Diary of a Quilt Market Newbie

Thursday: May 17th:

Kansas City, MO

The only word to describe today's experience is just... WoW! Market doesn't officially begin until tomorrow but there were classes, lectures, and of course SAMPLE SPREE!!! Sample spree didn't start until 8pm but from talking to other shop owners on line, people began lining up at 1pm, just insanity. We got in line at 6:30 and this is what the line looked like...

See those 3 black lines going up in the back of the picture? Those are the escalators that brought us up to the sample spree. By the time 8pm hit, the line behind us was at least triple in length! Women were running up the moving escalators it was pure craziness, one of the escalators even broke down before we made it up to them :) I did not have any manufacturer/designer in particular that I was looking to get some samples from so I just walked around looking for things that caught my eye. 

The whole experience when we finally got up there, reminded me of one of those wedding dress sales where brides are shoving each other out of the way and grabbing things out of each other hands. I guess I didn't expect to need my claws out in the fabric/quilting world, boy was I wrong. I actually had a lady grab a fat quarter bundle I had from Moda out of my hands and say she saw it first. My mom always taught me to choose my battles and that was not a battle I had the strength to or was willing to fight :) I scored some great fabric bundles from Robert Kaufman and Andover and the whole event to me was quite comical...I left quite happy and entertained. 

Keep reading to see how you can win these great fabric bundles I scored! :)

Friday, May 18th

 Started off the day bright an early at a lecture by Laurie Hirsh called Every Penny Counts. Learned quite a bit on how to grow my business and gave me food for thought on how I want Fabric Nerds to grow.  The lecture ended at 9am and Quilt Market officially began at 9:30am so I waited around for awhile and talked to a few really nice shop owners. Looking around in the massive group waiting, I was definitely by far one of the youngest shop owners which in return made me have to beef up my game to be taken seriously :) I stopped at the Andover booths to look at opening an account with them and met Dennis who was the nicest guy and hilarious! I ended up purchasing Frippery by Thomas Knauer and it will be arriving in September.

Saturday, May 19th

Today also started off with a lecture, while I gained a lot of knowledge for when the shop has been open 5+ years, unfortunately I didn't take much for how to improve and grow my shop in the present. I did leave though with great future advice. After the lecture I decided to head back to the hotel for some breakfast and chill out and read my Kindle a bit before heading back to the Market. After I dragged myself away from an awesome book I was reading, I headed back to market and stopped by the Jennifer Jangles booth. I talked to the designer Jennifer Heynen (super sweet) a bit and set up an order to start supplying her handmade ceramic buttons in the shop...

She also has a line of fabric I love called Extraordinary World with In the Beginning Fabrics, that is coming out in the Fall which I am thinking of having in the shop also. 

After placing my order with Jennifer, I walked around a bit taking a few photos of some awesome booths. Here is one by Art Gallery for their Summer Love line. So cute!

 I ended my time in Kansas City with a movie, drink, and great food.  Highly recommend What to Expect when you are Expecting, very funny!

FABRIC BUNDLE GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

First up for in the giveaway is the Savannah Bop Bundle by Thomas Knauer for Andover Fabrics. 

The bundle consists of 8 FQs and retails for $21.00!!! How can you win this adorable bundle you ask? Easy...enter by making a purchase at Fabric Nerds (no minimum purchase required) between Mon. May 21st and Mon. May 28th and your name will automatically be added into the giveaway drawing. Winner will be chosen by random using random.org. Good Luck to everyone! ♥

<3 Kristyn