Nancy's Notions Sewing Weekend Post #1

I really had a great time at the big Sewing Weekend at Nancy's Notions.  That is partly because Nancy's Notions was amazing and partly because my SIL Linda is so amazing.  She had our whole itinerary planned....stuff to do for four days!  What a wonderful escape!  So, I'll break this into several posts.  I don't want to overwhelm you in one post!

I left the house around 7:20 am on Thursday morning and made it to Wisconsin around 12:15 pm (though with the time change, it was only 11:15 there).  First stop, Theresa, Wisconsin...

Papa Pea really loves the Brick cheese from Widmer's Cheese Cellar in Theresa.  (They do ship, so if you need some cheese, click on the link!)  So, I met SisLH there and got Papa Pea a couple of half bricks.

It's a small shop.  All they sell is cheese.

If I turned to my left from where I was standing in the photo above, this is what I saw.  You can see they make the cheese right there and package it up for sale.

Next stop, Confections for Any Occasion by Joel.  Joel is blind but has owned and operated this chocolate shop for 10 years.

The shop is also located in Theresa.  When Joel weighs your chocolates, he asks you to read the amount on the scale to him, and he types it into the cash register.

He molds all sorts of fun chocolates....a chocolate shoe, a chocolate May basket...

I brought home some chocolate lipstics and chocolate flip flops for Sweet Pea.  She loved it.

Next, we headed to Brownsville to Hoff's Red Owl grocery store.

Papa Pea loves their summer sausage.  I tell you, when you walk into this area of the store, all you can smell is summer sausage.  Mmmmm.....  Got a big log of summer sausage for Papa Pea.  There, he's all taken care of.  Now I could go have some fun!

Next, we headed to Nancy's Notions.  Sis LH said she had gone first thing in the morning, when the weekend started.  She said it was wall-to-wall people.  Everyone was digging through the fat quarters, which were 20 for $20.  She said it was a madhouse and that I need to come earlier next year to experience that.  Hmmmm....  Anyway, this is the main entrance to the retail store.  When I visit on a typical day, this is where I go in and it's where they have all the fabric and sewing machines.  But not today.....

I don't wknow how well you can see this, but that retail entrance is on the far left side of this photo.  In this photo, you can see the rest of the building.  See the big buildings in the back?  Those are the warehouses.  For this weekend, they had the warehouses open, and that's where all the shopping was.  They had moved EVERYTHING out of the retail space and into the warehouse.  The retail space was devoted to all the Baby Lock sewing machines.  Sales reps were in there demonstrating all the machines, and that's where the make-and-takes were.  More on that later.

One area of the warehouse had all the fabrics.  This area also had all the embroidery designs.  Holey moley, were there some good deals on these.  Entire CD collections that usually sell for $50 to $100 were on sale for $3.99 to $9.99.  Good stuff, too!

This is the main part of the warehouse.  You can see they have all sorts of displays set up.  Everything was on sale.  EVERYTHING!  And toward the back, under the red signs were the sponsor booths.....Sponsors were Accuquilt, Olfa, Sue Hausman, Kari Mecca, Nancy's Notions (of course), Clover, Oliso, etc.  They all had demonstrations going on as well as fantastic prices.  There were door buster prices on one product in each booth....like a rotary cutter that usually retails for $32 you could get for $12, or an Oliso iron that is usually $189 for $129, or a Go Baby cutter that is usually for $129 for $69.  It was a lot of fun shopping!

And if I turned a little more to my left, I could see the back of the stage, where there were stage shows.  You can see people watching one right now.  The stage shows were the different sponsors showing you their products and how they work.

Here is the area that is typically the retail space.  As you can see, everything is moved out, but there are sewing machines set up everywhere, and people are demonstrating how they work.  There were embroidery machines (the top-of-the-line Babylock Ellisomo Gold machine is usually $12,000; but it was on sale for something like $6,700 at this event, plus you got an entire thread cabinet full of Madiera thread--Wow!), sewing machines of every level, sergers, and a midarm.  It was fun to see all the demonstrations.

There was a huge check-out line with 10 cash registers.  They kept things moving pretty quickly.  I was lucky.  I checked out when the line was only this long.  At other parts of the day, the lines snaked back about 6 times.

That night, I went to the talk by Nancy Zieman.  I couldn't take photos once the talk started, but here's a photo before the event started.  They held it in the high school auditorium.  This year, Nancy celebrates 30 years on television!  It was fun to hear her stories on how things got started and changed over time.  See the sewing machine (Baby Lock Ellisomo Gold--valued at $12,000)?  They gave that away as the door prize that night!  Wow.  I didn't win it, sadly.  :-(

Afterward, they had a cupcake reception, and I got to meet Nancy and have my photo taken with her.  Funny story....when I first walked into the shopping area and shopped back at the vendor booths, I was standing at this one booth looking at stuff.  I looked up, and Nancy was standing behind the table, "womaning" the booth.  This was so unexpected for me, I was a bit taken aback.  I wanted to talk to her and ask for her photo, but I got all tongue tied and didn't know what to say.  Can you imagine that?!  Me!  Speechless!  I felt really bad about that lost opportunity.  So, I was glad to get to say hello later.

Well, that's the end of Day 1!  What a day!  I was pretty tired when I finally went to bed.  Come back tomorrow, and I'll show you some more about the weekend!

Until next time,

 

Comments

[Lynn]

Oh my! What a trip and only day one! Looks like fun!

[Shelly]

Can't wait to see the rest of it. It looks like fun so far! I can imagine what kind of money I'd wanna spend at an event like that. But the deals sound fabulous!

[Thimbleanna]

Wow -- it sounds like a really fun time! Is this an annual event? Can't wait to see what you came home with!

[Deb]

What a great way to spend the weekend. I'm afraid I'd be overwhelmed with so much to look at that I'd go away without buying anything - it's like going to a restaurant with a huge menu, you don't know what to get. But I'd sure enjoy looking! And getting to meet Nancy Zieman - how fun. I went to a quilt show in Nashville several years ago and saw Elenor Burns in a booth and did just like you did - I couldn't bring myself to say hello - don't know why?!?!

[carolld]

Wow! Great picture of you and Nancy Z. What fun it looks like you had. Did you buy a lot? Or can't you say with Papa Pea hanging around. And, no, I can't imagine you tongue tied! LOL Looking forward to next post about your adventure!

[Cathy B]

Sounds like a great weekend. I've always been a fan of Nancy. Thanks for sharing your photos. Hugs

[Allie]

Oh. My. Goodness. Next time, you swing by here first and GRAB ME!~!! This looks like the ultimate shopping trip, lol! I really can't imagine you being tongue tied, but I'll take your word for it, lol...great pic of you and Nancy!!!!

[Linda in Calif.]

Oh My! Amazing sale, as is the blind guy.

[terriaw]

Wow, what a fabulous weekend! Nancy is a pretty normal person, isn't she! Wish I could have stopped by to say hi, since you were so close. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your fun trip.

[Sue]

That's so neat! What a trip. I've always wanted to go to her retail store.

How cool that you got your picture taken with her. I admire her so much. She is an awesome entrepreneur.

[Donna]

I watch Nancy every Sat. along with Martha Pullen. I have ordered things in the past. Love the pic of you with her!
Can it get any better than cheese, chocolate and sausage???
Hugs,
Donna

[jenclair]

What a great shopping weekend--almost too many decisions to make!