting on an outdoor patio right beside the sidewalk and the protestors (with the cops on horses right beside them) walked past our table twice!!!  In total, I counted EIGHT cops on horseback and there were at least 7 on foot.  Yikes!!!   Thank goodness, it was peaceful or relatively so.

Just a protest for our evening entertainment

Of course, I'm snapping photos, as were a lot of other people. Totally crazy people (yes - even me!!!)

Ah - at last, it is time for breakfast and off to the convention centre for the final day.  Only six hours, plus my two bonus hours so I need to make the best of it. 

Have a super day!

Ciao!

Can you tell the time?

Time - what a crazy thing!  Often when I travel and sometimes even when I don't, I don't bother syncing the time on my FitBit. Just one more piece of technology that will mess with my brain. We have a time change tonight as well which is going to totally mess me up.

I was hustling around yesterday morning so I could get to the show early to walk around and see some of the booths before the show opened.  I've only got ONE hour so hustle, hustle, hustle.

I arrived a bit early because I needed to pick up the book for the show as mine seemed to have gone missing in action. Picked up the book, sat down and finally had a look at it and at last, the show door opened for vendors and I was in.

Of course, my notebook (which is too big to fit in my pouch) was back at the hotel, so I did have to sneak a flyer from a booth to have something to write on.

Made notes of shops carrying license plates, patterns for me to investigate, patterns for me to buy (as if I need any more) and other items of note. Now it is a quarter to, so back to the booth to prep it for the day. Several people stopped by and I'm thinking, don't people need to be getting their booths set up. It did seem a tad quiet.

As I'm talking to one couple, I realise that I arrived TWO hours in advance, not one!!!  DUH - no concept of time. And now I've sort of wasted that second hour of the day because everything was set up in the booth. Not that it would have mattered to leave it, but DUH!!!  It was fine as several other people stopped by and we chatted and the time did go by!

I'm a bit mad at myself because that would have given me almost EIGHT hours in total to peruse the show and not have anyone to bother me as I zipped through the quilts and the booths.  No worries - I have two hours this morning and two tomorrow. Also, tomorrow which is the last day of the show is usually pretty dead so I plan to spend a good part of it on the floor.

I spend almost the entire day again at the wheel having fun with the customers and giving them my spiel about our product.

Our microchip pack of Stonehenge Gradations Brights

And on the back of that little pack is a secret location where you can download the pattern for these.

Mini quilt

Table runner

I have to say that both items are very simple, but the audience is loving them and very happy that they can get the pattern for free. It's all very ego building!

Don't worry, I won't change. I'll still be the same crazy person that I am. We have some other items that we are giving away and honestly the reaction of people when they win a bigger prize is so worth standing there all day.  Hugs, tears and lots of awesome comments about the Northcott product. We quilters are truly a wonderful bunch of people!!!

It's not just those that are winning a bigger prize that are commenting on our products. It would appear that thousands of quilters are using the Stonehenge product. We've seen so many pictures of projects made with Stonehenge. The feedback is awesome. And it's all very exciting.

I will likely arrive back home and not have a voice and that's OK.  I don't need to talk to anyone! Just keep following the blog.

But here's the deal.  It is nice to go out with the group after the show for dinner. Let's face it - we're all famished which was reflected in the fact that the server could barely keep the bowl of chips and dip full on our table until our orders arrived.

They also like to stay up late and chat which is great and very stimulating conversation, but seriously folks?  I'm up early, I'm on the floor early and I need SLEEP.  I only got 6 hours last night and so I'm going to have to pace myself today!

As you know, I have NOT finished my 365 block-a-day quilt, nor have I started my Town and Country quilt. And there are going to be tons of projects out there for the Canadian Sesquicentennial. Including this one which I saw on Facebook this morning.  ACK!!!!!

On that note, I'm very cognizant of the time this morning and I need to have breakfast so it's time to get ready for the day!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Exciting news - oh my!!!!

