I know everyone wants a Quilt Market report, but I thought I would let you know our little disaster that happened before we left.
It all starts with a computer. We call her "The Old Gray Mare". Because she's old. And gray. And she ain't what she used to be. She is so old and slow that we don't even run the internet or send e-mails on her anymore. She just can't handle it. All she can handle is processing orders. Problem is, she is our only computer (there are 4 in the office) that has the software to process orders. Big mistake. Big.
The week before market she decided it was time to die. Of course, she has died before and has miraculously come back to life. So we thought it would be no big deal. Just send her to the computer doctors and they would fix her up. Probably has a virus. Or two. Or one thousand six hundred and thirty-six viruses. That is exactly what she had. Which means it wasn't a quick fix. Which means she was gone for five or six days. Which means we can't send orders because we can't run credit cards. Which means a whole lot of people aren't too happy with us.
Okay, so it wasn't that big of deal that Old Gray went down. Except she surprised us. I don't know how computer viruses work, but I figured if we didn't even use the internet with her, she wouldn't infect anything else. I was so wrong. She got mine. And I cried. My life is on my computer. All my work files. All my personal files. And a whole lot of work that needed to be done before we left. And a whole lot of e-mails that need answering. And a whole lot more people who aren't very happy with us. No orders sent out. No e-mails answered. No nada.
In my panic, I rushed my "baby" to the first place that said they could look at it right away. I had to have it fixed. I told them I was desperate. All of our photos, pattern fronts and brochures for market were on my computer- and I needed those files to be sent to our printer so we would have them in Houston. In addition, all our Label Crew files are on the same computer. The club kits go out the day we get back from Houston and I wasn't finished getting them all ready.
They promised they would get on it. I called. And called. And called. They were tired of me calling. Finally, they promised that on Tuesday afternoon at 5:00 it would be done (I dropped it off the previous Friday). Yes! I had to drive 60 miles to get it, but at least we would get to go out to eat!
So at 4:50 on Tuesday afternoon I arrived to pick up my computer. Except the door is locked. I cried again. And beat on the door. Nothing. Now I'm mad. And frustrated. And missing my computer.
The next morning, I drove the 60 miles again to get my baby. And I finally got it. I found out that the computer place sometimes closes at 4:30 so the tech can go to his exercise class. Seriously?
Oh well. No time to argue. I had to leave in less than 24 hours and had a million things left to do.
It all worked out okay- thanks to a few hundred dollars in overnight shipping charges. We are back in the computer world and back from Quilt Market.
If you sent us an e-mail, ordered anything or in any way tried to contact us, we are so very sorry. We are desperately trying to catch up on everything, so please hang in there with us!
As for market, we will get to that in the next few days. Here is a couple of preview pictures of our booth:
