Thursday, March 5, 2015

Our market BUZZ - mystery design revealed!

It was a blast to travel to Needlework Market last week in Nashville, but,  in the immortal words of our own Kansas gal, Dorothy (from Wizard of Oz)...."there's no place like home"!


Thankfully, the weather cooperated as we made the 5 state trek to Nashville - to and fro. OK...we drove through 4 hours of rain coming home, but it could have been much worse (and I'm sure it was, for those traveling in other directions).

Alas...after my 18th year at Nashville, I have grown accustomed to the routine, and almost forgot to take
pics....big OOPS!  I have absolutely no pictures of us or our best pals we enjoy seeing every year. But, lots of shoppers snapped pics of Alan and I with their cell phones to share with their customers. I'm sure pics of me with one eye closed are out there somewhere.


Here's the view off our balcony inside the Embassy Suites atrium. There's our colorful banner on the lower left. I'm looking down on the dining area, which is a BIG part of needlework market. Don't cut in line to get BACON at the breakfast buffet - could be injurious to your health. Same goes for the bar line at Happy Hours at dinnertime. The needle ladies (and men) love to eat, drink and hang out together.


And here's the view of the L*K sign/suite from way across the atrium. We always request to be next door to our good friend, Judy Whitman, from JBW designs. This year Judy brought her husband, Dick, a market first-timer! Dick did an outstanding job in his rookie appearance at market. Judy says she's renewing his contract for next year!


I bring along a big roll of black paper and make a few impromptu signs as we set up. Alas, they are chalk, and you can see the smeary flower in lower left corner as customers lean on the door. No problem...it landed in the trash as we tore down.


Another chalkboard sign over our Inspiration Boxer sale. We make piles of all the Inspiration Boxers B33-B50 on the little bar area in the room. Conveniently, we use the drawers underneath to hold additional inventory. 


Finally, here's the elusive BUZZ kit!
More and more, designers release photos of their new market goodies BEFORE market. That allows shops to do pre-orders, plan ahead, etc. But some shopowners don't like this, and want to be surprised at market, and rewarded for their attendance. So we do BOTH - it's impossible to make everyone happy, but we try.

The BUZZ kit was this year's "wait until market" kit. I'm happy to say the little BUZZ kit was a hit!  We had some special fabric dyed just for this project and it's gorgeous. We got lots of compliments on this one. Kit includes 28 ct. Verdant linen, a couple mother-of-pearl buttons for the flower centers and pattern. Lots of BUZZ-y fun!


Our projects were small this year, so we made some blowup posters of the new kits so everyone could see when the room gets crowded - which is often.

Above are a couple other NEW kits.


Hip Hop - includes 30 ct. cream linen, fabulous finishing fabric for front and back, orange polka dot ribbon, flower button, yellow buttons and beads, and complete finishing instructions.


Limited Edition (fabulous) Farm Fob - This 2 sided project includes pale linen (assorted shades will vary slightly), antique gold rick rack. lots of rusty beads, and complete finishing instructions for 2 sided fob. These little critters will be gone soon...headed back to the farm.


A Little Gray Hare Kit Limited Edition Kit- Everyone at market had the same question...."did your little gray hare every reappear?" and the answer was "NO". Our previous post was about the mystery of the disappearing bunny. Our sweet bunny model went AWOL a couple weeks before market. Thank goodness he posed for pics before hopping away. 

As I stitched furiously the week before we left to create a new model, everyone quipped "well now the bunny will shop up for sure". But he didn't....market has come and gone...still no bunny. Maybe he'll reappear for Easter?

This kit contains beautiful hand-dyed 32 WDW seafoam linen, sweet coordinating backing fabric, WDW overdyed threads, pink rick rack, pale pink beads, egg template and complete finishing instructions. 

Meanwhile, I'm keeping a close eye on the NEW bunny model. He disappeared briefly in our room at market while we were setting up....hmmmmm. And then, when we returned home, he was the absolute last thing we unpacked. I was wondering if he was going to reappear or not....or maybe he ran off with the first bunny?

Happy Stitching, everyone!










4 comments:

  1. It sounds like you had a terrific market! Hopefully, bunny #1 will reappear down the road.

    Robin in Virginia

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the new designs!!! BTW --If you use hair spray (the cheap brands only!) on your chalk drawings it will make the chalk more resistant to smears.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad to hear Market was a hit and your drive there and back was weather-friendly - at least, with no snowstorms. All of the kits are so cute.
    Carolyn

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for sharing your market experiences with us! Your chalk signs are beautiful! I think you could make a side business out of them :)

    ReplyDelete