May 27, 2010

Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis— a big success and a whole lot of fun!

Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis was fabulous! The energy and excitement level was so much more like it used to be — all the way through the last day. And, check this out!

Karey Bresenhan, founder and director of International Quilt Market, always gives the opening talk before the Schoolhouse session and look at this room! It’s packed! Pre-registration for Minneapolis was the third highest pre-registration ever for Spring Quilt Market! The ranking may have even increased with the on-site registration count. I’ll be posting more thoughts and, of course, you need to read the next issue of American Quilt Retailer for a full market review, but I wanted to post some of our fun pictures. It was a blast and thanks to everyone who made the weekend possible!

Deb Luttrell of Stitchin’ Heaven in Quitman, Texas, talks about her “Boot Camp” for retailers in the first American Quilt Retailer Schoolhouse. The room was packed!

Rick Kizer and Georganne Bender gave two Schoolhouse talks for AQR. Kizer & Bender are top-notch speakers and funny — oh my goodness — they are funny! The room was jam-packed for both sessions, with folks even sitting on the floor and spilling out the door. The oxygen level in the room was diminishing rapidly and it’s probably a good thing they only did two sessions. Kizer and Bender emphasized that you need to make your shop “fun” and they sure set the example! I think everyone enjoyed meeting them. “Thank you” to everyone who stopped by the booth to tell us so! And “thank you,” Rich and Georganne!

Roseann Kermes, owner of Rosebud’s Cottage in White Bear Lake, Minn., me, Becky Couch, the person I could not function without, Georganne Bender and Rich Kizer — it was good!

Thursday afternoon, with new curtains, all set up and ready to go!

Almost all the “Totally Cool AQR Columnists!” What a great, talented group!  We were only missing Beth Ferrier and Linda Griepentrog. So glad we could get together!

On Friday Kizer and Bender held consultations in the AQR booth with nine lucky retail shops. Shown here are Brenda Lou Scott, “Mr. Scottie Dog” and their daughter, Liz Adams, of Scottie Dog Quilts in Eureka, Calif., and Jerry Stube of Quilter’s Quarters, Inc. in Leavenworth, Kan.

More booth pics with Becky Couch and Jennifer Lokey — you are both wonderful!

After tearing down the booth Sunday afternoon and a good night’s sleep, on Monday morning Becky and I rented a car for a day of exploring. On Roseann Kermes’ recommendation, we drove to a local haunt aptly called “Hunt & Gather.” It was a co-op kind of antique shop full of vintage finds from the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s — and many shop owners fresh from Quilt Market. What an atmosphere with all my dad’s favorite music pipped in — I loved it!

We ran into Roseann as we pulled in the parking lot. I’m so envious she gets to go here all the time for shop props and inspiration!

Here’s a good idea of the color and flavor of the place!

After the long weekend, here’s Becky reminding me where in the world we are!

All the children were happy today!

Yes, it’s a chin!

What can I say?

An early kit? And, I discovered my new favorite verb — glamorize!

My purchase — a framed artifact called “97 buttons.” Don’t you just love the square one in the middle? What does it mean?

What a simple thing — paint your buckets ladies!

Wish things would grow like this in Texas!

For lunch, and the rest of the afternoon, we headed to White Bear Lake. Had lunch at the Keys Bakery (yum!) then headed across the street to Bear Patch Quilting.

Deb Engh and Laurel Riter — we loved seeing your beautiful shop! Deb said Bear Patch Quilting was on the bus tour right before market and the town was so busy, even the saleswomen at the Chicos across the street came and thanked them for boosting the day’s business! That’s the way to draw attention to quilting!

We also loved visiting Roseann Kermes Rosebud’s Cottage. A very cute shop with lots of Roseann’s personality (and props from Hunt & Gather!). Roseann and Pat Sloan were conducting Pat Sloan’s Creative Talk Radio show while we were there, so I got to hear all about what was new at Quilt Market! Thanks for the tips gals!

The boxes just arrived home from market and Magic has “jumped right on it” — cats are so dependable! So, now it’s really time to unpack and start the next issue!

More to come — Susan