Thursday, June 18, 2015

I'm back!

OMG, has it really been that long since I last posted on my blog.  It's not that I have nothing to say, so many things fly through my brain, especially when I am in the shower.  It's just that I never manage to get them down on paper, or should I say keyboard.
Earlier this month I attended the Columbus TNNA, The National Needleworks Assocation, with Monika.  This is a huge trade show for Knitting, Needlepoint, and some Counted Thread.  We had a great time touching base with many of our suppliers and seeing what they had new for the market.

It is an overwhelming and exhausting experience.  Visually you are bombarded with new fibres, both feel and colour selections; a multitude of fabulous hand painted canvases; finishing techniques, and finished models.  Logically I am confronted with the fact that I can not have it all in the shop and must make hard decisions based on space and what will appeal to our stitchers.

And then there is the sheer size of the market.  On the first day we didn't even complete 1/3 of the booths.  So on the second day we had to put it into high gear, and we did manage to peek at every booth.

All in all, I think we ordered some wonderful new patterns, and added some new must have gadgets and fibres to our inventory.
Some of what we had ordered is slowly trickling in, and just today the new Mill Hill kits for Christmas have arrived.  Visit our What's New page, as some have already been posted and the others will go up as they arrive.

I was also inspired with many needlepoint canvases and Rainbow Galleries pattern of the month collection.

As we had done many years ago, we will stitch up, finish and kit one of these patterns each month starting in July.

Here is a sneak peek at the colours and fibres we used for the first mini stocking.

Come back in July to see the finished project.  A limited number of kits will available in the shop and on-line.