Hawberry Quilting: September 2023

Below is the quilt show report that we put in the newsletter. We would appreciate it if you add your ideas and suggestions in the comments so that we will have them for the next quilt show.

Thank you.

1. Report on Quilt Show - Committee Records – we should keep reports and photos of the set up of the frames on our blog so they can be accessed by future committees

2. The venue (the Assiginack Curling Club) was an excellent venue, but we would recommend that the use of the two areas be reversed (use the ice pad for the gallery of quilts). It would be better to set up several days ahead of time, so that problems could be faced and solved.

3. Hanging quilts:

· We need some of the members to volunteer to hang the quilts. It was wonderful to have Jim Chambers, Roy Jeffery, John Tovey and Caleb McIntosh at the venue to help, but there are many tasks that do not take ‘strong men’! In fact, Melissa’s daughter, Alice, and her cousin figured out how to put together a wooden frame that we have!

· We have broken frames. We need to spend money to fix them and someone to figure out what each set needs mended (Melissa, Caleb McIntosh and Roy Jeffery will meet and make decisions). Note: we make money through renting out the frames to neighbouring guilds for their shows.

· We should arrange a display of quilts down the centre of the vendor space – perhaps the smaller items

· We need to put limits on entries because we had more entries than we could hang.

4. Quilt entries

· The chart for describing the quilts should include the name of the quilt (and this should be written on the label).

· Most members had their quilt bags labelled, but they need to also add the names of the quilts that should be packed in the bag(s) at the end of the show

· The committee should lock the door at the end of the quilt show in order to give the committee time to take down and pack the quilts

5. Entrance for visitors – we need to set up the table so that visitors will pay their admission (some were able to skip the admission).

6. Participation in Manitoulin Fine Arts Tour – An excellent idea! The committee signed up for the tour and this resulted in more visitors who only came because they were following the tour map (but we don’t know how many more). We made a mistake by not following the hours of the art tour and disappointed some visitors at the end of the show (because the art tour lasted an hour longer) and we stayed open longer than we should have on the Friday evening.

7. Advertising

· We advertised in the Manitoulin Expositor and we don’t recommend this to be repeated. We got more visitors from the art tour map.

· Having the poster prepared a couple of months in advance was excellent because we were able to just send that out to all the neighbouring guilds

8. Vendors - Quilts of Valour, Creative Basket, Dominion Sewing, Dewar Soaps, Meldrum Bay Disaster Relief group, Ruth’s Quilt Shack and others - declared that the show was very successful for them

9. Members’ boutique – this was run informally. Members were assigned a number and that number was to be attached to each item. In turn, the tag was to be placed in the cash box when an item was sold. From the totals for sold item, the quilt show retained 10% and gave members 90%.

· Pros: Most participating members pinned or taped the tags and the prices were easy to read

· At the end of the show most of the remaining items were placed with the quilts that the members had in the show and were returned that way

· Sally took home the cash boxes at the end of each day, ensuring security of the money

· Lauren took home the tags and cash from the boutique at the end of the last day. The tags were entered in a spreadsheet and amounts owing to members was calculated. She handed out the members’ profit (cash, cheque or etransfer) at the next meeting and the members signed a receipt book to accept their money. She gave the summary to the guild treasurer, Cathy Jeffery

· Visitors seemed very appreciative of the variety shown of goods in the members’ boutique

· Cons: Unfortunately, some members glued stickers or tape to items and these tags were somewhat destroyed when removed

· Some tags may not have been removed by the person selling, so some profits may have been lost

· Some items included more than 1 thing and they were not packaged securely together

· It might have worked better if the same people had run the boutique for the whole show

· Because some things were missed, there was money left over after everything was calculated

· The profit to the quilt show was low – recommended that we retain 15% of the profits at the next show

· We should have one group of members in charge of the boutique so that there is more consistency

· The expectations (i.e. use of tags) should be more clearly explained to members

10. The quilt committee should have a chair and a treasurer (unless the guild treasurer is on the committee).