As you all know, it’s been an important week for us here at PG as we celebrate our big come-back to The Great WI Quilt Show after almost three years away! Really, all I can say to sum up how it’s been going is WOW – what an absolutely fantastic show! If you’ve never had a chance to attend, try to imagine a sea of creativity including hundreds of quilts and other fiber art pieces hung on display, along with a huge variety of vendor booths from one end of the facility to the other. Whether you’re looking to buy fabric, notions, unique apparel, a new machine, or you just want to see what’s out there, you can find all of it at this event!

I’m super happy to say that our booth has been nothing short of packed since the show opened yesterday. THANK YOU to everyone who has stopped by to make a purchase! The whole place is buzzing and full of energy – you really should see it for yourself if you haven’t already! This fantastic show is being presented by PBS of Wisconsin and Nancy Zieman Productions, and is something I look forward to every year. In addition to some serious shopping opportunities, there’s also a huge variety of educational opportunities including short lectures, hands-on workshops, and stage presentations – all led by top educators! There’s also a 10-category juried and judged quilt contest exhibit featuring hundreds of quilts to keep you entertained long after you’ve emptied your pocket book – at the PG booth, of course. LOL!

Speaking of our booth, it’s an impressive one if I do say so myself. To give you an idea of how big it really is, the Primitive Gatherings section is taking up three regular sized booth spaces, along with two additional spaces next to us dedicated to our Bernina team. We have several machines on display for people to come and try, including brand new Bernina longarms! In fact, if you’ve been waiting to get your hands on any one of the coveted Q Series machines, this is your chance to try one before you buy! We have one of each up for display on premises so potential owners can really get a feel for what these rock star machines have to offer. I invite you to take the most of this opportunity and stop by our booth to give these exciting, state of the art machines a spin! Of course not everyone has the means – or the space for that matter – to own their own longarm. That’s why in addition to machine sales we also offer longarm services for your convenience! If you are interested in getting on the schedule for longarm services at Primitive Gatherings, we have forms at the booth for you to fill out. You can also call Luke, Ruby, or Jake at 920.778.8035 for more information!

One of the best things about doing these shows is getting to meet so many of you who support Primitive Gatherings from all over the country. I love it! If you are in the Madison, WI area and are able to make it to the show, I really encourage you to come visit us at this exclusive traveling “pop-up store” booth where you can stock up on fabrics, patterns, pre-cuts, kits, notions, home décor, seasonal items, and more! Take take the opportunity to see everything we have to offer, and meet our crew in person as an added bonus. Don’t be shy, we can’t wait to meet you!

If you’d like to get a better view of what the show is like we’ve got you covered! Yesterday we were able to broadcast STITCH with Lisa Bongean LIVE right from the show! I even did an impromptu trunk show of my newest line release, Red & White Gatherings where I showed you all 12+ quilts featured in the correlating Red & White Gatherings project book! Didn’t get a chance to watch? No problem! You can catch the replay by hitting the STITCH link below!

For those of you who were able to watch, out of all the quilts from the Red & White collection spoke to you the most? Let me know in the comments! I’m curious to see which one is most popular. How do you even choose? I love them all! If you love the look of Red & White Gatherings and can’t wait to get your hands on the project book, come see us at the booth! We still have a few copies for you to purchase that are not yet available anywhere else (sorry, the fabric is still not here yet, but is available to pre-order on our website by clicking the button below – and don’t forget! Pre-cuts are 20% OFF for a limited time so stock up now)!

Well everyone, it’s time to wrap it up and start thinking about the weekend. There’s only one more show day left but we’re still nowhere near the end of this little quilt show adventure we’re on. As much fun as this has been, I will admit that the hardest part is yet to come – packing all this stuff up for the trip home, and then having to UNLOAD it all when we get there…and according to the weather man, we’re probably going to be doing all that in the rain too. Good grief! Something tells me I’m going to be putting a dent in my coffee supply in the next 48 hours. Thank God I have such an awesome crew to help… I really couldn’t do it without them! I will see you all here on the blog next week Monday for the next Meet Me in the Garden Stitch-Along Round 3 Release, and then again on my YouTube channel Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. CST for Shop Talk with Shelley! Until then, take care everyone! ~Lisa