Barbara is a fourth-generation business owner. She can trace her work "genealogy" back to her great-grandfather, who started a wholesale notions business in the mid-1800s. Since starting Keepsakes in 1997, Barbara has seen many changes in the Cincinnati cross stitch community, and is thrilled that one-time customers have grown into long-time friends! 

Susan is a customer-turned-employee. She is a true artist, with an amazing eye for color, design, and artistic balance. If you need a color conversion or a "Surprise Me" box of needlework goodies, Susan is your person. In addition to being a cross stitcher she is also a machine stitcher. When she fires up her sewing machine wonderful things get created: project bags, needle keeps, scissor fobs, and more.

Jen is another customer-turned-employee, and a valuable part of our team. She can be counted on for great insight, hard work and beautiful stitching! She even stitched a few Stitch-Con models for us, but is notoriously camera shy. That's why she's an avatar on our website!

Like all of our employees, Jan is a stitcher extraordinaire. She always brings a ray of sunshine to our store, and she is always quick with a positive word or idea. Jan is our “professional organizer” helping impose order upon chaos. (How are we so lucky to keep finding these good people?)

We're so excited to have Barb join our team! A long-time customer, Barb had become such a part of our family that we just had to bring her on board!

By popular demand our shop cat 310 gets included on the employee page. Her duties include: sleeping, eating, knocking over open beverages, begging for attention, and, at least in theory, catching mice. Once upon a time she was just a stray cat, Barbara began feeding her, and the rest is history. And yes, she is named for the DMC number for the color black!

Melinda joined the team on the eve of Keepsakes' 25th year, and what a whirlwind it has been -- refreshing the Keepsakes website, creating an online store, launching a monthly newsletter and more! With a 30-year career in communications, Melinda says the cross stitch community is by far the most giving, caring and kind group of individuals she has ever been lucky enough to be a part of.