Today was the official check-in day at Quilt Market.  I was given a rainbow colored “new exhibitor” ribbon from Quilts Inc and a beautiful catalog… which I am in… Yay!  It was a day of walking, moving, lifting and hauling.  I have never seen so many crates and forklifts before.  It was unbelievable.
I felt like I was behind the scenes at a circus.  The vendors were all very nice… and despite having one REALLY useless moving cart… we were right on track with all the other veteran vendors… which of course made me feel really great.
Here is a picture of the stuff in my booth… although not completely setup because I have a schoolhouse presentation tomorrow and cannot hang anything or organize and decorate until about 2:30pm.  So we are gonna wander around and see what all the other vendors are showing and check for freebies and giveaways.  Anyone have an ideas about what the “theme” is?
I did my very best to get some photos around the convention but… the full lighting is not up yet, the booths are no where near completed and … most importantly… I didn’t want to use flash because it was late and that is really annoying to those trying to build the booths.  Here are a few of the pics I took today.  I will do my best to explain what you are looking at.
This is a shot from one of the “peep holes” above the show floor.  This is the only view of the show for the shop owners right now.  They are able to look down on the floor and check out how things are coming together.  FYI… I am all the way in the bottom right corner in Aisle #100.  The aisles go up to #2300 so… you get it… the place is huge.
Here are a few of the vendors working on their setup designs.  There is no way to explain or describe how large some of these displays are.  My booth is a 10′ x 10′ and most of the bigger booths are 40 x 50 or 60.

 Here is the beginning of Windham Fabrics booth.

 One of the vendors that is pretty well set up and ready for store appointments.

 Pretty little open corner 10 x 10

 This photo is completely blurry but I couldn’t resist showing you how outrageous some of the booths are.  This one has an RV in it.  WOW!

Me and My Sister Designs.  Two fabric wrapped mummies.  Too cute.

The other side of the RV booth.  Not quite together yet.  Can’t wait to walk around and take pics when they are all done.

Another blurry one… but this one has a full tiki bar.

Another full sales booth setup.

Jan Douglas Design.  Everything is coordinated in her fabric.  Including her supports.

Not quite done yet but some really beautiful and colorful quilts.

These ladies were still working and making progress well into the night.  As you can see all the aisles are still bare floors.  When market opens they will all be covered in red carpets.

This open corner booth has a full bed in it.

The anthology booth looks like a concert setup.  So anxious to see what they put under all these lights.

Riley Blake has lots to look at.

Giant Clover booth.  Nothing to see yet.

How do you make batting look beautiful.  Not sure but they are working hard at it.

Brewer… these guys are my suppliers.  I will stop in here at some point.

Another side of the Riley Blake booth.

An interesting angle to make a double booth.  Looks like a lounge inside.

Tons of patterns to make cute little girl clothes.  But I don’t make clothes and don’t have any little girls.  Can you imagine having to make all these little things?

Here is the beginning of the Better Homes and Gardens American Patchwork and Quilting booth.

I would so trip over this umbrella about 800 times.

Another colorful pattern designer.

This is the biggest concession stand I have ever seen.  That flag would cover the side of a house.

Aurifil thread booth looks awesome.  I want to swim in this one.

In the Beginning Fabrics is going for the rainbow look.

This one is a really cool design.  Can’t wait to see it completed.

Anna Griffin is just a bald space yet.  Really looking forward to see how she incorporates all the new fabrics.

These are the best pics I could get this evening and hopefully I will get some amazing ones tomorrow.  Northcott has Stonehenge in their booth but it hasn’t been arranged and completed yet so those pics will have to post tomorrow.  Enjoy!