The start of #Lindapalooza
Good morning, and Happy #Lindapalooza to all of you!I claim this #hashtag as my own over the next 29 days, because there is almost no other way to describe all the news that is coming at me - and by extension you! - in the next 29 days. In looking at this, I can't imagine a time where I'm going to be in so many events - 7 -in one 29 day period. I will caution you, dear Friend - Sleepapalooza may well follow, but I'll keep you posted on that.7 Events...she's kidding, right? No, actually I'm not - the calendar gods have placed Sleek Markting University, International Quilt Market and International Quilt Festival (aka Houston), A Quilter's Gathering, the AhA Social Media Summit, New Hampshire Conference for Women, and my beloved Pumpkin Run all on my plate in the next 29 days. And add to that a wedding, an election, a time zone change, a new marketing consulting client, a gluten free cooking class - not to mention all the normal things associated with running a business - and you have #Lindapalooza. It's a hashtag that has coined itself, it's mine, and I'l be sharing it - most likely ad nauseum - over the next weeks.All of my posts will have the #hashtag in it, and there will be a board over in Pinterest for #Lindapalooza posts to collect the photos and videos. Who should play me in the movie?Catching you up, I was thrilled and honored to facilitate the Social Media bootcamp
over at Sleek Marketing University on Sunday morning. It was an early morning on the bus, but I had a great time with the give and take in the class. It's a lot of fun to interact with people for different businesses, and getting an opportunity to stretch myself creatively. I'm looking forward to working with Sleek on an ongoing basis in the coming months - very well done event, and a great way to launch the marketing consulting arm of The Patchwork Pearl. More on that in another post.For those of you ('Sleekers') who are not familiar with how the Houston trip is organized, here's a quick and dirty analagy...it's the Superbowl of Quilting. In truth, it's actually two events in one, which will see anywhere between 40,000 and 60,000 people in one place for a 1o day period. International Quilt Market starts the week off, and that is the B2B component. Houston brings all the industry players into one location for days, and this is where the $3.5 Billion dollar quilt industry was born. That's the figure from three years ago, and the newest figures are released at Market this week. It's a huge market. A lot of the trends which I cover in Cornerstones will be updates and featured there.The second half of the week is for International Quilt Festival , and that is the B2C show. Many people come to both shows, and this show has the cache of having the best quilts, and the best classes in one place.
Now for the huge news...both of my patterns shown at right, Summer's Garden and Hello, Gorgeous! will be in the Mistyfuse booth at Festival. This is an opportunity that came about through Facebook late last week (score one for FB!), and is great product placement (and exposure) for me because I use the product (and love it) to make each pattern.I will be working in two different booths at various times during Festival, which gives me plenty of time to meet and interact with people. I will be in the Mistyfuse booth (booth 1152) with the patterns, and I will also be in the Vintage and Vogue Booth (booth # 1556).Monday and Tuesday were home days (read that pattern printing, and more printing - this is Houston); I knew the Mistyfuse deal was in the works, but I didn't have the go ahead to announce it yet. Today I'm dropping off my entry into A Quilter's Gathering, and picking up the sample I made for Summer's Garden to bring to Houston. For those keeping track of "Where's Linda"...I fly home on November 3, and this next show starts the 9th.Packing starts tomorrow...I only get two suitcases free on Southwest!