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Events &
Reminders
2011
Hours
Tue-Sat 11am
- 5pm
First Sun 12
- 4pm
Sun/Mon -
Closed
First
Sunday
February 6
March 6
April 3
Select
Monday Holidays
February 21st
12 - 4pm
Parking
We have a small parking lot behind the building with 3 spots for us -
marked NEEDLE. Please only park in these spots (the rest
are reserved for our neighbors). There are also 2 handicapped spots for
general use.
The front entrance has stairs so use the
rear entrance off the parking lot if you need a level entrance.
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Greetings,
I know many of you are attempting to stay
warm with the onslaught of the ice storm that has covered much of the
US. Quite a few of
our vendors just gave up and stayed home and I expect many of you have
made the same choice. I do hate to rub it in, but it's been in the
upper 60's to low
70's for the past week and is going to be the same for the next week.
So if you're freezing think warm thoughts about visiting us in the
sunny SF Bay Area and
maybe you'll warm up a
little!
Zweigart
Fabric
Availability
Over the past 18 months we've had
difficulty with obtaining some of Zweigart's fabrics.
Zweigart
Germany has gone through more than one catalog change in that time, one
fairly recently. What this means is that Zweigart Germany has made the
choice to have a
more limited selection of colors in their standard repertoire (what
they run regularly and stock in the mill in Germany). They base those
choices on what's
popular in Europe however and not what's
popular in the US. So the lists have diverged quite a lot and we're
finding for example, that the list has a lot of color choices in Lugana
25 count but very
little in 28 and 32. There is a good number of colors in the list for
Belfast but fewer for Cashel. So when we need to order a count/color
not on this list and
it's not in stock in the US, Zweigart US generally needs to order a
mill run of a specific count and color. A mill run is not small - it's
generally around 400
yards in a fabric or
1000-2000 yards in canvas. Needless to say not all of the colors/counts
we expect to find in the US will get run with reliable regularity
depending on the
fabric and the color.
What does this mean to you? Generally
that you may need to be willing to substitute another color, another
count or another fabric
if it's a color not in stock in the US and you are unable to wait.
Given the plethora of hand-dyed fabrics these days finding an
alternative, at least for
linen, is not that hard - just usually more expensive. We order
Zweigart regularly from 5 different sources, including Zweigart US so
sometimes we can come up
with what you are looking for
by searching. But not always - so if you can be flexible on what you
need hopefully the wait time won't be so bad.
We have had a number of people inquire
about Congress Cloth, which is currently
out of stock with every distributor in US (for White and Ivory/Eggshell
as far as we know). One of our distributors who orders directly from
Zweigart Germany
is expecting to get White, Ivory/Eggshell and Black in the next several
weeks (it's in the queue to be milled). If you have already ordered it
we have you on
the back order list for it. If you know you're going
to be needing some let us know and we'll have them increase our back
order.
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New
Kreinik Threads
Kreinik introduced new colors and 2
new threads at the show last month. Available in 4, 8, 12 & 16
Braid are the
new Candy Colors. The best one is really the Marshmallow - it's a very
bright white but opalescent. If you like 032 for it's sparkliness
you'll definitely like
5760. You can find the new colors in our online
catalog Kreinik
Metallic page, near the bottom of the list.
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5700-Cotton Candy |
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| 5705-Rock Candy Red |
5720-Gum Drop Gold |
| 5725-Lollipop Lemon |
5735-Key Lime Pie |
| 5740-Sugar Plum |
5750-Coffee Toffee |
| 5760-Marshmallow |
5765-Orange Sherbet |
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Kreinik
also introduced a new wired thread for dimensional embroidery. Hotwire
is
Kreinik Medium #16 Braid with a wire core. Use it as embellishments for
a 3-D look or to add a funky edging to projects. Write words and
initials and names or
outline motifs to make them stand out. You'll find it in the Miscellaneous
Kreinik
page.
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| 001W
-
Silver |
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| 002W - Gold |
003W - Red |
| 005W -
Black |
009W -
Emerald |
| 015W -
Chartreuse |
052FW -
Grapefruit |
| 5700-Cotton
Candy |
5765-Orange
Sherbet |
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 Lastly Kreinik released Easter
Grass, a thin, single ply 1/8" Ribbon with a pearlescent
look. Use Easter Grass in long stitches on a window pane to make it
look glassy, in long stitches on eyeglasses and to replicate a candy
wrapper. Really a
fun thread to try out on your projects. You'll find it also on the Miscellaneous
Kreinik
page. |
NIAH
Weekly Special!