Yesterday was a totally crazy day!   Started off by sleeping through my alarm. Not a big deal until I realised that we could get onto the floor at 8 AM and have one hour to wander and I was going to be late for that. Not too worry, I did manage to get on the floor and see about 6 rows (of 26) of the show. I chatted with a couple of people, found a couple of amazing quilt patterns, collected business cards and located a license plate or two (for Row by Row).  I tell you - the networking NEVER stops!

Then off to the booth where I got everything set up for the day and then the madness started.  People were lining up to spin that wheel and loving every minute of it.  Them and me!  The grand prize usually goes pretty early, but we still have other prizes to hand out. I give my little spiel which I did all day - from 10 AM - 7 PM with two small breaks in between. I can't help it - I LOVE sales.  I gave my little sales pitch to the line in small groups and we had loads of fun!  Quilters are really nice people and people were extremely happy to get our Microchip pack and the link to the secret web page with the pattern.

Perhaps I will load that secret web page on my blog at one point.  It really is a cute sample that I made - if I do say so myself. It was well received and the quilters are loving it which is the most important thing!

Note to self - make sure to take really detailed photos of the booth for follow-up when we are back!!!  Ever the networking/business nut, I can't turn myself off - EVER!  I've already made copious notes again this morning!

A few people stopped by yesterday and I did manage to get a few pictures.

Me and Jan

OH - don't look at my eyes!!!  I think they were half asleep!!!  But I wasn't!

Ann and me

Paul had stopped by several times and we finally got a picture.

Me and Paul

And notice what is on the lady's T-shirt in the left-hand corner!!!!

I did get out at the end of the day to zip around the floor and talked to Tea Time Quilting. They are a shop very close to the Convention Center and when we arrived at their shop - it was pretty much empty as they prepped to go to the show.  They have a 10 by 50-foot booth. Now how do they have all that stuff in that teeny shop!  But they had a license plate and I got one!!!  Actually, I bought two yesterday and I know of two more!!!

Jan and I had dinner together last night. It was great to hear her stories from her classes and the quilt displays.  I'm not sure that I'm going to make the quilt displays. But here's the thing - what's more important, making contacts? or checking out the quilts.  Next year, I must take more time during Quilt Market to visit the displays, but again, I spent a lot of time networking. OK - so I have the gift of gab and I'm proud of it.

I was in bed by 9 PM and I think my head hit the pillow and I was out. But I did hear the alarm today and I'm ready for another day of fun!!!!  I really don't mind the long days - I know - I need my head examined. But seriously, being a quilter in this environment?  It's nothing but a day long of fun and getting to meet a load of people.

Now here is the really exciting news of the day.  I was interviewed for a PODCAST.  I know - totally crazy, but it was fun to do.  Check it out and see who is on the same PODCAST as me, although the interviews were done separately.  I haven't even listened to it yet.

I'm going to teach our Block of the Month (mentioned in the PODCAST).  So if anyone else is on board, let's do it!!!!  Here is a picture of it.

Block of the Month

It's made with Northcott Stonehenge Gradations Brights and it's a beautiful quilt.  So if you are interested, let me know.  And let your local shop know because this is available for shops in your local area to run as a Block of the Month as well.  There is a Shop Guide that I can send to your local shop if they are interested.


Whew - totally exciting stuff happening all the time!  I love it.

And on that note, it's time to get the day started.

Have an awesome day!

Ciao!!!!

Quilt Festival opens

Wow - what a whirlwind day yesterday was.  We were up bright and early and off to finish setting up the booth. While it doesn't look like it should take a long time to set up our booth, it does. That is the same for any booth that I have been in - you think, a couple of hours and all is good. Our other colleagues arrived part way through and we quickly put them to work.

We had a bit of time between finishing the booth and the show opening. Yeah - a few minutes to relax. Then it was show time.

Show time!!!

