OK, so I couldn't make myself do a post without at least one picture!
I set off this morning to the Great Northern Quilt Show. Last year I missed this show as I was away on a steam train, so I had been really looking forward to this. It opened at 10 am, but I deliberately planned to be there for about 11, so the queues for the car park, ticket office, etc, had all died down. I was home again by 1.30 - and it's a 45 minute journey.
This show has been going downhill each year, and in my opinion this year was smaller than ever! I walked round the quilts twice and didn't see anything that stopped me in my tracks. I walked round the traders twice and struggled to spend any money. I met some friends and we had a drink and a gossip, then I met them again at lunch time so we went for another drink. Then I met some more and we sat and had a chat. So it was a good time but so disappointing. Talking to my friends, I wasn't the only one who felt like this.
There were some quilts there that were technically very clever, but just not to my taste. I did eventually manage to spend some money. I bought 5 metres each of a white and a cream tone-on-tone cos they're always useful for backgrounds, and I bought a new rotating cutting mat since I left mine in the sun one day last year, and it re-shaped itself (ever tried cutting accurately on a wavey cutting mat?) but there was nothing else that insisted on following me home. I think when I got home so early and without hundred's of bags weighing me down, that Mr Fixit was worried that I was ill!
OH what a shame...except for the meeting up with friends and having a few drinks, or course!
ReplyDeleteI had a similiar experience a few years ago when a small local show had to change venue-the alternate space was inappropriate and made the whole show difficult to view.
I would venture that not having anything inspiring to look at was the cause of your not being inspired to purchase much.
Poor Mr Fixit---mine would have reacted just the same!
This year my quilt show isn't having any classes or lectures. That concerns me. Mr. Fixit was probably relieved after he realized YOU were ok and it was the QUILT SHOW that wasn't!
ReplyDeleteyes, quilt shows can sometimes be a disappointment...I have gone to some and like you not found anything inspiring. But on the other hand, I sometimes find quilts that wow me....It is a crap shoot..and I am choosy about what I buy.
ReplyDeleteOh... now that has disappointed me because I was hoping to get a trip over next year (hoping being the appropriate word here!)..mmmmm maybe not then.
ReplyDeleteI would have thought the same thing as Mr. Fixit. Seems like forgetting the camera wasn't the worst thing you could do.
ReplyDeleteYou can ease your disappointment by looking at the pics I took at a show near me! I, too struggled to spend money, and in fact, all I bought was a used jigsaw puzzle for $1 that I gave to my grandmother.
ReplyDeleteJayne
jaynesquiltingroom.blogspot.com
I felt a bit that way at |Birmingham this year.. :-(
ReplyDeleteWell....I went somewhere without mine because mine is so heavy and regretted it the whole time.
ReplyDeleteWhat a disappointment, Sue. :( At least a meet-up with your friends saved the day.:) We had a craft fair here recently which I had been looking forward to so much, for months,and I usually go with a friend.- well I had a flu bug and didn't want to arrive there and feel the need to return home asap, so my hubby drove me and told me to call him when I wanted to come home. I managed a couple of hours, mainly because I went to a couple of half hours seminars where I could sit down, only bought a quarter of what I got the previous year and came home without remembering to go into the quilt display room and the room that had the items sewn by the local high schools, so all in all a bit of a fizzer. :(
ReplyDeleteHow different we all are - I only saw a handful of quilts that impressed me. In general I thought the standard was way down. Maybe that was because I thought that those on display at Birmingham this year were awe-inspiring. However, spending, didn't have a problem! Including the purchase of your new book. Having read Trudi's review, I thought what a perfect gift it would be for a friend who struggles with colour selection. Congratulations on your publication.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame - but we've been saying for years that the show is on its last legs. If you did all that socialising, arrived at 11.00 and were still home for 1.30 there truly wasn't much to see.
ReplyDeleteShame we didn't get organised and combine it with a visit to Harlow Carr but what with Roof Goblins, Electric Pixies and Garden Workers . . .
Well, at least you had a good time with friends. I've decided that things just cycle through being popular and then fading away. Too bad for the show organizers though.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you were disappointed in the show, but at least you got to meet with friends and chat. Having never been to a quilt show, I can't really comment, but when I finally get to one I hope I won't be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteAhh, well, you are not an idiot! you knew there was nothing show stopping so who needed the camera anyway?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it wasn't just me then! I got there by 11am and left by 1pm and took 2 meters of white on cream and a box of machine needles home with me. I was thrilled to see my friend had won a 2nd in the wholecloth section, it was interesting to be able to get up close to Ferrets quilts but on the whole the standard was, I'm sorry to say, poor!
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ReplyDeleteI noticed there were very low entry numbers for some of the categories and much of the quilt display area was taken up with exhibitions by individual quilters. I wrote to the organisers about this last year to say I think they really must advertise how to enter quilts in the show - other than in their own magazines. There were plenty of people coming through the door on Friday but without quilts it just becomes a shopping village! I feel guilty that I didn't enter anything and have made a pact with a friend that we will do so next year!
ReplyDeleteIt's to bad to see a good so go down hill, but it sounds like you had a good time with friends anyway.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear that a quilt show is on a downhill slide. That is disappointing. Glad that you were able to be with friends for food and drink. That saved the day.
ReplyDeleteHave a super great sewing and stitching day.
Ladies, I'm afraid it's a sign of the times..I've gone to the AQS show in Columbus OH for years, stayed overnight and had a great time/lots of purchases..this year we were in and out before lunch and struggled to buy something..same report from the one in Hershey PA..and one of the BIG ones...my heart goes out to the vendors...so so sad. Susan Vicary
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