What's New @ Needle In A Haystack

Needlepaints Bluish Lavenders & Orchids are gone.

As many of you know, some of Needlepaints colors have been hard to come by in the past few months. Marilyn of Lavender & Lace created a thread substitution list for the Lavender and Orchid ranges with Rainbow Gallery and posted it on her website. These 2 families will no longer be produced so our backordered threads of them are not going to come. The substitution list is not for individual colors but for the family. So you cannot mix 'n match between Needlepaints and the RG colors. It's one or the other.

If you have started a project with Needlepaints you have 2 choices now: 1) rip out the Needlepaints and start over with the Rainbow Gallery colors or 2) try to find a store with stock of the colors you are missing. Since the shortage has been going on for awhile it's going to be a challenge to find some of the colors.

We do carry all of these colors but we can also order them in a package with the family together. If you're interested in that contact us as it's not yet in our online catalog.

There is still inventory of the greens so they are not currently affected by this. Only the Bluish Lavenders and Orchids are gone. Here is the mapping, but for a printable version do go to the Told In A Garden website.

Needlepaints Bluish Lavenders	Rainbow Gallery
Needlepaints 2001	Splendor S931
Needlepaints 2002	Splendor S932
Needlepaints 2003	Splendor S1029
Needlepaints 2004	Splendor S1030
Needlepaints 2005	Splendor S1076
Needlepaints 2006	Mandarin M896
Needlepaints Orchid	Rainbow Gallery
Needlepaints 2007	Splendor S811
Needlepaints 2008	Mandarin M807
Needlepaints 2009	Mandarin M851
Needlepaints 2010	Mandarin M899
Needlepaints 2011	Mandarin M866

New lamps coming soon!

  At the recent TNNA show in Columbus I had the opportunity to try out a new lamp from Germany. Created by Holtkötter it comes in both a floor model and table model as well as two finishes - Satin Nickel (pictured right) and Hand Brushed Old Bronze (pictured left). It has a Halogen bulb that is adjustable so you can use it for reading, needlework or anything in between. The styling is reminiscent of Art Deco so it's a great choice for those locations where a craft lamp doesn't fit the decor. Research from the IESNA (Illuminating Engineering Society of North Amercia) on Lighting for the Aging Eye gives information on the different light levels needed. Click here for Holtkötter's research paper (in PDF format).

We have one floor lamp and one table lamp on order for the store (ok, so the floor lamp is really going to my house at some point). If you are interested in seeing one, we'll post a note when they arrive. They can be ordered from us and we'll ship it to your location. Shipping in the lower 48 states is likely to run around $30-$40 as the packaging is very sturdy to prevent damage to the lamp and needs to be shipped via UPS (oversized). You can pre-order one below and we'll let you know an ETA.

Table Lamp - Hand Brushed Old Bronze $445 + shipping

Table Lamp - Satin Nickel $445 + shipping

Pedestal Lamp - Hand Brushed Old Bronze $565 + shipping

Pedestal Lamp - Satin Nickel $565 + shipping

I sat in the chair at the show with my 45 count linen and was able to stitch with it, and not even on the brightest setting, no mean feat on a tradeshow floor. These are pricey lamps, but they do fit a certain bill both in terms of lighting quality and visual appeal.

New Sheep Scissors Holder from Lantern Moon

The wonderful folks at Lantern Moon sent us our shipment of Scissors Sheep, which I've been waiting on since I saw one in January at the Winter TNNA show.

This cute sheep can hold your stitching scissors and keep them out of harms way. And he's heavy enough you can whack anyone who tries to take them from you :-).

I'm a big Wallace & Gromit fan so I'm naming mine Shaun (who also happens to work at Lantern Moon - the guy, not the sheep).

Our Scissors Sheep are $18 (scissors not included). What are you waiting for? Get cracking!

Click here to order one of our cute sheep scissors holders.

Visit our on-line catalog for other fun accessories, fabric and thread.

New Teresa Wentzler Design!

Teresa has created a wonderful new design called Tracery Dragons . We have ordered it and should get them in shortly. We also have ordered the 28 count Picture This Plus Phantom fabric it is stitched on. It requires a Stitcher's Eighth if you are just framing it (a Stitcher's Quarter if you want a larger mat for it).

