Our first stop was The Silver Needle in Tulsa. I meant to take a picture of us girls there, but to tell you the truth once I walked into the shop it totally flew out of my mind. OH. MY. GOSH. If you haven't been there, you need to go. It was completely overwhelming. The walls and virtually every inch of flat surface are filled with cross-stitch samples. They are beautiful and overwhelming. I have never been in a shop with so much inventory. Did I mention yet that I was completely overwhelmed? I finally stopped spinning around in circles and picked a place to start shopping. It was tough to do. Your eye is constantly moving to another beautiful sample either hanging above you or on a surface in front of you.
The presentation of the inventory is very nice. The sales associates are extremely friendly and ready to help you find what you're looking for. They have a nice selection of fabrics. If you use the restroom, the samples displayed in there are for sale. I did come away with a couple of patterns and some buttons. It was Janel's 2nd or 3rd trip there and she had a good plan for navigating the store. Jessica and I were at a loss. I would like to go back there now that I've seen it and know what to expect.
Our second stop in OK was the Stitchworks shop directly across the street from The Silver Needle. I have to be honest and say that I was very disappointed. They had tons of patterns, but they were not organized in an user-friendly way. Also, the sales associate greeted us when we came in, but ignored us the rest of the time. When I did ask her a question, I got the impression that she did not appreciate me interrupting her conversation with the other sales associate. None of us bought anything and I probably would not visit the store again.
After leaving Tulsa, we drove up to Manhattan where JD and Janel live. We made a few non-stitch related stops along the way which I will post about in the coming days.
On Tuesday morning, we loaded up the car to come home to Surprise, but we had a very important stop to make first. Picture This Plus in Abilene, KS. We spent over an hour there and it seemed as though it was just a few minutes. If you're not familiar with PTP you're missing out. They hand dye their fabrics and they are gorgeous!! I have to give a huge THANK YOU to Marilyn. I had called her a while back to find out what hours they're open and to tell her that my daughter and I were making a special trip out there to visit the shop along with my DIL. When I told her it would be on the day we were heading back home she offered to come in and open the shop early for us. Sure enough, she let us in at 9 am which gave us time to shop before hitting the road back to Phoenix. Now that's, some good customer service!
Marilyn also helped us choose fabrics for the patterns we had kitted up and brought with us. We all bought some fabric and I'm already planning what patterns to kit up to take with me next time I go. Thank you, Marilyn!
Jessica, me, Janel
