Before I begin – let me say…I still have “Made With Love Charms”. Read more about it from my February 6th post. Keep sending them…I’m even having the local stitchers send the SASE! I’ve gotten well over 100 responses so far & it’s been terrific reading the little notes (not necessary, but nice!) and seeing what states I’m hearing from – I think FL is in the lead at this point!
and now I move on…
I promised myself a few days “off” after the flurry of market subsided. I rediscovered something about myself…I don’t do “off”. I schedule, I make lists, I cross off lists, I have appts, meetings, and events. When left to my own devices – aka, sitting and model stitching while watching a movie (even though this is technically work) – I feel guilt. If, however, I was sitting on a warm beach somewhere with a little umbrella in my drink, there would be no guilt. Enough said.
What about market? Market was GREAT! I packed up my models, charts & husband – drove 13+ hours, avoided major snowfalls and had a blast at my first solo market outing. (I’ve been to many markets on both the buying and selling side of life.)
A quick pictorial for you!
Just an ordinary hotel room to start with!
Upon registering, you receive your sign (here’s your sign) – the first…and easiest thing to put up!
Then the banners go up with the inevitable questions…did I bring the zip-ties? are these zip-ties long enough? how do I make the #*$@ zip-ties work? Some random zip-tie expert comes along and helps you out. It’s all good.
If you do it right, you ordered enough tables and brought along enough “stuff” (easels, baskets, tape, thumbtacks, etc… – after one quick trip to JoAnn’s, we were solid).
By Friday evening, I had enough done to put sneak peeks in the front window for the Early Bird Shoppers.
I participated in a fun “Scavenger-like” event with 9 other designers where shops had to get our signatures and note what kind of candy we brought to get into a drawing. Here is our Grand Prize winner being given her gift certificate by Elvis & Cupid…oh wait, that’s really Matt & Dave Stott of Norden Crafts, Ltd.
The week after market is just as busy as the weeks leading up to it. I sold out of most of the charts I brought, so orders went out immediately (after a quick trip to the printer & re-ordering of buttons during the car ride home!) Distributors get their shipments & even a Trunk Show had to be packed up. My brain needs a serious break before it all starts over for the next show!
Designers get asked a lot – “do you stitch other designs?”. I have said before that I always seem to have some Halloween stitching going. I’m making slow progress on this one, but it should be done by next Fall. It is nice to stitch sometimes without thinking about the color or placement of a stitch.
Next post I promise will be a Finish it Friday! I took pictures as I was doing some ornament finishing with a post in mind.
Enjoy the stitch,
Cathy
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