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Raise The Roof Designs |
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| Designer's Name: Theresa Venette & Susan Rainer | |
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Location: Hattiesburg, MS and Kimball, MN
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Can you give us a quick rundown of how Raise The Roof Designs came to be?
Sue: We even picked our name, Raise the Roof Designs, just minutes after Theresa asked me if I wanted to give designing a try as a team. I said, "Since we both have the middle name Rae, we have to come up with a company name based on that." We stood there for a bit and mulled over a couple of names until one of us blurted out, "How about Raise the Roof?!" We thought it was a perfect name and I think it really complements the quirky style of our designs.
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Your sense of humor always shines through in your designs...could you imagine being where you are as a cross-stitch designer without it?
Theresa: Thanks! We feel our quirky sense of humor is essential to our business. Our philosophy from the beginning has been to make people laugh and smile. And we want them to pick up a graph in a shop the same way they might pick up a funny card in a Hallmark store. You don't know why, but you just have to have it, because it rings true to you. Our goal has always been to sell charts, but we're thrilled people actually stitch them, too. We toss ideas back and forth on the phone. Some, thankfully, never make it to press. But we love hearing how a needlework design has brightened someone's day. Sue: I think Theresa and I feed off of each other's sense of humor. When we get together we do nothing but goof around and crack up over every little thing. I think this goof-ball attitude tends to spill over into our designs. We're glad that people like what we come up with.
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How has the relocation from Fargo, ND to Hattiesburg, MS affected Raise The Roof Designs and your retail shop, Shakespeare's Peddler?
Theresa: Well, Sue lives in Kimball, Minnesota, which is about three hours from Fargo, where I lived pretty much my whole life. So, we had already been designing long-distance for a few years before my husband's new job at the University of Southern Mississippi moved us here. We split the tasks, anyway, and it's no more difficult to do them from three hours away than from about 21 hours away. My shop has never been busier. The Hattiesburg locals (and those from surrounding areas) have found me, and boy, are they thrilled. Hattiesburg hasn't had a cross stitch shop for ten years. And a lot of these stitchers hadn't seen hand-dyed fabrics and fibers in person before. It's fun showing them what is hot in cross stitch. And on-line, of course, had a little hiccup while we moved, but within about two weeks, I was back on-line answering e-mails and what not. And now, it's crazy. I literally can't dig out from under my pile every day. It's wonderful. Sue: We really only saw each other two or three times a year when we only lived three hours away from one another. So the distance didn't really affect us at all. In fact, it was because of the move that we were able to exhibit in Nashville for the first time (since Theresa drove up from Hattiesburg with our stuff). I haven't been to Hattiesburg yet, but I'm hoping to spend some time with her in October and check out her new digs.
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New From Raise The Roof Designs... Crabby April June Continuing the "Crabby" series in true Raise The Roof fashion, Theresa and Sue poke fun at the things that make us crabby during certain times of the year! Things like the taxes we put off until April 14th, those darn rabbits that get into our gardens, and the bugs that start making life miserable in early summer! The stitch count for this segment of the design is 182 x 60. The overall design featuring the entire series is 182 x 264. Suggested retail price is $7.00. |
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Has the adjustment to Southern cuisine been a positive one?
Theresa: Ha! Hm. Well, there are local specialties from North Dakota that I can't find anymore, of course (like lefse and really good brats.) I cook about the same, and we don't eat out much. But we can get much fresher seafood here. Oh, and 2-gallon jars of pickled pigs lips in Sam's Club. No kiddin'! Who eats those things?
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About how long does it take for a design to go from conception to release?
Theresa: It really depends. Sometimes I'll be talking to Sue, and I'll say, "Hey, I had this idea." And two weeks later, I'm done stitching it and we're getting it ready for press. Other times, it takes longer. We don't do four-color printing. I love the way that looks, but it's much more efficient for us to have a printer do our charts on a copy machine. They fold and assemble the graphs for us. That way, if we have a dog of a chart, we haven't printed too many. Or if we need another 100, or 500, or 1,000, we can have them done in a few days. It makes our lives easier. I would say on average, it takes a few months for a design to develop front to back. Sometimes more, sometimes less. We design for fun, so we try not to stress out too much over the details. Or, I should say, *I* try not to stress out. Sue does our stressing out for us. S: When Theresa says, "It really depends" what she really means to say is, "It really depends on which one of us is stitching it!" Theresa is the fastest stitcher of anyone I know. She can stitch circles around me! I can be so pokey sometimes but I am getting better. I think that part of my problem is that I don't have much spare time to stitch and it takes me f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get a design done sometimes. However, I have recently made some simplifying changes in my life and have downgraded from two jobs at two different hospitals down to just one job at one hospital as of this week! I now have no excuses and should have plenty of time for stitching.
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How much do you rely on input from family, friends, or fellow stitchers when working on new designs or design ideas?
