My second trip was the Road to California on January 23rd. Just as I arrived I discovered I booked my return trip on the wrong day. Instead of Monday the 28th, I booked for February 4th. Crap. Now it will cost me at least a day's pay to change it. It actually cost me three days pay. Then once I got to Denver my flight got cancelled and rescheduled for 5:30 in the afternoon. I got home at 10:30 at night. Long day but I did enjoy my first day in the United Lounge. Ginny and I had a great time at the show too. We bought Yazzii bags which she is going to embroider with Juki so they can be our travel bags. We went to a movie "Green Book". It was good. We had some great dinners including one with the head of the company Mr. Nishimora. He was fun. Enjoyed having him with us at the show. We ate at a Mrs. Calendars. Didn't even know she had restaurants.
Next trip - Tampa unless it snows.... Well I made it to Tampa. It did snow in Knoxville but it wasn't enough to stop airplanes. Tampa was not the best show I've ever done. The attendance was low. The first day, a water main broke right beside the venue and it took 1 hour 45 minutes to get from my hotel to the venue. (it was about a 30 minutes commute during regular traffic) The dealer had two booths - a Janome and a Juki. Janome didn't sell anything until the last day. We sold 4 machines, but we could have sold more. The dealer gave us a big lecture on how to sale and I gave her a buyer who was ready to buy a longarm and she didn't close the deal! Craziness. There weren't very many vendors at the show either. The quilts were great though.
Next trip is Quilt Con in Nashville. Well Quilt Con was hell. We did load in on Wednesday with 1 classroom with the Kerie, one with the Huraka and then a long arm room. We have evening classes Thursday, Friday and Saturday and a half day class on Sunday. We left the hotel each day around 7:15 and didn't get home until 9:30ish. In my class I had these teachers: Sherry Lynn Wood (who was the keynote teacher), Ginny Robinson, Denyse Schmidt and Season Evans. They were all great classes but the most fun was Denyse Schmidt's class on Sunday - A Different Stripe.
This is a picture of just some of the blocks that got made. It was so much fun but I ran around like crazy refiling bobbins because they were sewing so fast. I worked the floor one day and it was crazy busy. Apparently it was super busy most days. Ginny and I stayed at a hotel in Brentwood. Marian was there until Saturday when she went home. Taylor came over on Saturday and that was fun. I made a sample of all the stitches on the Kerei and Mel our dealer out of Atlanta liked it so much, I gave it to him. Guess I need to make another one.
Next up: Hampton, Virginia. At Hampton, worked with Fabric Hut. I worked with them last year at AQS Virginia Beach. I had a great time with Wayne. He is delightful. Doug the owner was Doug. Always entertaining. It was a good trip. We had some sales. Joe was there for a couple of days.
Dallas, Texas was my next show. My hotel was right across the street so I could walk to work each day. Loved that! Walter the owner of Willett's was not a very nice man. Everyone else was wonderful. Meet Patience Griffin, one of my favorite writers. The quilts were amazing.
Meet Susan Leidy who is a huge Outlander fan. Such fun with her. Home now for two weeks, then off to Lancaster.
Lancaster got changed to Chicago. Apparently the dealer in Lancaster decided they didn't need an educator. So I went to Chicago. I worked with Sue James, another educator. It was our first time to work together. Our hotel was right by the airport and had a free shuttle to the venue, although we walked every day. It actually snowed on the last day as we walked back to the hotel. We ate at Dave and Buster's twice and the mac and cheese was wonderful. We had dinner one night at the hotel across the street from the venue with our sales rep, Cathy K. It was an interesting evening as VP Pence was speaking on one floor while an S & M group was meeting on another. Our dealer was Linda Z and it was very intense. We sold pretty well, though.
Next it was off to work OSQE in Cleveland. Karen was there until Friday morning along with our new educator, Nancy. It was a good show. Here were my teachers in my DX2000 classroom:
Swing Jacket with Nick Coman
Violets in a Blue Vase with Jill McCloy
The Bubbles Quilt with Debby Kratovil
Easy Piecey Lone Star with Helene Weber
Quilt First, Then Construct: Blocks, Sashing and Borders by Helene Weber
10 Degree Ruler Workshop with Connie Spurlock
They were all great classes. I sold 2 machines. Several people already had them.
