Adelaide Craftalive

Well mum and i set off on the Wednesday after a day of packing the van ready for a great 3 days in Adelaide. The drive was 8hours with few stops for the desired snacks and bathroom breaks.

We arrived at the hotel which was booked for us by a friend, whom we love dearly. BUT....lol can I tell u she's now no longer allowed to book my accommodation lol. I really think it was an hourly rate motel lol. But we had a microwave and a fridge so mum and I dealt with it. Wasn't clean so was very careful what we touched lol.

Thursday we got up and set off to the Adelaide Showground to set up our stand. After getting there and unloading the van, I think we stood there staring at the site for about half an hour until we could figure out how to set it up. It was a completely different shape to what we were used to, but we made it worked and put the class/demonstration area inside the shopping area which brought everyone in close and made it more personal experience for the customers.

After set up we went back to the hotel, had dinner and crashed and burned, and slept a full nights sleep.

Day 1 of the show was Friday. The line was crazy long at the front door with people waiting to come inside and see all the shops and quilts on display. The Adelaide Quilters Guild did an amazing job of their display, but i was so busy that I didn't have time to get photos.

All classes went well and were full with only standing room. The sales for the day surpassed our expectations and the people were just wonderful, excited to be there and loved the show.

We had a customer we know fairly well, Deb, come by for a a chat and I jokingly said to her if she hangs around too long I will put to work lol.

So she started to work lol and helped mum who had to deal with all the customers while I was doing the demonstrations. She loved it and had a great time, so much so she came back the next day and helped out all day Saturday too. Was good fun and mum and I were very appreciative of the extra help.

Day 2

We got to the show early and stocked up and realised that we were going to sell out of some items really quickly. Again as the time grew near to opening to customers the line at the front was long and full of excited and happy ladies ready to come in and see all the amazing shops and quilts.

Deb was there and ready to help out through the day, mum was ready and I wasrunning around like a mad woman lol.

This being Saturday, we expected a good day and it didn't disappoint, the customers were again amazing and full.of excitement and ready to experience as much of the show as they could. The sales again were fantastic and I was a happy girl, with so many happy customers how could I not be.

We also had another lady, Sonya came by to chat and shop, and again I said if u stay too long I will put you to work lol... so she stayed and hung around. Love the vibe she brings and a very funny lady. We had a great day and lots of laughs and chats in-between serving customers and me doing the demonstrations

Deb did an amazing job again of chatting to custard helping mum with sales and customer service.

It's at this time.e I must mention mum is 75years young. So she is amazing for a woman her age and really is a backbone to my shows. She's the organised one lol.

Day 3

Sunday is normally a slow day and very rarely do we have a good day of sales and normally people are just looking and killing time. But this show was different! We again had a line of people and had very happy people ready to spend their coins and ready to have a chat and enjoy all that the show could bring. The demonstrations had people each time I didnone even right up to the one at 2pm which I would be lucky to get 2 people normally, but this one was different. Full classes and happy excited people. Was a great day. Sonya turned up to help mum for the day and did an amazing job, she's very excited about the hedgehog pin cushions and had a mission to sell them all. We probably had about 10 left and she sold 8 of them, so a very happy lady lol. As the day went on we had sold out of quite a few things the day before we had to move things around to fill up the stand so it didn't look empty lol. But I think we did a good job keeping the stand looking presentable and fresh.

So after a long 3 days we were ready to pack up. We thanked Sonya and 4pm arrived so we had to say goodbye. Big hugs all round for the two ladies who helped out o a very busy show.

We packed up in about 45mins, always quicker, don't know why we rushed but we always seem to lol. We then had to load the van which took a little longer and we were out of the show grounds by about 5.30pm, headed off to our fancy motel...pfft and slept like logs all night until about 6am the next day

Monday we left at about 6.45am and again on the road again for another 8hours. Mum still had another hour drive after I got home for her to get to her place. So was a big day driving. We share the drive, stopped as usual for munchies and bathroom breaks. Arrived home around 2pm, and then mum took off for her hour drive home.

I then went to bed and slept, and slept for hours and hours...more tired than I knew I guess!

So all in all we had a great weekend and busy weekend and have booked for next year.