Newsletter December 2020

Newsletters

December 15, 2020

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Hello Lovely Ladies!
It feels like we are fair flying into Christmas and 2021 after such an interesting year! We are delighted to be celebrating our 3rd birthday! It’s hard to believe we opened the doors on 22nd December 2017 and we have almost had 3 years in our shop. Come on in and celebrate with some birthday cake this week!

Shop Hours during the holiday season:

Thursday 24 December – 10am- 2pm
Friday 25th December – Monday 28th December CLOSED
Tuesday 29th December 9am – 5pm
Wednesday 30th December 9am – 5pm
Thursday 31st December 9am – 5pm

2021
Friday 1st January – Sunday 3rd January CLOSED
Monday 4th January 10am – 3pm
Back to our usual shop hours on Tuesday 5th January 9am – 5pm
then Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm weekly
and Saturdays 10am – 3pm

It is the last week of our term classes this week. As we start to wind down, I am also in a sense winding up for 2021 as we will have a few changes in the shop next year which I would like to tell you about.

Many of you will have by now met the lovely Caroline, who is an expert when it comes to cutting fabric and putting together some fabulous displays in the shop. Caroline will be working at The Eye Of A Needle on Mondays and Wednesdays and some other days when she is required to.

In January we also welcome Carol to join our staff. Carol has a real gift with using a sewing machine and has put together some lovely quilts and bags since she first started shopping here at The Eye Of A Needle. She will be working 4 days a week and will be taking the odd class once she settles in to shop life.

These changes will allow me to spend more time making samples for workshops as well as adding products to our online shop which we really hope will be active this side of Christmas. It will be nice for me to share the load, and for David to have more shed time as we also launch the Jolie paint range in 2021.

Changes in shop dynamics also mean there need to be some changes to our weekly calendar in 2021. We will be focusing more on teaching new skills, and so a lot of our classes will be tailor made for you to learn something new.

Most of our regular classes run during the school term and we ask that you commit by signing up for a whole 10 week term at a time – usually at a cost of $80 for the term.

Our regular weekly Class Calendar will look like this:

Tuesday 10am -12.30pm – starting Tuesday 2nd February
Beginner’s Patchwork Class

Carol will teach you the basics of Patchwork. You will make a new block each week over 10 weeks and then learn how to assemble your blocks to make a quilt. This is a class for those who have had little or no experience with patchwork – or perhaps you need to unlearn some bad habits and start from scratch again.
The class will cost $100 for the term. You will need to bring your own sewing machine. Fabrics and items needed for this class must be purchased from The Eye Of A Needle.

Tuesday NIGHT CLASS – 7pm – 9pm
(starting Tuesday 2nd February)

This class is suitable for those people who have busy day lives. The regular girls like a set project occasionally, so in Term 1 we will start with making a By Annie ‘Under Cover’ sewing machine cover. You are welcome to come along and make a project of your own choice if you prefer.
Class fees for the term are $80.00. Maximum class size is 8 people.

Wednesday 10am – 12:30pm
(starting Wednesday 3rd February)

Our Wednesday morning class has some real talent and most of the women in this group have been with us since we opened the shop. Unfortunately the class is currently full, and I don’t think any one in this lot will give up their weekly spot in a hurry.

However, due to popular demand we will be creating a NEW class:

Wednesday afternoon
(starting Wednesday 3rd February)

This class will run from 1:30-4pm every Wednesday during term time.
$80.00 for the term. This class will focus on learning new skills and a specific project will be taught. We will start with the By Annie ‘Under Cover’ sewing machine cover. New projects will be added to the calendar along the way. You will need to bring your own sewing machine and fabrics and patterns for projects will need to be purchased from The Eye Of A Needle.

BEGINNER’S SEWING CLASS
Thursday 10am – 12:30pm

Jenny and I have been running this class for several years now and it is so satisfying to see the progress some of our ladies have made. This class is for the real Beginner Sewist. You will learn how to ‘drive’ your sewing machine and will make simple projects to reinforce these skills.
The class will cost $80.00 per term. You will need to bring your own sewing machine and fabrics and patterns will need to be purchased from The Eye Of A Needle.

We also run occasional workshops on Fridays – which are usually pick up days for Block of the Month projects, and Saturdays are a good day to hold all day workshops, especially for a big project or with a guest tutor (see below)
.
We currently have 2 Block of the Month projects running –

‘My Redwork Garden’ by Bunny Hill Design (Block 10 of 12 blocks released in December)
‘Urban Owls’ by Wendy Williams (Block 2 of 10 blocks released in December)

Our ByAnnie classes are always very popular and spaces fill fast. The ‘Under Cover’ project will be our feature class in Term 1 so you will see it pop up in several places in this newsletter. We will also hold two workshops during the summer break on Tuesday 12th January and Thursday 14th January. If you’ve got an urge to attend a summer school, then come and join us between 9:30am and 4pm to make this sewing machine cover in a day.
This quilted cover comes in 3 different sizes with a variety of pockets to store manuals, pedal, cords and more. It also has 2 options for a back pocket opening either on top or at the side.
Please note that all fabric and notions need to be purchased prior to class from The Eye Of A Needle. We have a lovely panel in store to use if you want to copy my sample. Some quilting and cutting preparation before attending the class is also necessary if you want complete your project on the day.
The class fee will be $50 for the day + your pattern requirements.
We had a huge order of new ByAnnie zips, mesh and foldover elastic arrive last week, so we have almost every colour available in stock at the moment.

