What is Sample Spree at Quilt Market? Sample Spree is a two hour crazed event where companies sell “samples” of products.  For example, a pattern designer will sell a finished quilt, along with a collection of their patterns for a bargain price. That way a shop owner can come home from Quilt Market on Monday with new patterns and a quilt sample to pin up on their shop wall. 

Fat quarter bundles of new fabric are sold to shop owners, months before the bolts of fabric are sent out.  Cool new gadgets, tools and notions are introduced and sold at below wholesale prices. Yup, this is the deal of the century of NEW and fresh quilting industry products.

If you haven’t seen it you might not believe it. A few thousand rabid quilt shop owners waited in a line outside that snaked back from the doors at least a few hundred yards. Why? I had to ask. So I walked the line, stopping to check in with the die hards to find answers.

For example, how long had those ladies sitting at the very front of the line waited?

The answer? Four hours. They arrived at four o’clock (and ditched out of the last few sessions of school house lectures) for the chance to be at the front of the frenzy at 8 o’clock.

And how much would they spend? Many have been saving up all year for a big splurge at sample spree.  I talked to a few shop owners, who had shopping lists in hand from their staff at their shop. What samples were they seeking?

I will post some video of this crazed event over the next day or two.

Were you there? If so, how would you explain it?