I just received an email from Country Craft Cupboard in Berlin, Ohio. It stated that the Stitching House was changing it's name to CCC, too! The manager of 8 years has quit and moved to a none related retail store and there will be a new manager at CCC, too! The owner of the Country Craft Cupboard has decided to move the yarn from her next door quilting store to the CCC. There will be plenty of changes in the next
2 months and they will "try" to keep new cross stitch patterns in the store.
I have had a BAD feeling for the last 6 months and it appears another LNS has (or is about to) bite the dust.
Sorry to have to tell the Ohio stitchers that we have lost another one
It just seems to me, from what I understood you wrote, that the new owner is simply trying to keep up with trends in needlework so that they can make a profit. By expanding to include something other than cross stitch, they keep their options open.
Knitting is taking the U.S. by storm, with thick needles, thick yarn, and trendy patterns at the fore. Some I like, others are way out there (in my opinion). The patterns knit up quickly . . . something today's needleworker demands. If it isn't done in two hours, they don't want to do it.
It is the same here in the UK. When we went to shows there were many cross stitch booths. The last time I went there was maybe two. Knitting has made a comeback and paper crafts. Many methods of making greeting cards. Decoupage and Pergamano are very popular.
Bead work is gaining also. I still love my beadwork. I have recently made my first quilt, picture on my website ( in sig. line). I have also done a digital imaging class and intend to print some panels on silk to make a wall hanging. Pictures that I have textured also on my website. Shirley
Knitting is here big too, just like in the US - it needs to be completed in a nick of time. There are some really cool yarns around and styles around.
But unfortunately we embroiderers start to pay the price for this at the craft shows. More wool for knitting than threads for embroidery. It is a bit disappointing when something becomes so loop sided.
I rarely post here, just read, but had to reply to your post. My DH and I spent 3 days in the Berlin area in April. We splurged and stayed at The Inn at Honey Run-nice place. We stayed there about 15 years ago and were shocked by the change in Berlin and the general area. We remembered an IGA store that sold clothing and shoes as well as groceries but it was gone. So much more commercial now that we didn't even stop in Berlin. I didn't realize there was a LNS there or we would have found a parking place for sure. We did take some interesting drives to towns in the area and finally bought some very good cheese at Heini's cheese factory. We were disappointed that the general store in Charm was gone but the ride there was fun with the buggies and lumber trucks!
We were there on a weekday in April, I can't imagine what traffic must be like in the summer. Lovely area and so peaceful outside of the tourist areas.
Well, craft shops here are still well stocked with embroidery supplies, at least what I have seen, and there is a lot online available as well (even it's not the same of course like browsing in a store) I just don't think that "Stitches & Craft Fairs" should be so overwhelmingly involved in knitting and forget about those who are in the counted thread market. And its not only knitting, it's scrapbooking and cardmaking as well. Beading, okay, one can use this for embroidery too. Still, it shouldn't be right, that there are 5 or 6 beading stalls, all selling the same stuff. Entry isn't free to these fairs, so it should be catered for everyone, not just those who quilt, knit, bead or scrapbook. I have the feeling they don't care about variety anymore, its all about money.
I only hope that in October the fair is better than it was in May. Otherwise the trip and the money is truly wasted. That's a way to loose people. And of course, that's a way to loose stall holders as well. I met a lot of people and overheard a lot of conversations of disappointed folks, who travelled from north and south (hence from the Fraser Coast and from the Gold Coast) to get there only to find this one-sided show. Even the "workshop" are nowadays mainly the playground of big commercial companies wanting to sell there products. There are only few in between that are really done by enthusiastic crafters.
My concern is that they'll wind up like my dear departed LNS, trying to be all things to all people, and serving no one well.
E.g., although we have several excellent LYSs in town, LNS decided to add yarn. But most of it was fine (sock yarn), not the thick stuff that works up quickly, and there was never enough of any one color to make a an adult sweater, so I rarely even bothered to look at it.
Some of the XS stuff was removed to make room for NP. Well, those of us who are used to paying $10 for a chart simply gagged at the thought of paying $100 for a canvas. The one that I had my eye on, which I couldn't justify the price, was there for over a year.
I have a friend who lives in Palm Springs. She hangs out with a lot of older, well-to-do needlepointers who've been doing it forever and a day.
She told me that the woman for whom she cares spends +/- $1500 A MONTH on needlepoint canvases and supplies, without fail. That's substantially more than my mortgage. She also told me this lady once paid $5000 for one handpainted canvas.
