Please report on the Long Beach show

This should be directed to Ginger....we're waiting!!!!!

amy in CNY

There were no lines to get inside this time. Not sure if they were just better organized or more people were like my gf and I-- bought our tickets online.

Lots a wonderful quilts. Big signs telling you not to take pictures of quilts and ladies who felt that the signs did not pertain to them and were taking lots of pictures. UGHHHHHHHHHH. One quilt in the show was so wonky I couldn't figure out how in the world it got into the show. There were a lot of painted quilts were looked more like murals than quilts.

There were tons of vendors, but the aisles were so small, that everyone was on top of each other. Made it hard to decide which vendors to visit. I was there on the first day, so I don't know if the aisles worked out better on the other days.

There were no as many new "must haves" this time, so I spent very little money.

Debbi in SO CA

Susan Laity Price wrote:

I left the house at 7:30AM on Saturday, and got there about 9:40AM. Parked in the underground lot and walked up the stairs to main level. Ticket booths were open [facing 180 degrees from the way they were last year, and closer to the main doors] and no one in line. Offered to give someone there my money for the best bid - no takers ;) Paid full boat.

There were already lines forming in the lobby to get in. Last year they had only two lines and crowds of people. This year they had 5 lines, and these BIG guys walking in between them every few minutes to keep people lined up. I joked that they must have been school yard monitors growing up ;) There was a separate line for those who had multi day wristbands and those from bus groups. It was an orderly mass movement down to the convention floor level at 10AM. Those who had been there last year had their catalogues already marked with the vendors they wanted to see, to get to them first.

Vendor aisles were very narrow, really a fire hazard IMNSHO. They had posted "no wheeled totes" but I saw several. And there were many motorized scooters and baby strollers. One stroller or scooter plus one person walking =3D no one can get around you at all. There were several thousand people on the vendor side and the air was very warm.

That said, there were a lot of vendors, with everything from ventilated back supports to beads to African baskets to long arms, fabric and more fabric. My purchases totaled about $30. The quilt exhibit was breathtaking with the artistry and styles shown. Yes, some were not to my taste, but the variety was large enough to please everyone.

Will I go back next year? Probably. But if I can make it on Friday, that would work better. Five hours on my feet on a concrete floor plus a 2 hour drive each way means I really wanted to go!

G> Would someone who attended please report on the Long Beach show? Did

thanks for the report. I feel the same about the painted quilts. There were at Rosemont too. The Blue desert men have been at many shows I have attended the last six years. It is a wonderful work of art but isn't it time to retire it for a while and bring it back out in a few years?

I always try to avoid the vendors on days when the buss groups are there. At the Rosemont show I attend the pre-view which many people think is too short of a time to get much done so they don't go. Really you can accomplish more in the few hours because the aisles and booths aren't so crowded.

Glad they worked out the ticket lines, etc.

Sorry you didn't f>There were no lines to get inside this time. Not sure if they were just

Thanks for the report. Glad they worked out the crowd control a little. Would those big guys help with carrying bags at the end of the show?

Chicago (Rosemont) does not allow wheeled carts and somehow they control them so you don't see any. I don't think they allow baby strollers either. The motorized carts are another story. The first year in Rosemont they rented the carts to anyone with $50. I think wheel chairs were less. Some gals rented the wheel chairs to push their purchases around. Now if you want to rent a wheel chair or motorized cart you must show a doctor's permission. I don't know what they do if you show-up with your own wheel chair. It is a pain to drag your bags around the show.

Someday I will make that show. Had my hotel reservati>I left the house at 7:30AM on Saturday, and got there about 9:40AM.

That just gripes the stuffing out of me! (I am mostly stuffed with home-baked bread and real butter if it matters.) I guess we've only been to a dozen quilt shows but at every one you had to have the Killer Instinct to get close to the vendor area. I do hate to shove over blue-haired old ladies in wheelchairs and kick sleeping babies in strollers aside to see what the vendors have. How big a deal would it be for the planners to plan? P-l-a-n ? It's a 4-letter word. Bound to be a simple equation such as x feet perimeter x number of guests...something like that. My personal panic is not that my reputation will be ruined if I don't get to visit every vendor - it's 'what if there's a fire?' I need to know how to get 'out'. I also like to know where the bathroom is. Polly

As Ms Flutterby, Jeanbaby, Hobo, TwinMom and Debbi from so Cal will tell you, when I did the layout for the quilt show for my then-guild in Lompoc [CA], I arranged it all to allow MeSue's Queen of the Universe's wheelchair arrangement to easily negotiate and turn a 360 degree at any point. Granted it was a small show but I was very clear about the exits, and the space needed.

When in the courtroom, I explain to anyone near by the one [public] exit that it cannot be blocked because if the fire marshall comes though I am the one who gets cited, and "I won't be very happy if it's because you failed to listen to me".

At the quilt show last weekend, they re-labeled most of the men's rooms for additi> That just gripes the stuffing out of me! =A0(I am mostly stuffed with

Good, good for you, Ginger. Thank you. Polly

wrote As Ms Flutterby, Jeanbaby, Hobo, TwinMom and Debbi from so Cal will tell you, when I did the layout for the quilt show for my then-guild in Lompoc [CA], I arranged it all to allow MeSue's Queen of the Universe's wheelchair arrangement to easily negotiate and turn a 360 degree at any point. Granted it was a small show but I was very clear about the exits, and the space needed.

When in the courtroom, I explain to anyone near by the one [public] exit that it cannot be blocked because if the fire marshall comes through I am the one who gets cited, and "I won't be very happy if it's because you failed to listen to me".

At the quilt show last weekend, they re-labeled most of the men's rooms for additional women's restrooms. ;)

It sounds as though there's a bit more room in the Houston set-up, but those scooters drive me nuts. It seems as though people rent them without any idea of how to use them, so they bump into people and things, or else the rider decides to stop right in the middle of the aisle and block all traffic. You'd think the riders could at least have a bit of consideration for the people who are trying to walk around. I do try to be understanding of the ones who need help, but I wish they'd also be understanding of the rest of us.

And then there are those who obviously don't need the scooters -- the minority, I'm sure, but still they exist. Last time I saw a young teen riding next to her mother, who was walking. The girl parked the scooter, hopped off and ran around to several booths before climbing back on and riding more. A few hours later, the mother was riding, and later still yet another girl was riding -- same scooter with mother and other girl walking close by. It's hard to believe anything other than that they'd rented the scooter to rest tired feet.

I'm sorry to sound like a grouch, but it gets *really* irritating. :S