Jacksonville Quilt Show was worth our effort to get there!
Jacksonville, Florida has an annual quilt show every year. One of the lovely things about it is the timing. That is the time of year when there are not many other quilty things going on. Consequently, the show draws a big crowd of attendees, and a nice large number of vendors.
We decided that it was time that Ken and I take a day off and go and see something fun, quilt related and vendor related.
We have been asked to vend next year, by a very energetic Jacksonville Quilt Show Rep, but we knew nothing about it. We didn’t know if people came. We didn’t know if people looked, and we certainly had never been there.
(Just a note of human interest: Jacksonville is Becky’s and my birthplace. We were born there many years ago, but we did leave there when we were just 4 or 5 years old, and headed out West, where grew up from the age of 5 to 13, before heading back to Florida just before our 14th birthday.)
We had originally planned to go and spend the night there, and get up bright and early to attend the show, but previous committments for the evening before meant that we had our alarm go off at 6 a.m., and we were hightailing it down the road by 6:30.
I had taken our SHOP HOP quilt with us to finish sewing some fun buttons on the quilt before sending it into Koleene and Jenn of SHOP HOP Inc. for the official photography for the magazine.
As soon as it got light, I decided to get that project out and got to work doing that. Ken took the picture at one of the stop lights!
We decided to put some eyes on the flamingos in the quilt that Becky designed for the SHOP HOP magazine. It was due at the SHOP HOP headquarters on Oct. 1, but I had to get the buttons sewn on before putting it in the mail. I figured while Ken was driving, it was the perfect time for me to hand sew.
Ken and I wanted to see the vendors right off the bat. We stopped at some of the quilts on the way to the back of the building, where the vendors took center stage behind the quilts.
Who doesn’t love fabric, notions and fun things that make you sew quilts faster and with more skill?
After getting a selfie taken of us in the selfie station, I headed to the Silent Auction area to see if there was something I could not live without! I loved many of the items, but decided that I have enough stuff. I also was too weary to understand the bidding and buying system. So, I just took some pictures, oohed and awwhed, and headed to the vendors!
Of course, if we’re going to sell fabric next year there, we had to see what kind of competition we had. And there was plenty! From the Boys in Mt. Dora to Rainbow’s End to Miss D’s in Patatka and Miss Bee’s in St. Augustine, there was plenty of fabric! I was surprised by how much TULA PINK fabric was there.
Then, we saw some friends! Who should we see but Loralie? She has moved to Florida! So, she could drive home each night after this show. It was great fun to see her!
Then we found other friends we know from close by! Lauren from Bold Notion Quilting in B’ville was set up. Her daughter was also showing us her skills! Then we ran into Julie and Rick from Off the Wall Quilts, where we’ve just started getting our good gripping rulers, and then, of course, Fred and Elaine were busily sharpening knives and scissors as quickly as they could!
One of the big hits was the Boutique. This was where the guild members brought goodies to sell, and I think, the money went to charity. I just enjoyed looking at all of he beautiful things for sale. You could get everything from bags to rope bowls to post cards to clam up bags and then, of course, things you’ve never seen or heard of before!
One of the most fascinating set ups was a couple who maintains and sells featherweights. They gave me some pointers and tips of what to look for when deciding if I want a featherweight! They are not with the Featherweight Shop, who would have charged 2x what they did!
Marcia Layton designs is one of the favorite booths that I saw! I’m hoping to be able to carry some of her patterns! She does beautiful work, and it’s absolutely adorable!
The fun thing was that, throughout the day, we would be hailed from across the way, called over to talk to people, and basically just asked how we were doing! We had no idea that many people knew who we were!
All in all, we left, exhausted, as soon as our live feed was over, to find food and head the 3.25 hours back to Dade City! It was great to go, and it was great to be home again!
I hope you’ve enjoyed the pictures and thanks so much for coming along with us on this journey!
Have a great day wherever you are reading this!
Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store here!
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