All About the Trade Shows - With Maddie Kertay

March 4, 2026·59 min·5 clips

Sam Hunter reveals why getting rejected from QuiltCon isn't about your quilting skills—it's about the show's curated story.

A show is a story. Sam and Maddie keep coming back to one practical point: when a quilt or vendor does not get picked, the decision may say more about the event than about the maker. That still stings. They compare trade-show selection to missing the cut at QuiltCon, where thousands of entries make the odds rough before anyone even gets to taste or merit. The math matters. A curated quilt show is not trying to hold every possible version of quilting in one room. It is trying to show visitors what that organization wants to say about itself. That is the business part, and it is the part people tend to forget when rejection feels personal. The guest-list analogy helps because it makes curation feel less like a secret judgment and more like a host deciding who fits the room they are building. Maddie and Sam do not scold anyone for taking it hard. They just keep pulling the conversation back to audience, money, and organizational identity. Even the cat interruption belongs somehow. The episode has that loose trade-show chatter, with a small side road about Hope before it lands back on the harder point: no one is outside business. These events use quilts and vendors to promote an organization that has to make money and survive. That does not make rejection painless. It does make it a bad yardstick for whether someone is a good quilter, a strong vendor, or a serious business owner. QuiltCon is the cleanest example, and H&H grounds the calendar talk, with Maddie expected at trade shows and Sam noting QuiltCon in February and H&H around late April into early May. The tone stays peer-to-peer. Not glossy, not cruel. Just two craft-business people saying the room has rules, the list has limits, and it helps to know what the room is for.

As heard by us

A blunt look at how quilt shows curate stories, not just quilts.

Sam Hunter and Maddie Curtay spend this conversation on the practical side of quilt trade shows: who gets in, who does not, and how a rejection can reflect the show's story more than the quilt itself.

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Why you'd press play

You want a blunt read on why a great quilt can still miss the show.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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