It’s been a week and a half for me. Standard medical stuff, but running around from lab to doctor because of course no one does it all – who can – really takes it out of me. Sent the design to the left to the model stitcher, finished a model of my own, stitching frantically… Yeah. Busy busy.
And emotionally I’m at that point in the business – Havi calls it “Day 4 Syndrome.” This is never going to work, I’ll never support myself this way (and of course it’s born out by all the common wisdom that you can’t make a living designing (or selling, for that matter) needlework).
And then… and then I discover my designs on 123stitch’s website! Glee! Ecstasy! Shop owners like my work enough to buy it and sell it to their customers. Maybe this will work after all.
Running a business — always an emotional roller coaster!
I am considering pulling together a small needlework retreat in the Raleigh/Durham area , for maybe the end of Feb, beginning of March… Doing research on locations, and on shops in the area. What would YOU want in a retreat? Classes? Just time to stitch? Structured time? Group shopping trip? Unstructured time? Cross stitch? Crewel? Something completely off the wall like goldwork? How much would you be willing to pay for a couple days of something like this (understanding that depending on classes/unstructured time it could be very different price ranges…). Does it matter if there’s something for a non-stitching spouse to do while you’re there, or would you rather come alone anyway? How many stitchers do you want in one group?
So, yeah. emotional roller coasters. Needing a retreat myself, which is probably why I’m thinking of organizing one!
You need to think about how many people you feel you can deal with as well. Most classes I’ve been to have been no more than about twelve people – more, and the teacher just can’t get around them all, so no-one learns as much as they could.
Congratulations!!!!! 🙂
Given you are looking for input, I’d vote for both structured and unstructured time. Unstructured time to do homework for the structured time (which involves a piece, presumably) and also to work on a piece from home, and have the teacher available to answer questions on it.
As for subject, I’d put up polls in the local embroidery shops – they will be your customers, after all.