Sept 24, 2023
Dear Friends,
You know how when dogs are taking a serious siesta they lie flat on their backs with all four paws up? That’s how we of Fox Country Quilts are poised for all day today, Sunday. That comes after three heavy-duty days involved with the Sulphur Springs quilt show. Official name . . . . “Lone Star Heritage Quilt Guild Quilt Show,” an apt length for a name considering they had 161 quilts entered into the show. That’s more that a lot of the big-production quilt shows achieve. Amazingly, the quilts were all gorgeous and exceptional, whether you focused on the planning, the piecing or the quilting or all of it together. Such meticulous artwork on display here.
As one of the vendors, we all worked our butts off, and we no longer have butts. This involved Donna, Penny, Kim, James, our wonderful volunteer Karen, plus two additional family members who came to help out. Here’s what we did:
1. Got the 15-foot U-Haul truck picked up early Wednesday afternoon and got it mostly loaded before 5:00 pm. Had to forcefully send everyone home or they would have kept working till they were too pooped to pop.
2. Thursday morning, finished loading, drove the truck to Sulphur Springs, unloaded . . . then drove the truck back. Your’s truly minded the shop while everyone else stayed in SS unpacking, rearranging and setting up our perfect active and attractive vendor display. We had an entire room for our operation, shared with only one other vendor. It was an ideal situation and location for us. In addition to displaying quilts from our shop, quilting and craft (e.g., rope baskets) supplies, we had two grid-wall gondolas full of lots of notions. Further, we had three longarms set up for people to see and test-drive. One was the Moxie-XL . . . a brand-new product just out, with an 18" throat space and other features beyond the original Moxie. Currently only two HandiQuilter retailers in Texas have this machine, us and a retailer in San Antonio.
3. Friday, the show ran from 9:00 to 5:00. I kept the shop open while everyone else manned our sales and displays at the quilt show. We were able to sell two machines and lots of supplies and notions. Saturday, the show ran from 9:00 to 2:30.
As is typical of quilt shows, sales are always better on Friday because that’s when the more active and more experienced quilters tend to visit the shows. Saturdays sees a higher percentage of new-to-quilting or just interested and appreciative people, resulting in fewer sales for vendors. Even with fewer sales, Saturdays are still very worth while, being able to introduce so many new people to the art of quilting.
4. By 2:00 Saturday, we had the truck back in place, and started re-loading at 2:30. It was a rushed exhausting job trying to get the truck loaded in about an hour and a half, and the room cleared.
5. Once the truck was loaded, it was time to head back to the shop to unload. Everyone was already exhausted from working the show and then loading the truck, so for unloading, we (meaning James, Penny, Kim, and Karen because Donna and I had already plopped out on couch) just dumped everything onto the shop floor without bothering to arrange things. At that point, the whole crew was ready to roll over into dead-dog position, which hopefully didn’t persist while they were driving home.
6. Now it’s Sunday. We all vowed to do no work this Sunday or to reappear to the world. Dead day. Even our families should consider themselves lucky if they happen to see any of us in motion. Shop is a mess, just as it should be for now. Monday and Tuesday will be clean-up days, but we’re not going to stress out with it. The quilt show was successful, and if you were able to go to it, you had the opportunity to see lots of amazing, beautiful, quilts, ranging from simple to complex and intricate, and all wonderful works of art.
Call to action for this time is, be sure to make plans and mark your calendar to attend the Sulphur Springs Quilt Show next year, along with the Paris Quilt Show that occurs earlier in the year. Both of these are so worthwhile that we consider it sad if your circumstances do not permit you to visit them. And don’t forget to stop by our shop every chance you get, or to sign up any of the various classes we hold throughout the year.
Chip
