“What a long, strange trip it’s been!”
—from “Truckin” by the Greateful Dead
I guess one could say THAT’s the understatement of the year, right? But to be sure, 2020 is one sure that I absolutely will NOT be sorry to see end!
But here’s the thing… the year started out almost to good to be true! We came into 2020 SO confident on the heels of a whirlwind 2 weeks in Houston in 2019 and and then proceeded to have the best Road to California Quilt Conference AND Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival we’ve ever had… but one short week later we, (along with all of you) got out legs kicked out from under us as Covid19 locked our nation down!
So let’s talk first about “the Bad”!
We vend at FIVE trade shows each year so obviously they’re VERY important to our bottom line but what I didn’t realize until they were ripped away from us was how important they are to my psyche AND to my sanity! I love the planning, the prepping, the getting there, the catching up with our vendor buddies, the getting back, the catching up after we get home, and of course the schmoozing with our customers while we’re there. And I gotta say, that the loss of these shows along with our Fall vacation has left a void that was so disorienting it was almost paralyzing at first.
So… it’s pretty rare that you ever get a huge block of extra time dropped in your lap, right? There were other years I’d have given my eye teeth for a few weeks of extra time, but here’s the thing… My knee surgery last November and the recovery thereafter threw me so far behind that I knew up front that it was going to be a real stretch for me to get two new patterns done and released in time for the two Houston shows in the Fall.
But the good thing is… that with all of that extra time on my hands (because of the shutdowns), I actually managed to publish our THIRD pattern of 2020 a few short weeks ago, and we haven’t released three patterns in a calendar year since WAY back in 2007… which is coincidently the year before we started doing road shows! Isn’t amazing how much work I can accomplish without traveling…. but give me the traveling ANY day!
I’ve also been working hard on rebuilding our new FaceBook page and Group after the debacle following my surgery last year. We’ve made good progress so far, but we’ve still got a LONG way to go! Thanks to all of you who have followed us to our new page and Group.
We’ve also added a 2nd newsletter to our repetoire. In addition to Kat Bytes which publishes mid-month, Kat Bits is now being released at the end of the month and has a totally different format and feel from Kat Bytes, but don’t worry, if you’re on our mailing list, you’ll automatically receive both of them!
So that pretty much sums up 2020 for us except for:
the Disappointing!
And that’s because we already know that the January 2021 Road to California show has been cancelled, as has the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton VA for February 2021, but you could’ve knocked me over with a feather when AQS announced that they were cancelling ALL of their 2021 shows, including the Paducah show normally run in April.
So that’ll be two years running that we’ve lost the AQS Paducah show and at the moment all that’s left for 2021 is our two Houston shows, the International Quilt Market & Quilt Festival in October and right now that seems SO… FAR… AWAY! I’m currently on the lookout for a somewhat local show or two that we can vend at perhaps late next Spring or in the Summer. I’m determined to have a more successful 2021 after all the setbacks of 2020.
So that about sums up 2020 for us!
Of course it could’ve been worse… unfortunately SO many of our friends and vendors friends are already out of business! But thanks to our followers on social media (like you!) we’re holding on… bare-knuckled at times but hopeful that we can see this thru to the end of a very long dark tunnel!
And to all you who have purchased patterns, kits, zippers and hardware from us during this tough time… THANK YOU! We hope we get to meet ALL of you to give you a BIG unsocially-distanced hug sometime in the not too distant future! One thing is for certain, 2020 is one year we will NOT be sorry to see end!
And now it’s YOUR turn!
We know 2020 has been a tragic year for some among us and at best, a trying year for the rest of us. If you’d like to share a few words about how YOUR year has been, please feel free to do in the space provided below! And stay tuned for our next post when we’ll detail our Goals for 2021!
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I’m sure that all your fans join me in feeling very pleased that you are managing to hang on through this difficult year. I feel so sad for those who have suffered loss of various kinds. As for me and my family, we have been relatively lucky. The strange events of this year sometimes leave me feeling somewhat off kilter, but we’ve had nothing that we can’t handle. Best wishes to you and yours for this holiday season and for a much better new year!
From your lips to God’s ears! Thanks and to you and your as well! 🙂