FROM TODAY, JULY 27 UNTIL AUGUST 8, ELISABETH IS ON VACATION.  NANCY IS IN THE HOSPITAL.  QUESTIONS CANNOT BE ANWERED UNTIL ELISABETH'S RETURN.  SHIPPING WILL BE DELAYED.  WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE .

Your friend Santa

Has Spring arrived?
Letter from Santa to His Friends:

Good Morning my friend. How are you today?  I have not written in a while.  Things have been busy and crazy.  The Nashville Cross Stitch Show and Market was a few weeks ago but the ladies did not get to go this year.  They were sad about it.  It is their once per year chance to meet with all the designers and get the newest releases first.  Often there are designs only available in Nashville.  But due to Nancy's health and due to financial considerations they decided to forego attending this year.  Let me explain:

Nancy and Elisabeth started this cross stitch business because they love cross stitch.  They wanted to make sure that other Stitchers too can get a better selection and quality items at more reasonable prices.  But a decision had to be made: How much to mark up and still stay with the goal of offering at reasonable prices.  They decided that they had to cover costs, the price for the item, shipping from the artist/supplier to them, as well as shipping to the finaI customer, ebay and paypal fees, envelopes, printer cartridges and paper.  After adding all that up, the ladies decided, to further add a little for business trips just was not fair to their customers, so they decided NOT to do that.  But a trip to Nashville is not cheap.  And the economy is not great right now.  So they decided they would rather buy more inventory than take the trip..  They contacted the designers and explained and got most of the Nashville releases after Nashville.  So they can still offer them to their customers, a little later maybe, but they can.  They did really miss going so!

There is one more thing they have to deal with over and over again:  Fake/copied charts. With the technology available today charts can be scanned and copied, kits can be made up with inferior materials, in short a lot of fakes are on the market.  Not only is copying charts illegal (the designers state that you can make one working copy for personal use only, any further copies can only be made with the express written permission of the designer) it also hurts the designers badly.  It is stealing because they no longer get a Royalty from this chart that was copied.  That means designers will stop designing and the stitchers will be the ones to suffer in the long run.  The same goes for these fake kits.  If a stitcher ends up buying one of those , he/she does not only get a copied chart, they also usually get chep materials, the colors may be close, but not what the designer had in mind, the beads are not the same and if buttons or treassures are called for they get left off completely.  The ladies have gotten stuck with fake kits themselves and know how disappointing this is.  But with these hard economic times more people are looking for a bargain and so more people are getting cheated and the thieves have a thriving business on the backs of the designers and honest sellers.  Yes, it really is sad.    But back to better news.

If you have time to check out the store you will start seeing lots of new items like the next letters of Nora Corbett's Fairy Alphabet, the new releases by Rosewood Manor (that company seems to be the best kept secret.  Their patterns are so gorgeous!), Carriage House Samplings, Glendon Place, X's and Ohs, Crossed Wing Collection (Just wait until you see the Dog Park chart and the 2009 Hummingbird!), Blue Ribbon Design, Theresa Wentzler, Midnight Stitching, Plum Street Samplers, Dames of the Needle, Primitive Traditions, Milady's Needle, Needle Notions (Some really great Retro Designs!), Jim Shore designs, and old favourites like Stoney Creek Collection, Prairie Schooler, Sweetheart Tree, Black Bird, etc, etc.  Some really gorgeous stuff.

We have been busy around here even if the ladies did not go to Nashville.  We are still dealing with Nancy's Health issues, but at least Nancy has been stitching a little again.  That's a great sign!

Elisabeth is something else.  We have to teach her to say NO!  She is trying to do too much, between helping her husband with their business, restoring (Yes, not renovating but RESTORING!) the Victorian they live in, sewing historical reproduction costumes for her daughters and her friends, knitting up a storm and keeping up with the cross stitch business,etc.....it makes my head spin.  Actually both of those two ladies make me dizzy watching them!  

Well I better run.  I promise I will write more later but Mrs. Claus is calling.  Never a dull moment!

Have a wonderful Spring!

Your friend
Santa