THREE NEW FABRICS

Here are three new fabrics we picked up on our road trip. We visited Common Threads Quilting in Evanston, Wyoming and bought quite a few pieces from the beautiful collection of prints and novelty fabrics. It's a very lovely shop with flowers out front and beautifully organized bolts. If you find yourself in Evanston, it's definitely worth a stop. The shop is 3,000 square feet, and has over 1500 bolts. They offer custom machine quilting, will ship your finished quilt and the samples on display are just superb. The address is 1029 Main Street, take exit 5 on Interstate 80. Phone: 307-444-1675. Owners: Babette Watts & Lorinda Graham. Email address: commonthreads@ctquilting.com

Butterflies and dragonflies are popular with our customers, so you'll see some totes and accessories from those 2 prints. The coffee print will be coffee cuffs for sure! If you want to place a special order from one of these fabrics, go to our website: http://www.bagitdesigns.etsy.com/ and click on "contact us" and tell us what you'd like. We'll make it and do a special listing.

WHICH IS WORSE???

Just want to ask your opinion - which is worse - trowel applied faux finish in blazing red on walls, or the really bad blue, pink and purple landscape picture adorning the wall? Our motel room, which will remain nameless, Wisconsin Dells. We had a few laughs over the decor at no additional charge!

OUR BOOTH - WISCONSIN DELLS

OUR SHOES - END OF DAY 2 - WISCONSIN DELLS SHOW

Did I mention the dust? Oh, right, I did.

GEORGIA SAYS:

Georgia read the last post - then commented.

"Ya big whiner!"

NO PARKS! NO PARADES! NO FRIDAYS??

Returned last night from Wisconsin Dells, WI. We did a 3-day show. Set up from 7:00 - Noon on Friday with the show running from noon until 5:00 p.m. Full day on Saturday. 9:00 - 3:30 on Sunday. All of this sounds good on paper . . . . which is how we find out about shows . . . . usually in an Arts and Craft Show guide of some kind.

This show was advertised as "in a park" with 100,000 in attendance. We need to learn to read between the lines and make a proper assessment.

On a Friday afternoon, in mid-September, with school in session, who are the likely candidates for shoppers? Retired people, empty nesters, moms with just a few hours of time to spend looking, serious browsers? We met them. The few that were there. So . . . . Friday afternoon, while a great time for people to walk and gawk, was not very productive for vendors.

Saturday was beautiful weather and the crowds were huge and we were busy, busy, busy all day long. Sold lots of stuff and had a good day!

Sunday didn't really start to roll until the after church crowd showed up and we were busy until about 1:00 p.m. when nearly everyone left to join the assembled crowds (chairs set up along the parade route at 8:00 a.m.) to watch the big parade. The parade was to last an hour, and neighboring vendors who'd been there before, assured us we'd have a huge surge of customers for the last hour. The parade did not end until after 3:00 p.m.

So, from our perspective as vendors, we had 2 days of pretty much wasted time for what is essentially a one day show.

And, did I mention dust??

If we were asked if we'd like to do a show on or alongside a gravel road, we'd likely decline, since we'd factor in the high probability of overwhelming dust. Our booth sat atop a rock hard patch of barren earth where grass hadn't grown for maybe years! And we were surrounded on all sides by more of the same. We didn't expect that in a park. We spent most of our time dusting, cleaning, and starting over with dusting and cleaning again. Here's a great hint: Microfiber cloths are terrific for removing dust from fabric items. They absorb the dust like magic! We buy them in the automotive section of Walmart or Target.

We've taken a vow: No Parks! No Parades! and we're reconsidering Fridays.

We'll post some photos later today.

ROAD TRIP PHOTOS

So, how much stuff is needed for an Arts and Crafts show? Check it out. Note the truck in the distance. Step one is to get everything out of the house, step two is get it all into the vehicle, step three is unload everything at the show, step four is load it all again at the end of the show. Repeat as needed!

ROAD TRIP, FABRIC SHOPPING, LITTLE FALLS CRAFT SHOW

It's Monday - and we're alive! It's a difficult challenge to blog while on the road. Something to do with exhaustion! So, we'll catch up over the next few days. We've got photos and plan to take a few more to show our new fabric finds. Great stuff.

So, for now, a brief update:

Road trip from California to Minnesota - very long - and sometimes quite boring (Nevada, Wyoming, Nebraska) - but some great stops at some great quilt shops. Details and pictures in an upcoming post. We got to Minnesota at 3:00 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 10.