I've been to preview night in the past, but that was years ago and I honestly thought we would be staring at ourselves for the entire evening. Not so - I barely made it to the booth when people were starting to line up to spin our wheel to win prizes. And you know what?  I was at that wheel for almost FIVE hours without really taking a break. It was unbelievable.

The others were chatting up people for our latest Chip Pack Challenge or manning the iPads.  It was totally insane. I mean totally. I shouldn't have been surprised because I know this is one of the largest consumer shows around, but the noise of that wheel sure does attract people.

It was so much fun to interact with the guests. And a few of them were Chicago fans and if anyone stopped wearing Chicago gear, I asked the score. Not that I'm into baseball, but this series was pretty exciting. One lady who stopped was about to spin the wheel when her phone went off. "It's the baseball score",  she said. I said, "STOP the wheel. We need to know the score."   All in all, we had a lot of fun with the baseball thing.

Several people that I knew stopped by the booth. I was hoping to get a picture of each of them. I did manage a couple, Jan please come back - I want your picture!!!

Mary Beth and me and Holly

We got back to the hotel after the show closed at 10 PM.  The baseball game was still on and even though I was exhausted, we sat in the bar watching the game.  Oh - it was crazy, but very exciting when Chicago finally had that last out. Rain delay - you name it!!!

I was so exhausted by this time, I think I literally fell into bed. I meant to shut off my alarm, but when I finally woke up  - it was almost 7 AM. I slept right through the darn thing which is something that I never do!!!!

Now it's time to get ready for another day.  I do believe that we can get into the show one hour early so I'm off to go and wander the halls to see some of the quilt displays as I haven't seen any of them in real life. It's going to be tight to zip around the floor and see the vendors and the quilts. And I do know one shop that has license plates so that is a priority!!!!

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a super awesome day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Patience - give me patience!

I had many plans for yesterday. Originally, I was going to take a class.  I didn't sign up in time but I could have signed up here. Then I would have had to bring fabrics and I would have ended up with a UFO so I decided not to. 

Then I found there was a sewing studio where you could sew on your own stuff and I had brought the last project with me.  But with no rotary cutter, I decided not to although I'm sure I could have gotten that cut somewhere in that maze of classrooms. 

The third option was to visit a couple of quilt stores with a couple of colleagues.  I was ready to go at 9 AM, but it was almost noon before we were ready to go. Let's just say that I was rapidly losing patience.  A total waste of a morning and I hate wasting time. 

However I'm happy to say that once we did get on the road, I calmed down and I was good. 

We visited a great shop called Quilter's Emporium. It was home to Joey the Dog who was at Quilt Market. Joey is a rescue dog and just cute as a button.  He was home resting when we visited yesterday. This is one of the shops on the bus tour (we didn't take the bus tour) here and was well worth the visit.  I didn't buy much, but I did buy three things. 

Quilter's Emporium

We decided to go out for lunch right after and had just got back in the car when I decided to check my voice mail. One of the items I had purchased wasn't in the store and would be coming tomorrow which is today. But I had gotten a voice mail that if we were still in the area that the item just came in. Thankfully we had lunch in the area so zipped back and I got  my item. 

There was a massive shop in the same complex which I thought was a gun shop. We decided to stop in. Unforunately it was more like a huge store for adventurers but with camo colored everything. 

Me with a training gun

While they didn't have guns, they have exact replicas made out of blue plastic. Now I would probably have thought that those were prototypes so you could then pick the handgun of your choice, go to the front to get the real thing.  Not so, these plastic ones are for training.  The little handgun in my hand was $65.  We didn't stay long as we had to get moving to the next quilt shop. 

The next one was a shop in a little house attached to a flower shop.  We managed to get in, but the shop was completely ripped apart as they were just leaving for Quilt Festival.  We didn't stay long and we headed back to the hotel where I think each of us had a little nap before we headed over to the convention centre to set up for Festival. 

