Nashville, part 2

I had every intention of posting last night but I truly "shopped 'til I dropped".  We had a nice dinnner at Romano's Macaroni Grill and if I didn't know better I would think my date drugged my Diet Coke!  When we got back to the hotel, I sat down on the couch to work on pricing charts.  The next thing I knew, it was 4:00 AM!  There was nothing to do but brush my teeth and go to bed. 

Today was another very good day of shopping.  (I should have been snapping pictures to show you as I went along.  I'll try to remember next time.)  Our room is filled with bags and bags of new charts, kits and "toys".  Just a few of the designers that we purchased from are:  Chessie & Me, Blackbird Designs (limited edition kit and 44 page book), Olde Colonial (5 new kits) Lizzie Kate (one limited edition kit and one Easter kit), Prairie Moon (5 Halloween themed designs), Milady's Needle (beautiful sampler pendants and charts), and Workbasket.  We have new threads from Crescent Colours, Gentle Art, and Weeks Dye Works.   I have to stop!   To see the latest, go to the website, http://www.houseofstitches.com/, click on catalog, and type nash12 in the key word box.  We will be adding things as fast as we can!

I scheduled a trunk show from Summer House Stitche Workes for the month of May.  (Road trip anyone?!)  And, we have an ongoing trunk show from Prairie Moon.  Because Sue lives nearby, she and Barb are kind enough loan us many of their models.  This evening Sue called and asked if we would like to take more models back to the shop.  No brainer!  So we have more than a dozen stitched pieces that will be on display as soon as we can get home and get them on the wall.  I'll post a picture soon.

I'm going to give the computer back to Hal now.  While I am typing he isn't uploading!  He hasn't been slacking, though, he's been pricing charts.  What a great guy!

Happy stitching,
Linda

Nashville Needlework Show 2012

Hello from Nashville (OK, Franklin) Tennessee.  It is about an 8 hour drive to get here and we had no problems; the snow is back home in Indiana!  We arrived yesterday in time for dinner at our traditional first night eatery, Santa Fe Steakhouse.  Yummm....peanuts in the shell and a nice steak dinner.  That gave us the energy that we needed to unload the car and settle into our room.

This morning we had a big hotel breakfast with Linda and Alan Ebright, aka Mr. and Mrs. Lizzie Kate.  One of the nicest things about market is catching up with stitching friends.  We had so much fun chatting that I was almost late for my class.  Barbara Rakosnik from Periwinkle Promises taught her "Red Strawberry Fob & Sheath" project.  She showed us a way to make queen stitches that makes them a bit more stitcher friendly.  I wish I could say my project looks like the photo above but I have many more hours of stitching to do before that happens.

This evening we plan an early dinner (Food is never far from our minds!) so we can be back for early bird shopping.  The sooner I start shopping, the sooner I'll have new things to show you.  Husband Hal will be uploading things as I buy.  The only problem is that I can shop faster than he can upload!  Tonight there is also a "Make it! Take it!" event that will give us a preview of the products we will see when the market officially opens tomorrow morning.  Keep watching this space; I plan to blog throughout the weekend.  It will be the next best thing to being here!

Happy stitching,
Linda

Happy Valentine's Day

This is the project that I spent time with last weekend.  It is the With Thy Needle & Thread Mystery Sampler, "Birds of a Feather".  Please pardon my not so great photography skills!  You would laugh if you knew how long it took me to get the picutre that you see posted!  I should have asked a twelve year old to help me!

I hope you are able to spend time with those you love today! If you can't be together in person, find another way to connect: telephone, email, texting. You could even write an old fashioned letter with pen and paper! Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. I don't know why but I love hearts! Maybe it has something to do with the heart shaped cakes my mom always made for my birthday. Hearts have curves but they aren't round, a point but they aren't square-they are just a great shape!

As I write, I hear the snow plows going by our house. It is finally acting like it might really be winter. Saturday morning we had a blizzardy kind of snow fall that made travel a bit hazardous. Perfect stitching weather! And now that we can shop online; perfect shopping for cross stitch weather!! And, coincidentally, a new "What's New" page will be going up on our website soon; probably late today or tomorrow. Watch for our email or just keep checking www.houseofstitches.com. Just to make things more fun, anything you purchase with the word "heart" in the title will be 14% off this week (through February 18).

Happy Valentine's Day! We love YOU!

Happy stitching,
Linda

Warm Welcome

Thank you for the kind words and warm welcome to the world of blogging.  Your encouragement will help motivate me to keep posting!  I enjoy reading your blogs, too.  Stitchers really are some of the nicest people!

 Many designers will be posting some "sneak peeks" and previews of their market offerings in the next couple of weeks.  As you are browsing their websites and blogs, please let me know which things you would like me to bring back from the needlework market.  There are so many wonderful things that sensory overload can kick in and I might miss getting the one design (or toy or fabric...) that you really want!  I don't know how they do it but the designers always amaze me with their creativity.

Thanks for helping us with the sale items.  Keep checking our catalog on the website; we'll be adding more!  We keep trying to put more things in the same amount of space and we are bursting at the seams.  So, you reap the benefits with great discounts on many wonderful designs.  We only have a little over two weeks to make room for the market merchandise.  Help!

I hope you are finding time to stitch.  I have a quote from Ginnie Thompson on the wall behind my computer.  It says, "What cross stitch does not cure, it alleviates."  Quite true!

Happy stitching,
Linda