A TNNA Show Visit to Long Beach, CA

Traveling to the TNNA trade show just held in Long Beach was more of a
vacation than I imagined.....the most noticeable treat was leaving 14
degrees, ice and snow to balmy temps, sunshine and waving palm trees of
Southern CA.

We did some fun shopping at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa right
away......picked up several large art books at the former Rizzoli store
now known as Book Soup.....the books made our suitcase too heavy......we
had to take them out of our checked suitcase at the airport and tote on
the plane.....didn't realize the weight limit had changed from 70 lbs to
the new limit of 50 lbs.
Turned out security also opened our checked bags.....they left a paper
stating our bags were searched plus they changed the zip ties on the
bags.....geez, they got to check out all our dirty laundry.....

Another interesting shop is what can be described as a supermarket of
beauty products where displayed for sale was every brand and type of
make up ever made & other fun goodies at Sephora.......was fun going
around picking up lipsticks, eye pencils and all without being bothered
by "beauty" sales people who can be a little intimidating at
times.......

Then looked in at luxury shops such as Hermes where there was a crowd of
Japanese ladies waiting to plunk down a small fortune for a
handbag......Louis Vuitton is BIG in Japan.
I drooled over a handwoven classic leather tote bag at Bottega Veneta
for $3200.
I asked the saleslady if they ever had sales, she said twice a year but
the classic bag line never went on sale......oh well.....

My other favorite thing to do on trips is shop at local food
markets......shopped for exotic Japanese goodies such as different types
of mochi or rice cakes, filled with various sweet fillings at a Japanese
market chain and checked out a supermarket similar to Trader Joe's, a
chain of supermarkets featuring organic and all sorts of interesting
groceries.......we bought bags and bags of citrus & fruits to eat in the
hotel.....large CA Navals, Satsumas, Fairchild Tangerines, Mineolas,
Temples......also picked up four types of dates grown in the CA desert.
I was impressed by the quality of the super markets we went
to......great produce with all sorts of interesting goodies to try out!!

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Since I wasn't exhibiting at this show, I got to spend time, visiting
many of my designer friends, among them, Tink Bord Dill who showed me
her collection of charted alphabets........several volumes of charted
fonts in many styles....very useful for monograms, stitched text,
applique alphabets for quilting and all types of designing........a big
thanks to Tink, who has now saved me from hours and hours of tedious
charting letters and other fonts for my canvas & chart designs......I'll
be putting to good use all of Tink's collection of charted fonts and all
in future designs needing charted text!

Take a look at: http://www.tinkbd.com
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Rainbow Gallery has added more color selections to their already huge
palette of threads as well a few new threads that will be added to my
needlepoint thread collections......these threads can easily be adapted
for counted thread and embroidery for interesting textures and glow.

A new Petite Alpaca......finally, another option for fuzzy effects on
smaller count and 18 mesh canvas with this thinner alpaca
thread.....these threads are in natural alpaca wool colors.....tans,
browns and creams......eight colors.

Petite Frosty Rays......a thread group with a large palette of lively
and subtle colors featuring a shimmery metallic look to be used on 18
mesh canvas.....a shimmery nylon tube with a metallic thread core that
shines through the nylon mesh as one stitches......creates a great
subtle metallic effect.

For more specific info: www.rainbowgallery.com
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As an avid knitter, had to check out the latest & greatest new yarn and
accessory offerings...........found a company known as Blue Lantern that
features sets of gorgeous knitting needles made of exotic woods such as
highly polished Ebony and Rosewood, two of several other wood
choices.......these needles feel so sensuous just to stroke, so I know
it'll be pure pleasure to knit with them as well as enjoying the
aesthetics of a finely made implement......the needles are made in an
aerodynamic shape giving them a cool, sleek contemporary look.

http://www.lanternmoon.com

To store these wonderful needles, I came across a vendor that sold
sleekly styled leather cases for knitting and other needlework
tools.......the cases came in either black or red leather.
One long simple case with a button top flap, a larger knitting needle
case with extra pockets and zippers......a crochet hook case, a very
useful round knitting needle case with clear vinyl windows for each
needle and a small all purpose zip case with a clear vinyl window to see
the contents.