All I'm going to say is that there was a series of issues, one of them being that our crate that was supposed to be on the floor so we could unpack it, was in storage with our other two crates.  It took a lot of energy to get all that stuff organized, but the structure is back up and we made good headway in getting it prepped for today. Preview is tonight from 5 to 10 or is that 9 PM?  

Once we were kicked out of the convention center for the evening, we had something to eat and then sat around and chatted. I think I ate way too much, way too late and I kept waking up in the night. I'm tired today so we better get things organized with plenty of time for a nap this afternoon or I won't make it to 10 PM.  

Oh my goodness, it's pretty easy to make friends around here. I was standing in the line to get our badges and there was a lady behind me. We said a couple of things to each other about the long, long time and not many staff to help out. Then we went our separate ways. Next thing I knew, we are both in the line at the Services desk and we had a little laugh about that. Later, there we are in the washroom together. Nancy and I are now best friends and as they were leaving for the day, Nancy walked by our booth.  Hugs all around to Nancy and her colleagues.  Everyone is super super friendly. 

Our booth is a bit of a weird duck as we have set up our big structure. We've had so many comments - oohs and aahs about how nice it looks and they can't wait to see what it will look like when the quilts are up. It's pretty funny! Most of the people here have small booths for their products (I mean lower booths). Anyway, the structure has been the talk of the Festival - at least in our little corner of the show floor. 

And if we ever thought the loading docks in Toronto were horrible, the loading docks here are unbelieveable. I'm surprised that no one got hurt. There are MANY forklifts carrying these huge box things to bring in all the small stuff for some of the vendors. There are carts running around with the service people. As we went to look for the crates, I hopped on the back of one of those carts and I had to hang on! We were zipping around stuff, but he knew where those crates were!  Anyway, the loading dock was insane!  People and carts and stuff EVERYWHERE!

On that note, I'm out of here to get ready for the day. 

Have a super super day. 

Shirley's breakdown!

Good morning Shirley!

There are times where I have so many pictures that I don't know where to start.  Shirley very graciously cropped and sized these photos for the blog and today's the day they get published!

This goes back to the breakdown of our booth at QuiltMarket.  I cannot have you thinking that going to Market is all shopping and fun.  Nope - two days to put the booth up - and because it was humid there - it was not a pretty picture.  We were all sweating!  However what goes up, must come down and thankfully the break down was MUCH faster - a total of four hours. Brian has an agenda which he didn't share with me until we were almost done - two hours to tear the booth down and two hours to pack the crates.

Let's see how Shirley perceived the break down.

The first thing is pack up all the paper, shade cards and other bits from all the selling stations. While some are doing that, others are taking down the quilts, the fabric squares and the drapes. The quilts ae rolled up and will be placed in plastic bags and then loaded onto the crates.

Quilts rolled up

Quilts rolled up, fabric squares and black drapes are ready to be packed

Once the paper has been put away, the tables and chairs need to be folded up and put away.

Booth is very empty at this point

Grouping stuff in preparation for packing - that is a LONG booth

While we had many many hands on deck to do the tear down, there isn't always a job for everyone.  Sometimes we have to wait for one task to be done before we can move onto the second task.  And hey - sometimes we just needed a break

Debbie and Hannia taking a quick break

Then the lights come down

Team work required to get the lights down without breaking anything!!!!

Then the structures come apart in pieces

This is probably the worst job - well it isn't that hard - much easier to take it down than put it up. It just requires a few people to get it down without injuring anyone or damaging the structure.  Next year - I'll have to give Shirley a video camera!

Paul and Dee packing up the lights

The timing was perfect this year.  In exactly two hours everything was down and then it took another two hours to load those crates.  Just as we were finishing the tear down - the crates arrived by the union guys at the convention center.  Couldn't have asked for more perfect timing on that one.

Debbie and Deborah tearing up the floor

Rich carrying a box of something???

