Monday, June 10, 2013

Overview of Our Time at the BC "Everybody Loves Quilts" Show 2013

The BC "Everybody Loves Quilts" Show went by so quick and we cannot believe it is already over.  It was a great show that was well run and organized and a pleasure to be in.  It was fun to see a lot of familiar faces and meet many new ones.  We were really happy with our booth set-up and was nice to hear so many comments from others how much they liked it.

Since we started selling wholesale, we have been doing less shows but it is so nice to do some every so often  so we can meet face to face with the public and the actual customers that purchase our work from the local stores.  It is the best way to get some honest feedback and see what types of items get ooohed and aaaahed over the most.  To be quite truthful, it gives you a real lift at the end of the day after getting your ego stroked so many times!

So here are some photos and highlights of our past weekend event:

We did our initial booth set-up the day before minus our product.  It made it go much easier the next morning to get everything ready.

Here is an assortment of the wide range of buttons we make with our newer designs featured in the center.

Our jewelry was on the opposite side of the booth featuring our quilt patterns and interchangeable earring system.  We found these shutters and spruced them up with some paint and fabric for a fun display for pendants on cards.

Our shawl pin display showing off the different styles.  I had a table set up next to it (on the right) for demoing but there was so much talking that I really didn't get much claying done.

We had a mannequin display set-up in front on each side.  I show how you can make these using a simple sweater and hanger on a previous blog post (click here).

This is the display on the other side.  We had the posters made up at Staples in their print department and couldn't believe how gorgeous they came out and how affordable they were.

We try to use photos and props whenever possible.  This is a favorite photo of our niece modelling one of our Bargello style necklaces.  She just had a new baby (girl Emma) over the weekend so she was on our minds.

Our scarf jewelry was front and center and of course one of the main attractions.  We had a wide range of styles and colors available and were a big hit.


This is one of our new Crackle Medallion styles with the matching earring beads shown.
  
Jan, the owner of The Sewing Basket in Salmon Arm was there with a large booth as well.  Here she is trying to decide which color of scarf jewelry she would like.

She decided to go with the Bargello style in turquoise and blue.  It is one of my favorites and looks really elegant on her, doesn't it?  The Sewing Basket has some of our scarf jewelry available for sale and will have more of our new styles within the next week or so.

And at a quilt show, there are of course, ... quilts ... more than 300 of them!  This is my friend Sharon with the quilt she created for a button challenge and received an award for (came in first).

She also made this cool bangle using vintage buttons.

What made this quilt show even more interesting is that along with the local quilters guilds, other types of  fibre groups were invited to take part such as The Spinners and Weavers, Embroidery and Needlework Guilds.  This  is my friend Kathy Kinsella.  She was invited to be the featured fibre artist and was given a space to display samples of her work.  


I blogged about Kathy before (here and here) where I shared a bit about her work and how we collaborated with making some buttons for her to use on her gorgeous felted cuffs (shown above).  You can see more of her beautiful art in her Etsy shop.

2 comments:

Elaine said...

What a great booth set up for you guys! You have it all presented so nicely.

I love seeing what everyone has, especially at the big shows like that.

Norma's Bag Boutique said...

Very nice set up. There's a lot of space and you filled it up nicely!