If you're interested in either just contact the shop via phone or e-mail (neither is in the online catalog at present).

Weekly Special - More Fabric on sale!

Through May 24th we'll be featuring more fabric (things we'd like to help find a home for outside of the shop). All of our Wichelt Betsy Ross Linen (aka Linen Hardanger), Wichelt Heatherfield, Wichelt Linen Silk and Zweigart Lincoln are on sale for 30% off their normal price. Wichelt has been paring down many of their fabrics so many of these will no longer be available once our inventory is gone. You'll find these fabrics in our on line catalog or you can give us a call to place an order. Minimum purchase is a quarter yard (if we have only a bit of something we'll let you know).

We are now out of the Antique White Linen Silk, it's not yet been removed from the online catalog but will be shortly. This fabric is no longer available.

You MUST mention the Weekly Special when placing your order, whether by phone, e-mail, in-store or on-line. Visit our Sales page to add a note to your order for this week's special if ordering on-line. Unless otherwise noted, sale items do not earn Rewards points and all sales are final (no exchanges or returns). Discount will be applied when we ship your order (or you check out in the store).

Gumnuts Grab Bags - Great threads at a great price!

We have taken all of remaining inventory of Gumnuts threads and put them into grab bags. They are by thread type vs. mingled between types. We also tried to keep color families together in the grab bags so if we had enough of say, one of the 5 shades of purple, they are together along with something complimentary to them. A great way to enhance your thread stash at a fabulous price.

Aztecs Grab Bags - 10 skeins for $25.00 (reg. $62.50)
Blossoms Grab Bags - 6 skeins for $19.50 (reg. $36.00)
Buds Grab Bags - 10 skeins for $35.00 (reg. $85.00)
Daisies Grab Bags - 10 skeins for $25.00 (reg. $55.00)
Jewels Grab Bags - 10 skeins for $30.00 (reg. $72.50)
Poppies Grab Bags - 10 skeins for $30.00 (reg. $77.50)
Stars Grab Bags - 10 skeins for $30.00 (reg. $70.00)
Tulips Grab Bags - 10 skeins for $30.00 (reg. $82.50)

Grab Bags do not earn Rewards Points and all sales are final (no exchanges or returns). Good while supplies last.

You can order these by phone, e-mail or visiting our Sales page.

Linenband Sale Extended

Given everyone was busy in the states with taxes last week, we're continuing our Weekly Special of 30% Linenbanding through April 27th. So if you thought you'd missed it, don't panic!

This Week's Special - Banding

This week's special is all Linenband is 30% off. This Weekly Special is good through Monday, April 20th. Discount will be taken at the time we ship the order or you check out at the store. Select banding is already marked down in the on-line catalog (ribbon edging for example) and the 30% discount will be taken in addition so you save even more. Limited to stock on-hand.

New Shepherd's Bush Canvases!

Dream House Ventures has arranged to produce several of the Shepherd's Bush designs as needlepoint canvases and they are so cute! Each of them is done on 18 mesh canvas. Both the Goblins Bookmark and the Happy Haunting Band Sampler come with a chart for the fiddlybits on the canvas where that portion is not painted in.

We have these in stock and you can find them in our on-line catalog here:

Happy Haunting Band Sampler $190	Goblins Bookmark $54
	Trick or Treat $54
We Three Kings Stocking $90	Hark Stocking $90
Train Stocking $90	Santa's Flock Stocking $90

Announcing Weekly Specials

Each week we will be featuring different in-stock items as part of our Inventory Reduction sale. Think of it as Spring Cleaning and you're the beneficiary. Each Weekly Special is good only for in-stock merchandise and in many cases the items are those we will no longer be re-ordering. You must mention the Weekly Special when placing your order, whether by phone, e-mail, in-store or on-line. We'll include a way to add a note to your order if you use our shopping cart. When shopping on-line the discount will not appear in your shopping cart - we will calculate it at the time of shipment.

Unless otherwise noted, sale items do not earn Rewards points and all sales are final (no exchanges or returns).

