IWCE ~ Surtex Whirlwind

May has been a busy month with trade shows almost every week. First was the IWCE show in Vegas. We sponsored a Slipcover Showcase booth to show off the many talents of some of the countries best slipcover artisans.

I sent templates to some great gals all over the country and they sent me back the most beautiful slipcovers made with my fabrics.

The ingenuity and craftsmanship of these gals is amazing. People just flipped for all of the designs.

I took some really bad photos of them all but luckily my good buddy Kay Ellen was there with her fabulous photo skills and she managed to shoot a couple of good shots.

The Zebra striped Bergeres were a crowd favorite, possibly because people could sit and rest their aching feet!

Kay Ellen is a pro stager and she grabbed this pillow from another booth to show it off on the zebra ground. I think they look great together.

The Vanity table from Ready to Cover turned out so cute! I love the zebra hem.

Thanks so much to the very talented Teresa Bennett , Deb Fowler ~ Christy Statz ~ Kippi O’Hern ~ Emily Pettit ~ Barbara Roth ~ Linda Meeks & Jackie for making these beautiful slipcovers. I will be posting about each one of these talented ladies in the next couple of weeks so stayed tuned to see more of their great work.

The next stop was my debut at Surtex, the nations premier trade show for artists who license their work for surface and pattern design. Companies come from all over the globe to meet with artists and find new art and patterns for their goods. This is where designs for tabletop, wallpaper, fabrics, stationary, and much more are bought and sold.

Here I am in my booth. It was such a great experience and I learned a ton about this new industry. My daughter Angelica and the handsome hubby came with me to help and we all had a great time.

We tried to lure in attendees with lots of candy!

Angelica was a pro as always.

The handsome hubby and I went to the opening night party for the ICFF ( International Contemporary Furniture Show) at the MOMA Sculpture Garden and we had a great time. The ICFF and the National Stationary Show run concurrently with Surtex at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center in Manhattans each year.

There were some really great booths at the show – so much talent and creativity! I hope some rubbed off.

Loved those paper pinwheels.

This was our neighbor from the UK, little Alfie. He was the show stopper.

We had great neighbors and met a slew of new friends and caught up with some old ones as well.

There is always a surprise every time I go to New York. This is what I ran across walking back to the hotel one rainy day. A Hawk just hanging out on the sidewalk. It was surreal. I’d always heard of hawks living in the city but had never seen one and I never thought I would see one just two feet away from me.

In short we had a great time as always! Here’s Angelica and her Dad drinking champagne at the MOMA! What a great time.

Now I am back home putting the finishing touches on my slipcover book that I have to hand into my publisher on Wednesday! More to come soon.