April, 2011

Dear Friends,

I would love to say Happy Spring, but I am not really sure which season we are in. Here in Utah, we seem to be caught in a continual loop between spring and winter--sweaters one day and hats and gloves the next. Only Lindbergh seems to be content with a walk in whatever weather comes his way. Well, as some of you have figured out by now, we have taken that great step known to the 21st century inhabitants as Facebook. OK--I should clarify--the we part is a little inaccurate since my only venture into this adventure was to watch The Social Network with Christian. So I guess Teri is now on Facebook and having fun tending to the Shepherd's Bush page when she gets a chance--or thinks about it. It is definitely a mind-set. She seems to like adding things to her wall and corresponding with friends who have posted on it. I think I am not really a social network person. (I guess first of all I would have to be social.) I can never quite get past messages with spelling corrections for her. Really? You just have to accept that about Teri--she spells only according to her own mental dictionary which simply has nothing to do with the rules or suggestions from Oxford. Heaven knows it seems she has spelled her own name wrong her whole life. Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Sometimes it can be quite fun like solving a crossword or suduku puzzle. Well, anyway, if you are a Facebook person, I'll invite you to look our shop page up once in a while and see what we have going.

I have some fun things to talk about in this letter and I hope you will catch our excitement for some new things that are coming our way. First of all, Teri has been on a felt pincushion kick the last little while. We have 2 friends who are doing new pincushions--different from each other--and we have been having so much fun with them at the shop. Patti from SamSarah is doing a fruit and vegie group of cushions and I told you that Teri was working on the watermelon. Well she has finished it and it is so darling! She loved doing it and I think is moving on to the carrot next. She said it was fun to stitch and easy to finish.

Now another friend, Cecille from Just Another Button Co., has a daughter, Rachael, working in the business with her who is making a series of felt pincushions. We had her make us two of them and they are simply darling. I love the little blackbird and would love to make one of these for myself. Yeah, right.

But the strawberry is also very darling and might be easier to make. We have had several customers making them, however, and they said that they are very easy and have great instructions. Plus there are other darling ones that we carry but do not have made up yet: an adorable snowman, a carrot, ice cream sundae, and a box of chocolates that is amazing. Oh and Teri just told me that the newest one is a sheep--fab!

Now here is something fun that is coming of this month. In celebration of Prince William's marriage to Kate, Paula, at Kelmscott has designed a darling little commemorative set to mark the day. I know, that sounds a little odd, but it is very sweet and what a little, dear treasure of a part of our world's history. Growing up with a British grandmother, we have some memorabilia from the Royals that I have always loved. We have a tin with Queen Elizabeth's portrait on it made to commemorate her becoming Queen that we always stored our Christmas cookies in every year. I have always loved it and every year, we bring it out and lovingly wash it and put it away after the holidays. I also have a tea cup celebrating another event in her life that sits in my china hutch that I have always treasured. Someday William and Kate will be the King and Queen, and you will have these hidden in your stitching box as a remembrance. Or if you are like one of my many friends who are anxiously awaiting April 29th and planning to watch the entire grand proceedings from beginning to end, you will definitely want this.

There is a pincushion with their initials and a crown which she has paired with one of her cameo crown magnets and a tiny pair of gold Elizabeth I embroidery scissors. I just love them. The pattern--which comes with silk ribbon for the edge--runs $7.00, the magnet--royal purple of course--runs $9.50, and the scissors--$11.50. We are stitching it right now, and of course Teri has done her own colours. We will be offering a kit with the fabric, silks strands and a suggestion for a matching fob. I am not sure of the price of the little kit, but you could call us and we will know. We also have another commemorative pattern coming this week from Sampler Girl which is very different from this one, but is also very darling--a little more whimsical and colorful. So if you are into the whole royal family--and secretly, who isn't--don't miss out. Plus, on Friday, April 29th, we will be serving cucumber sandwiches and lime-curd tarts all day if you want to stop by and share the Royal fever. I know it won't be quite the spread coming out in London, but it will be very fun. Hey, bring your pincushion with you and we'll all work on it. See you then.

Now, I have some very fun news which we have just found out about this past week. With Thy Needle is starting up a new sampler experience called Birds of a Feather Mystery Sampler. We are very excited about it and hope that you all will be as well. Of course, because it is a mystery, we are not privy to very much specific information about it, but we think it will be a very fun spring and summer project to work on. If you are familiar with her things, you will know that she does lovely designs, and this one sounds sort of in the traditional sampler style. ??? I have no idea if this will be a limited thing or will continue to be available, but here is how we are going to work it if you are in from the beginning. The first portion will come out sometime around mid-May and will include the border pattern. Then the remaining sampler will arrive in 2 separate parts in June and July. Here are the details of the actual project:

Patterns only--to come in 3 parts--$21.00

Complete Kit: includes all patterns, fabric, threads--$75.00

Partial Kit: includes all patterns and fabric (no threads)--$37.00

If we will need to ship these to you, it will be an extra $9.00 to cover the 3 shipments.

I don't know what the colours will be like, but I do know that many of the colours require more than 1 skein so beware. If you would like to customize the threads, that will be possible if you are purchasing the complete kit. The fabric will be available in your choice of 30, 35 or 40 count. Also, we will include a fun little stitching gift to go with this sampler if you purchase the complete kit from us. So...if you are as excited as we are..just give us a call to sign up and we will be sure that you are included in the initial order. We will take down all your information, but we will not charge your card until we are ready to send the first installment which will include the border pattern and the fabric, needle, and threads. And, if you happen to be close by, we will be doing a potluck stitching night here at the shop to kick off the sampler. We will let you know the date when we find out. Just watch the blog for any updates, and give us a call if you have questions.

Well, I have to go and I have to send this off to Kristin to post before Teri has my head. She is excited about all of this and wants you to get excited as well. So... until next week--or the next--I am sending you hugs.

fondly, Tina

PS--I am mystified by those of you who mentioned laughing your heads off at our downspout dilemma. Did I make it sound funny? Hmmm... Did I also mention that the perpetrator is now living next door to the shop? I have to wonder what happened to the concept of jail.