Quilt Show - Ready, Set, Open!

This has been a busy week - gathering items for the Boutique, finishing bindings, attaching sleeves to bed quilts, and all of the other things that go into preparation for a quilt show.

Friday's weather was gorgeous and by 8 a.m. there was a line at the door waiting to drop off quilts for the Show .  We had a good time talking to each other with our arms full of quilted treasures.

While the intake crew was working on accepting the quilts, the set up folks were already hard at work getting the quilt racks set up in the right configuration.  It didn't take long before the display area was completely mapped out with poles just waiting for quilts.

Susannah and Kay looking over the quilt placement diagram.

Quite

We purchased metal poles and stands - so much easier to work with than the heavy wooden stands used in previous years.

Teamwork and tall ladders are still needed to get the quilts successfully hung. 

The triangle holders for the quilt racks seemed to work well this year.  They are certainly more stable and easier to use than the hooks requiring the electrical ties to keep the poles in place.

Quite a few of the quilts in the show this year were for display only.  Some were antique quilts, others were past winners revisiting the quilt show venue, and still others were recently completed quilts the owners decided not to have judged for a variety of reasons.



Of course, there's the lunch break.  Sara, Susannah and Kathi enjoy a laugh. 



With that work underway, Carol and I turned our attention to the Quilters Boutique.  A new venture for our Guild this year, we started off discussing the best way to arrange the furniture to best display our wares and encourage a welcoming atmosphere for Boutique shoppers.  Carol must have been a merchandiser in a previous life - she has a real flair for displaying items to their best advantage.



Items all priced, boxed up and ready to go to the Quilter's Boutique.  Doesn't look like much, does it?



With her creativity and my grunt work, we finally got the Boutique set up.  To everyone's surprise, we had quite a stash of items for sale.  Since many of the items came in a few pieces at at time, it was hard to gauge how many items we really had.  All I knew is they took up the floor in my guest bedroom and it wasn't a large stack of boxes when we had it all assembled.

Can you see the Santa sitting in the chair by the window?  He has a sack of toys for all the good girls and boys, too!  I was sure he'd sell but he's still available - $30 for some lucky girl or boy!

We commandeered a display rack and have photo albums and a bright collection of pillowcases for sale.  There are also some pot holders on the lowest rack.  Look at the wonderful poinsettia wall hanging behind Carol.  It is truly a work of art and I'm sorry I didn't snatch it up when the Boutique opened up this morning.  Oh, well... 

But look at the great display.   We had a wonderful area so there was plenty of room for shoppers.  

By mid-afternoon, the Boutique was pretty well set up.  With the quilt judging in progress, there would be busy periods when a particular category of quilt was completed followed by a lull in the action.

Susie, Sarah and Colleen rest between quilt hangings.

Kay, Ann, Sue and Cathy waiting for another group of quilts to hand.

Finally, the quilts were judged, ribbons hung, and workers were exhausted.  With the night shift on duty to guard our quilts, we left to rest up so we could return Saturday morning to enjoy the quilt show.  If you're near Columbus, do stop by and see us.  Open from Noon - 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Cheers!

Margaret