31 days till the Needlework Expo or Hello Eyebrow!

July 26, 2022

Dear Diary,

I start a daily blog today about my journey to my first online trade show, the Needlework Expo in Aug 27-29, 2022. As a good girl I have handwritten a strict timetable and weekly, daily to-do lists to fulfill everything for the expo and put a bunch of post-its around my table. I had also occupied the big dining table from my children, because I had to pack out everything meant to the expo in boxes, it is likely it will stay here till the end of the Needlework Expo, so let's see how are we doing today:

Today we have 31 days left till the Needlework Expo.

It is the gestational time of a rabbit:-)))

I have scheduled only a shy short list for today as I have to spend my day in my office with my 'muggle' job.

First a quick meeting with one of my model stitchers, Zsuzsa early morning, she has finished one of the expo releases and it was those occasions when I found the stitched piece even more gorgeous than I remembered how it looked on screen as a mockup! I gave her another design, well, it is not for the expo, because I already have enough stitched designs to release and she is going on a holiday soon, and I didn't want to put a pressure on her, but let her relax.

I had also refreshened this old rusty blog which was not on the to-do list actually (bad girl Maja), but I can never follow strict lists when intuition strikes. I have no idea how I have more than 2 million visitors here in 9 years when I am not too busy here to say the least, I forgot to post about half of my patterns here for example and I found patterns I didn't even remembered I had! It is a miracle I had remembered the password! So when I visited this blog I suddenly felt the rush to write a countdown diary for the Needlework Expo like there is no tomorrow.

Now let me show you the masterpiece of mine, how I managed the 'let's change the template and the header, girl, wohooo' rush, you shall laugh:

Yes, nice eyebrow, honey:DDD I am definately ahead of a great future. Eyebrows with hanging threads.

I had also managed to design extra labels and stickers in Canva for the packages I hopefully have to send. I wanted to put all my social media buttons and million http:// links to one sticker, well, I am not too happy with it, so I will design something else. I remember when I started designing 10+ years ago, only my mail address was on the first labels, now I have TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest and everything under the stars I would like to jam onto one poor sticker.

Then I googled more possible printing companies in Budapest. I have an excellent printing partner, but they have a 5-workday-turn-around time and it shall not work this time. I will stock piles of patterns from each design for the expo, but I have to think ahead. In case the shops order more, I have to be able to ship them asap, therefore I need someone who prints around-the-clock like crazy. I ordered now proof printings, we will see.

...and I have also printed the list of exhibitors, there are 103 of us! It was not a good idea, because reading all the names and checking a couple websites during lunch break made me nervous, they are just so-so-so gorgeous and experienced! I really have no idea how shops choose, there are so many wonderful designs, sneakpeaks all over in the social media, we are in heaven, God save our souls!