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It was an 11 hour drive to Nashville from Chicago. That's plenty of time for the doubt to creep in and start tying my stomach in knots. "What if we don't do well? What if people just don't want Native American/Southwestern cross stitch? What if we don't sell ANYTHING?" Peter has become very good at either consoling or ignoring my cycle of self-torment over our company's future. He's always calm and cool, thank God! One of us has to be! | |
We arrived early and had all of Friday to set up our display, relax a little, and take showers. Oh, heaven on earth! Living in a third floor apartment will definitely teach you to appreciate hot water pressure! So far we were having fun but Saturday was fast approaching... We were amazed at the three floors of talent that had temporarily assembled in that hotel. Cross stitch, embroidery, and hardanger designers, button, bead, and frame companies...We were in our glory! |
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| It was very interesting to see what other designers had constructed their exhibits from. Ours was a challenge to create. It had to be inexpensive, lightweight, portable, collapsible, attractive and...did I mention cheap? So, with a combination of cardboard boxes and closet organizer | ||
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shelves covered by fabric, we erected an exhibit. I know it doesn't sound glamorous but we did receive many compliments on it, to our surprise. (Let me tell you, we were winging it the entire time!) Anyway, with a little electrical wire and box tape everything seemed to hold together pretty well. Our designs were a big hit, also to our surprise! We don't receive much
feedback here in Chicago. Southwest is not the rage here. Aside from the
occasional complimentary email, we had no idea whether or not our design
style would fly. |
From our first order, from In Stitches (in AZ), to the last few hours of the show in which we met Lone Deer - Sonagolese, we were just elated, hugging people that we had only just met...people that we can not wait to meet again at the next cross stitch show. I think now, that either we are on the right track with our designs or that cross-stitch-shop-owners are quite possibly the most kind, encouraging, friendliest, and gracious people on the planet. Maybe it's both, because we left Nashville totally renewed in our ambition to pursue the NA/SW style of design that we have always felt is our calling. We left Nashville INSPIRED! Peter and I would like to give our sincerest thanks to everyone who helped us with the progression of our company and to everyone who lifted our spirits with a kind word or a helping hand! You have no idea what it has meant to us! |
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