This edition of
the NIAH weekly special is fabric. We have a selection of hand-dyed Zweigart
fabrics and canvas
on consignment. I've set up a separate search catalog for them since
they are not part of our regular
inventory (a few colors are things we usually carry but most are not).
The fabric is dyed by Silkweaver for Zweigart US (who distributes to
shops for
Silkweaver now) and the canvas by JAR. The canvas is not stiff -
the dyeing/painting process softens it quite a bit. It's still quite
stitchable, but if you love stiff canvas this will leave you feeling a
little droopy :-).
For fabrics we have some 16 count Aida, Belfast, Cashel, Edinborough,
Newcastle, Lugana 25, 28 & 32 and Jazlyn 28. For canvas it's 18
mesh mono
canvas.
You'll find the
Consignment
Fabric
in a special section of the online catalog,
which you can
get to
by visiting the Sale
page. Be sure to click on the Weekly Special link as well or
mention it if you place a phone or e-mail order. For
those of you who do so, you'll earn double Rewards points on the Consignment
Fabric we have in stock. This is test to make sure you're reading
the newsletter :-).
If you missed the Weekly Special
from 2 weeks ago we still have a few of two of the items left in stock.
Collage Collection
from Fern Ridge is
wonderful little collecting book for you to stitch and sew up. It comes
with all the fabric, ribbons, threads and fun doodads. You can use it
to collection
needlework smalls, buttons, gadgets or other personal mementos.
We have 4 of these beautiful kits.
Normal retail would be $56.00. For this Weekly Special Collage
Collection is $30.
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Just Nan released
this limited edition kit in 2008 as a companion to Barnabee's
Quest and When Barnabee Met Bella. Just Nan is sold out of them
but we have 4 of them left in stock, looking for a good home. Regular
price is $65,
for this Weekly Special the price is $50.
The Just Nan and Fern
Ridge Weekly Specials are not listed on
the website. If you wish to order via the website go to our Sale page
and
add
the Weekly Special note to your cart, then let us know what
Weekly Special you want in the
Special Instructions when you check out. The cart won't be able to do
the math for a total or
proper shipping, but you can order securely this way (or in your PJs at
3am). Alternatively you can give us a call at the shop during store
hours or send us an
e-mail with your request. |
The
Needle's Prayse
English
Whitework
Sampler
Stitch-along (SAL)
Several in my
SAL group have started their English
Whitework Sampler. Mine is done on 36 count Vintage Tapestry Teal
(alas, a now discontinued Lakeside Linens color). I'm
working it with Soie Gobelins for the main thread and alternating with
Soie 100/3 in a slightly lighter shade and a much darker shade for the
other color(s).
Since it's hard to find exact matches across threads in silk this is my
way of dealing with the color differences. It's also way too hard to do
eyelets in Soie
Gobelins, the thread is extremely slick, so doing them in Soie 100/3
works much better. I tried one of the letters with the darker thread
and liked the
light/dark contrast. If you
click on the photo you'll get the really big photo so you can see the
work better.
If you've been
dying to work on the piece and want to join us you can go to the NIAH_SAL_Whitework
Yahoo group and request to join (or send me a note). We've got 55
stitchers in the group now spread
across the globe. I think we're all going to enjoy working on this
piece. I know I am!
 After the holidays we
rearranged a bit. Yes, I know we've only been in the new shop for 6
months but
it was time
to do a little moving around. We've flipped the needlepoint canvas rack
so you can see it when you come in the front door. I was able to move
the bookcases to
nearby locations and to put the Elfa drawers we use on the back side of
the canvas rack. With a new top on the Elfa drawers it makes a great
place to lay out
projects and choose wool. And it improved the light levels on both
sides since the bookcase was no longer blocking any of the light. We're
happy with the
results and have a few more
tweaks we'll be doing over the next month or so, including hanging some
of the canvases up on the wall and putting tags behind every thread
that hangs (and is
that a job!).
This weekend is Super Bowl Sunday and
it's the first Sunday of the month so we'll be open 12-4. Mary Frances
has returned from her
Hebrew teaching gig and we're sure glad she's back. She'll be in on
Sunday (as well as Saturday) so if you are of a mind, she can regale
you with Hebrew
studies stories. Since the game doesn't start until 3:30pm Pacific
Time, you've got time for a quick fix at the shop. Or come stitch for a
bit and relax before
whatever festivities you're part
of or just to avoid them.
In February we'll be open President's
Day, February 21st from 12-4pm.
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