The knitting companies were featuring an Aladdin's cave of rainbow
colors and textures! Knitting is the hottest needlework right now and I
can see why........just looking at the new patterns and yarns made me
want to spend all my time just knitting again.............so many clever
things to knit from unique home decorator pillows full of textured
shapes, afghans, wallhangings to wonderfully creative "toys" featuring
all sorts of shapes, figures......the sophisticated knitted dolls were
gorgeous knitted sculptures in all sorts of beautiful colorways. No old
fogey knitting on the porch in rocker stuff here.........

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An exciting find for me was a magnifier lamp using daylight bulbs, not
halogen such as my "old" Dazor magnifier lamp that cast a yellowish glow
to colors making color choices a little difficult......now I have the
luxury of using a full spectrum daylight color fluourescent tube with
helpful magnifier from the Daylight Company LLC.........it comes with a
standard 3x magnifier......also opted for a 8x magnifier to use for
stitching on tiny silk gauze.....this will make stitching the tiny
meshes more relaxing and colorful being easier to see!

http://www.daylightcompany.com
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I met a new to the US thread manufacturer, a lady from South Africa,
House of Embroidery & African Folklore Embroidery......this TNNA show
was the company's USA debut......they also plan to exhibit at the Quilt
Market in Houston as there is a large line of colorful beads and other
embellishments to go with the threads......the threads are in
coordinated color groups that included stranded cotton to different
weights of pearl cotton, silk and rayon......each of these thread colors
matched exactly. All threads are hand dyed and presented in solids or
multicolors......these are not over dyed threads but hand dyed thread
from scratch for clarity of color.
For more info, here's an e-mail:

Showing in the same booth was a varied collection of African folk art
kits, unique looking to my eyes as I've not seen these styles of
embroidery patterns before........kits included multicolor threads to
stitch the designs on black fabric.
Hopefully, there'll be shops picking up this line of kits or threads in
the future, here's the web site for the embroidery kits:

http://www.aflembroidery.com
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On the way home at John Wayne airport in Orange County, ran into Sharon
G.....we had breakfast together and a nice visit.

We'll be seeing everyone again at the June TNNA show in Columbus, OH,
this time we'll be exhibiting again after several years......I'll be
looking forward to seeing Beth Russell & husband Nick again, they'll be
staying with Frank & Jean of Potpourri, Etc who distribute Beth's
kits......Beth & Nick are loads of fun to be with. I treasure Beth's
compliments on my designs......we're a mutual admiration group as I like
her designs as much as she likes mine!

The suitcases are still packed, ready to be closed.......we're leaving
for NYC shortly.....this time I'll be exhibiting my art at the
mid-winter conference of a national Children's Writer's & Illustrator's
group and then I'll be back to painting shop orders & regular artwork as
well as getting ready for the next round of trade shows.
---
Lula
http://www.woolydream.com
Needlework Adventures

To follow up......I checked the web site of the African folk art kits
and see there is a link to the South African threads on this site. I'm
glad they have this link......at first thought they didn't have a web
site, only an e-mail contact.
Click on the link and you'll see pics of the threads and info.

http://www.aflembroidery.com
---
Lula
http://www.woolydream.com
Needlework Adventures

I met a new to the US thread manufacturer, a lady from South Africa,
House of Embroidery & African Folklore Embroidery......this TNNA show
was the company's USA debut......they also plan to exhibit at the Quilt
Market in Houston as there is a large line of colorful beads and other
embellishments to go with the threads......the threads are in
coordinated color groups that included stranded cotton to different
weights of pearl cotton, silk and rayon......each of these thread colors
matched exactly. All threads are hand dyed and presented in solids or
multicolors......these are not over dyed threads but hand dyed thread
from scratch for clarity of color.
For more info, here's an e-mail:

Showing in the same booth was a varied collection of African folk art
kits, unique looking to my eyes as I've not seen these styles of
embroidery patterns before........kits included multicolor threads to
stitch the designs on black fabric.
Hopefully, there'll be shops picking up this line of kits or threads in
the future, here's the web site for the embroidery kits:

http://www.aflembroidery.com