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Once again, It's time for Really Big Craft Show.
For those new this year, I make quilts and sell them both online and at craft shows. Really Big Craft Show started out as a handmade-only show, but in the past 7 years or so has become filled with resellers. There are even booths of people reselling Wal-Mart goods. My family has been doing this show for 20+ years. This show is also the only time I see my mom and grandmother, since I'm kicked out of the family.
So anyway, because of tons of family drama (basically my uncle being a moocher and my grandmother's increasing dementia), I decided to take on the bulk of the booth this year. I wanted to reduce the workload that my mom and grandmother would have to do, since thier stuff is all mixed in together and not inventoried. I worked out a booth layout and had a meeting 6 weeks before the show, to make sure we were all on the same page.
So Wednesday night I went with mom and her BF to help load up the trailer. (Of course Uncle and Sister NCNSed on us again) So it was up to the three of us to get everything loaded up and strapped down.
Thursday Mom and BF were supposed to head down to the show and get the displays set up while I was having my hair done and picking up lunch. They arrived about ten minutes after I did, and refused to start setting up until after they ate. So we should have finished setting up by 4pm at the latest, and ended up again getting kicked out at 10pm. Mom, of course, once we get the trailer unloaded has to complain and started rearranging the booth layout that I worked on for months. I had planned on actually getting home in time for dinner with hubby and the kids, but with all the hiccups I ended up missing out and hubby ended up cursing and yelling on the phone.
Friday I had hubby in the booth to help us use our new CC swiper. After the fiasco with setup, I was expecting to get cursed out again by non-customers. This is where I felt like I was on another planet. I was not cursed at by anyone, and no one mentioned Wal-mart. I don't know if it was because of the "Buy Handmade" sign I had in the booth, or all the prayers I'd done. But I was busy, and complimented over and over on how awesome the quilts were. Even other crafters were telling me to keep up the good work and that my prices were just fine. I did find out on Friday that there was one other quilt booth in the building, they were resellers selling queen size quilts for $90. Mine were $250. I was surprised to hear from customers that she was sending people down to my booth since I did custom orders and T-shirt quilts and she was just reselling.
Saturday and Sunday I had to put up a sign on my demo t-shirt quilt that it was indeed made from t-shirts since according to one customer "it looked too cool to be made from t-shirts"
I also had some quilt groupies stop by to visit. They were from Kentucky and they love to travel around and meet quilters and hear thier stories and the stories behind thier quilts. I just can't describe how awesome it felt that they just wanted to hang out and talk to me, like I was a celebrity or something. I handed out over 500 custom order flyers and so far I have 25 Christmas orders. I probably won't be able to sleep until Christmas, but that's alright.
The only downside is that I didn't have any SCs to talk to you guys about!
Edit: Forgot to mention that according to OK's gambling laws, I wasn't able to hold a raffle to sell my CTF fundraiser quilt that I made in honor of Plaid. However, one of my customers just loved it so much, that she bought it, so now I get to send a letter with quilt photos and a nice check to the CTF.
For those new this year, I make quilts and sell them both online and at craft shows. Really Big Craft Show started out as a handmade-only show, but in the past 7 years or so has become filled with resellers. There are even booths of people reselling Wal-Mart goods. My family has been doing this show for 20+ years. This show is also the only time I see my mom and grandmother, since I'm kicked out of the family.
So anyway, because of tons of family drama (basically my uncle being a moocher and my grandmother's increasing dementia), I decided to take on the bulk of the booth this year. I wanted to reduce the workload that my mom and grandmother would have to do, since thier stuff is all mixed in together and not inventoried. I worked out a booth layout and had a meeting 6 weeks before the show, to make sure we were all on the same page.
So Wednesday night I went with mom and her BF to help load up the trailer. (Of course Uncle and Sister NCNSed on us again) So it was up to the three of us to get everything loaded up and strapped down.
Thursday Mom and BF were supposed to head down to the show and get the displays set up while I was having my hair done and picking up lunch. They arrived about ten minutes after I did, and refused to start setting up until after they ate. So we should have finished setting up by 4pm at the latest, and ended up again getting kicked out at 10pm. Mom, of course, once we get the trailer unloaded has to complain and started rearranging the booth layout that I worked on for months. I had planned on actually getting home in time for dinner with hubby and the kids, but with all the hiccups I ended up missing out and hubby ended up cursing and yelling on the phone.
Friday I had hubby in the booth to help us use our new CC swiper. After the fiasco with setup, I was expecting to get cursed out again by non-customers. This is where I felt like I was on another planet. I was not cursed at by anyone, and no one mentioned Wal-mart. I don't know if it was because of the "Buy Handmade" sign I had in the booth, or all the prayers I'd done. But I was busy, and complimented over and over on how awesome the quilts were. Even other crafters were telling me to keep up the good work and that my prices were just fine. I did find out on Friday that there was one other quilt booth in the building, they were resellers selling queen size quilts for $90. Mine were $250. I was surprised to hear from customers that she was sending people down to my booth since I did custom orders and T-shirt quilts and she was just reselling.
Saturday and Sunday I had to put up a sign on my demo t-shirt quilt that it was indeed made from t-shirts since according to one customer "it looked too cool to be made from t-shirts"
I also had some quilt groupies stop by to visit. They were from Kentucky and they love to travel around and meet quilters and hear thier stories and the stories behind thier quilts. I just can't describe how awesome it felt that they just wanted to hang out and talk to me, like I was a celebrity or something. I handed out over 500 custom order flyers and so far I have 25 Christmas orders. I probably won't be able to sleep until Christmas, but that's alright. The only downside is that I didn't have any SCs to talk to you guys about!
Edit: Forgot to mention that according to OK's gambling laws, I wasn't able to hold a raffle to sell my CTF fundraiser quilt that I made in honor of Plaid. However, one of my customers just loved it so much, that she bought it, so now I get to send a letter with quilt photos and a nice check to the CTF.
He is my Black Dragon (and yes, a good one) strong, protective, the guardian. I am his Silver Dragon, always by his side, shining for him, cherishing him.
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