Friday, February 19, 2010

It's Nashville Show Time

It's been quite a few years since I attended the Nashville Needlework Market.  Most of you probably know about it from your LNS or your favorite on-line shop.  It's a weekend of stash enhancement on a HUGE scale.  Shopowners from all over converge on one of the "suites" hotels in Nasville, TN to visit, stitch, learn, look, network, socialize, and BUY all the new stitching goodies arrayed in all their glory by designers and disbributors from everywhere just for YOU. Sleep is optional.

I remember the very first Nashville market fondly.  It was much more intimate than the big annual shows held in convention centers. That means it can also get very crowded very quickly.  Not only do you get to see all the new designs and fibers and fabrics and embellishments, you get to know the people behind those products.  It's a lot of work (hence the optional sleep), but really a lot of fun too.

My husband and I used to combine business with pleasure in Nashville.  It's a beautiful city and if you're a country music like I am, a visit to the Grand Ole Opry is an added bonus. 

The only drawback is that February in Nashville can be a weather roller coaster.  One year, way back when, we braved the fog and an ice storm through the mountains of north Georgia/southern Tennessee only to arrive at the hotel in Nashville in the dark.  I don't mean it was late in the evening either.  THERE WAS NO POWER!  It was quite an experience.  We got extra blankets and climbed the stairs to our room.  Fortunately, power was restored the next day. I don't remember what I bought, but I can guarantee you that my regular customers were chomping at the bit for me to get home and unpack it.

So, if your shopowner looks a little haggard next week you'll know why.  Be patient, she'll have a treasure chest of stitching wonders for you as soon as she can get unpacked.