Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: It Is Nice To Hit The Road Once & Awhile Part 2

Day 2 in Chattanooga, Tennessee started off bright and early. After about a 30 minute drive from my hotel, I arrived at Ready Set Sew on 3444 Ringgold Road owned by Melanie Coakley.

We started off the meeting by helping Melanie pick some fabrics for her store’s Row By Row pattern. It was like a scavenger hunt to find the ideal prints for the row. That went on for a little while and then we found out that Melanie had to substitute teach the 10:30 am class in the store. So Melanie unfortunately had to leave us. It was a shame because I was excited to hear all about the embroidery business that she had within the store. Thereafter, we had the pleasure of working with Terri Zitrick-Dennehy who was Melanie’s right hand. Terri picked a bunch of fabrics and was also kind enough to give us a tour of the store and talk about trends. After writing some more orders with Terri, we had to wrap things up. At around noon, it was time for us to head out.

The next appointment was about 45 minutes away in Ooltewah, TN. I can’t even pronounce that name. Can you? In any case, we were running a little late for our next appointment, so I had Veronica go ahead and I picked up lunch for everyone at The 4 Corners Café. When I arrived at Chattanooga Quilts at 5711 Main Street, I had the great pleasure of meeting owner, Kim Thomas, and her associate Melissa Wexler. If you recall the mug that I got as a gift for speaking at the prior night’s guild meeting, that was from this shop.

At that point, Veronica had already gone through most of the Blank Quilting Corporation’s newest lines. So I showed the Studioe lines which is something I am always proud to do. The most exciting part came after when I got a tour of the shop. I was shown a new extension that was being added as well as tons of inspiring projects that adorned the shop. So this was the second day in a row where I encountered shops that were expanding. In my opinion, this is definitely a good sign. Don’t you think? It was great to see a bunch of projects displayed using fabrics from some of the Jaftex Companies. See all the photos below:

This is from the Stitch In Time line by The Blank Quilting Corp.

This is a quilt top made with the Studioe Blue Bird line by Jennifer Brinley.

This is a quilt top made with the Brushstrokes line by Pepper Cory. Isn’t it amazing?

Here is a quilt top from the Gentle Forest line by Tea & Sympathy. Don’t you just love the orange & grey together?

My most favorite thing of all was seeing how clever Kim was to have purchased some pews from a local church to use to display her fabric bolts. See the photos above. Clever, huh?

That just about summed up my visit to Chattanooga Quilts aside from additional time spent with one hysterically funny customer. Overall, my visit to Tennessee was enlightening like all my trips are. There are just so many shops out there and each shop is so much different from the next. There are surprises at the turn of every corner and I love it. That is why it is nice to hit the road as much as possible.

Next on the agenda, Veronica and I had a 2 hour long ride to Huntsville, Alabama. We visited Huntsville Sew & Vac at 200 Oakwood Avenue. This shop was just what the named described…sewing stuff and vacuum stuff. This wasn’t a typical sales meeting, but rather just a meet and greet. Don’t get me wrong, I am a salesman and always like to sell, but a meet and greet every once and awhile works for me too. As much as I like to sell, I like to meet as many customers as possible and as often as possible. Have we met yet? Relationships change so much when you actually get to meet someone in person as opposed to a phone call or email which is so impersonal. Don’t you agree?

I had the chance to spend time with owner Donna Cagle. She toured me around and we talked about lots of different ideas and things going on in the industry. I also got to meet Sherri Spivey who consults/works for Donna. Sherri had so much energy and tons of great ideas that I just couldn’t write them all down fast enough. After hanging out with them for about 45 minutes, Veronica, Sherry & I went to dinner. Unfortunately, Donna couldn’t make it. We went to this great Italian place called Mezzaluna. I had a delicious pizza all to my big ole self. There isn’t much more to put in this blog about that meeting, but I did want you to see some photos from the Shop. Here goes:

This is the shop’s display of the Studioe Heartsong line. Tiffany blue anyone?

This is the red/orange version and the blue version of By The Sea from Elizabeth Isles. The prior line by Elizabeth was Natural Wonders. The future line is Mariposa Meadow. Elizabeth has done amazing for Studioe!

This is a photo of some more of the By The Sea blue version as well as the blue version of Modern Mixers 2.

I have to leave the very best for last though. Huntsville Sew & Vac had on display a very small quilt that was nothing short of awesome. The best part about it was that it was made by our sales rep Veronica Hofman-Ortega. I can’t say it enough about how amazing and talented the Studioe/Blank sales reps are when it comes to quilting….and selling. They aren’t just sales reps, they are talented quilters with tons of knowledge that you should be sure to capitalize upon. Our reps are there to help, you just need to ask. And it is for FREE!

I can’t “BELIEVE” how amazing this is.

And you have a nice backside too.

That is all I have for you this week. Next week, I will tell you all about my visit to StitchCraft in Boca Raton, Florida and then I will tell you about some future trips including another guild speaking engagement.
Until Then,
This Is Travelling South Scott

Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: It Is Nice To Hit The Road Once & Awhile Part 2

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Ishmam Kaisar