Pam B

I always enjoy going and looking because I get some great ideas. I generally take cash with me and walk completely through the show making notes about things that catch my eye and where the vendor is located. Then my friend and I will take a break and get a bite to eat, etc., before we go back and buy. There have been times when I've come home with cash left. And, if it is something I can get at the LQS I go to, I don't buy it at the show.

letawellman

I agree completely!!
Plus, I think that many of us have gotten to the point that our own craftsmanship is just as good (or better!!) than what is being displayed in the show. I'm planning on going to the AQS show in Charlotte at the end of July, but that's because it IS a big show (and I really only usually get to the smaller shows) AND because my boss-lady is interested, so I'm "escorting" her and her daughter to this one, so they can see just how big quilting really is.

It always tickles me when someone says "Quilting is a dying art", and I'm like "Oh really? A $3.5 BILLION/year industry is dying?!?"

Still, I'm hoping that seeing the show through a "fresh perspective" will create some new inspiration for myself.

quiltmom04

I agree. It used to be only some vendors were WONDERFUL.. Now I think they are all wonderful! But becasue they are, there is eventually a boring sameness to it all, and I'm strangely glad someone else experienced it. I thought it was just me!! I have avoided shows for a while, and do what I enjoy doing, and then when I go back, I feel better.

oldtisme

bearisgray you answered a question I was going to ask...is there a lot of places to sit & rest? My husband is taking me to my very 1st quilt show in Houston this Oct, it's about a 4 hour drive from us but I'm not so sure now, my back is about done in & can't really walk for very long without a good 15 min rest. But I so want to go just to see everything your all talking about. I wonder if they would mind if I brought a folding lawn chair with me...maybe if I had a handicap placard around my neck? Oh well I am going to go if I can't find a place to sit I'll pull up a piece of floor & plop down & if they want me to move they can call in a front end loader to lift my heavy hind end up off the floor . I WILL get to go to at least 1 show!

RugosaB

The last 6-8 years I've gone to one quilt show a year, always the same one - the Sauders Show every spring. There must be very very few tables 'selling' things, I just remember quilt after quilt.
Come to think of it, maybe such tables are not allowed due to the quilt shop right next door. It's always held the weekend Sauders opens for the year.

The Sauders Quilt Shop seems to have the newest of quilty things. I always seem to buy something, but that is never my goal. I just want to see the quilts and have lunch at their barn restaurant with hubby.
They always have a row of chairs for the chauffeurs, one with an appropriate sign for the right person(this photo has been shared before, it's just so darn cute! I had to post it again):

I forgot to say that we go at a time when it is never crowded, usually a Thursday. It's way out in the middle of farm country but sometimes I do see buses of visitors coming. They have a hotel but I really don't know if folks stay there overnight, but I suppose one could.