To market, to market, to market

I just returned from Quilt Market and it was so fun! This Spring’s market was held in Pittsburgh where we had one day of really gorgeous weather and a couple of not so gorgeous.

However, since we were inside the convention center where it was simply raining beautiful quilt ideas, we did not care what the weather did.

The market held a lot of beautiful and exciting new fabric lines (yes, we ordered most of them) and just tons of new patterns and ideas. There were bags everywhere. Got to spend a few minutes with Joan Hawley of Lazy Girl Designs and it was good to see her again. Joan always has such cute things.

Eleanor Burns also had new things….of course when El does NOT have something new we know the quilt world is in a bind. She is so full of ideas it makes your head spin.

Terry Atkinson’s new book is all about bags. Terry and her whole family are always such a nice people to spend time with, they really are fun.

As always, I ran around with my friend Debby Luttrell from Texas and also spent a lot of time with Mary Wilberg from Quilting Treasures in Minnesota and Kathy Runyan from Country Expressions in Missouri. Girl friends are so great; don’t’ you just love time with yours? We all ate way too much and laughed too much. We had a wonderful time on a Riverboat at the Moda customer appreciation party, laughin’ on the river. Kathy’s daughter, Jen, is the designer of Tula Pink from Moda and we enjoyed getting to know her. It is nice to see so many new, younger women involved in our industry.

I will be reporting on individual new things for a couple of days, there is just way too much to tell all at once.
Here are a couple of good photos from market though.

Moving a Quilt Shop

How do you move a quilt shop?
As many of you know, we moved the quilt shop at the end of February. We have had many questions about the move and so I thought I would share some thoughts and pictures of the adventure.
A quick history of The Quilters Quarters and her moves.

1996: 402 S. 5th St: 600 sq ft and 300 bolts of fabric.

1997: 408 S. 5th St: 1200 sq ft and closer to 900 bolts of fabric. Added a Gammill and quilting services. Added a website. Double in size = good thing!

1999: 219 Delaware: 1900 sq ft and about 1800 bolts of fabric. Double the fabric = good thing!

2000: Expanded 219 Delaware to 3000 sq ft and about 2100 bolts of fabric. Larger in size = good thing.

2004: 205 – 207 Delaware: 3700 sq ft and about 2500 bolts of fabric. Newly renovated space with higher ceilings and more windows and more light. Double the exposure = good thing.

2006: Expanded to include 203 Delaware: 4700 sq ft and about 4000 bolts of fabric. Doubled the scope of the web site and services. Selected as American Patchwork and Quilting Top Shop. Double the staff and double the business = good thing.

2009: Moved again to 200 S. 5th St: Corner of 5th and Delaware: Is this a complete circle? Just about the same square footage and over 5000 bolts of fabric, added a Statler Stitcher. Doubled the charm, doubled the number of windows, doubled the number of lights, doubled the number of kits and blocks of the month on-line, doubled the number of special events = A very good thing.

With each move and/or expansion between 1996 and 2000, the staff all pitched in and moved it all. When we moved again in 2004 the staff loaded all the fabric on little red wagons and walked it down the street to the new location, after all, it was only half a block away.

How much work could that be? Right? I only wish I had pictures of that one to show you.

With the latest/LAST move, I did get some photos before and after the move. The staff worked very hard for two days to prepare for the movers to arrive and then the professional movers picked it all up and put it in the new space. Then the world’s most wonderful quilt shop staff made it beautiful! This wonderful staff has, however, threatened my life if I ever move the shop again.

We are all happy with the new digs (but of course keep moving things around to make them better) and we have heard nothing but rave reviews from our local customers and the guests on the May Day Bus Tour last weekend. We hope you enjoy the pictures.