Shop History & Staff
 Park Street - Front of the store Our location
from 1998-2003 |
 Just after our move to Webster Street in February 2004 |
After our 2005 paint job |
March 27, 2008 marked our 10 year anniversary at
Needle In A Haystack, having opened our doors on March 27, 1998. The
shop was started from scratch vs. buying out an existing business. We were
located on Park Street for the first 6 years but lost the lease on our space in
January 2004. With a short lead time we were able to find a new store front on
the other main shopping street, Webster. Our new locations offers us a lot more
room with almost 4,000 sq. ft. of retail space and a long term lease.
All of the staff are stitchers themselves and while
we don't claim to be experts in every technique out there, we are generally
knowledgable about most stitching techniques and can usually give pointers to
others who are specialists in a particular area.
Shop Owner - Cathe Ray
While reading was my first love as a child I've
been doing needlework or crafts of some kind since about age 10. My grandmother
taught me how to embroider and do some sewing but much of it I picked up on my
own. Needlework skipped a generation in my family and both my sister and I do
various aspects of it (she does absolutely beautiful crochet). I lived in Santa
Fe, NM until I was 11, when we moved to California (mid '60s). I went to junior
high and high school here and later moved to Seattle to attend college. I have
a degree in Computer Science from Seattle Pacific
University (1980), where I started out as Textile major in 1975. I came
back to California in 1984 to work for a computer firm in Berkeley, at which
point I moved to Alameda (and then married a native Californian).
In my early 20's, I traveled for a couple of years
with two different gospel groups and saw a great deal of the country. It was
during my travels withoneof these groups that I taught myself to needlepoint
and spent many hours on the road making up projects. It was also during this
time that I found my first counted-cross stitch patterns on the road. It wasn't
until years later when I took an actual class in needlepoint that I discovered
I'd being doing half-cross stitches vs. tent stitch on my needlepoint. I'd
always wondered why my needlepoint pieces seemed so distorted when I was done
and then I knew :-).
I have worked in the computer field since 1979,
first as a software engineer and since 1994 as a manager of them. In 1997 I
started seriously thinking about opening a shop and credit two people with
really making me believe it was possible. First and foremost is my husband
Carl, who believes that I can do anything I put my mind to. The second is C.A.
Wells who helped me understand that I could build it as a business without
giving up my day job. When you've worked in the computer field as long as I
have it gets in your blood and it's hard to walk away from for many reasons.
Once I'd made the decision it was possible it took many months to plan and when
I started to look for someone to manage the shop I was most fortunate in
finding Ada Haydon. Ada managed the shop from Jan. 1998, even before it opened,
until October 2001, when she left to join her husband after his transfer back
east. Ada was the first of many wonderful staff to come to the shop and it's
really my staff who have made my vision of the shop come to life. Over the
years I've also had the pleasure of making wonderful friends in our industry.
Four of them, Jean Lea of Attic Needlework, Deb Clark of Stitchville USA and
Roz Vancil and Jeannine Cheney of Acorns and Threads are my "partners in crime"
- we're collective known as the Needlework Maffia. I have two other great shop
owner friends in Linda Mendenhall of Old World Designs and June McKnight, who
has sold her shop and is spending more time teaching. The friendship of these
ladies is a godsend to me on a daily basis.
The shop has been a way for me to combine two very
different aspects of my life and I'm the one that handles all the website and
computer work for the shop (I'm really a geek at heart). After being layed off
in 2001 I had been spending most of my time at the shop while looking for
another computer job. In August 2003 I decided not to go back to the computer
world and instead concentrate on the shop, taking over many of the day-to-day
jobs others had been doing for me. In 2004 I had a small part in a Mythbusters
episode about find needles in a haystack, which was great fun. In 2006 I became
chair of the Counted-Thread & Embroidery within our trade organization so I
serve on the board of directors of TNNA.
I work a number of needlework techniques such as
cross-stitch, needlepoint, embroidery, hardanger, pulled-thread, drawn-thread,
silk ribbon embroidery, goldwork, Bunka (Japanese embroidery) Brazilian
embroidery, Punchneedle embroidery and a bit of crewel and Stumpwork. I also do
machine embroidery on my Pfaff as well as gardening, baking, card-making and
beading. I've rarely met a hand-working hobby I didn't like :-).
I'm at the shop almost every day except Thursday
(and sometimes even then), when I try to work from home to do the web site
updates. Even with 10 hour days, 6 days a week I love being a shop
owner!
Shop Manager - Debi Anderson
Debi became the the shop's manager in October 2001,
after serving as the assistant manager for the previous 18 months. Debi and
Cathe tend to the day-to-day business for the shop such as ordering all those
goodies we like to buy and Debi or Cathe are usually the ones who handle the
shop e-mail. Debi is normally in the shop Tuesday through Friday.
