Saturday, November 5, 2016

The Results

So many of you have been following my blog or FB posts as I experienced Quilt Market. I've hear that you enjoyed the behind the scenes tour and many of you have cheered me on. I appreciate all of the support. It really means so much to me.

First I want to share 3 quilts that were on exhibit that made me think of Curvalicious. One is old:

One was from Japan

And one was contemporary

Now about Market:

Friday was Schoolhouse and Sample Spree. Market officially started on Saturday and ran through Monday. There were lots of fabric company booths, pattern companies, sewing machine companies, notion companies, distributors, jewelry and clothing booths and die cut companies. I know I'm missing some. Pins and candy were abundant. It was easy to walk down an aisle and snag one or the other. Lots of attendees wore the collected pins on their lanyards.

It was such a happy feeling walking the floor, as they say. Seeing all the new fabric and quilting supplies and feeling the excitement and energy was wonderful. The biggest trend that I noticed was the amount of young women, both vending as designers and shopping. They are our future and it's great to see that quilting will not only survive, but it will thrive.

Lots of quilting celebrities were there too. Some of them I have met before, but I was star struck. I chatted with Pat Sloan who had visited our guild in July. I'll be on her radio show on Monday. It was booked a while ago. It airs live at 4:00 EST. Here's the LINK. Also Victoria Findley Wolfe, who will be visiting my guild on Wednesday, stopped at my booth to watch a demo!

So how did I do? Market exceeded even my wildest dreams. Curvalicious and patterns are on their way to Austria, shops in France and lots more shops in the States, even Hawaii. My quilts will be heading to Louisiana, Florida and California at the beginning of 2017.

I learned about distributors. They are companies that sell quilting supplies to shops. They have a huge variety of items and it's one stop shopping for shops, instead of having to contact many individual companies. 95% of the shops that stopped by my booth, asked if I sold through a distributor. The issue with being represented by a distributor is that they take a cut out of my pocket. I have come to learn that many designers/manufacturers price their items to take into account this deduction! Who knew?

It became evident to me that I needed to consider this option. The good news is that I was approached by a whole bunch of distributors, both stateside, Canada, England, Australia and South Africa. How cool is that? It's expensive to ship a single Curvalicious to a customer outside of the US, so a foreign distributor would be a good thing. I'm still considering my options. There are lots of "pros" and that one major "con".

There were offers of video/reviews/ interviews about Curvalicious, both here and abroad.

And finally, merchandise! Several fabric companies offered me fabric! All I have to do is send an email with which fabric I want and how much. The fabric at the show is not yet available in the shops. Most of it will arrive in a few months. There is a limited amount available to make samples. Since I'll be doing retail quilt shows, if they have enough, it's mine. The same with thread and I was handed a roll of the newest paper backed fusible web to try.

To celebrate my awesome fortune, I'm doing a giveaway, open to everyone. It's some of my goodies and I want to share. There's a foldaway tote bag, lots of pins magnets, Tula Pink hexagons, Grunge squares, Crimson Tate sticker and a few other things. Leave a comment either on my blog or like my Facebook page AND sign up for my monthly newsletter HERE. The more you do, the more entries you'll have. If you share my FB post, I'll give you another chance. That would be 3 all together. I'll choose the winner on Wednesday, after VFW's lecture at my guild. (www.CalicoCutters.com)


There is another giveaway on Instagram. To participate, visit: @oyveyquilts

And there is yet another exciting quilty bit of news that was publicized at the show. IQA is doing a fundraising cruise after Quilt Festival in 2017. I am one if the teachers! Click on this link for more info. This would be a perfect excuse to go to Festival and then come cruise and quilt with me!

 

16 comments:

  1. I can inky imagine the fun and excitement of being at quilt market. So happy your venture was successful. Thank you for offering your market finds to your readers as a prize.

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  2. Sounds like the Quilt Market was an amazing experience and I now know something new about distributors!! You've selected some awesome items for your giveaway... my fingers are double crossed.

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  3. I like you on FB, thanks for another chance!!

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  4. I'm so jealous of your trip! I really want to go in the spring!

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  5. Interesting: I clicked on blog reference from FB & I can comment here but not thru Bloglovin' when I go to original from the daily summary post. Curious & curiouser!

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  6. So glad market was such a success!

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  7. I love the contemporary one...such fun!

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  8. I liked your fb page and signed up for the newsletter. Thanks for the chance to win these goodies.

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  9. Happy to hear market was a success for you.

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  10. i already receive your newsletter and have liked your facebook page. Thank you.

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  11. I'm happy that you had such a great trip to market! And thanks for the post. I'm not in the quilting business - I just make quilts - but I think information about the business side of quilting is really interesting. And thanks for the chance to win these delightful goodies!

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  12. How much fun. Thanks for sharing. Drhodes9@cox.net

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  13. sounds like quilt market was quite a sensory experience, and a learning one, too. now you know how you can get your products to go world-wide without a huge expense to either you or the customer. as mark cuban, who is a very smart entrepreneur, says, "would you rather have 90% of a million dollars or 100% of nothing?"

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  14. I always enjoy reading posts about quilt shows and someday, I hope to attend a major one! Until then, I live vicariously through photos like yours and your notes! Thanks for sharing!

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  15. I'm glad that quilt market was so very successful for you; such wonderful news! Thanks for the chance to win goodies.
    jlpfeffer at gmail dot com

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