KID’S HOLIDAY PROGRAMMES

It looks like our Bernette Sew & Go sewing machines that we use in the Kid’s Holiday Programme are due to arrive next week thankfully, which means we can put them aside for the Beginner’s Class in January.
The Kid’s Beginner’s Programme will be held on Tuesday 19th and Thursday 21st January 2021. Each student will receive their own brand new Bernette ‘Sew & Go 3’ sewing machine that they get to use in class and then take home. We will teach students the basics of how to use their new machine and then work with them to make their own tote bag.
Class Fee: $299 (includes full kit and a brand new sewing machine)
$150 deposit is required to secure a place in this class – maximum class size is 6 students age 10+.
Kids will need to bring their lunch. A sewing kit is also available for purchase for $35 and is highly recommended so all the kids are using the same tools in class.

The Advanced Kid’s Programme will take place the following week on Tuesday 26th and Thursday 28th January. This time the kids will make a ByAnnie Over the Shoulder’ bag to hold their phone and/or wallet in. A perfect project for this age group. If time allows we will also teach the girls how to make their own pin cushion. (We get a bit tired of them dropping their pins on the floor in class!)
The class size will be limited to 8. The girls must have completed a Beginner Class with us before they are eligible to enrol in an Advanced Class.

JANUARY CALENDAR

Because we don’t have our regular classes until February, and also because not everyone gets to go on holiday in January, we have decided to have some ‘Drop In’ days on Wednesdays over the summer holidays. You can drop in at 10am, and you can stay and sew until 3pm if you want. Bring whatever UFO project you want to sew or finish and enjoy the company of others around the sewing table.
Dates for these ‘Drop In’ days will be:
Wednesday 13th January, Friday 15th January
Wednesday 20th January, Friday 22nd January
Wednesday 27th January, Friday 29th January

You will need to register for these days as there will be limited room around the table. Bring your lunch and $10 for each ‘Drop In’ day you attend. You can register for as many of these as you wish over January.

PROJECT BAG

The first time I made this project bag it was as a sample for the Kid’s Holiday Programme, and the kids all mastered it very well. Since then, the Night Class girls have made a Project Bag and now all the girls in that class turn up with their work in their Project bag each week.
So now it’s time to have another class to teach you how to make your own as this is a really handy little bag to use – either for sewing projects, book club, or any type of storage.
We will hold several classes to make this Project Bag on Friday 5th February, Friday 12th February and Saturday 13th February.
The classes will run from 10am -2pm, and will cost $30.
You will need to purchase your pattern and class requirements from The Eye Of A Needle.

QUILT-AS-YOU-GO CLASSES

‘My Redwork Garden’ BOM is in full swing and those who are completing their blocks each month are doing so well! The last block for this BOM will be in February. Once the 12 blocks are completed, we realise there may be a need to hold some Quilt-As-You-Go classes, so that all those gorgeous pieces of work can be quilted and stitched to their full potential. Julie Brunton is primed and ready to help me with this.

We plan to hold a Quilt-As-You-Go class once a month starting in March. The first class will be with the My Redwork Garden ladies in mind, but with the anticipated arrival of some beautiful fabric from Moda ‘Maryland’ by Kathy Schmitz around April, this Quilt-As-You-Go’ technique could also be applied to any quilt block or panel.
The dates for these classes will be Saturday 13th March, Saturday 17th April and Saturday 8th May. Please in the first instance register your interest in store and mark the dates in your diary. This class will be especially useful if you own a BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) that comes with some Bernina sewing machines – but you may not know what to do with it. We also hope to have our own Bernina Q16 in store by then, which is a slightly larger version of a BSR, so I may need lots of practice myself!

This is the Moda ‘Maryland’ panel by Kathy Schmitz due to arrive in store in April in 2 colourways – black on cream ‘Linen’ (pictured) & wheat on black ”Nightfall’. This would be the perfect block to practice some free motion quilting and to then Quilt-As-You-Go.

CLASS WITH DEBORAH LOUIE

With talk of borders opening with Australia we are still very hopeful that our classes booked with Deborah Louie can proceed. A decision on this will be made in conjunction with Tauranga Bernina in January. We have Deborah pencilled in for April 2021 to tutor her ‘Hearts & Lollipops’ Quilt.
However, I would still like to run a class for all those folk who have bought Bernina sewing machines from us in the past year. If Deborah is unable to come, we will have an alternative project which I will be working on over the summer. This will be a great opportunity for you to get to know your sewing machine better. The project will be based on a Crazy Patchwork kind of theme using all of the stitches on your machine that you don’t know what to do with, and will end up as a bag… more details once my sample is finished!
This class is best suited for those of you with Bernina machines; it isn’t exclusively for those who have bought machines recently, but if you want to learn more about what your machine can do, then this will be a great opportunity to learn some new techniques.

If you are interested in either of these options, then please let me know and pencil in April 12-13 as potential dates for a class.

The last box of stock that is expected this year (besides a few sewing machines next week) has arrived this afternoon. It’s interesting to see what shortages there are in the world. At the moment it seems to be scissors! Most fabric that I have ordered has been delayed by at least 2 months, so its quite exciting when a box turns up these days…we’re just never quite sure what it might (or may not) contain.
The majority of sewing machine sales need to go on to a long Back Order list with Bernina, and although some of these are expected in early January, there are no guarantees with the present port issues that they will arrive on time. Frustrating to say the least.
However, I think we have all learned the gift of patience this year, and have to accept that not everything is going to go the way we have always just expected it to.
I sincerely want to thank you for your continued support of our business, during a somewhat trying year for many. I am thankful that the craft industry has prospered well in such uncertain times, where many other industries have not fared so well.

As we celebrate the end of 3 years of business in Taupo, I feel confident that we will be around for a while yet, and we look forward to more growth and prosperity in 2021 and beyond.
Wishing you all and your families a safe and happy Festive Season and all the best for the year ahead

Kindest Regards
Kay