Newsletter July 2022

Newsletters

July 15, 2022

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Hello Lovely Ladies
Hasn’t it been great to have some real rain? It’s ideal if you’re a sewist as there is always something you can do inside on a cold rainy day! I know during the July School Holidays that many of our customers are tied up with grandmother duties – we have just had another successful week with our Beginner’s School Holiday programme – it’s always so satisfying to see the kids heading off after the second class inspired and keen to make scrunchies for all their friends!
We also had a very enlightening ‘Getting to know your Overlocker’ class last week – so often we just need to learn a few of the basics and we’re on the way with our machines with new skills and tools that we can no longer do without.
We will continue to repeat both these classes on a twice yearly basis as long as there is demand for it.

I would like to congratulate the Taupo Quiltmaker’s for a fabulous exhibition over Matariki weekend. The organizers did a wonderful job, and there were some truly lovely quilts on show. Carol and the girls were very busy in the shop and we were cleaned out of some of our popular fabrics and kits.

We are looking forward to hosting the ladies from Taupo Quiltmakers IN STORE on Thursday night 28th July from 7pm- 9pm. A CLUB ONLY special will be a 25% discount off selected fabrics (minimum cut will be 1/2 metre) – there will also be 25% off selected FQ’s for this evening only.
There will be PLENTY to choose from, but the discount won’t apply to our latest shipments or to already marked specials.

Straight after Matariki weekend we received 6 boxes of Moda Grunge’s 50 most popular colours which we are now adding to the shelves and to the online shop. We are delighted and very relieved that our Grunge fabric is finally available to buy off our website. It seems to have been a bit of a mission getting to this point, but all the hard work has finally paid off! I will continue to add new fabric to the website as it comes in – there is bound to be more tweaking required as we go along!
If you want to have a look, go to www.theeyeofaneedle.co.nz and click on SHOP – FABRICS – FABRIC BY MAKER – MODA – GRUNGE BASICS and you should see the top 50 colours there.
We will be selling our online fabric in units of 0.25metres – so if you want to buy 0.25m that will equal 1 unit; half a metre = 2 units; 0.75m – 3 units and 1 metre = 4 units etc. It is taking a bit of getting used to at our end as well, but these units will become the ‘norm’ for everything posted online. I welcome your feedback – everyone seems to be buying online these days, so we need to keep up with the latest trends!

THE EYE OF A NEEDLE MYSTERY QUILT BOM

With the popularity of our Mystery Quilt launch in June, we have also made a decision to keep this opportunity open for the next 6 months. It’s not too late to join up, and we can either post or email the patterns to you, or you can pick up in store each month. It has been interesting to see the different colour combos coming through with this project and there are a few new challenges if you haven’t done a Y seam before!

Here a link to the project: https://blog.bernina.com/en/2021/03/sewing-old-patchwork-blocks

When you sign up for this Mystery Quilt BOM, you pay $10 month and we will supply you with either TWO or THREE block patterns, which you will need to complete before you receive the following months’ pattern.

MAKING LUNA LAPIN

We have a full class this Saturday for the first of our Luna Lapin’s workshops.

”Come along and learn how to sew your own felt rabbit along with her exquisite wardrobe including 20 garment and accessory sewing patterns”.

All the clothes are made using the finest fabrics including wool felt, lace and Liberty print cotton. Choose from a perfectly tailored wool coat, matching tweed skirt and bag, or pretty lace set. Don’t forget the accessories – there are bunny boots and tiny French knickers to create. Luna even has the perfect pair of pyjamas for elegant lounging and a comfy armchair to relax in.”
The first class will be to assemble Luna, and consecutive classes will be spent making her gorgeous wardrobe .

The following dates have changed from my last email due to some other workshop clashes.
The NEW dates after this weekend are Saturday 6th August, Saturday 24th September and Saturday 22nd October.
Each class will cost $30 and the book $45 plus your fabric requirements. You can attend as many classes as you like, as long as you book in advance as this class is proving to be very popular.