Calico Barn, Osseo, Minnesota - Is open and we have lots of stuff there. We stopped in to see how our things looked and were impressed with the amount of merchandise they have. A great place to spend an afternoon.

Litte Falls Arts and Crafts Show - Set up the tent in the rain! Prepared the booth for rain by placing plastic tarps over the top of the tent. Rains stopped and did not return on Saturday as expected. Then it got warm. Tarps still on roof of tent producing a lovely sauna effect in the tent. Fortunately, there were cooling breezes on occasion so we were hot, but not melting - much. The crowd was down from last year. Vendors down as well, but over 100 new vendors which should make shoppers happy. We had a great show, sold lots of stuff, and happily greeted former customers and had some great chats. We especially loved that one of our customers bought us a piece of fabric which we did not think was available any longer. She found some in a fabric store, bought it and gave it to us with a request that we make one bag for her and we could have the rest! How great is that?

This week we sew to fill the gaps in our inventory, and hit the road on Thursday for a show in Wisconsin Dells that is expected to draw 100,000 people. Should be fun.

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Got a late start this morning - Georgia needed to sleep in as she's got a bad cold. We stopped at 3 quilt shops along the way, and spent some time looking for a fourth, advertised as "Wyoming's best kept secret" - I guess so, since we never did find it.

Wyoming is windy! A huge gust hit the truck and blew us into the other lane. It sounded like we'd been hit with a brick. Luckily, no cars in the other lane!

We went through a maze of construction to get to our motel, only to find that part of it is also under construction. Just the lobby - everything else is new and lovely - Days Inn.

Georgia is knocked out on Nyquil. My book is finished. Turned TV off so she could sleep. Just me and the laptop.

We'll be in Minnesota tomorrow night after a long driving day. We'll post some pictures and show you some of our new fabric finds.

Park City, Utah

We left California at 8:17 a.m., delayed slightly by Susan's inability to connect her seat belt, and drove, and drove, and drove until dark, ending up in Park City, Utah. Beginning part of the trip was a beautiful drive around the Lake Tahoe area. The rest of the trip was long and boring as we passed through "middle of nowhere" Nevada and the salt flats of Utah. Interstate 80 through Salt Lake City has lots of construction and all signs along the road that indicate gas, food and lodging have been removed and it's really hard to exit and find a hotel, so passing through to Park City, while not intentional, was a good call. We are at a lovely Best Western with luxurious beds located right next to a Tanger Outlet. There may be some retail therapy in the morning.

We stopped in several towns along the way, looking for quilt shops, but nothing was open due to the Labor Day holiday. Even the Dairy Queen we stopped at (Georgia, who does not have regular access to Dairy Queen said, "The first Dairy Queen we see, we're stoppin'.") had shut down half if its operation, limiting selections to ice cream only, no food!

Nancy phones us while we're driving and reports on Etsy sales, interesting convos with potential customers, and to chat.

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NOW THE FUN BEGINS

Susan arrived in Sacramento on Friday afternoon, met by Georgia, who surprisingly, was dressed in a matching outfit! We Tweedledum-ed and Tweedledee-d our way to Joanne Fabric in our lavender shirts, white tank tops and black pants where Nancy was standing by. We picked up a few necessary buttons, went out for lunch, and ran some errands. We received comments on our matching outfits nearly everywhere we went! One gal wanted to know if it was something like the Red Hat Society that she didn't know about! Dear God!

Today is inventory day. Susan is just trying to stay out of the way, as Georgia has a plan and a system. Inventory day, is a tough day.

THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT???

Yesterday Susan did not sew a single thing.
Today is not looking too much better.
Something about helping her baby move into his first apartment.
Whew!

THE CLASSIC TOTE

The Classic Tote is Georgia's design.

When she was unable to find a purse that had the features she really wanted, she decided to make one. She experimented with the size, straps, pockets, closure and the Classic Tote we carry in our inventory is the result of her efforts.

Our classic tote:
- has an 8" wide and 3" deep base
- is 11" wide at the top, 11" high
- closes with a magnetic snap
- has 2 long shoulder straps
- has 3 interior pockets
- has a key holder

The fabric choice, carefully chosen coordinating lining and use of ribbons and piping make each Classic Tote unique.

Check our shop www.bagitdesigns.etsy.com Enter "Classic Tote Bag" in the search box to see what's currently available. Check back often as we are always adding new items.