Cybrarian

Greetings Everyone!
I realize most of us have heard of big events that happen yearly in our quilting world: Houston, Spring Market, Road to California, Paducah Spring & now Fall too (most happen during the school year so have never been), but I'm sure there are things that happen more regionally or locally that we'd enjoy hearing about. I realize there are shop owners, guild board members and Quilt world movers & shakers on here that might not be aware of well done events on a smaller scale that might give them some ideas for their areas too. So I thought some of us might enjoy contributing to a thread about them. Here's one from my area-Tampa/Clearwater/St. Petersburg, Florida area. We have GREAT quilt shops in this area so there is always something going on, but I thought I'd tell you about a new event that is just wrapping up today. One of the shops in our area is Happy Apple Quilts & Florida Quilting Center in Tampa (happyapplequilts.com).
They put on an event called Stitcher Paradise & Marketplace. (http://www.stitcherparadise.com/) Three days at the Grand Hyatt on Tampa Bay (gorgeous venue). You could come and stay at a special rate or just come in for the day. There were many classes, presentations and trunk shows by nationally known teachers. Marketplace was small, but had great products and the ability to preorder new fabrics not yet on the market. The goody bag we received at registration/check in was amazing!!! I attended 2 of Gina Perkes (thecopperneedle.com) Ruler work classes and learned a ton! We were in a classroom with tables and comfortable chairs, complimentary ice water and mints. She was provided with an Innova long arm with a great camera/monitor set up so you could see everything, a board for her to illustrate what she was talking about and a sit down Innova for those of us who use that or a domestic machine to quilt. Gina was miked which made it great for everyone to hear everything clearly. If you have the chance to learn from her-go! She also has many YouTube videos, and is currently presenting a "Ruler of the Month" sampler project on thequiltshow.com website. There were classrooms with sewing machines provided and others like ours with everything the teacher needed to present well. The cost for individual classes and presentations was reasonable. I spent a truly enjoyable day! Ok someone else's turn-what's happening in your neighborhood?

toverly

Thanks for posting on Stitcher's Paradise, I wanted to go but it's at the other end of the state for me. Maybe next year, sounds like it was fun.