Kathleen and I arrived on Wednesday after a lovely drive down from the Twin Cities and, to our delight and amazement, the load-in for Stitches Midwest was astonishingly easy and civilized!
They let us drive our car/UHaul RIGHT INTO THE FACILITY and unload it next to our booth!
This was one of the most amazing events in my young life.
Which is 730, by the way. The only fly in the ointment was a certain mannequin which had lodged itself against the door, so after 15 minutes of straining, sweating and HUGE worrying, we were able to get the UHaul opened with the assistance of two hammers, a chisel and five strong men.
All of the men were impressed by my sailor’s vocabulary. Ahoy!
After that, the load in was very quick, and since the market didn’t open until the next day at 6pm, we thought we’d leave our stuff and head back to the hotel to rest.
This meant adding an extra day to our trip. Ostensibly, we could have driven down early on Thursday, unpacked and set up, and worked Thurs evening, but that would have worn both of us down and I think it would have really affected our energy levels for the remainder of the show.
We returned, set up the booth, and who should our first customers be but my good friend Tom Treat, his lovely sister in law Linda and gorgeous Char! We are so grateful to them both for their sunny visit, and for their patronage! THANK YOU!
Yesterday (Friday) was the first full day of the show, and it was a nice, steady stream of customers and well wishers!
Today we have our STITCHES SATURDAY, which is supposed to be the busiest, craziest day. Of course, I’m going in late. Kathleen has been a champ about understanding my limited energy, so I ride over to the convention center about an hour after the show opens, and leave early to shop for dinner.
I’ve been heading to Trader Joe’s or Costco to pick up something we can eat in our room, saving $$ on restaurant meals. Plus, I get the bike rides in, and THAT means I have less pain! Win-win-win!
We’re near a great shopping center, a Costco AND an Ikea, so we’ve been able to dine cheaply in our Springhill Suite room with refrigerator and microwave!
So I’d better head over and sell some yarn, dang it! Come by and see us in booth 730 – we’ll give you a delicious Green Tea candy and a hug!