Baby Boomer Women are HOT for Quilting!
I have never seen anything like this. My guess is that there over 10,000 women (all menopausal or post-menopausal) and 17 men at the Quilt Festival in Chicago at the Rosemont Convention Center. Unbelievable. The traffic getting there was backed up for miles, with many buses from all over the Midwest, and groups of women in cars. And the venue was packed with women buying fabric, and tools, and big-ticket items like long-arm quilting machines.
Anyone who says quilting isn’t a huge industry (and I do mean “industry”) needs to see one of these quilt shows. The women making the quilts, and running the quilt shops, and making things quilters need, and selling the books and quilt machines are making money.
By the way, the quilts are beautiful art work; not just your grandmother’s patchwork. If you are at all interested in quilting, attend a quilt show. The REALLY BIG one is coming up later this month in, of all places, Paducah, Kentucky, the home of the American Quilter’s Society. As I heard from some of the Chicago attendees, the Paducah show includes the entire town, and it sounds great. Don’t bother trying to make reservations, though; they whole town is sold out for the week of the show.
2 Comments
What fun, Jean, in spite of the crowds and the traffic. Thanks for sharing.
[...] of quilters, displays, and quilting supply booths. She reports about this adventure, Baby Boomer Women are HOT for Quilting!, at her b5media blog, Small Business Boomers, she co-authors with Jim Gordon. Unbelievable. The [...]