Friday, May 21, 2010

To Market, To Market (a fun contest)!

So, we're psyched to be here and run this fun little contest again! We'll offer 2 drawings this time, each for a market gift. One will be drawn from the comments made to the blog posts today (Friday), Saturday and Sunday. The other drawing will be from comments left on our Facebook page. This means you can enter both if you use both programs. ALSO, don't forget that we'll have a third drawing of all our Facebook fans, once we reach 100 fans! Just leave a comment to enter the drawings. One comment, per post, per person, per program, per day.

Yesterday we attended Schoolhouse -the day-long cram session of 30-minute presentations made by designers, fabric companies, authors and famous folk. It's a really big shameless self promotion event (which you all know I think is the best way to build business!). After 12 sessions our brains were pretty well fried. But we learned and saw some great things including: a new "double stitch" technique to make it look like you handquilted your project; new ethnic fabrics and a contact with folks who produce fabrics in New Zealand; Eleanor Burns' new book featuring Barn Quilts and her son wearing a flying pig outfit (seriously); Valori Wells' new fabrics from Westminster called Nest; a new book from the woman who designed the 4-Patch Kaleidoscope technique and a block of the month to go with; new charm patterns from This & That and a new BOM; a GORGEOUS applique BOM done with Island Batiks-maybe it's time to bring our shop into the age of applique; and more, but I'd have to find my notes and everyone is still asleep...

After Schoolhouse, we sat in line, on a cold, hard floor for 2 1/2 hours waiting for Sample Spree. Imagine the release of the Cabbage Patch Kids and Macy's $99 Wedding Dress Sale all with a quilting twist. MAYHEM. People are crazy! And how, with no prior info, can everyone know where the Moda booth is? So, Sample Spree is a way for the vendors to get a jump start on their sales and offer their latest and greatest at a better deal than they will offer on the show floor. We found new fabrics by Paula Nadelstern, fun holiday embroideries, an awesome quilt-as-you-go batik tablerunner/placemat pattern and already made sample (woohoo!), wonderful bitty bag patterns with AMAZING ZIPPERS that anyone can use (I promise), and more.

So today we're off to walk the floor. Over 2000 booths to see. We'll do our recon mission today, make notes and then make purchases tomorrow. I'll also be attending a buyer's meeting with Timeless Treasures tomorrow and an appointment with our Moda rep.

Here's the best thing I learned yesterday...My customers perceive my shop differently than I do. Shop owners need to take time to step back and pretend to be a customer. And if you're a scrapbooking store, it's really important that the S in your sign is always lit!
I'll report back later tonight with our findings!

9 comments:

Joan and Kevin said...

Wow, sounds like you are having lots of fun.
Joann

Central Class of 1967 said...

Amazing descriptions! Sounds like lots of new ideas!!! ~Joannie

Peggy F said...

Sounds like I'm going to be spending a lot of time in Pollyanna's Parlor. The stuff sounds incredible. Peggy Flynn

Unknown said...

great I love applique and I just learned something really neat on my machine applique those mushrooms

have fun

jmbr said...

Wish we could all be there - thanks for sharing can't wait to see all the new things and ideas. Enjoy!
Jeanette

The Quilter "B" said...

Batik table runner...count me in. Glad you are having such a good time! Barbara Jo

Unknown said...

can't wait to see you guys and all the stuff. I have lots of horse stories for you including a fight I had and lost!

Unknown said...

remember more is better! Sounds like there will be lots of new and exciting stuff for us to check out. Does this mean we have to cut back to one table each?

cbk.vermont said...

I am envious your trip, and laughed out loud at your observation about lighting that crucial 'S' in the scrapbooking sign! Good luck with your acquisitions.