Setting Up

Set up actually started at home as I was trying to decide what quilts to bring to put in the A-1 Quilting Machine booth at the Dallas Quilt show. Pixxie decided she needed to get in on the act -- I think she was hoping to fit into my suitcase.

Poor pup. She's at home moping around on the couch missin' me.

In my planning for this trip I decided I needed a new quilting apron, so placed an order with my local embroidery shop to order one for me and to add my company name and my name. I thought I ordered it in plenty of time but as it was the apron wasn't ready until the night before my departure....and I just had to put my logo on it -- which meant getting up early the next morning and figuring out how to attach the apron to the longarm so I could add my "Karen's Special" butterfly.

Even though my name is is a solid color that I dearly love I decided I needed to play with my Rainbows thread. This design is hand guided by the way. The outlines are all pretty much the same, but the detail work turns out a little differently each time. Sorta like nature, God made us all the human race but we have different details. All beautiful.

I like the result and tomorrow will put it to good use, especially the pockets! I'm a gal that likes pockets!

So today was the official set up day. I thought it would be sorta fun to 'document' how the booth transforms from a empty draped area to an area promising a lot of activity over the next few days.

Here's all the fun little stuff I brought. Doesn't look too promising does it? Humble beginnings.

Stewart, company president, arrived and I started putting together the flooring. Okay, so I messed up and put two yellows together - I should know better I'm a scrap quilter, but hey, I'm on my hands and knees doing this so I just reached for the next tile and didn't worry about color! Life goes on! Enjoy the process. Besides, it's going to be covered with a quilting machine soon. I can't tell you how much I love putting down that floor because I know over the next few days it is going to be so worth it!!

We've got a few quilts hung, one of the tables has arrived. Starting to look a little more like a booth don't ya think? Potential!

No one can accuse me of having dull quilts! Can't say they are wow quilts, especially considering the beautiful quilts in the show, but they are mine and they make me happy. I hope they are colorful enjoy to catch someone's eye and make them smile.

I'm associated with a wonderful company! Not only do we have a fantastic quilting machine, but the owner/designer is just a master at his craft. The more I learn about the engineering of my machine the more I love it. Shoot. I just love it. It didn't matter to me all the parts and pieces when I brought one home (well it did but work with me here) what mattered to me was I had a machine I could truly dance with! Yes, I did my homework. Lots of research, plenty of hands on (ask me about all the hours I spent renting a longarm before I purchased mine). Truly a joy to quilt with. It was worth the wait to make the right choice!

With all the hoopla of trying to get out of town I haven't been on my machine much (except to add my butterfly to my apron yesterday morning) and I was itching to get my hands on the machines and quilt today! Couldn't wait until we had them up and the fabric loaded!! There are two tables in the booth each with two machine heads so I got to dance a little with each of them - testing out the tension ya'know (grin). Yeah right. I just wanted to dance.

Come tomorrow morning I hope to share my dance partner with several quilt show attendees. It's such a joy to introduce folks to my favorite quilting machine - whether they want to be a quilter or just want to see how it feels, I want them to enjoy the dance. Sigh. I just love my job!

Dreaming of dancing....