More on Market

Friday morning is the first day that the Market floor is open. Vendors are ready. The convention floor has gone from a vast empty space to booth after booth of amazing merchandise. Quilt Market has to be one of the most colorful places on earth! On the first morning of the show you can feel the excitement and anticipation of everyone involved, but the floor does not open until 9:30.

To fill the early morning hours Quilts Inc. offers educational lectures and classes. I was asked to give a one hour talk on buying. It was both an honor and a humbling experience to be singled out by the powers that run Market to give this talk. Anyone that knows me is well aware that talking for an hour on almost any subject is not a problem for me. But this invitation was extended by Marti Michelle and she specifically asked that I speak on the topic of "how to buy". I will admit that I am a successful shop owner, but I also have a degree in ART, not FINANCE. Preparing for the talk was a bit intimidating. Not normally one to use notes, I prepared an outline - color coded of course, with 4 key points. I printed it out in large type (so that I could see it without my glasses) on 8 separate pages. All I had to do was run through it early in the morning and I would be set and ready to go.

A little secret: I put my lecture notes inside a magazine for safe keeping and you guessed it, during the chaos of set-up we lost the magazine! Luckily I had left a second copy of the outline at home and as I was doing my best to control my panic Thursday evening with a lemon drop martini my husband got out of bed and saved the day by faxing the pages to the hotel. Whew!

We had a few minutes before getting to work in our booth to run over to the Henry Glass booth and take photos of Bernie's cupcake quilt made from her new fabric line. They had these adorable matching chair covers made too!

We had a very busy day in the booth, but I had to leave my very capable staff in charge to run home. Friday evening was Lindsay's senior prom. They had a perfect evening for the event. Thank heaven Market was in town and I didn't have to miss any of the fun! My daughter is the one in the middle!

Tomorrow I will tell you about the "hot new thing"!