Until stuff started to go into the crates - it all looked very chaotic.

The crates have arrived and the packing begins

The smallest crate packed with all the extra stuff

That's where I shoved my box of stuff to come back home.   I was hoping in the pictures that I would spot the missing tote bag - but nope - I don`t see it.  I wonder what happened to it.  It is probably still on the crate somewhere????????

The big crates open on both ends.  We couldn't get one end open on one crate when we first arrived so people had to crate dive to get stuff out!  I did get a picture - I'll try to load it one day.

Crate is almost packed

Brian loading the last of the structure onto the crate

 Three structures - three crates!    But we were done in  - I think it was 4 hours and about 10 minutes.  Very impressive as it is a huge job, but everyone pitched in and we got the job done.

Oh and yes we had snacks - HEALTHY snacks (love Shirley's name for the photo file!)

Healthy snacks!!!!

Now that I have loaded the pictures - I have a couple of observations. Let me start by saying that Shirley is one of our Sales Reps in the US. She is a quilter, got lots of ideas (OK - call it like is - opinions!) and well we got along like two peas in a pod!!!  

I noticed that there were a LOT of pictures of the boss - Brian in the yellow shirt. There was ONLY one very distant picture of me as I was ripping up the floor tiles.  So - is that a good thing or a bad thing?  At least there wasn't one of me sitting down - how would I explain that to everyone! And perhaps Shirley edited out the bad ones of me and that's why there aren't any!  Or I was moving so fast that all the pictures that had me in them were too blurry - Oh yes - that's what happened!!!!!

So now you know how much work is involved in tearing down a show and thanks to Shirley for the photos!!!!!


Here's an update on the iPod situation.  Both Rose and Helen Anne were not having the same trouble as I was.  However I spoke to Helen Anne in person the other night and AHA - here's the problem.  They are using their iPod Touch (which connects directly to the internet) and using OverDrive so you are 100% on an Apple device.  I am using the iPod Nano which requires being linked to the computer (in my case - a non Apple computer).   Apple doesn't like that and requires that ALL uploads go through iTunes.  None of this direct transfer stuff - OH NO!!!!   And Tracey Ann mentioned something about an embedded code in the downloaded books that would delete the files upon expiration.  Well - my library mustn't be doing that because NONE of the books that I have downloaded and several have been there for years - they are still there.  I will delete them when I run out of space.


Now here's a licene plate update.   I have sorted through the US and the Canadian ones. And of course - I want MORE.  So I am working my way through the list province by province.   I am good for Quebec - no plates, PEI - only one plate and I have it.  Three in New Brunswick and I got those three.  There are two in Nova Scotia. I got one and Mary was supposed to get the other, but when it wasn't ready for pick up she cancelled the order.  DUH!!!!!   Oh well - so if anyone has this plate and is willing to part with it - I'd be happy to buy it from you.


The store is caled Atlantic Fabrics - they are sold out - don't bother calling.  I need to find someone who has it and willing to sell/trade.


There are five in Saskatchewan and Susan did a great job of collecting four of the five for me, but I am missing this one.




 The store is called Shirley's Sewing Room in Moosemin.  Again - they are sold out.  I need to find someone to trade/buy from.


There are three in Manitoba. I am missing one, but called the store and that one is winging its way to me.


That leaves BC, Alberta and Ontario to post later.


Oh yes - I am like a dog with a bone at work.  I managed to rejig that EQ7 file that had the incorrect fabric scan and waiting for the new file to be created by our graphic team and it will get uploaded to the internet next week.  Still one more pattern instruction to edit and then the process starts all over again. I think I still have at least four more patterns (that I wrote or writing) to get done.  I need to take one or two days and just clear it off my plate.  So much more stuff coming in that I have to get this done.


On that note - I am out of here.  Got a pretty wide open weekend.  Two short classes this morning and then LOTS of long arming this weekend.

Have a great day!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!