Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig

Last week Terry Guill, our Director of Show Operations, and I went to Des Moines for a planning meeting for our AQS Quilt Expo that will be held October 28 - 31 at the Iowa Events Center. After finishing up two days of meetings, we spent Friday evening at the Iowa State Fair. Terry had never been to the state fair...so this Iowa girl got to show him the sites that are not to be missed, and of course, we had to eat fair food too.

Hope you enjoy the photos I took of our visit to the Iowa State Fair 2009.

Make a Smilebox postcard

A View of the AQS Quilt Expo

Wow, what a busy two weeks we've had. The AQS Quilt Expo in Des Moines was beautiful. Can you imagine being surrounded by 900 quilts and 300 vendor booths? It was almost quilter overload.

I thought you would enjoy seeing a photo of the exhibit hall floor -- well, this is part of it anyway. The Iowa Events Center has a row of windows that overlook the exhibit hall floor and give a spectacular view of the show. Just look at that riot of color that explodes right before your eyes from this viewpoint.

I had a fun surprise at the show. My friend, Euphie Bielejeski, and her husband Gary, stopped by the show to say hello. They had been visiting friends in Centerville and saw an article in the Sunday Des Moines Register that had my name in it. So they decided they would stop by on their way home to see if I was there. Indeed I was. I didn't recognize her until she spoke. What a nice surprise. We have kept in touch at Christmastime, but hadn't seen each other for about 25 years.

After the show, we visited our families in eastern Iowa. My sister, Karen Franzen, just retired and we had a surprise retirement dinner for her and Dellwyn, who retired this year too. And would you believe that no one spilled the beans so they were definitely surprised. Then we spent a day with Wayne's Mom and sister Kathi. We went to the apple orchard and had lunch together on Monday. Tuesday we finally got to sleep in and then visited Connie and John Bohling. John and Wayne were in school together - wow, they've known each other for a LONG time.

And, then it was back to work on Thursday and Friday. On Tuesday of this week, they finally signed the sales agreement to sell the Executive Inn to Space Coast Hospitality. The closing should be this next week and then they can begin the renovations on the hotel. The City is already getting bids for the demolition for the remodeling of the convention center. We just might have some renovated facilities in time for the 2009 quilt show - let's keep our fingers crossed.

All for now....

Bonnie B

Meet Me in Des Moines

Wow, can you believe it is time for the AQS Quilt Expo in Des Moines. I will look forward to seeing my quilting friends and Iowa friends at the show.

It's going to be a BIG quilt show -- more than 900 quilts on exhibit - that the largest number of quilts ever exhibited at an AQS quilt show. You'll need at least a couple of days to see all of the quilts and the 300 vendor booths in the Merchant Mall. And if you like hockey, the opening game for the Iowa Chops will be on Friday night at 7 p.m. - they are having a special for the quilters and you'll get your own cow bell to cheer on the Chops. Many of our AQS staff will be there and I'm sure you will hear them. For more information about getting tickets to the Iowa Chops game, go to http://AQSQuiltNews.blogspot.com .

Watch the TV and listen to the radio in the Des Moines area, I'll be the guest at the stations there sharing information about the show.

See you in Des Moines, October 8 - 11.

Busy Days...

It's almost time for us to head to Des Moines for the AQS Quilt Expo at the Iowa Events Center, October 8 - 11. We're busy at the office with all of the last minute details, and packing all of our supplies to go on the truck. It's always a challenge to remember everything that we might need there -- and 8.5 hours is too far to come home to get it.

We are really excited to have more than 900 quilts for our exhibits there. That will be the largest number of quilts ever exhibited in one AQS quilt show. Wow, can you imagine getting to see 900 quilts in one place?

Be sure check out the AQS Quilt News blog - we are always posting news items there.
http://aqsquiltnews.blogspot.com/ . You can post comments and ask questions there too.

Hope to see you all in Des Moines.

Bonnie B

Nashville Quilt Expo was great fun!

What could be more fun as a show producer than to see so many quilters anxious to get into the show. And there was plenty for them to see - more than 500 quilts on exhibit, and 350 vendor booths with all of those goodies that we just have to have. Who else gets to plan a party for 25,000 quilters and have them all show up?

This was our eighth quilt show at Gaylord Opryland, 2000 and 2002 - 2008, and since they didn't have July dates for us in 2009, we'll hold our show in 2009 at the Knoxville Convention Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. Opryland is a great facility and very convenient - only two hours away - but we needed to have July dates to separate our shows for the sake of our staff in preparing for each of them. This year with the show in late August and our next event in early October, it is very challenging to say the least with only 5 or 6 weeks in between. Two months between the shows will be much better.

The Des Moines show, October 8 - 11, will have more quilts than we have ever exhibited at one show. You'll get to see 800 quilts on exhibit in Des Moines. Wow...that's a whole day or more just to see the quilts. And then there will be 350 vendor booths to go through...that another whole day or more. So come stay all four days and enjoy it all.

If you haven't purchased your ticket for Mark Lipinski, editor of Quilter's Home magazine, do it right away. This will be a sellout! You can call Marcelle in the AQS office at 270-898-7903, ext. 146 to order your tickets .

See you soon in Des Moines, Iowa.

Bonnie B