Quilt Market & Festival 2017- the New Setup

So… we’re back from Quilt Market & Festival and since I’ve had a bit of time (on that long ride home and since then) to reflect on the things we saw and experienced in Texas, I’m now ready to share a few pictures and thoughts and impressions with you!

You might recall from a recent post that we did a major overhaul of our display for this show, opting to go with black gridwall boxes for this show. (Click HERE to see our old setup.) The advantage of this new arrangement was to be that the pattern & needed hardware can be hung in close proximity each to bag sample. So what was the end result?

The PROS:
1) I think this setup gives us a look that’s a bit more polished & professional looking.
2) Now that our bag samples, patterns & hardware are all displayed together, it’s much more obvious that we’re not there to sell the bags themselves. As a matter of fact, I actually kept track of how many times I was asked that dreaded question, “Are you selling the bags or the patterns?” and guess what? I was only asked this question sixteen times (and yes I kept count) over the course of the eight show days in Texas. That’s  opposed to the 200+ times I heard this question in four days in Paducah, KY!  SO much better!
3) There was a huge unanticipated benefit of this setup too! Our zipper display was much more prominent and visible especially when folks turned the corner to walk around our booth. As a matter of fact, if they didn’t alter their course, they would have slammed right into it and this was GREAT! The zippers sold like hotcakes at these shows and I tend to credit the new setup since that’s really the only thing changed since last Fall.
4) It was MUCH lighter and easier to pack into the back of our car…. PLUS it didn’t rattle all the way from NC to Texas! And believe me, if that doesn’t sound like a big deal to you, then you’ve probably never ridden for 17 hours with 3 gridwalls vibrating and rattling in your ears! It was sweet relief! 🙂

The CONS:
1) This set up took me a long, LONG time to build and complete. While this is somewhat to be expected since the changes we made were so major, the amount of extra time it took was REALLY significant.  As a matter of fact, it had the hubster questioning whether it was even worth it to do. Luckily he’s as sold on the new setup as I am, and I’m hoping that with the first run under my belt that I’ll be much fast and more efficient when we repeat the setup at Road to California  in January! Will we see YOU there?  🙂

So there you have it! We have LOTS more to share with you about shows in Houston. We want to update you on the hot items and trends we noticed, show you our favorite booths and quilts and ALSO, we want to give you a complete update on what kind of reception Joba & Pippin’s “clones” received, so stay tuned for all of that. in the meantime….

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And now… it’s YOUR turn!

I’d love to know what YOU think of our new setup so please feel free to leave your comments or questions in the space provided below.

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