Is Max Really A Cannibal?

One of my daughter's favorite books as a child was Max and The Chocolate Bunny, written by Rosemary Wells. I was reminded of this when I designed and stitched Max, #108. He is one in a group of five bunny egg's. Each egg is 4 x 5 inches in size. The first year I took the finished Max to the TNNA show I had a shop owner confide in me that she thought it seemed slightly cannibalistic, a bunny eating another (chocolate) bunny. I'd never thought of it that way.

Mardi Gras Heart

While at the January TNNA Market I had a shop owner stop by my booth to inquire about my Calendar Heart Series. They wanted to offer this series to the stitchers in their area. I told them they could take my stitched models to use as a selling tool. Then they asked if I would design a special 13th heart as an exclusive bonus heart for those who signed up for the entire series. Being the accommodating person I am , I agreed. The shop owner wanted the special heart to be a Mardi Gras Heart and said that she would send me samples of the purple, green and gold colors she wanted to use. Good to her word she sent me three skeins of DMC floss, #333 (purple), #700 (green), and #444 (gold). I got busy and completed my sketch of a Mardi Gras mask embellished with feathers and beads. My sketch is on the right side of the picture. The next step was to paint one on canvas, that's obviously on the left side. I took my canvas to the local shop to pull extra threads and pick up the beads I wanted to use. I'm going to use the DMC floss that was sent for the feathers at the top of the mask. I wanted the mask to have a bit of sparkle so I picked out Petite Sparkle Rays in a matching yellow (PS27). The purple ribbon will be worked in two shades of Fyre Werks, #FT24 (lighter) and #FT31 (darker). Along the bottom of the mask is a row of green beads. For this I selected some emerald green Mill Hill Beads, #02054. On the top and in the center of the mask is another larger "jewel". I couldn't find any bead or button that I thought look right. I decided on the faceted Mill Hill Crystal Treasures, #13016. I'm going to put one of these on top of a 8mm. green or gold sequin. The only thing left to pick out was a thread for the background. I decided that a soft white would highlight the mask without overpowering it. I don't know what stitch I will use at this point but I'm thinking I might use one that will allow me to add a small gold stitch in it. Of course, every thing looks and sounds good before you actually start stitching. So many times I have changed my mind in the middle of the project because it just didn't have the right look. Now it's time to get to work.

Reflections on the TNNA Show

We've made it home, safe and sound.
I gave up trying to write on my husbands laptop while at the show. First of all my head was so tired every night that I could hardly hold a thought much less write it down. And secondly, I had a hard time dealing with an unfamiliar computer sitting on a tiny TV tray. Anyway, enough excuses.
I guess overall I wasn't that impressed. I didn't see anything that I thought was really new and innovative. Sure, there were tons of great canvases and I'm sure all you stitchers out there will find lots of wonderful new things in the next few weeks at your favorite shops. There were new colors in some of the thread lines as well. But overall, there wasn't anything that was just WOW!
This year, as in the past three years, there was a decline in attendance from shop owners. On the other side of the coin, there was an increase in needlepoint booths (vendors) at the show. So the bottom line is that there are more designers selling and fewer shop owners buying. Everyone keeps saying that needlepoint is making a come back and I believe it is, however, the shop owners are still a bit leery and are afraid of making much of a buying commitment.
Although the show started off with a bang for us, the next two days were almost dead. As I walked around the floor I kept hearing this sentiment from all the other vendors. "Where is everybody?" It's sad really, this is the biggest show of the year for needlepoint and yet every year the expenses of attending far outweigh the sales written.

This year I was across the aisle from June McKnight, a very charming lady. I have several of her books and enjoyed looking at her newest book on Bargello. It's filled with wonderful patterns and is such a small, convenient size.
I saw lots of beginner designs in many different lines. Hopefully the shop owners will understand that in order for needlepoint to continue to florish they, the shop owners, must encourage and teach new stitchers of all ages. My beginner designs were wonderfully received and I'll be busy painting for the next few weeks. I hope they are just as well received in the shops and that many new stitchers will discover the joys of needlepoint.
My newest series, In My Garden, did very well. While there are always those stitchers who are undaunted by massive projects (I'm not one) I think just as many like to have something much more manageable. These smaller designs fit the bill perfectly and are very charming. They're perfect for using up your thread stash and for taking with you to doctor appointments and on other errands. My series from last year, the Calendar Hearts, was a huge success, even more than from the year before. I had so many shop owners wanting to start up a series that I let one take my models home for 3 weeks to help sign people up. As soon as she is finished I will send them on to the next shop and on down the list. This was very exciting for me and I hope their customers will be as excited about the series as I am.

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.

Exhibitor Move In Day

I love set up day, it's so exciting and fun to see all our friends. We arrived early as instructed but found that others had the same idea. Still all went smoothly and soon our boxes were dropped off at our booth. The convention center is so different on set up day, it's like looking at an animal from the inside out. The bones are there but no meat. Tomorrow morning when we walk in it's totally different. The carpet is down, plants and seating areas are set up, booths are assembled and full of gorgeous canvases and threads. It's really too much to take in at one time, all three days are needed to see everything. I love to walk around just before the opening bell. I can look at everything and visit briefly with the different exhibitors before the crowds arrive.

It takes several hours to set our booth up so that everything is just right and by the time we finished we were famished. We went across the street and had a wonderful lunch at Parker's Lighthouse. We sat outside under sunny, clear blue skies, ate lunch and watched the yachts go in and out of the harbor. This afternoon I'm relaxing and working on a new piece. It's one of my earlier designs but one I haven't had time to stitch yet, #76, Dancing In The Moonlight.

