A Note From our Friendly Staff . . .
Well, it’s that time of year again - Warm days, cool nights, and I know we're all starting to think about Christmas gifts.
For many of you this is the first you've encountered The Busy Needle. Welcome to our growing family! We work to bring you not only the best the needlework and yarn world has to offer in patterns, charts, fabric and fibers, but also the best we, as business people and stitchers, have to offer as well.
Whether it’s a request for a special chart or fabric which we don’t have in the shop, a quick lesson on French knots or specialty stitches, or help with that knitting or crochet stitch that just doesn‘t make any sense, we’ll do all we can to make you a happy fiber artist!
A little about our expertise . . .
Kim’s background is in the framing business, having worked at one of the two wholesale framing distributors for 7+ years before moving to Ambiance. (Ambiance installs large artworks at museums, hospitals, etc., all over the country and we’re quite fortunate that she’s also framing for us!)
Jackie likes fine needlework and she teaches our Hardanger class. At some point we’ll also offer Brazilian embroidery and Jackie will teach that as well (her work is gorgeous!)
Sydney is our part-time teen who's a whiz at cross stitch on linen and evenweave. (Her backs look better than some adults' I've seen!) She restocks the shelves, puts up displays, reorganizes the buttons and yarn, and is learning the ins and outs of running the shop.
Jean has a lot of retail experience and is a whiz at crochet and a fabulous cross stitch instructor, among her many other talents.
Gail’s background is in working with the public, public records, and inventory control. She's only in the shop once in a while now, but always helps with inventory. She is also our guest cook on our retreats - wow - can she cook!
Eric’s expertise is in office management and computer software, though he’s also a great “ideas” man and is a whirlwind with a jigsaw. He can cross stitch, knit, crochet, and answer most questions and he's usually our Go-To-Guy when the rest of us are at our stitching retreats.
Frank (my husband, the engineer) keeps us all on track and sane. Frank is our computer hardware and accounting guru and is also the one who chooses dessert for UFO Night (“Sit ‘n Stitch) on Thursdays so everyone likes to keep him happy.
My background is in corporate management, marketing and public relations, with some retail experience. I was taught needlework, starting with basic embroidery stitches, at the age of 5. (Mother says it was earlier, but I was 5 when I completed the first project that I can remember.) What Mother didn't know how to do, she had people teach me. And as I'm pushing 60, I'm also still learning!
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A word about classes . . .
Periodically we schedule formal classes and we announce those in the email newsletter and on the bulletin board in the shop, but if you already know how to cross stitch, knit or crochet, and just want information on a specific topic (such as “Is there anything I need to know about stitching with an overdyed floss?” or “Which method should I use to do these knit increases?”) just ask. We’ll be happy to pour a cup of tea and share our knowledge!
And please don’t feel limited to just cross stitch and yarn topics. Between us, Kim, Jackie, Jean, Gail, Eric and I are accomplished at cross stitch (we’ve done both printed and counted), counted threadwork, needlepoint, petit point, Swedish weaving, duplicate stitch, knitting (both hand and machine), crochet, tatting (shuttle and needle), rug hooking, rug punching, beading, embroidery (including some dimensional embroidery and Brazilian embroidery), sewing, tailoring, and quilting. We offer framing at the shop and specialize in framing fiber arts (but Kim can frame anything!)
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We love Stitching Camp! . . .
Our last camp, “Stitching by the Lake”, was held in cabins at Tim’s Ford State Park, off I-24 between Nashville and Chattanooga.
The stitching project was a Mosey ’n Me design, “Steppin’ Through the Seasons,” which is exclusive to cross stitch shops which took the Mosey ’n Me class at market. There were 10 specialty stitches which Gail taught in class. The remainder of the chart was done in cross stitch and the ladies completed it on their own. The knitting class projects were Three Luxury Yarn Bags. The first was a "Pineapple Bag" made from a linen/cotton blend yarn. The second was a very small "Lattice Work Lingerie Bag" made from a cotton/angora blend yarn. The last was a "Salt Water Taffy Sachet" made from a silk/wool blend yarn. I usually design all of the knitting projects ... so you won’t find them anywhere else except at our Stitching Camp!
All of our Stitching Camps are held within a 2 hour drive of Nashville, Tennessee. We leave the shop on Friday morning and return Sunday afternoon. Usually camps consist of two 2-1/2 hour classes. One is a knitting class and the other is a needlework class. And for those who can't see the smaller count fabrics, we ALWAYS do the project on two fabric sizes! Just let us know which you prefer.
If you're interested in this year's camp, which is in the planning stages, please drop us a note and we'll add you to the Camp Mailing List. We have not yet scheduled the next one but are looking at January 2008.
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UFO Night
“UFO” stands for UnFinished Object. UFO Night is when our stitchers take an evening out for themselves to work on their projects at the shop.
We have UFO Night every Thursday. We stitch for two hours from 7-9 pm, then put projects away. From 9-9:30 we serve a dessert of Frank’s choosing (so we have to be nice to him) and coffee or tea.
UFO Night guests get "first dibs" on everything that has come into the shop during the past week. If you're going to be a regular patron of the shop, you should get extras! (We also put chocolate on all the tables.)
Your first UFO Night is “on the house”; after that it’s $5 each evening you attend.
YOU MUST MAKE A RESERVATION AND PAY IN ADVANCE FOR UFO NIGHT. We only have room for 12 people so the early bird gets the worm.
When there are 5 Thursdays in the month we do something special on one of them. Each time it’s different, but we’ve attended several dress rehearsals of the White House Players’ various productions, had cookouts, pot luck dinners, etc. Anyone who has attended any UFO Night in the previous month is invited to participate in this free event.
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October 2008 UFO Nights are:
Thursdays: October 2, October 9, October 16, October 23, and October 30. Wait! That's FIVE Thursdays! Our special event in October will be a trip to the brand new alpaca spinning mill in Gallatin, TN. Anyone who has attended an October 2008 UFO Night is welcome to join us!
November's UFO Night’s are:
Thursdays: November 6, November 13, and November 20.
Note that we will NOT meet on November 27, Thanksgiving evening, even though I know this is disappointing to many of our regulars... ::sigh::... Frank insists I spend some time with my family.
Wednesday Sit and Stitch
Every Wednesday morning from 10:30 to noon we have a free open Sit and Stitch. Sometimes we listen to books on tape, sometimes we just talk. No food, no fees, no goodies - just free time to stitch and have questions (on any subject, needlework or not!) answered.
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Special Orders
We can’t carry everything. (We wish we could but there’s not enough space!) We can, however, special order any chart, pattern, yarn, or fabric for you that our distributors offer. Because we restock regularly, we’re usually ordering from each of our suppliers about every 2-3 weeks. Our guidelines are:
1) If your request is sent in with our regular order, we do not charge you any special shipping or handling fees.
2) If you need your item immediately, and we don’t have an order going in soon enough for you, you pay our distributor’s actual shipping charges for your item (usually $4-$7.)
3) Either way, we’ll need a deposit of 1/2 the cost of the special order item at the time you make your request.
That about wraps it up. Welcome to the family! If you have any questions, by all means stop by, give us a call, or drop us an email. We look forward to seeing you again soon!
Thank you for visiting!
-Elise
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