Market/Festival Recap

Yes, Market and Festival 2013 are over and even better, we survived!!!!  At one point (I believe it was while I was loading 25 lb bins of kits on to a dolly) I remarked to Paula that I really enjoy sitting at my sewing machine and sewing all day and this manual labor is sooo not for me!!! It really is a shock to my system because we don't do quilt shows anymore and then boom I'm lifting bins, climbing ladders, hanging quilts and pushing a dolly around!!!  Little too much for this old body!!!

Aside from the sales, I think one of the best things about Market and Festival is the people.  I just love getting the chance to catch up with friends - customers, shop owners, vendors, etc.  It's great to see everyone and get a few minutes to share and listen!!  Plus, I always tell people if you want a self-esteem boost come stand in our booth.  It feels so great to hear customers tell us how much they love our stuff.  It reaffirms that we are doing something right!!!  Thank you everyone.

The kits and patterns for the new quilts and re-dos were hits and Paula is working to get them on the website for you to see (and of course, purchase!!!).  I left last Wednesday and family/company came to visit for the weekend, so right now she's like me - catching up on sleep, laundry, life and dvr'ed shows!!!

I had great intentions of blogging during Market and Festival, but as you may have noticed, it never happened.  We are also pretty busy during the show, so we don't get out to see too many of the other booths - well except those in the aisles on the way to the ladies room!!!!  LOL!!  Here are a couple of pictures of our booth during each show.  You can see some of the new quilts we introduced this year.

This is the booth during Market.  Our plan was to just add a few more quilts (10, I think) and merchandise for Festival.

A new feature at Market is the Sneak Peek section.  Vendors can display a new item on one of the shelves in the glass bookcases at the front of the convention center.  This year Marcus Fabrics won for Best Sneak Peek.  Here's Pati (Director of Advertising and Marketing) accepting the award.  Congratulations Marcus Fabrics!!! (We're right opposite them, so I actually saw them coming with the award!!!  Got excited thinking we had won something!!!)

Our dear friends Gloria and Vicky of Olde Green Cupboard Designs have a beautiful fabric collection with Marcus Fabrics, County Londonderry, and here's their display featuring the quilts and other projects they used with their fabric.  Patterns are available on their website.

Market ended on Monday night and by 4pm Wednesday the booth had been transformed into a Festival booth - ready for Preview Night and shoppers!!!  Thank you Cindy and Jackie for all of your help with the set up.  It takes a village!!!  Here's a view from the end of the booth:

And here's the baby bed that Paula added:

As some of you may have heard, Andover Fabrics introduced their Downton Abbey fabric collection at Market!!  It was the opening session at Schoolhouse and was quite well attended!!!  Jackie and Cindy went and shared details with us - apparently they got to see a snippet of the Season Premiere of Season 4 - sooo jealous!!!  The fabrics are all about the women of Downton Abbey.  My very last picture to share with you is my own personal fat quarter bundle (and bag) of Downtown Abbey fabric!!!  Thank you Cindy for waiting in line for Sample Spree and making the Andover booth your first stop (they only had 200 bundles and you could only buy 3!!!)

I don't know what I am going to do with it, but it's like my Kaffe Fassett fabric - I had to have some!!!!  You should start seeing it in local quilt stores and online very soon.

As I predicted (and hoped), I did come home with some "work" - a re-do of Harriet's Baskets and a new quilt - so I've been busy catching up on my TV shows, cutting and prepping and doing some personal seasonal sewing.  I'll share when I can get them up on the design wall for some photos!!!

Until next time, happy quilting,
Mary Ellen