I was born in San Francisco and have never left the
Bay Area. Married 20 years in 2002, I have a son in college, and a daughter
who's graduating from high-school this year. I took classes in college with the
idea of getting a degree in Graphic Arts, but ended up working in the printing
industry, running presses and doing pre-press work for PG&E until my
children came along. Now they are both in College. When they were in
high-school it was time to stop being a stay at home mom, and find a job I
would enjoy. Ever since my girlfriend started me on cross stitch and
needlepoint in high school, it has been my favorite hobby (just ahead of
reading and chocolate). When I first visited Needle in A Haystack, I
went home and told my husband that I'd found my perfect place... needlework and
chocolate in one store (and a bookstore right next door)! Each time I visited
the shop, I would mention how much I would like to work here, and Ada finally
hired me!
Staff - Caroline Ewell
Caroline has been a customer since the beginning and
had been helping out once in a while. We twisted her arm a little (not too hard
mind you) and she joined the staff in January 2002. Caroline is a wonderful
needlepointer and is a amazingly fast stitcher. We can't seem to give her
enough projects! Caroline is in the shop on Thurday and an occasional Saturday.
Here's Caroline's personal bio:
I had been a customer and model stitcher for the
store since the shop opened. I was born and raised in Oakland, California. I
was married to a wonderful man Robert, who passed away a few years ago. We have
two great sons, both in their 20's. My home is in San Lorenzo and my favorite
color is yellow.For many years I was involved in a Sea Cadet Unit in Hayward
which is the Navy's youth program for young people ages 11 through 18. A truly
rewarding experience which I enjoyed immensely. My MAD Passion is Needlepoint
and has been for 30+ years. I prefer the handpainted canvases over the charted
needlepoint but I do both and I am known as the "Queen of Halloween" (my
favorite time of year). I love ALL Halloween canvases. I use all threads in my
pieces no matter how hard they may be to work with so that I get the textures
and colors that the piece may call for. I love watching it come to life. I also
sew and quilt and since working at NIAH I'm developing a true love for Cross
Stitch and counted thread work as well. At NIAH we all have a true love for tea
and chocolate. It is truly divine. The girls in the shop have nicknamed me the
"Aerobic Stitcher" as I will take a canvas home and stitch until it's done and
bring it back, almost overnight. My "day" job is as a pharmacy technican for
Long's Drugs in San Leandro but my love is needlework!
Staff - Sherry Menne
Sherry joined the staff in November 2002. She came to
us from The Running Thread, where she'd worked part-time until they closed.
Sherry works full-time at a Bay Area high tech firm during the week and is in
the shop on Sunday. In addition to knowing a lot about cross-stitch and
needlepoint, Sherry teaches our Temari classes and the collection of Temari
balls we have on display were all created by Sherry.
Staff - Mary Heimann
Mary came to us in 2006 from Lacis and has a love all
things needlework related. She's quilted for a number of years as well as done
embroidery. We've taught Mary to love cross-stitch and needlepoint as well her
other needle related hobbies. Mary is in on Saturday and Sunday.
Staff - Ali Gordon
Ali started with us in November 2007 as our primary
mail order person, taking over that job from Cathe. When packages are mailed to
you Ali has handled it at least from the pretty wrapping until it's sent to you
and perhaps been the one to pull your order as well. We're getting her hooked
on the needlework bug and she's a very fast learner!
Staff - Leila Crawford
Leila is our newest staff member, joining us in April
2008 after tiring a bit of work in the legal world. She's done embroidery for
much of her life, having learned it in school in South Africa. She makes the
most adorable scented sachets, which she sells on her website
Lelia Jo Crafts. Lelia also a
licensed Massage Therapist and Taro reader.
Helpers - Susan, Margaret, Cheryl,
Rachele, Rebecca & Tamara
In addition to our regular staff our "helpers" are
those of our staff who are not necessarily in on a regular basis, although some
are here quite frequently. Depending upon when you're in the shop or call us,
one of them might be here as well. They are all well qualified to help you with
your stitching questions and if they don't know the answer, they'll know who
does.
Why does your toll-free number have
an extra character?
Many people have asked why the mnemonic for our
toll-free number of 877-HAYSTACK has an extra character in it. The "K" is
superfluous and without it the number would be 877-HAYSTAC (877-429-7822) which
isn't nearly as easy to remember. This should never cause a problem with any
phone system, which will ignore the extra digit. So feel free to use it if it
helps you remember the number. But be careful, we've been told that leaving out
the 'C' will get you a "steamy" phone call.

Shop Awards, Commendations &
Associations
We were pleased to be the
December 1998 shop
focus on the Caron Collection web
site (in our first year of business). In January 1999 we were given a
Best of the
Net award by the Needlepoint guide at
The Mining Company. Also in
1999, we became a member of the Needlecraft
Showcase, which includes many on-line needlework shops, distributors and
suppliers.

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