If it fits, it ships

 The International Quilt Market (Spring Edition) will be here before you know it, and this year, it's going to be in Minneapolis, Minnesota. So.....It's time to pack up our booth, and ship it out, but first I needed to decide which sample bags to take with me this time.

So first of all, let me just say, that this whole procedure is so much easier and more enjoyable with all the extra room in this studio. All I had to do, was fold up & move the cutting table and voila! I actually have more room to work with here, than I eventually will have at the Market.

Bottom line, I was able to get a really good feel for how my display would actually look (minus the curtains and tables of course).

The whole idea here, is to try to choose bags that work well together. It's tough to do, considering that these bags have been made over the course of 6 years. My goal this time out, is basically a red/yellow story. While some of the bags might not actually be red or yellow, I want them to blend in such a way that the overall effect is as pleasing and as cohesive as possible.

The one change I've made with this year's display is that I have new bag stands. Truth is, my old bag stands were prettier, BUT, they were VERY heavy and because the base wasn't detachable, they were very difficult to pack. In fact, 2 of them arrived in Houston with damage from the trip.
The new stands, while not as pretty, are much lighter, and the bases unscrew from the holders making packing much tighter and saving on shipping costs.
I'm also experimenting a bit this time with varying the elevation of some of the bags, to provide visual interest. I'll accomplish this by placing some of the bag stands on boxes, as you might notice. (Don't worry, the boxes will be hidden under the fabric covers.)

So once the bag choices were made, all that was left, was packing it all up. This is what a 10ft X 10ft booth-in-a-box looks like. Packing was also greatly facilitated by the extra room this new studio affords. I still have four 24" X 24" X 12" boxes, but they're packed much tighter this time so I'm hoping they won't arrive with shipping damage like before.

We don't leave for Minneapolis until May 19th, but these boxes are just about ready to make their exit. We'll probably send them on their way by Friday!