back from ohio....

My friend, Linda, has a nephew that is a talented woodworker. He made some things for me to take to the Heritage Wholesale Market in hopes to write some orders. Well we didn't set the world on fire but we did sell a few pieces at the end of the show. There were many booths that offered wood accessories so with only a handful of pieces, I think Rich's work got overlooked. However, I will be adding his pieces to my Etsy shop within a week and I think this avenue will work best for us. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the above display box.....accented with an Arnett's bear, a battery operated candle and a photo of my boys when they were much younger.

Here is a picture of the booth.....it was only a 4x10 but it worked because Jann and I sat across the isle from it so we weren't in the booth.....loved that!! Wish I could do that for all the shows I do.

Check out this....I call it a "figurine stage"....originally Rich made it for me to use with my punchneedle but I needed more product to display so I turned it upside down and put a precious lil' Debbee Thibault figurine on it......love!!

 Here is another "figurine stage"...sooooo cute! And of course, the Debbee Thibault figurine is amazing!!

This is a great shot, so much going on....that red wood piece on table is a "toilet topper"....you set it on the back of the toilet to hold kleenex in the middle and on each side of the kleenex are storage for cotton balls, q-tips, etc...they open with a knob and have leather hinges. This was my favorite piece!!! and of course, it sold.....so Rich..I need another one, please :)

Also, check out that adorable doll holding the sign....on our way to Columbus, Jann and I went to a couple of our favorite stores. Jann bought this lil' precious at Jeffery's in Findlay Ohio.

This picture is looking from my booth to the center of the room. The Aladdin Shrine Center is where the show was held....what a beautiful building. A word of advice to anyone that becomes a new vendor......bring tennis shoes and socks. Jann and I only brought sandals/flip flops which normally wouldn't be a problem but we had to push the loaded dolly up and down ramps for set up and tear down.....not easy when wearing flip flops!

On our way home, we stopped at Sauder Village for the Rug Hooking Show in Archbold, Ohio. Last year they added a mixed media showcase so this year Jann and I entered. This is a picture of Jann's amazing "Got Wool" tote on display at the show!!! Jann spends many many hours knitting the tote with wool yarn, then she wet felts it and then uses roving to needle felt the lamb and words onto the tote and finally sews on  the handles! She also needle felted a heart to hang from the handle. All her totes have a felted pocket inside and a magnetic closure. She does amazing work.....if you are interested in purchasing one of Jann's creations here is her email address blackcrowprimitives4@gmail.com.

I took several pictures of my favorite rugs at the show but many were blurry since I didn't use a flash, but I wanted to share with you some amazing hooked rugs that were at the show....this is only a handful of what was there...if you ever get a chance to go to this show (and you love rug hooking), it is definitely worth your while. People come from as far as Texas, Canada, and California!! 

Here are my two "mixed media" submissions. They are punchneedle adhered to a small cradled board. I hand painted the wood to match the punchneedle.

This rug looks like a painting!!! Below is a close up of the border. Amazing detail!!

While at Sauder Village, I met with Kathy Wright.; she is the organizer of the rug hooking event. She invited me to teach a punchneedle embroidery class next year!!! I am sooo excited! I hope my class fills up! They only allow 10-15 students per class so that everyone gets hands on help and attention.  I will announce here on my blog when the classes are available  (: Happy days:)