It has been a very busy month!  Just a month ago, we were contacted about a quilt using our “Scarlet Cardinal” kit.  Then the lady made contact again to inform us that the Circleville Goodtime Quilters (a great group, by the way!) were looking for a couple more vendors at their good sized show.  Now the show was only 2 ½ weeks from when she informed us, and we have never vended at a show before, but the timing seemed perfect.  Two new, attention grabbing kits were almost ready to release, and it seemed like time to promote the business on a new level.  So, we signed up, and for a couple of weeks, we worked 18 hour days to get ready.  Unfortunately, my mind just could not wrap around the blog as well, so here I am apologizing and trying to cover a month’s worth of news!

To get ready for the show, we had to first of all think through how we could put together a booth in a very short period of time.  As soon as decided to go, I started lists of what would be needed.  Of course, the very top of the list was inventory.  But then there quickly followed “How do I take credit cards?”.  How do I display my samples?   How do I organize the kits so they don’t get bent, but people can easily see them?  What size tables do I need covers for?  What do I use for a “shelf” on my table?  How do I get it all to the show 3 ½ hours away?  Fortunately I have family and friends that I can bounce things off of, and fortunately they were very helpful!  My sister does art shows and had a stand for the samples to hang on.  My very good friend for MANY years used to do shows, and had great ideas about the booth itself and the tables, etc.  She even came for 3 separate days and helped with signage and even learned to run the laser!  My husband also spent many hours with the laser, and I spent many cutting the fusible, pre-washing and ironing the fabric, and fusing the two together.

The two new designs (they will be announced soon, but there is a big hint in the photo!) had already been tested and tweaked, but the instructions were not totally written in good form, and I am the one that has to that.  It was a whirlwind two and a half weeks, with long hours and little sleep, but it felt so great to be able to look at each other and say, “WE DID IT!!!!”.   The displays were not completed to my expectations…  most were just quilt tops, without the quilting or binding, but they worked.  The kit displays were a bit blah, but they showed off the kits!  But we got it done, it did the job, and for our first show, it was pretty good!   And very well received!  The people seemed to love the designs and the kits, and we were invited back for next year and I will be doing a demo next year as well.  My list is made for what needs to be changed, and thanks to my booth neighbors, I have good ideas of how to change it.  I also have a mental list of what to buy throughout the year to make it happen.

What project are you working on that you are not totally happy with?  Are your expectations too high for the time or resources you have?   Are you being too critical of yourself?  Take a step back and ask yourself how you can make the best of what you have.   And be grateful for all that you do have!!!