Hey everyone, I’m a bit behind in my blogging, so I’m going to try to catch up this weekend!   I flew to San Jose, California on January 19 th for the annual winter Textile Needlework Trade Association (TNNA) convention with my friend and employer Jean Smith.  Jean is my summertime gardening employer, but she also has a nationally recognized needlepoint canvas business…JeanSmithDesigns.com….
This is the third yeR I’ve traveled with her in January to help her with her show, I help her set up her booth, then I hang out with her as needlepoint store owners stop by to pick out and order new canvasses for their shops…mostly I just sit and chat because honestly, everyone really just wants to talk to Jean.  ItKe a few orders, but mostly I just chat with customers until Jean is free because they all just want Jean!  Jean has had this business over 30 years and some of her clientele are old friend and this is their chance to catch up with each other.  Here are some pictures of her booth…

Pretty nice!  I think Jean has the prettiest booth in the convention center because it’s not a mishmash of stuff, it’s all floral and the palette is so feminine and cheerful.  You can’t help but smile when you walk into her booth.

I left Jacob and Norbert home alone for 5 days and they survived!   Who hoo!
When I got home I looked at the calendar. ( because January was Linen Scarf Month..I’m not sure if I announced that loudly enough, but it definitely was!). And I finished up my lacy linen scarfs.

While I was in San Jose, since I was still on Grand Rapids time and I was waking up early, I  looked thru this new (to me) book I had ordered used from the Eugene Textile Shop and designed a different kind of linen scarf…

This is an excellent book, if you see one, get it because it’s in depth, but understandable.  An excellent reference book.

Here are the three scarfs I wove.  The warp is linen that I got from Heidi’s estate sale.  It had been cream colored and a bit musty, but Gabriela dyed it for me and it’s lovely now and fresh smelling.  I put on a three scarf warp of silvery gray, and wove the three scarfs, one turquoise, one blue, one lavender.   They are lovely and the perfect things wear  for spring into summer.

My goal was to weave 10 linen scarfs in January, I wove 8, plus my first one which was full of mistakes.  I love these linen scarfs..I might weave some more in March, but I can’t in February, because February’s towel month…that’s my proclamation !