I know - I have really been enjoying some needlepoint work - but the price of canvas is so outrageous - and don't even come with a stitch guide, which can easily run another $50 or $60! Plus, of course, threads/yarns/etc.
I have been doing more counted canvas work and if you like needlepoint, I highly recommend Laura Perins designs.
I wonder, Sibile, it WRT threads it's a local issue for you. There seems to be a never-ending supply of more and more thread types for embroidery here. Lots of companies doing overdyes, more combinations of silk and cotton, silk and wool, and different synthetic blends, as well as the newish bamboo floss.
OTOH, yarn has indeed been having a great explosion in types of material, and the type of yarn - ribbon, open ribbon, eyelashes, and all the different weights. But, I've seen ribbons, fuzzy things, eyelash types, etc in the scale for embroidery as well.
I think a lot of the new knitters that want quick projects do a lot of the accessory items - fun scarves in different kind of yarns- ribbon, cord, etc. That are easy to do and knit up on big or really big needles. But, when I go to my LKS, there is a good mix, and honestly, many of the customers are clearly doing projects that take more than a few hours - lots of shawls, sweaters, bags. And of course, socks have really become the big thing to be knitting these days. I'm kind of a mix, I really like knitting things with smaller needles - it feels nice - but there are times when I want to do soemthing bulkier for a purpose. But, I'm very picky about the feel of the yarn.
That said, at stitch'n'pitch - part of the goody bag, which I understand came from TNNA - was a set of clover bamboo needles - size 19! Now I have the 2 sets which DH and I got, plus the addi turbo circular ones. Jeez. And those are like logs. The shawl I did with the 19s - afterwards, I told the LKS that I'd recommend doing the project with 17s - still huge, but enough of a difference. It was weird knitting with them.
Wow - that sounds a bit out of scale. I can imagine spending $500 on some of the handpainted canvases, but not the extra zero. Handpainted canvases regularly run from $35 for little, little ones - like simple ornaments - to $250-$300 for nice stockings. And more for larger pieces. And depending on the size of the piece, and thread/yarn choices, it is easy to spend a couple of hundred dollars on materials. It's pretty typical to see someone who is a regular Nper spend about $100-$150 on a canvas, and another $75-$125 on the thread/yarn. But, turning them around so quickly. Wow.
But, if this particular customer had someone hand paint say a needlepoint chair canvas, or large bench, etc - that could run pretty high. Especially if it's a one of a kind, and not something going to a copy-painter, etc.
Someone I met at a guild meeting a couple of years back, told us that she had so many gorgeous painted canvases in her stash, that she had taken to hanging them on display - not yet stitched. IIRC, she thought it unlikely she'd ever finish them all, wasn't about to donate or sell them, and felt she might as well see them...so to speak.
I know that the tropical birds huge bellpull which I got from Betty Rae will easily take about $200 in threads and yarn. I'm pretty sure of it. We used the piece as a teaching tool for color/texture in a studio class a couple of years ago. It took me a lot to choose the different threads, and it includes silks in a couple of different forms, some rayon, some metallics, some ribbon, some burmalama (synthetic blend feels awesome), and some wool blends. Once all was chosen, well, now it's about buying enough of each to do the entire piece (it's about 6' long by about 16" wide), which has 4 different birds, and tropical foliage. Yup, DH, asks about that one.
OTOH, I'm so depressed that someone has a mortgage under $1500/month. Living in the DC area - you either bought your house 25 years ago, live 75 miles out of town, or own 80% of it instead of vice versa with the bank.
No offense taken. I do remember the under $1500 mortgage - first house, in Silver Spring, and it was paid off in under 15 years so that the exDH could buy me out - we were at about 10 years then.
I hate to think about our mortgage -we're getting ready to refi as soon as I'm working again - need some paycheck stubs so that it's not just all on DH. But, for now - the mortgage is killing us, and we do own about 30%.
Even with your brother on the MD side, for numerous bizarre reasons, Loudoun County become the highest median housing cost in the US last year, and passed Fairfax as the highest income per household as well. We've seen our same basic model of house, with some interior differences perhaps on the standards for the appliances, or the like, for $250 less - just further south in VA. And forget about going to normal places in the US - less than half the price. It's just crazy around here. But, DH and I were discussing this that while it's unlikely we'll ever again have to take the big capital gains exemption on profits from a house - at least when we're ready to downsize, or move from here, this will be a big golden drop of money for another place, and funds to put into supporting our lives.
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