STOP PRESS! STOP PRESS! STOP PRESS!

BY ANNIE – TOOLS OF THE TRADE SATCHEL

For those of you like me, who love making By Annie bags, the ‘Tools of the Trade’ satchel is very practical, especially for taking to classes as it fits your cutting board as well as all your usual sewing accessories.

We will be running a 2 day class for this project on Friday 22nd & Saturday 23rd July from 9:30am – 4pm. Cost of the class is $40 + your pattern and fabric requirements.
When you buy your fabrics from us, you will also need to make sure you have the mesh, zips and hardware to match. We have learned with these classes, that quilting your fabric before you come to class means you have a good head start and should be able to go home with a completed project after 2 days.
As this class is only 10 days away, I need a minimum of 4 people attending to go ahead with it. If you’ve been procrastinating, but decide to go ahead please confirm with payment by next Tuesday 19th July.

URBAN OWLS – REPEAT – URBAN OWLS

There were a couple of fabulous ‘Urban Owls’ quilts on display at the Quilt Exhibition which we did at The Eye Of A Needle as a Block of the Month in 2021. I have been asked by several people since if we still have any patterns and kits made up. YES, WE DO!
I have 10 more books and kits made up which we can sell to you as a Block of the Month; you can decide when you would like to start and then we will send you a block each month from your starting date. You will need to purchase the Urban Owls booklet from us ($75) and set up an AP of $50 for 10 months.
Once we have run out of the booklets and kits, we won’t be repeating this offer again. I know many of the ladies who participated in this BOM learned lots of new skills and it was a very popular quilt to make.

NEW PLYMOUTH REGIONAL DAY IN AUGUST

The year is flying by so fast! Our next focus will be gearing up for a Regional Day in New Plymouth on Saturday 27th August. We will be the sole merchant on this day and have been asked to bring lots of fabric to the hall, so Taranaki quilters… mark the date in your diary! We will be coming with a full car and trailer of goodies!
This will be our third attempt in 3 years to make it to Regional Day – the last 2 years have had to be cancelled due to lock downs and so we are very much looking forward to making it happen this year!

WONDERFIL THREADS WORKSHOP – Saturday 19th NOVEMBER
Another good thing to come from the Quilt Exhibition was the opportunity to mix with other merchants. Barrie Ashton has been a great supporter of our business and supplies us with all our Wonderfil threads like Konfetti, Tutti, Decobob and the Sue Spargo ranges of Eleganza & Ellana. Barrie taught a threads class in the shop in our first year in business, and we have rebooked her to come and teach another class on 19th November. More details will follow – but if you’ve wanted to learn how to use different weight threads on your sewing machine and how to adjust your tension accordingly, this will be a very educational workshop for you. At this stage, all you need to do is save the date and register your interest in store!

NEW BERNINA/KAFFE FASSETT SEWING MACHINE LAUNCH

Some of you may have recently seen some marketing material out from Bernina University regarding the launch of two new KAFFE FASSETT branded sewing machines this week. Yes, if you are a Kaffe Fasset fan, a new LIMITED EDITION Bernina B770 and B475 sewing machine have just been released. The sewing machines will arrive in NZ in September, but need to be ordered NOW with a 50% deposit if you want one. The face plate on both machines have Kaffe Fassett featured fabric on them and there are of course some extra merchandising items coming out to complement these machines as well.

if you are interested in ordering either of these machines, please contact me at the shop as soon as possible as there are only a limited number of machines coming in to NZ.

That’s all from me for this month. I hope you can stay warm and cosy this weekend and that you make the most of these cooler days by feeding your soul with a creative project or two!

Please note we have cut the shop opening hours back over these slower winter days – so for July and August we will open at the later time of 9:30am and close at 4:30pm instead of 5pm.

Happy Stitching!

Kay

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