It shows two bunnies dancing in the pale light of a waning moon. I'm trying a Bargello stitch for the background. It's one I worked out on the drive here and while bouncing along in the back of our truck...not an easy task. It's hard enough to count stitches much less hitting the right hole with the needle.

Anyway, this Bargello stitch is a heart pattern. I'll share a picture as soon as I can.

We're Here

We've arrived safely in Long Beach California last night. Not much to report on the drive here. Each day I was tossed into the back of the truck and handed a Starbucks to keep me quiet. Occasionally Steve would stop and announce that I had 5 minutes for a potty break. Good thing I can pee really really fast. The first day we crossed through west Texas and spent the night just across the border in New Mexico. The second day we stopped in Phoenix Arizona. I must say that driving through Los Angeles is rather scary. Nobody goes the speed limit and they are all on their cell phones which makes you wonder how much they are paying attention to the other drivers. But we made it and have a really nice place to stay. There is an RV place here down by the water and just a short distance from the convention center. They even have a free shuttle service, how nice is that? Today was a free day for us to just unwind so we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. Wow, what a great place. There is so much to see and do there. We even fed some of the birds they had. I'll share the pictures later. After lunch we found the closest grocery store and of course, the nearest Starbucks. Those of us who are addicted will understand my obsession. We thought it would be good to make a run past the convention center to see where the loading docks are and when we should arrive tomorrow morning.

We also wanted to check out Howard Hughes, Spruce Goose. When we finally navigated our way over there we were told that the exhibit had been moved......15 years ago. Well I guess we're just a bit on the slow side. Tomorrow is set up day. It's always fun to see old friends and get a early look at all the new designs. I'll try to take notes on all the new trends and then share them with you on another post.

Are We There Yet?

My dear husband has decided that we will leave for our trip at the crack of dawn. Now to me "the crack of dawn" comes sometime after I've had my Star Bucks for the morning. Not so my dear husband! He actually went to the Star Bucks near our house and asked them what time they would be ready to serve in the morning- 6:00am! 6:00am! I'm supposed to be up and ready to greet the day at 6:00am. Now that means you have to go backwards for the amount of time it takes me to wake up, shower, dress, make the bed and get my last few things down to the RV. Then run back inside and love on the puppy, who isn't getting to go on this trip, wake up the child who is also staying behind to tell her good bye and oh yes, one last thing..... This will never do! It's not happening! He's made a pallet up for me in the back of his truck and he thinks he is going to roll me in there, toss me a pillow, hand me my Star Bucks and hit the road.
I'm supposed to wake up 11 hours later and find myself somewhere in west Texas.
Obviously I'm not the best of travellers....are we there yet??? And no, there will not be a picture of me at 6:00am driving down the highway.

Pre Trip Madness

I spent the day carefully packing all my stitched models for the TNNA show. I have found that having models really generates interest and sales so I take as many as possible. In the picture above you can see them on my work table awaiting packing. Naturally I never have the right sized boxes so that means at least one trip to the box store. And of course the box store never has exactly the size I want....hummm, I'm beginning to see a pattern here. I make my selection and then manage to get the flatten boxes inside my little PT Cruiser and race for home. Some of my models have wooden bases and those have to be carefully cushioned and placed upright so that they don't break. Heavier pieces on the bottom, lighter on top, everything wrapped and then placed inside a plastic bag and then put inside the box. Whew! All my canvases are stacked, larger on the bottom and working up to the smaller designs. I place these inside of a Space Bag and then using my vacuum cleaner I suck the air out of the bag. This keeps the pieces from shifting around and being damaged. Now in case this sounds like a bit much to any one of you let me tell you the story of our return trip from the summer show held in Ohio one year.

We had just bought our RV and we decided to take it to the show. The idea being that this would save us lots of money on hotel rooms and food. We also decided to make a family vacation out of the trip and show. My daughter came along with us and helped out in our booth. We drove slowly up to Ohio stopping in Memphis to see Elvis and we spending several days in beautiful Kentucky. We explored all the caves and got friendly with some fainting goats. I never could get them to faint but I really tried and we've have the pictures to prove it. The trip was fun and the show was successful, now we were ready to drive home. We headed straight down south and then my daughter said that she wanted to stop in Biloxi to spend the day at the beach. We had a lot of fun playing tourist for the day and were ready for the last leg home to Texas. I-10 takes you across several bridges in Louisianna. By the time we reached Whiskey Bay it was raining pretty hard. Just as we topped the bridge and left the protection of the surrounding trees a huge hurricane strength gust of wind hit us. The wind was so strong that it tipped our new RV over on its side, ripping the back end of our truck off as it tore free. My husband managed to keep his cool and kept us and the truck from plunging over the edge of the bridge into the bay below. And it wasn't just us, an 18 wheeler behind us was also turned over on that bridge.

Naturally this all happened during rush hour and it took forever for emergency crews to reach us. My husband was allowed to climb inside our destroyed RV and remove the few remaining items that were still good. Being the smart man he was the first things he went for were my needlepoint canvases and models which were stored under the bed. Because, and only because, we had vacuumed sealed everything inside of the Space Bags, absolutely nothing was ruined from the rain pouring inside the gaping hole in the side of our RV. Not a single piece. Lessons learned: always double wrap your canvases and models using Space Bags and always get replacement insurance for your new RV. Within 2 weeks of returning to Houston we had a check for a brand new RV in our hands. The End.