For some time now, I’ve been doing one wholesale needlework trade show a year. There are others I could attend, but I don’t. One reason I don’t do more, is that they are a heap of work!
Okay, not that kind of work.

Creating a display and making arrangements takes time, and that’s time not spent designing, stitching, writing newsletters and blog posts, updating the Web site, writing puzzles and stories, blah, blah, blah.

This year, for some reason, I decided to do two TNNA trade shows: January and June. I want to see if the attendees are different at the 2 shows; one is on the west coast, the other in the mid-west. Maybe I’ll reach a different set of customers.

So I doubled my trade show work for 2008.

Then I did something really crazy. I signed up for a third trade show. And not one in October or November, but one in February, one month after the January TNNA show. I will be attending my first-ever CHA trade show. That’s the Craft and Hobby Association, and it includes all crafts, from scrapbooking to needlework and who-knows-what else. Well, I will know what else come mid-February.

I’ve been a member of the organization for a couple of years now, but have made little use of that membership in spite of the best intentions. There is an active designer community that appeals to me. They share a lot of information and connect designers to publishers and manufacturers.

My role at CHA will be very different from my role at TNNA. At TNNA I’m teaching and will have a booth showing my designs. At CHA I’m participating in a Fashion Display and will have a Designer Showcase. The first is a creative display featuring fashion projects made from vendor materials (Wichelt, DMC, Kreinik, etc.). My teammate for this display is Carol Heppner. We didn’t know each other until we began talking about doing a display together, but our sensibilities clicked, and I’m excited to work with her. The Showcase is a small display of my work that will be viewed by manufacturers, publishers, editors and the like.

So after years of 1 trade show a year, I’m signed up to do 3 in 6 months. Wheeeee!