Thursday, December 5, 2013

Planning Ahead

I had a text conversation with Janet from Valley House Primitives yesterday.  Janet is the talent behind Valley House's incredible line of grained frames.  We were talking about planning ahead and how it seems to get harder and harder to do.  That conversation got me thinking about how I need to think about plans for 2014. 

Optimally, I'd like to start planning designs ahead.   Rather than design for Christmas in November and December, I hope I can design for Christmas in September or October.  And design for Halloween in July or August.  You get the idea.  Will it happen?  Who knows!!  But, I'm going to try!

And, I'd like to design some teaching pieces and get back on the teaching band wagon.  I love teaching and traveling and meeting stitchers and shopowners! 

Now that I have 24 designs published under my new company which means 24 models, I'd like to start planning trunk shows too.  Trunk shows are great for designers, shopowners and stitchers alike.  If there are any shopowners reading this, please contact me to schedule a trunk show for your shop for 2014.  My email is kathybarrick@gmail.com.

And the little snippet above?  It's from a new design Beth is currently stitching for me.  (Edited to add:  Beth mentioned that the purple color in the bird is not true - he's more of a navy blue/dark gray color.)  Beth not only stitches my models, but also comes up with names for them.  What a bonus!  The name possibilities for this sampler include:  Sven on Sentry, Reuben on Roost, Fowler Afoot, Baxter on Beat, Caleb on Call, Einer at Ease, Pavel on Patrol, Donald on Duty, Archibald on Alert, Wallace on Watch, Lionel on Lookout.  Cool, huh?!  These all arrived via text while Beth was at work one day.  She truly keeps me entertained!

The sampler above (name to be decided) will be released in January.  I'll have one more design coming out in December - a Christmas-sy piece Carol Sims is stitching for me.  I'll be turning Carol's hard work into a pincushion/pillow as soon as I have it in my hot little hands, will get the charts printed as soon as possible and get the pattern out.  All this last minute stuff has me determined to plan ahead.  I can do it, I'm (reasonably) sure I can!

I'm off tomorrow morning to Lancaster for Liz's wedding weekend.  Can't wait!  

Hope you all have a great weekend!

7 comments:

Carmen Sutton said...

Have great fun at Liz's wedding! Take lots of pictures as I'm sure she will be beautiful! The new piece looks like it will be a great one. As for planing ahead you can do it! It seems like I'm in the mood during the season so maybe during the season you design for the next year. That way in july you not dreaming of snow.

Lori from Notforgotten Farm said...

Hoping you all have a wonderful, beautiful time at the Wedding ~ take lots of pictures please to share with us!!!! ~ Loving your new design and still want to talk to you about a retreat!
xoxoxx
L

Angela CG said...

I hope this isn't a stupid question but...what is a trunk show? I have seen it mentioned before but still do not know what it is.

Thank you. I really enjoy your designs.

Linda said...

Can't wait to see the rest of this new design. Already in love with the colors of it!

And I enjoyed looking at your Xmas decorating!

Linda in VA

Kathy Barrick said...

Hi Angela,

A trunk show is when a designer sends their models to a shop (supposedly in a trunk), to display in their shop and sell charts. At the end of the pre-determined time, the shop returns the models and unsold charts and pays the designer for charts sold. It's a great way to get the models out there for stitchers to see.

I've been holding off on trunk shows until I had a number of models available. But 24 is a good number I think!

Kathy

Sandra said...

Wishing you a most wonderful wedding weekend. I know it will be beautiful. Please let us all see pictures. I love weddings.

I know what you mean about planning ahead. I've been in this business since 1979 and I'm still always behind. If you figure it out, let me know.

Blessings to you and your family,
Sandra

Kevin said...

Wow, I LOVE that bird in the upcoming chart! That's a definite MUST STITCH for me. We're very fortunate that you're designing again. 24 charts already!? That's wonderful! Hope you have a wonderful time at the wedding, and a wonderful Christmas.

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