This week's special is: all Gumnuts threads are 40% off. We will no longer be inventorying these threads so get them now while they are on sale. This Weekly Special is good through April 13th.

• Gumnut Blossoms - Reg. $6.00 on sale for $3.60
• Gumnut Tulips - Reg. $8.25 on sale for $4.95
• Gumnut Stars - Reg. $7.00 on sale for $4.20
• Gumnut Buds - Reg. $8.50 on sale for $5.10
• Gumnut Daisies - Reg. $5.50 on sale for $3.730
• Gumnut Poppies - Reg. $7.75 on sale for $4.65

Visit our Sale page for the details (and other sale items) as well as the link to add a note to your shopping cart so you'll received your discount on this Weekly Special.

If you'd like to get a Tweet about the Weekly Special and other quick informational items, you can follow me using the Twitter link on the right side of the page.

Tricia Nguyen-Wilson Lectures in April

Tricia will be here teaching for the Bay Area Sampler Guild in April and we're fortunate to be able to have her do two lectures for us. Friday night will be her lecture on Sampler Design and you'll learn how to look at samplers in a whole new way and how to design your own. This is a wonderful design class.

Saturday night will be a terrific lecture on the Plimoth Jacket being worked on at the Plimoth Plantation. In addition to photos of the project Tricia will be bringing the companion coif and forehead cloth which are in process to show as well as video of the silk lining weaving and spangle making. You can read more about the project on her popular blog.

You can sign-up for the lectures via our on-line class listing or by giving the shop a call. Friday night's lecture is from 6:30-9:30 and is $45. Saturday evening's lecture is from 5:30-7:30 and is $35. Please join us for two very informative and inspiring lectures.

What a Steal - It's time for our "Egg"cellent Anniversary Sale!

The shop will be 11 years old on Friday (March 27th) and the 11th anniversary is Steel so we thought you'd enjoy the play on words :-).

We will be holding our annual "Egg"cellent Anniversary sale Friday - Sunday this week. If you're not familiar with this sale we put discounts in plastic Easter Eggs and you pick an egg when you check out. Inside will be your discount - from 15% to 30% off most regular merchandise (fabric, threads, charts, notions, canvases & accessories). Books and Magazines will be 10% off. The sale is limited to in-stock items only and excludes items already on hold, already marked down, trunk shows, classes and finishing.

Mail order customers orders placed between March 27th and March 29th will have an "Egg"cellent egg pulled for them and that will be the discount for appropriate items from that order. The discount will be applied when we ship the order so it will not show up in your shopping cart.

Stop by and visit us during the sale, either in person, by phone or on-line and celebrate our 11th Anniversary!

Friday the 13th Sale

One of the joys of owning a small business is you get to do things on the spur of the moment. So...we're having a Friday the 13th sale. Most everything in the store will be on sale for 13% off. Exceptions are our automatic programs (Just Nan Over The Top & Jeannette Douglas's My Stitching Album), trunkshows, finishing, classes, sale items and items on hold. The sale is limited to stock on hand and is good only on Friday March 13th. Give us a call, drop us an e-mail, come in to the store or send us an order on-line and have some shopping fun on the Friday the 13th!

Legacy Dower cuts available for Drawn Thread's Cici's Sewing Basket

The new Drawn Thread Cici's Sewing Basket uses an usual cut of the Legacy Dower 30 count Sunflower Seed linen. Our latest shipment of fabric was 72" wide so we're able to get 4 cuts out of a yard and half for this particular project. We have those available in our on-line catalog here for $31/cut. It's enough to do all the sides of the casket with a little left over.

Beth Gantz Desgins added to on-line catalog!

We're featuring Beth's designs through March 15th while we have her trunkshow in the store. So we've added a shopping page for her designs to the on-line catalog. While we do have quite a few of Beth's canvases in stock no trunkshow can contain everything and we're happy to extend our 10% off Trunkshow discount to even those canvases we need to order if your place your order by March 15th and mention the Trunkshow. Just give us a call, send us an e-mail or place your order through our Beth Gantz Designs on-line catalog page.