Next up - Paducah. Paducah was so much fun this year. I arrived on Monday to set up the classroom. I spent the night with Taylor after we had Easter lunch at Mom's house. Jonas didn't get to come, but Keri brought the Graycie and Isaiah. Jeremy was there. Fun day. My first class was Tuesday with Victoria Finley Wolfe. The class was Mini Star Storm. It was a great class and we sold 6 machines in the the class. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday during the day I had Kaye England - Martha's Table Runner, Piecing With Scraps, Fun With Scraps and History, and Summer Garden Quilt. I had the BEST time with Kaye. I had taken a class with her in Pigeon Forge with Nancy a few years before. I liked her then and I really like her now. She is so funny!!! Wednesday and Thursday nights I had Pamela Pandolfi with Painted Ballerina and Painted Tree. It was her first time to teach, she said. Not sure if she meant in Paducah or first time ever. She was very unsure and plenty of things went wrong, but we made it through. Saturday I had Marti Michell teaching Kaleidoscope Quilt. She was very nice and it was nice to meet such a legend in the Quilt World. For the Wednesday night class, Kathy, our sales rep from up north handled the classroom. I went with Karen to the dinner for sponsors. On Tuesday night we attended the award presentation. Victoria Finley Wolfe was the presenter and she was very funny. It was a great week! I left there on Sunday and drove to St. Louis for our Consumer Training at Jackman's Fabric Store.
Consumer Training - On Sunday night I had dinner with Cheri Stephens. It was fun. Monday morning, Ginny and I drove to Jackman's and helped Joe, our sales rep, and Carlos set up the machines. Karen arrived after lunch. I taught 4 students the sit down longarm. It was my first time teaching. I think it went well. I sure hope so. It was a great week. Ginny, Karen and I always have fun together and this group of students were so much fun. We had our dinner at Brio's, an Italian restaurant. There was a woman there from Cookeville. Next up: Idaho
Idaho was amazing!!! The scenery was beautiful. It was a small show. But I loved the dealer and everyone who worked for him. His name was O'Ryan and worked with his Mom, Barb and Patti. Also in the booth was Sharon from Floriani. We sold the longarm, the sit down, 2 straight stitches and a serger. The only other machines we had were a NX7 and J150. Truly was a great weekend though.
Next up: Stitches in Atlanta. I'm teaching a class at this one - Rulers. This was a slow show. Since it was originally meant just for knitters, the attendance for the sewing classes were small. It was with my favorite dealer, Mel from Atlanta. I really enjoyed hanging with the team from Mel's. Karen and Nancy were also at the show. I think my ruler class went well. I only had 5 students, but they seemed happy. I certainly hope so. I really enjoyed teaching it. We only sold a few machines, but I don't think anyone was expecting to do much. We all went out to dinner Saturday night and that was fun. Got to meet the new sales rep, Tim. Marian came up and took several classes. She made a pair of yoga pants, a skort, improv blocks and free motion quilting. It was a fun weekend even thought the hotel sucked. No hot water at the hotel 2 mornings. Won't stay there again.
East Cobb Quilt Show - This was a fun event because it was with Sewing Machine.com. I love working with this dealer. It was disappointing because they stuck us in a back room and we didn't sell as much as I would have liked. The hotel was great though and I have fun with Sheila, Craig and Hetty. We played Mexican Train on Friday night. Lots of fun!
Next up:
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This was a fun week. It was Karen, Ginny and me. It was our last event together. Karen turned in her notice not long after the event was over. :( I taught the sit down on Thursday. I had to leave early on Friday to get home so I could teach a binding class on Saturday at my guild. We had a great dinner at Sheila and Craig's house on Thursday night. They made us steak, baked potatoes and salad at their house. Their house was AMAZING!!!! We had the best time laughing at Craig's stories. He showed us around the property on his golf cart. We got to see Sheila's barn - where she sews. It was the best time.
The end of July, it was billed as Christmas in July and was a huge bust. LuAnn has now started working. She was at my first event back after vacation.
OSQE Arlington, Texas - I went to Texas the Wednesday after returning home from Alaska on Monday. I was still exhausted. It was a good show. The hotel and the classrooms were in the same building which was right across the street from the Rangers baseball stadium and AT&T stadium where the Cowboys play and 6 Flags over Texas. It was a Sheraton Hotel and was a nice hotel. Except the last night some idiot was having a party all night.
Now I'm in Miami for a meeting of all the educators with LuAnn.
The meeting with LuAnn and the team went well. We had dinner on Monday night with Rich, Wendy, Mr. Nishimura and all the educators. On Tuesday we met all day talking about what she expected and what was coming in 2020. We stayed at the Holiday Inn and it was awful. Damp and yucky. We all went home Wednesday.
