Limited Edition Kits = great (crazed) market

We just drove through 5 states in one day (count 'em...Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas) to get home to the Land of Oz. Our annual needlework market in Nashville was super fun, but...in the immortal words of our girl Dorothy..."there's no place like home"!

Quick background...our annual cash and carry market is held in the Franklin Embassy Suites (a suburb of Nashville). We invade the hotel, occupy several floors, and transform the suites into cross stitch showrooms. We use the front room for our models and inventory, then turn the bedroom into check out area. Yes, Alan does a rendezvous with the needlework ladies in the bedroom!

After months of planning and prep, we were thrilled to finally reveal our 2 special Limited Edition kits. We tried to think of something unique to offer this year, and decided to try some all-inclusive kits. We haven't done this for a few years (remember the O'Hare series bunny series?). 

Linda shopped for cool finishing fabrics and embellishments, and then got to work designing. We pulled everything together in the next few months...cut fabrics (including one trip to the ER with a rotary cutter mishap), made embellishment packs, cut rick rack and lace, assembled thread packs (what were we thinking?) and coordinated the graphic design and printing (the fun part!). Then we had some marathon assembly sessions (cue the Friday Night Lights DVDs and Downtown Abbey), and here are the results!

Song of Spring Limited Edition Kit

Includes pillow design, 32 ct. Lambswool linen, polka dot finishing fabric, antique ivory lace, 3 hand-dyed buttons (love these colors!), antique gold heart charm, dark red beads, Weeks Dye Works overdyed thread pack and needle.

There's also a bonus bunny fob design included, with rick rack trim, mother-of-pearl button and beads. We've included complete finishing instructions for both projects. You supply the scrap of fabric for the bonus project from your stash. It's two projects with the materials and instructions to finish them both JUST like the picture!

Do Your Best Limited Edition Kit

 Taken from a longer sampler verse, we love the simple phrase "Do Your Best." I remember my Mom telling me this, and me (repeating my Mom!) giving my daughters this timeless advice. So simple, yet so meaningful and appropriate.

We were inspired by this darling finishing fabric, with a great antique alphabet motif. There are 4 lovely colors of this fabric, so kits will vary. After looking at the beautiful ivory, avocado, aqua and muted red fabric bolts for months (yes, it takes us months to develop these kits), I can honestly say they're all great on this kit (OK, maybe the red is my personal fave).

Kit includes 30 ct. natural linen for main project, alphabet finishing fabric for front and back (assorted colors), Weeks Dye Works overdyed thread pack, 2 sizes of ivory rick rack, hand-dyed flower button, antique gold stork scissor charm, and needle.

The bonus design is a sweet, skinny strawberry fob. We've included 2 pieces of WDW hand-dyed wool (herringbone and check green) for the berry leaves, rusty red beads and even rustic twine to finish off your berry. There are complete finishing instructions for both projects. You will supply the fabric for the bonus berry project.

We've done this show for 18 years, so I almost forgot to take pics of our room. It's a little deja vu everytime we enter Room 611 and start moving the furniture to set up displays. Warning: if you move furniture in a hotel room, you may uncover mysterious items. Just saying...we've had some interesting finds over the years!

Here's Alan contemplating all the boxes we need to unload. How did the boxes get there? We filled our car, our local needlework shop owner's car and another friend who was coming agreed to schlep boxes for us. Thankfully, the load is much smaller and our car is sufficient on the way home.

Above is our display (in the front window of the suite) of our 2 new Limited Edition kits. The table underneath is the "dining table", with a drop cloth over it. The table stacked on the left is an end table. The right side table is a little folding riser I brought. The models are right at eye level, and inventory is stacked below them. It's self-service in the L*K showroom!

Finally, both of the beds were totally covered with sacks after the Friday night early-bird sales. Shops are always in a rush to grab the newest stuff (and get on to the next urgent room), so we allow them to fill bags, add a label, and return later to pay. Then when they return on Saturday or Sunday, we have a chance to chat and catch up when we're not so busy. 

Need to buy a new kit for your stash? Contact your local needlework shop, or contact L*K for a referral. We have lots of shops listed on the L*K website. Shops all over the US and outside the US have these kits NOW...but when they're gone...they're gone! Sorry...the fun finishing fabrics are discontinued

No rest in L*K ville...time to get to work on the next project!