Bob and Pam Reed have been married for over 57 years, raised 3 daughters, have 3 grandsons and 3 great grandchildren. Pam has always had a passion and talent for needlework and sewing and in 1988 was able to fulfill her dream of opening a retail store in a small town in Massachusetts. Bob’s career in finish carpentry enabled them to add custom framing to the shop and in later years, their youngest daughter, Tammy, learned the trade and worked alongside her father custom framing and assisting Pam in running the store.
Pam soon began designing her own cross stitch patterns and created the “Tuckaway”, an ingenious way to easily finish your cross stitch projects and change out your designs on a whim. Bob began using his creative woodworking skills to make wooden items to house needlework designs and is known for developing “The Crate” based on the old cranberry boxes. The Reeds then took their combined talents and in 1992 created this wholesale business, Olde Colonial Designs, which features Pam’s custom designed kits and charts and Bob’s handcrafted dowry boxes and frames.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000’s, Bob and Pam traveled throughout the country selling their wares at wholesale market shows which were predominant during that time. In 1994, Pam took her desire to pass on her knowledge to future generations, as well as to create a community for fellow needleworkers to gather, and developed (in combination with some other shop owners) a retail consumer show known as Celebration of Needlework, which is the model by which many of the consumer shows you see today are run by.
Today, Celebration of Needlework is carried on by Pam and her daughters, Kelly and Tammy, in Nashua, New Hampshire (celebrationofnw.com). Currently, Bob has retired from the workshop and has passed on his skill of making the heirloom boxes and frames to his son-in-law, Adam. Pam continues to design, teach and operate both Olde Colonial Designs and Celebration of Needlework with her daughters, Kelly and Tammy.