My next trip was Paducah for the Fall Festival. I picked Ginny up at the Nashville airport. Poor thing, her flight was late and she missed her connection, but once she got here, we made it to Paducah in time to get the classroom set up. The classes were great! Since it was with Sewing Machine.com we had a great time with our friends. We went to dinner Tuesday night with them, but we had classes the rest of the evenings. LuAnn was there, but we didn't see much of her. Timm was our sales rep. He is really knowledgeable. It was a great time.
Next up - Jacksonville.
Jacksonville was so much fun! It was with Sew Mini Quilts Things Quilt Shop in Mount Dora, Florida. The owner is Timm Bond's husband, Stuart. They brought Phillip, Lee and Stacy. They were a great bunch! We didn't sell as much as I would have liked, but it was still fun. We had dinner at The Chart House across the river from the Jaqs stadium and they were playing the Titans. The next night we had dinner had Panera and then ice cream. Stuart and Phillip went to see the Downton Abbey movie. The folks at the stencil company gave me free stencils and powder! So much fun!!!
Next I went to the AQS show in North Charleston. Again with Timm. We sold SO MUCH - 3 or 4 longs arms, 2 sit downs, a Sai machine, 3 or 4 J150s, a NX7, 2 TL18s. The shop we worked with was Sew Suite Studio. They were all very nice. We were across the aisle from my stencil people. Timm's cousin, Beth was there and we had dinner every night.
Next up was our first Consumer Training in Raleigh, NC. It was held at Capital Sew & Quilt. Ginny and I were worried that LuAnn Hartley, our new Head Educator, would replace Ginny with our new educator, Sherry Miller. Sherry was just hired. She is from Denver, Colorado and has worked a long time in a quilt shop. She knows lots about the machines. We, Ginny and I, however, work really well together and after one day, LuAnn said she would not break us up. That was a load off of us. We had a great time and had a great group of people. It was a great week!
IQF Houston - What a tiring week, but so much fun. We had some wonderful teachers. Ginny and I had a very busy week. We did get to have dinner with Karen on Thursday night. The big Juki dinner was Friday night. I got to meet Julia Quiltoff! She was so sweet. Saw Andrew Lee and his wife Kristy. His Iwo Jima quilt was hanging at the show. It was just so much fun. We didn't sell as much as I wish, but still a fun week. We spent one afternoon walking around Sam Houston park. Enjoyed that a lot.
Up next was a trip to San Diego and San Marcus, California. I did my J350 Teaching Event:
Quilting Freedom with the Juki Stitch
Regulated Sit Down Longarm
Join Juki Educator
Lynn Sykes and let her show you how to create a quilt from start to finish.
This Lecture / Demo with time for hands on sampling in the freedom of stitch
regulation will take you on a yes, you too can quilt journey.
Get the feel of free motion quilting on the
Juki J-350 Quilting Machine.
Discover the possibilities of pebbles, sensations
of swirls, get rowdy with rulers and find the fascination with feathers.
Put a new spin on your quilt and applique
as you quilt and for a faster finish learn quilt as you go techniques and
finish with a machine binding.
No matter your skill level Enjoy a Trunk
show to Inspire You and let Juki Educator Lynn Sykes show You how easy and
enjoyable it is to finish your own quilt.
Juki Products
Towa Guage (m) style
(400TM3)
Clamshell Ruler
Sit Down Ruler Set
Grip n Stitch Quilting Pads
Open Toe Foot (10144744)
Glide foot (40201924)
Learning Ruler Kit
5 pack Juki M bobbin D9117141E00-5
Sit Down J-350 Overlay
Other Products Lynn will Use
Pounce
Quilting gloves
Stencils
Sew Line Air Erase Pen
We didn't sell any machines at the first event in San Diego, but we sold 3 in San Marcus. I also got to visit several quilt shops in the San Marcus area including the Quilt in a Day shop.
Rusty Barn –
Puyallup, Washington
I went to Washington
next. We didn’t sell much besides the TL18. We had the J350, but no longarm. I
don’t think very many sewing machines were sold. The dealer, Paul, had a lot of
other machines in the booth.
Final trip of the
year – San Antonio, Texas
We had our final
Consumer Training of the year with Gromes in San Antonio in Texas. We had to
hold the event at a hotel because the store the dealer was supposed to move
into didn’t happen in time. It was a great event. All the participants seemed
so happy. Marian flew out on Thursday and we spent Saturday touring around the
town. It was a great trip!
