Nashville Needlework Show 2015

This year’s Nashville Needlework Market was the best we’ve ever had! Maybe it had to do with the new show promoters, Yarn Tree and Needlework Retailer….but definitely a good sign that the economy is getting stronger!

We introduced 14 new cross stitch charts and 11 new punchneedle patterns! Go here to see all the cross stitch and here for all the punchneedle. A big thank you to all the model stitchers that made it possible to introduce so many cross stitch designs! I couldn’t possibly do the punchneedle and cross stitch myself. I am very grateful for you all.

The biggest change this year is that we are no longer offering the punchneedle patterns with pre-printed weaver’s cloth. It was a tough decision and it was rather last minute when we finally made the decision to go that route. The screen printer we worked with increased their price significantly and had way too long of a turn-around time ….2 weeks and sometimes longer. This caused many a headache for me. It also made keeping stock very difficult. Last May, I posed the question on a punchneedle Facebook group asking if it mattered to them (these were consumers) whether or not the image was pre-printed or they had to trace the image on the weaver’s cloth themselves. It was a great discussion and very helpful in helping us make our decision. People were very responsive to tracing it themselves in order to save a bit of money. So we took a leap of faith and introduced that concept at market this year. The retailers were not surprised by the change and not one of them said it was a bad idea. Whew! It’s kind of scary making a change like that but thankfully it worked out.

In order to help consumers transfer the image to the weaver’s cloth (which is included in the pattern), I have a video showing 3 ways to transfer the image to weavers cloth in order to make it easier. NOTE: the video will be available March 9th here.

Merry Halloween Punchneedle

Give Ye Thanks Punchneedle

A huge thank you is in order for Yarn Tree and Needlework Retailer Magazine. They did an impressive job organizing and promoting this market. They were friendly and gracious, greeting exhibitors with a goody bag and later going room to room thanking each exhibitor for attending the show. I heard nothing but positive comments from exhibitors and retailers.

Just a word before I go…..Please, if you have a needlearts shop near you, purchase your patterns, charts and supplies from them. It is imperative that we ALL support local small businesses. Only purchase from my site if you don’t have access to a retail shop near you. Thank you.