Can you believe Christmas is a week away? I can't. Where has the time gone? Oh I know, I was stitching! Now to finish those last minute gifts and a little last minute shopping as well.

I have made a final change to our holiday hours. We will be open December 26th & 27th after all (thanks to Mary and Sherry). So we'll be closing early on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve (11-2pm) and closed on Christmas and New Year's. Otherwise we'll be open our regular hours!

Newsletter Info

Chances are you don't know this tidbit, but you can set Vacation Mode for our newsletter. At the bottom of this message is a unique link for your subscription and one of the many things you can modify is Vacation Mode. You can set it for up to 4 weeks and the service we use won't send you any messages during that time. Once the time frame is up you'll start getting them automatically again. If you're travelling for an extended period, moving or just need to take an e-mail break, this helps keep your inbox less cluttered.

What's New & Updates

The Heart's Content Sewing Clamp II - Bird of Colour Maureen has created another lovely sewing "bird", both decorative and useful. The kit contains the 40-count hand-dyed Muffin linen, DMC floss, chart and the wrought iron clamp. Kit is $55.00

The Heart's Content Maureen's Mustard Gather All Box This hand-painted "mustard" box features lovely Quaker motifs. Kit includes 29 count Glenshee, Soie d'Alger and of course, the mustard gather all box. Kit is $76.00

Little House Needleworks Monthly Ornaments - Fa-La-La We're expecting these next week (I'm late in ordering them). This is the first in a series of Monthly Ornaments. Unlike the 2 series mentioned in the last newsletter this is just the chart, which is $6.50.

Lantern Moon Tape Measurers - Chicken or Turtle We should be getting these 2 newest whimsical tape measurers early next week. Lantern Moon works with villagers in Vietnam to create handcrafted tools for needleworkers. These are sure to be a hit with those who like fun as well as useful tools. $11/ea.

• Thread Gatherer - Ltd. Edition Christmas thread packs (lots of fun holiday colors)

Check out the Hoffman Merchant Mall, Norden Crafts and Wichelt Imports to see what's new or what other fun things are available we've not mentioned.

Gift Ideas

Here's a selection of some items I thought made great gifts...

Beau Geste Designs - Gilded Butterfly Complete kit with all goldwork threads $155	Beau Geste Designs - Siren's Refuge Complete kit with all goldwork threads $155
Primitive Traditions Sarah Elliot's Sewing Chest $190 Included is the 6" x 9" x 5" painted chest, charts for the top, insides and the five accessories as well as complete instructions for assembling the stitched pieces for the top and the accessories. Fabric and threads sold separately.	Primitive Traditions Abigail Colby's Workbasket $125 We have one of these left with the charts for all the pieces (top, liner & accessories) and the basket included. Fabric & threads sold separately.
Primitive Traditions Sampler Tiles $40 Ships, Swan, Dance, Quaker These are ceramic tiles suitable for trivets. Ships is from Sarah Elliot (only available as a kit). Dance is Dance by the Light of the Moon. Swan and Quaker from the Quaker Pocket Needfuls series. Charts are not included with the tiles.

For any of the items above, call the shop as these are not in our on-line catalog. You can find many other gift items in our on-line catalog (look under Gifts) or on the blog. Or visit us in person to see lots of things that never make it to website or come and go quickly!

If you're stuck for a Christmas gift for a fellow stitcher consider a Gift Card from us. Did you know that our Rewards Cards are also Gift Cards? They have a somewhat unique feature of being a dual card - kind of like having 2 brains. One part of the card remembers about your Rewards points and the other part remembers about money just like a regular Gift card does. If you're giving some spending dollars to a friend who has a Rewards Card we can add the money to their card for you (assuming we have their number on file). So no need to carry two different cards. If we don't have their number we don't mind sending them a second card so don't panic :-). We have received another batch of our Rewards Cards this week so we've got plenty to go around. If you need to order a Gift Card (or add money to one) just give us a call or you can place an on-line order to do it as well.

 
Patrick's Woods - March 2010

Sherri Jones of Patrick's Woods will be teaching for us Sunday, March 21. Her Mermaid's Two Tales is a great project not only to stitch but to learn how to finish. We will be doing this as a pre-stitched project so that we can spend the day of the class actually putting the clam shell purse together. The class fee is due when you sign-up and then we'll send you the stitching portion of the kit. The finishing portion will be handed out at the class in March. This is a class where you MUST be present. Sherri does not allow us to sell kits to students who do not attend in person.

You can sign-up on-line or by calling the shop. Your credit card will not be charged until we ship the pre-stitching portion of the kit to you. We expect to have kits ready to send just after the new year. Come join us for what will be a very fun day.

I forgot to mention in the past couple of newsletters that our metered parking is free on Saturday's this month. lt's one of the ways our business district thanks our customers for shopping with the local merchants. If you're looking for a quick bite to eat next time you're by stop across the street at Wescafe. They make great quiches, sandwiches and even Belgian waffles. They are definitely our favorite place to eat in the neighborhood!

We're making our way through creating some little Mill Hill button collections. When one of our distributors closed quite awhile ago we ended up with a huge stockpile of Mill Hill ceramic buttons from them. Since there are so many, we've created collections of 6 buttons (some a single on a card, some a double) in themes like Christmas, Children, Halloween/Fall, Animals, Stars/Hearts, Garden/Flowers. They would regularly be from $12-16 for the 6 buttons but we're selling them for $2.50 per pkg of 6. You can request a theme but not specific buttons - but at this price we're sure you can find something fun to do with them. You'll find a way to order them on our Embellishments page in the on-line catalog. Or stop by the shop and enjoy looking through the button bins.

Here's hoping with the impending holidays that you find enough time for your fun activities! Happy Stitching,

Cathe
Cathe's Personal Blog
...and Debi, Leila, Jennifer, Mary, Ali, Mary Frances, Caroline, Sherry, Susan and Margaret

510-522-0404 *  877-HAYSTAC *  877-429-7822
1533 Webster Street  *  Alameda, CA 94501

Shop Hours: Tuesday 11am - 8pm, Wed - Saturday 11am - 5pm
Sun 1pm - 4pm, Monday By Appointment

December Holiday Hours; 24th & 31st 11-2pm Closed Dec. 25th & Jan. 1st

Don't forget, we have free Wi-Fi.