Sheesh Where in the hell WAS I?
November 30, 2007 at 8:11 pm (Uncategorized)
Holy moly! The time flew and quite frankly, I was a bit fried from a very successful yet, very stressful Houston market and festival. As you know, I’m the only employee here at the QH office — which means not only do I have to answer all of my phones (I always get a laugh out of a caller’s surprise that I “answer my own phones”), emails (eventually), blog, Pickle Road website and Yahoo group, I’m also Customer Service for Quilter’s Home — for subscription information, subscription screw ups, editoral calls, praise and complaints, recipe requests and “Where did you get the photo on page 32 in last January’s issue?” LOL (I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast). I have to plan and and write the magazine as well as edit and approve layouts plus be proactive in gathering sales information for the sales staff, etc. Well, cupcakes, one person is having a difficult time doing it all. And since I have no staff in the office (fab-o freelancers outside of the office like Diane Kent and Melissa Maher) I have no vacation and all work and no play makes Daddy a very dull boy. So that’s where I have been. - in a pre-burnout coma. So sorry but here I am, behind in my editorial but back in the blogging saddle.
So much has happened that I don’t where to begin - or how. I do know that I can NEVER let this fricking blog go unatttended for so long.
In a nutshell….
I met several Pickles at Fabriganza at Troy Corp in Chicago in October. That was a lot of fun. Fabriganza is a “mini-market” for the customers of Troy Corp. that takes place about 2-3 weeks before the major Quilt markets. A lot of fabric manufacturers are represented as are book publishers and magazine publishers. I’ve met so many neat-o quilters and shop owners there!
This is Kathy Brown (The Teacher’s Pet) and Debbie Field (Granola Girl Designs) who are fellow Troy designers and whom I love. It’s always a laugh riot with these two.
This is Planted Seed fabric designer Gerri Robinson holding a quilt made from her sweet new line, Anna.
Designer Pearl Krush, another very talented and long time designer for Troy.
My buddy Karen Coombs was there with Blank Fabrics. She has a DYNAMITE quilt coming up in Quilter’s Home.
I coveted this quilt by Northcott done with Ro Gregg’s fabrics. You should see it in person! The pattern was already given away to Designer’s Quarters magazine. (Actually Designer’s Quarters — a well done magazine, I think — but in order to be in it a designer or fabric company has to PAY for their space so it’s not really not like editiorial journalism at it’s best…it’s the designer/company with the most money — you too, could have your face on the cover if the price is right. There are several quilting magazines like that out there). That said, I do genuinely love many of the projects and designers featured in the magazine (and, of course, some I loathe — $$$ CA-CHING $$$). You MUST run out and buy this issue for this pattern alone. It’s the issue with some kiddie castle fabric on the front. I’m a subscriber!
Let’s see –
In October, I taught and lectured in the Hamptons with the Eastern Long Island Quilt Guild (what a great crowd these women are. It was my second time there) and then did two classes at a remarkable shop called: Pieceful Quilting in Riverhead, NY. It’s a must visit shop! You can’t believe the size — room after room - and the staff is first rate! If you’re ever near Riverhead, NY – YOU MUST STOP AND SHOP AT PIECEFUL QUILTING. As a matter of fact, I’m going to save the inside of this shop for a future SHOP HOP article in Quilter’s Home.
It’s me and the staff!
I was staying at the Radisson (a beautiful hotel in Riverhead NY where Pieceful Quilting put me up for the night) but my car (along with several others) was broken into in the parking lot. Nothing is worse than seeing your window smashed on your front seat the first thing in the morning!
They got my GPS but couldn’t get my Sirius Radio. The magager of the hotel was totally unresponsive and well, just a very bad manager, which would make me wonder if it was company policy to be so arrogant and dismissive or just that she was an idiot?
Luckily for me, all of my quilts were already at the shop and, although I had thousands of bucks worth of beads in the back of the car in plain sight, they didn’t seem to be interested in them. Clearly men with no taste or a quilting gene in their body.
In any event I would think very carefully before I stayed at a Raddison again. Thank God my endless piles of McDonald’s bags protected my seat! LOL
It was raining that morning and made me late for class but - TO THE RESCUE - were the incredible staff at Pieceful Quilting (and their customers love them, too) and got me hooked up with Frank, who repaired my window while I taught. Here is Frank with all of the ladies of that day’s class (you should have seen his face when I asked everyone to come out to take their photo with him). A riot!
More later…. LOTS MORE!
Oh - and from my friend Dawn Douds who called just to tell me this joke –
Q: What’s the difference between a prostitute and a lawyer?
A: A prostitute will stop screwing you after you’ve died!
Do what you love, chickens! xoxom
