First Day

Wow, this is so exciting. Thanks to all of you for the good wishes. We had a super first day, selling almost as much today as we have for entire past shows! Everyone is interested in our new series, In My Garden as well as last years series, Calendar Heart Series. The response to our Beginner designs has been wonderful. Many thanks to Judy Harper's beautifully stitched models and her article in the January issue of Needlepoint Now. The majority of shop owners spent today walking the show, picking up catalogs and making notes. We're hoping that they come back tomorrow to place orders.
I didn't have too much time to walk around myself but did get over to the Kreiniks booth. I love their new metallic ribbon, such beautiful colors. They are very generous with designers, supplying us with lots of threads to use in our stitched models. I can't wait to try out some of the new ones.
Tomorrow I'm hoping to get around to more of the needlepoint booths. I love to see what every one has been busy with for the past year. This year the show floor seems more divided between needlepoint and yarn booths. In past years the booths were very mixed requiring buyers to walk up and down every aisle looking for the booths they wanted to see. This meant that they had to walk the entire floor several times to see everything and place all their orders. Most shop owners found this overwhelming. This year with most of the needlepoint booths on one side, I'm hoping the buyers will feel that they have more time to talk with the designers and get information and ideas. And that boils down to more sales for the designers.
I hope I can report more tomorrow on new items. I'll be out there walking and looking.