Ginnie Thompson was eight years old when she saw her first counted cross stitch sampler. It was a gift to her grandmother from her bible study group. The design included a tiny picture on the wall, a cat playing with a ball of yarn, flames in a fireplace, her grandmother's name, the names of the group members, and an original poem. The sampler was done in tiny perfect stitches. Ginnie was overwhelmed and felt sure that cross stitch was something very difficult to do. She did not learn to cross stitch until she was 33 years old.
Ginnie was a stitcher in the early 1970's when cross stitch charts and fabrics were hard to find in the U.S. The "Woman's Day" magazine offered a kit for one dollar that supplied a piece of even-weave linen, a needle, six strand embroidery threads, and instructions. DMC thread was available but each shop had a limited color selection as chosen by the shop keeper. Usually only two or three cabinets were available. Most cross stitchers would use cotton hardanger cloth from Herrschners or some similar place. For years, Ginnie used hardanger, stitching over one square of the fabric - 22 stitches to the inch!
In 1970, Ginnie started a needlework department at a gift shop in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. It started from a misunderstanding. Ginnie's boss, "Doc" Lachicotte asked for suggestions for new product lines. Ginnie saw a chance for a handy thread supply and suggested needlework supplies. After talking it over with his wife, they all agreed that customers coming for a beach vacation would NOT be likely to cross stitch. Then, weeks later, Doc told Ginnie that he had almost finished building her needlework shop. Ginnie was appalled and tried to get out of it. Doc told her to "do that thing you do." Ginnie had given Doc a gift of a cross stitch prayer book cover. When Ginnie told Doc that no one does cross stitch, he simply told her to "teach them." The next thing she knew, Ginnie had a needlework department furnished with models from her home.
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