As I start writing this, it's Monday morning and the office is still fairly quiet.  While everyone is gearing-up for the week ahead, there are only a few last-minute tasks to finish.  The pace isn't frantic - except for those who haven't packed their suitcases yet.

There's a meeting in a little bit for much of the office staff, those who are going to Market and those who aren't.  It's an opportunity for everyone to see what will be presented at Quilt Market to the sales reps, and then by the sales reps. It's a bit of a dry-run for what will be presented to the reps at the sales meetings before Market, but it's primarily an opportunity to show the ladies who will be answering questions after Market about the new fabrics and products.  (Meaning, they'll do a lot of the real "work" while "some" of us get to go have fun work at Quilt Market.)

The meeting is in the Moda Lab Store - it's literally a mock-up of a quilt shop in the building.  (It's purpose is to provide shop owners with ideas for presentation, merchandising and layout.)

(And no, you can't call Customer Service and ask about purchasing any of this fabric.)

So who actually goes to Quilt Market from United Notions / Moda Fabrics?  And why do they go?

Spring Market 2014 - Pittsburgh.

The sales reps - they come from far and wide - their various regions - to see the new collections and products, and then show them to their customers who attend Market.  (That's what all those cap-sets are for.)  There are also international distributors for Moda who attend.

The designers of Moda's fabric collections - they go to have fun!  And work - they're there to "meet and greet" with customers and talk about their collections, though it really is so much more than that.  They know the collection the best - whether it coordinates with prior collections, which style quilt best suits the collection, tips on making kits of their patterns with the collection, etc.  (It just looks like they're not working, but they are.  Mostly.)

Fall Quilt Market 2013 - Houston.  (They're making "hashtags".)

Office staff - that includes almost everybody that isn't one of the first two groups, including moi.  From setting up the booth to meeting with customers and writing orders, this is the "support" for everything else.  Someone teased that one of the primary responsibilities of this group is to keep the sales reps busy and out of the booth on Wednesday and Thursday as they start asking distracting questions, start moving things around to set up their working area, and basically, keep the others from finishing setting up the booth.  I'm not saying any of this is true... it's just what I've been told, okay?

Setting up the booth starts on Wednesday morning at 10:00 am. It continues until you're finished - literally and/or figuratively - or until you're kicked out of the convention center at the end of the day.  Closing time is 9:00 pm on Wednesday and 11:00 pm on Thursday.  Any guesses on when the Moda booth will be completely, totally finished and ready for business?

This will be part of the  booth in Minneapolis... pictures coming later this week.

Several people - men - come up from Dallas just for set-up and yes, there is building involved.  Power tools.  Heavy lifting. The floor needs to be laid out first, and if you've ever handled any kind of flooring, it's heavy.  As you can see in the next picture, the floor is a large piece of vinyl flooring that is rolled, it's not the foam tiles that that snap together.  Then there are the "stationary" parts of the booth, the walls that are the center of the sales area and the United Notions booth.

Spring Market 2014 - Pittsburgh.

So what do you think?  What have I forgotten about the pre-Market preparations?

Many of us have early evening flights out of Dallas on Tuesday so we can be ready to get to work on Wednesday morning.  I'll take lots of pictures during the week with my phone and camera, and yes, I have extra batteries for both ready.

To follow along - Facebook and Instagram.

If you're not on Instagram but you are on Facebook, just look for the little tab at the top of the Facebook page that says Instagram Feed.  Even if you're not signed up on Instragram, you'll still be able to see the pictures we post.

We'll be using the hashtags - #ModaGoesToMarket and #ShowMeTheModa - as will the Moda designers and other Moda-folks.

Are you ready?  Let's go to Quilt Market.