Theresa: Hardly at all. No kidding! We get ideas from family all of the time. They're ... interesting. We do listen to stitchers who say they want, for example, a Valentine's Clothesline, or a Garden Fence (two series of ours.) If we get enough requests, we start working on that, figuring it's the next logical one in the series. But we love it when stitchers take something we've designed and do something completely different -- different colors, adding, subtracting, creative finishing ideas. That's awesome. But Sue and I mainly encourage each other. I've learned in life that you can't please everyone. So, you just have to do your thing, and hope that people "get it."
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Do you regularly exhibit at trade shows and do you feel they are an important part of the cross-stitch industry?
Theresa: We just went to our first trade show in February, in Nashville. As a shop, I've always loved that cash-and-carry show. We are so glad we went! We met all kinds of neat shop owners and fans (and some shop owner fans.) We love hearing how certain designs have been really successful for them in their shops. The whole industry is designer-driven, meaning that when there are good designs, shops do better (because then they can sell the fibers, frames, buttons, fabric, etc.) A designer doesn't make very much per design, considering the work that goes into it. As a shop owner, I feel I have some good perspective on what people are looking for in needlework...what's already been done, what's already been done TO DEATH, and what doesn't work. Sue and I only release a piece if we think it's got a good idea or story behind it. Flowers, pumpkins, hearts and leaves have been done by everyone. But I think we're the only ones who've done a graph with Dracula's underwear. Really! Boy, I realize I just went off on a tangent. Yes, the trade shows are important, but as shops have to watch their nickels and dimes, we realize it's not always possible for shops to pay the airfare and hotel to go spend money, especially when the Internet has made releasing graphs so immediate. It's a balance for sure, but boy, I love to go to Nashville. Sue: I love going to Nashville, too. Our favorite restaurant in Nashville is called Carrabba's. It is the highlight of the trip for us. Their Italian food and their martinis are unbelievably good. Once a year just isn't enough! Theresa and I would love to do more trade shows, but it is hard for us to get away since we each have jobs besides being designers (not to mention we both have kids/families at home, as well).
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What, if anything, needs to be addressed in order to have a strong cross-stitch industry 10 years from now?
Theresa: If you pay attention at the shows, you can visibly see the clientele aging, me included. I've always felt like a young one in the industry -- I just turned 37, but I started my shop when I was 27. Education is important, but more so, needlework has to be kept up-to-date. Kids and teenagers aren't going to stitch if there isn't anything that interests them. I've actually been kicking around some ideas for teenagers and their extra-curriculars. I was heavy into after-school activities, and it'd be fun to have some simple, quirky pieces about speech and debate and such. Younger stitchers, especially teenagers, seem to like our things. We use bright colors and have funny ideas. Not too much fussy backstitching. But also, current stitchers need to be kept interested. There have NEVER been better supplies to stitch with than right now -- you can get fabulous hand-dyed fabrics in every color imaginable, beautiful embellishments, wonderful frames, and fibers that make you want to just roll around in a pile of silks and over-dyed cottons. Established designers need to keep reaching for new ideas and new color palates. New designers need to keep thinking outside the box.
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Have you read any good books lately?
Theresa: I have so many things I like to do -- reading is one of them, and I've been making an effort to do more reading. Last week I finished Anthony Bourdain's "The Nasty Bits." That sounds terrible, I realize. He's a chef (like if Hunter Thompson was a chef). A quirky punk who writes wonderfully about food of all types and the restaurant industry (I think he has a few series that have been on TV. I've only read the books.) Right now I'm reading "The $64 Tomato." It's about a gardener who pours himself into gardening organically, and all of the funny things that happen to him along the way. I also like to play the piano, cook and stitch other people's designs (and ours, too). Right now I'm stitching an old Ewe & Eye & Friends piece of a Christmas nutcracker over-one. Sue: I recently finished, "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. The ending was so shocking. I had the pleasure of meeting the author at my local Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago. What a very nice gal. Her new book is called, "Nineteen Minutes" and is about a school shooting. I'm looking forward to getting some time to read it very soon. I guess it debuted at #1 on the NY Times Bestseller List.
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Could you share a favorite recipe?
Theresa's Guacamole (2) ripe avocados (not too mushy, not too firm) (1) ripe flavorful tomato (get these from your garden, the farmer's market, or on-the-vine at the grocery store, if you can) 1/4 of one medium onion (I use yellow) 1 lime (5 or 6) cloves of fresh garlic fresh cilantro Kosher salt (yes, you can use table salt, but it's not nearly as cool) your favorite corn tortilla chips Peel, pit and finely dice the avocado. Slice and dice your tomato, but scoop out and discard the little pockets of seeds as you find them. REALLY finely dice that little bit of onion. You can use more, but I think just a little onion keeps this recipe in balance. Mince the garlic cloves. Juice the lime (pick out any seeds, unless you like crunchy guacamole). You can chop up some cilantro if you like...I don't usually put it in, just because that's one extra thing to worry about remembering at the store, but it's good, too. Combine all of these ingredients, gently fold together with a rubber spatula and Kosher-salt the whole mess to taste. Serve in a really cool piece of pottery you might have bought at a street fair or something, and crack open a bag of chips. Enjoy! You WILL smell like garlic. So make sure your sweetie has some, too, so we he won't notice. Coca-Cola poured over ice in a tall glass is the perfect accompaniment for this treat.
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