Happy New Year!

I hope that whatever holiday you celebrated in December (Chanukah, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Ashura or your own special day) that it was meaningful for you. This seems to be the time of year most of us reflect on what the year has brought and what we hope the new year will bring. I know that I hope 2010 will bring a more lasting peace around the world, quality time with my family and friends and selfishly, more time to stitch (and bake)! Whatever your wish for the new year is, I hope it will come about for you!

New Hours for 2010

Our most requested change to our store hours is to be open on Monday. Well this is one wish I can finally grant even if I'm not a genie. Effective January 1st our new hours include being open on Monday. We will no longer be open late on Tuesday nights - there just wasn't enough business to warrant it, but Mary and Mary Frances who have been working Tuesday evening will be working on Mondays (they plan to trade off at the moment). Whether your stitch group meets on Monday and wants to come by afterward, Monday is your day off (it's mine by the way) or it's just more convenient we'll be open 11-5pm. So the new hours are: Monday - Saturday; 11am-5pm, Sunday 1-4pm. As always, if you need to visit at another time we do take appointments so just contact us to see if we can arrange it for you. We'll try this change for 3 months and see if we get enough business to continue it for the rest of the year.

 
Patrick's Woods - March 2010

Sherri Jones of Patrick's Woods Mermaid's Two Tales is a great project not only to stitch but to learn how to finish. This is 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 we 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 and we are not allowed to make any exceptions.

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. I will be having Sherri send the kits to us shortly so please let us know ASAP if you are planning to attend the class. Come join us for what will be a very fun day.

In addition to the Mill Hill button collections we made up a couple of weeks ago, we also discovered we had a large collection of Mill Hill pins. I added them to our Embellishments page in the on-line catalog. I have also changed the pricing so that if you buy more than 5 pins or 10 packages of buttons you get a discount. See the Embellishments page for all the details. Or stop by the shop and enjoy looking through the buttons & pins.

I'll have a few new things in the next newsletter. With the holidays most of our vendors take some extended time off for inventory and even some relaxation. The new year starts with a bang for us as Debi and I head off to Long Beach on the 8th for the Winter TNNA market. This is mostly needlepoint and yarn vendors, although a few of our counted-thread vendors attend as well. We always enjoy going to see what's new with our favorite vendors, meet new designers and catch up with all our friends.

We are closing early today (New Year's Eve) at 2pm and will be closed Friday. Then we're back to work with our new hours for 2010. I hope you have a pleasant New Year's celebration and as always, find a little time to stitch!

Happy New Year!

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

2010 Shop Hours: Monday - Saturday 11am - 5pm, Sun 1pm - 4pm
Other hours by appointment

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