Impressions of the show
Good Things
- Admission was still only $10 for the two days. And the kids were free. This was great because it was a Professional Day for teachers, so no school for the kids. Due to other commitments, I will be unable to head out again tomorrow.
- Great deals! We stopped by the Wonderfil booth looking to pick up some multi-packs of the 40Wt Polyester Thread they had on special. The girls were having a great time looking at the thread -- searching for various colours. The rep came over and handed each girl a bag full of thread.... The bags were "freebies" and included 10 spools of 120d/2 100% Rayon Thread (150m spools). When I paid for my purchases, she gave each girl a reusable bag to carry their thread in... and then she gave my son a bag too! Wow!
The bags of thread the kids received!
Other thread we purchased. One of them was the Razzle or Dazzle thread -- glittery -- Bought for the girls. They did have to compromise on colour as I was only going to buy them ONE colour. I also purchased magnetic pin holders for each of them.If I was without the kids
- I love that Ron Collins and Linda MacPhee continue to come back! They are wonderful instructors. Didn't take any of their courses this year (due to the kids), hope they are back again next year.
- The Bernina Booth was doing a hands on demo, but it was the same project as last year -- a little cosmetic bag, and I couldn't do it today because of the kids. Not a problem, I did the project last year, but it would have been great to sit and sew at the show today. I am glad that the Bernina Booth still has a freebie demo.
- The Janome Booth looked like it had machines setup for hands on workshops, but while we were there no projects were visible. Great if they had a hands on -- their instructor is wonderful! If I didn't have the kids I would have enquired about the demo.
- Many quilt vendors, and few supplies for garment sewing... Gala Fabrics was there, and MacPhee Workshop with some beautiful fabrics, as well as some garments featured in the recent Threads Magazine, but for those of us who don't quilt (or quit only a little...) there wasn't much.
- I'm not much of a scrapbooker, but I can see how the two can be tied together. The trade show did have most of the scrapbooking supplies grouped together.
- There was way too many "other" products. I'm not interested in Avon, Tupperwear, Sheets, and various other products. But I guess they pay for their tables, so....
- The Quilts from the quilt show were beautiful, but really divided the show as they were in the centre isle. They did get more exposure than at past shows, but it did really separate the two sides of the showroom.
Dislikes from this show
- Bring your own machine -- in the past the show has provided one or two "rooms" of machines for hands on classes. This year the brochure said "bring your own"! I like being able to try another machine. It is a great opportunity. And the show really needs more for Embroidery in the classes.
- Not enough variety. I've been attending the show for a number of years now, and the courses are all starting to sound the same... Love to see some new hands on stuff!
- More hands on -- free or low cost!
- More embroidery classes -- hands on! They had some one year, but haven't since....
All in all, from what I saw it was a good show: lots of people shopping, some good prices, some beautiful machines, gorgeous fabrics. And best of all I survived it with 3 kids!
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