On Saturday I took my daughter to a 'quilt show'. While it was somewhat 'local' it was still big enough that national teachers were there, and it sort of 'travels' around to different cities through out the year. (actually comes here to Atlanta twice a year.)

I was amazed at the amount of difference between the various vendor booths. Some were manned by someone that greeted you as soon as you started to show any slight interest in their wares. Others completely ignored you. There was one booth, manned by two women each working on their own handwork, talking to each other. The conversation went something like this...

"I think this is my last year here. I haven't sold ANYTHING this whole weekend! I don't what these people are doing here, they certainly aren't looking to buy anything"...

Now, it may just be me... since you can get 99% of the items for sale from their website, and I have a minimum amount of money to spend, what is going to make me buy from a vendor's booth?

The first thing to catch my eye will be the booth itself. How attractive is it arranged? Is the person manning the booth friendly? Are the things I'm interested in easily seen? Can I see/touch samples? Are the prices easily seen and fall within my pocketbook?

While I go with a specific list in mind, most of my purchases are 'gut' reactions. I see something and it speaks to me begging to go home with me.

On the booth above, the arrangement was somewhat lacking, but the merchandise was easily seen and not too unattractive; There were no samples available to see/touch, and I saw no prices on anything! And worst of all...the people manning the booth were completely oblivious to the fact that several people were in their booth!

I can't IMAGINE why they weren't selling anything!

.......

I did manage to pick up a few items, like a pattern for my next Alyssa quilt (hopefully it will be finished for Easter), a few tools for the longarm and a long arm ruler. I definitely ran out of money before I ran out of things calling to come home with me!

I will say the pattern I bought for Alyssa is really cute. I talked with the designer and her husband. They were both adorable! Brianna got a kick out of knowing that the person who designed the quilt was there for her to talk to...just wish Bri wasn't so shy and would have talked to her.

I did not take any pictures, simply because I forgot to! (this coming from the person who took over 100 pictures of the SNOW last weekend!) I had my camera with me, and had it out and ready...but since we only had two hours to shop I was too busy trying to take it all in! (I know, pictures would have helped immensely with the inspiration process!)

I did notice one thing...almost all the samples were done in a simple meander! The quilts in the 'competition' were all custom quilted, but the booth samples were all just a simple puzzle meander ... interesting!!


Nini