QLC at Central Carolina Quilt Fair 2024

This past weekend, we attended the 2024 Central Carolina Quilt Fair hosted by the Salisbury Rowan Quilters Guild as a vendor and we had a blast! The Merchant kids got to run the show so you can already bet that we had fun😜

We started vending at quilt shows about 2 years ago. With that being said, you would think that we have a system for packing up, loading the truck up, and so on... but truthfully we do not. You would also think that we would be ready weeks in advance and not wait until the last minute to prepare everything we are bringing, but as our family has proven time and time again, we're procrastinators, but we are a sure thing! But this time around, we were packed up and ready to load the day before which is already ahead of our usual schedule!😂 We always joke about how our store is "naked" when we are vending at shows as you can see:

Travis and I loaded up the truck Thursday morning and hit the road for our 2 hour drive to Salisbury, NC. We set up the booth, checked into our hotel, and decided to explore Salisbury. We always try to check out the various areas we go to, eat local food, and learn about the cities that are new to us. We weren't quite hungry yet so we spent some time at New Serum Brewing to have local brews, chat, and research the city. I had no idea that Salisbury is where Cheerwine is from! We eventually got hungry around 8:30PM and, to our surprise, nearly everywhere we wanted to eat was closed LOL. We eventually found a local place to grab a bite, then headed over to the hotel to sleep and get ready for the show.

We had a blast vending at the show the next two days. It's always so neat to see familiar faces from previous quilt shows, or even from our store that have come through just to check us out or for the All Carolina's Shop Hop. We have met some amazing people, seen some incredible quilts and projects from very talented people from all over the US, and just overall enjoy interacting with the guild members and other vendors. Here are a few examples of some of the amazing projects people have made:

You may have noticed that we had a sample of the Lori Holt Quilted Witch in our booth. What if I were to tell you that there was also one in the show that was made using more bright and modern fabrics that was just beautiful!

The guild's auction quilt was also stunning

And last but not least, the best of show quilt:

Oh and I almost forgot to include something that made me laugh. I saw a ton of people taking pictures far away and then up close to a quilt on one of the front rows, so I had to go see what the deal was...

Here is a picture of the quilt:

Absolutely gorgeous, am I right!? So why was EVERYBODY taking pictures so close up and the giggling to themselves!?

"I started this quilt years ago."

That is all the description said. I think we can all relate😂

All in all, we had a blast. We saw some beautiful quilts, met some amazing people, explored a new town, ate some great food to include a Mexican restaurant called El Patron that was celebrating Cinco de Mayo all weekend long. It was a great time, but it's time to get back into the swing of things back home at Quilts Like Crazy and Embroidery!