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Alternate Catalog Access Embellishments, Fabrics & Threads 2433 Mariner Square Loop, #102 Alameda, CA 94501 1-510-522-0404 1-877-HAYSTAC haystack@needlestack.com needlestack.alameda@gmail.com Hours: Tue-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat 11am-4pm First Sunday 12-4pm CLOSED Sun-Mon Shop Links What’s New What’s new at the shop. Visit our website Industry news & events Needlework industry news, events and other items of general interest. Needlestack Tips & Tricks Product reviews and helpful hints for your needleworking pleasure. Online Catalog Info Schedule Maintenance of our shopping cart Our shopping cart provider will be off line for 4 hours on March 7, 2019. Our website will be accessible but you won’t be able to add anything to your shopping cart during the maintenance window. As they migrating equipment... Needle In A Haystack Calendar Google Calendar January 2020 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Search our blogs Search needlestack.com Archives January 2020 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 April 2018 February 2018 January 2018 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 More... Your email address: Powered by FeedBlitz Subscribe to this blog’s feed Become a Fan Blog powered by Typepad We will be closed Saturday Jan 11th, 2020 Unfortunately we will be closed Saturday January 11th, 2020. We are all sick or getting sick so for only the 3rd time in 21 years, I have decided to close the store on a normally open day. If you need to contact us please send us an e-mail or leave a voice mail and we’ll handle your request next week. I appreciate your understanding of needing to take this unusual measure and we hope you’ll visit us in the future either in person or online. - Cathe January 10, 2020 in News | Permalink Changes to Zweigart’s Kingston linen For many years we’ve sold Zweigart ’s Kingston as an embroidery fabric and were never concerned about the "count". It wasn’t made for counted work but for surface embroidery. The older mill runs (which we have) are in the 53/59 range. The newer mill runs are in the 50/55 range. If you follow Nicola Parkman of Hands Across The Sea Samplers , you’ll see that she stitched one of her new samplers on what she called 56 count. Technically that’s what Zweigart had it listed as for many years. Her fabric was hand-dyed so the count came out to be more like 52/56 or in that range. Why does this matter you? As mentioned above no one used it as a counted fabric until very recently. If you are planning to use it for counted work, be sure to check what mill run it’s from. We have split Kingston into 2 separate items for the 50/55 and 53/59 version in our online catalog. The 53/59 is not milled anymore so if you do embroidery this is the one the purchase and we grabbed all of the yardage we could find of it in the US. It’s a much finer fabric and is wonderful for surface embroidery. We are waiting on some hand-dyed Kingston from Week’s Dye Works and it will be the less dense version from a recent mill run. So be sure to check what the count is listed as when you order Kingston from us. If you order from another shop, ask them to check what count it is as they are probably not aware of the changes. If they only started ordering it recently, chances are they have the 50/55 version. You can stitch on Kingston with both Au ver a Soie Soie 100/3 and Soie Surfine. In the photo above to the left you’ll see Ballina, which is Kingston without the sizing (no longer made). But you can see how different the weave is. You’ll find the variants of Kingston , including the Week’s hand-dyed colors, in our online catalog . June 21, 2019 in News | Permalink Factoria VII and Botancia reprint is done Inspirations Studios has finished their second printing of the Factoria VII and Botanica books. Our copies are in transit to us. If you love embroidery these are fabulous books for your library. Mary Corbet has a review of Botanica as well as Factoria VII her Needle ’n Thread site which you should read. You can order both books through our online catalog (click on the photos) or by contacting us at the shop. June 12, 2019 in New Items | Permalink Besty Morgan book to be released October 2019 We had heard through the grapevine recently about Betsy Morgan having a book published by Inspirations Studios and we got official notification yesterday. It’s called Willing Hands and features 8 Etuis and their accessories in counted cross-stitch. The book is softcover and due to be released October 2019. We are taking pre-orders (we have to get our orders in shortly). We will put you on the waiting list and send the book as soon as it arrives. You’ll find photos a way to order it through our online catalog . June 05, 2019 in New Items | Permalink New Hands Across The Sea Samplers Our shipment of the 2 newest Hands Across The Sea Samplers will be here this week. Nicola had planned for a launch on June 12th, but some photos got published early so the release date got pushed up. We have fabric and thread should come later this week as well. Harriett Salt 1866 is a Bristol sampler in lovely red. Nicola stitched hers on a hand-dyed Zweigart Kingston linen (from Poland) with Soie 100/3. I prefer Soie Surfine (130/2) on these denser count linens so the stitches are crisper. The dense count linens are rarely truly even and Kingston is no exception. Nicola said hers counted to 52/54. My test on Kingston Cream came out 53/60 (see below). That might be because the dyers use white and perhaps that color’s mill run ran a little closer to the same warp and weft. Personally on a Bristol sampler I think some unevenness is a good thing, making it look more like the linen used during that time frame. The color of Soie 100/3 (681) Nicolla used is out of stock in the US now but there are other great red options. 109 and 499 are reds and if you want more of a dark cranberry 524 is good as well. Soie Surfine comes in 2109, 2499 and 2681 which matches the 3 digit color in 100/3. We have given several fabric options on the order page , which includes the chart as well as the various thread options. Elizabeth Atkinson 1828 features a lovely border and motifs. Stitched in 15 colors it can be worked either Soie d’Alger, Soie 100/3 or DMC floss. Our order page has the colors for all 3 types of threads. The model was stitched on 46 count linen with Soie 100/3 and we have color options for that count as well as some other counts. May 28, 2019 in New Items | Permalink Hands Across the Sea 2019 Queen of the May, Lucy Navier 1818 Lucy Navier 1818 will be releasing on May 1st as Nicola’s 2019 Queen of the May. Nicola released photos this morning ahead of her planned schedule. I was able to see the sampler in person in March at the Nashville show and it is a stunning sampler. I was particularly taken with the main tree which is done in french knots to give it a marvelous texture. You can pre-order the chart as well as any of the supplies. Lucy is stitched with AVAS Soie d’Alger and the model w as done on 40 count. We have given options for 37 count count, 40 and 46 count. I have listed 53 count as well, but as there is a section of over-one and 53 count is too dense for SDA, I think 46 count is a dense as most people will want. I am still working on a Soie 100/3 conversion but the greens are giving me fits! We have a new dyer - Fibers on a Whim, dyeing 46 count for us and they have dyed Dunes and Light Dunes for us. Both are a light to medium tan that works well with the SDA colors. But you can choose Weeks Dye Works or Lakeside or the 37 count linen from Access Commodities (not hand-dyed). The chart is available in our online catalog with a listing and link to the fabrics and threads. April 13, 2019 in New Items | Permalink Rolaframes scroll system coming to NIAH We have had quite a few requests to look at bringing in the Rolaframe scroll system as one of our scroll frame options and we have decided to do that. Debi...