Sandy's Stitching

TNNA SUMMER MARKET - COLUMBUS

Another summer market has come and gone but with it are new memories and new acquaintances!

This year was really weird for me - just when you think you've seen it all something new happens on the teaching end.  I taught two classes on Thursday before Market started.  While sitting in my hotel room my phone rings at 12:01 and it is a friend who (or is that whom?) I was expecting to be in town that day for the market.  She says 'Hi, where are you?'  And I say, "Hi, I'm in my hotel room.  Glad you made it. Where are you."  And she says, 'In your classroom waiting for you to teach!"  NO WAY!  I am thinking my class doesn't start until 12:30 but obviously it started at 12:00.  Needless to say that was the fastest half-mile walk this ole gal did pulling two suitcases of class kits that I never want to experience again!  I have never been late for class so it goes to show you there is always a first.  Fortunately the majority of the class were those who have taken many classes from me before and they knew it was not like me to be late.  I'm always the first one there, set up, ready to go.  So that was a hairy start to my weekend.

After class I had been invited to dinner by one of the students and her husband to discuss some needlepoint scenarios.  Jo Christensen, who was in the class, was invited to dinner also.  Oh my gosh!  What a hoot!  We had the most fun.  Jo and I just enjoyed our dinner and were totally entertained by Deanne and her husband.  We loved every minute of it.

Friday was a free day for me because the only market classes are business classes and I quit doing that years ago when it was INRG - LOL.  But, my friends from Louisville, Barbara and Cheryl let me tag along to their shop hopping adventures.  We went to What's the Point? and there we visited (and interrupted) Carolyn Baird's class but it was good to see her and some of my other friends as well. We also managed to spend some money!

From there we went to Louise's and visited and there I ran into Mary Smith (the Parliamentarian) in her cute little Columbus Zoo uniform.  It was fun visiting with her.  I can't believe we did not take any pictures.  We were too busy spending money!

Friday night's showcase is always fun because I get to see my models displayed by the designers showcasing their new designs for the Summer Market.  This year Leigh Designs had my Hollywood in her Gold Digger Line, Juli Poitras of JP Needlepoint had my The Black Queen in her owl series, and Susan Roberts had the cute Flower Sampler that had tons of techniques.

Friday night was a semi-ritual where I (or Bill and I when he is with me) have dinner and visit with Leigh and Robert Richardson.  This time we were joined by Sally London of Rainbow Gallery and Sandy Rodgers of the new products column of Needle Pointers magazine.

Sally, Leigh, Me and Sandy

Saturday morning was back to business and class.  Guess who was early, all setup and ready to go by 7:00 a.m.?  ME! (Class didn't start until 7:45 a.m. thank you very much!) Albeit that they had not turned on the lights yet but I used my iPhone flash light to assist where I needed extra light.  Little did I know that there were no lights on the entire floor!  Only one classroom had lighting.    Well, never fear, we will move forward.  I began by demonstrating on the overhead how to do a couple techniques before we would move out into the hall where there was light.  However, by the time I finished the demonstrations - voila! - the lights came on and we were able to proceed.

That's me on the left!

After class I went to the market floor to visit and and thank as many sponsors as I could.  I was unable to get to them all but I did visit with several.  I did see a few ole friends (notice Sharon I did not say old):

Sharon Garmize hasn't been to the shows for a couple of years and it was good to see her active at market again.

I made a new acquaintance:

Curtis Boehringer who is distributed by Fleur de Paris.  Fleur has commissioned me to do some stitch guides for his pieces.  Look forward to the challenge!

Pieces were confirmed for the Winter Market and new lineups for the Summer 2016 Market were made.  I am excited to add the fairly 'new kid on the block' Melissa Prince to my wonderful bunch of designers.  Wait until you see what she and the others have to offer us for future stash enhancing!

Saturday night involved the Designers/Teachers Meeting and a planned dinner with Jo Christensen and Sandy Rodgers.   By now we are dragging so we decided to just have dinner and a long, quiet visit in the hotel restaurant.

While market is said to have had a low attendance I understand that those who attended were buyers and all in all it was a positive experience.  I also picked up from conversations that many are looking forward to next year in DC in anticipation of a much larger market.

For me, I went to the market floor on Sunday and said my goodbyes and headed home.  It was a semi-pleasant drive home as it rained from Columbus to Cincinnati.  By Cincinnati it had cleared and I was able to visit my thoughts and rehash events that had occurred over the past several days.  All in all it was a great experience as usual.

Now, I must get back to the normal grind of things and stitch, design, stitch, write stitch guides, and stitch, which I love and I do with a smile!

Till next time, you too, remember to stitch with a smile.