I haven’t gotten around to posting about my trip to Quilt Market in Houston at the end of October. What a whirlwind those 4 days were!
I flew out on Thursday. Friday morning at 8 am the schedules for the Schoolhouse sessions were available, and I spent the next 2 hours figuring out which presentations to attend for each of the 15 sessions that day. Overall, Schoolhouse was worthwhile. 2 sessions were a waste of time, with presenters who really had no idea of what they were doing, but the rest were good. I went to several sessions on website/Facebook marketing, one really good one about pattern/book printing, and two really good ones that showed by example exactly how to energize a crowd and sell your product to shops. Lynette Anderson of Australia was my favorite. She had a polished presentation, fabulous completed samples for us to drool over, specific reasons for using the products she used, and even a complete kit for each attendee, including floss and needles, so we could work on the kit that night and bring home a finished project. I also received one of Sullivan’s new rotary cutting rulers at one of Pat Sloan’s presentations. These have a sharpening edge on them, which is supposed to sharpen your blade every time you cut. Time will tell if it works or not.
Sample Spree was held the same night. What a madhouse! It reminded me of a crazy flea market, bare concrete floors, unadorned banquet tables, and mobs of people clamoring to buy samples that would be available at the same wholesale price at the trade show the next day! The Moda booth was 4-6 people deep. I won’t ever attend that again. I got the feeling that it was just a shopping frenzy for employees of quilt shops, who aren’t wholesale buyers in the first place, and really shouldn’t be able to buy anything at a wholesale show in the first place.
I purchased several sample block-of-the month patterns, a roll of Quilters Dream wool batting, and some of Superior’s new 40 weight So Fine Thread. If that weight works as well as their original thinner So Fine in my longarm, I should be able to eliminate using PermaCore thread altogether. I checked out Wonderfil’s Invisifil thread, and will check out the sample I bought to see if it’s worth purchasing on large cones for the longarm for use in background fills. It’s 100 weight thread (very fine), and should look similar to YLI silk at a fraction of the price.
I also picked up a ton of brochures to look through when I have spare time. Just about every booth pressed a brochure into my hand as I walked by.
The most amazing part of Market were the fabric company booths. Dozens of stations in each manufacturers’ area where shop owners could sit with a rep and choose fabric to be sent to their shops. I don’t know how the shop owners do it. There were sooooo many fabric lines available, my head was spinning. How do they choose, and get it right for their particular shop’s customers??? I’m glad I don’t have to make the choices. But now I understand why each shop seems to have different fabrics. No one could possibly have it all!
One of the designers had an I-Pad with a Square for taking credit card orders, and she was nice enough to show me how it worked. I definitely have to do some research on it. It looked so simple to use, and she said it was really cost-effective for her business.
We stayed at the Hilton Americas, and it was a fabulous hotel. The staff there was smiling and ready to help with anything – every single one of them. I’ve never stayed at a more pleasant hotel. And it didn’t hurt that it was directly connected to the convention center with a catwalk.
