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Hello everybody!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year. Ready to get back to serious work. We did a new show in Dec. in Cleveland, "the Christmas Connection". It was a wonderful show! Saw some of our regular customers, and made a lot of new ones. Thank you everyone! The weather was even pretty decent. We also discovered a wonderful new candy, called Buckeyes. Peanut butter, with chocolate wrapped around it. So smooth, great!!!!!!!!!!! We also had a great show in Torrance, CA. Thank you ladies. And a special thank you to the ladies who gave me pins, and the bottle of wine. It was wonderful! Thanks for thinking of us. It's always so nice to see everyone!

We spent a quiet Christmas with friends, and then we went to Reno for New Year's, to visit our friends Marcy and Don. There is a lodge up there, south of Reno, on a lake, where they have a New Years crab feed buffet. Couldn't pass that up! And of course, did anyone mention gambling? Barry had a great time, and we even came home up in winnings. I even won, and I never win, only donate. That was fun! It rained and was dreary, but we like that. Marcy kept saying, it's always sunny here, what is wrong? 

On Thursday, this week, we go to Denver. Haven't checked the weather yet, hope it all goes well. If anybody wants us to bring any special design, please let us know by Wed. and we'll bring it. No obligation, but we don't bring every design, so don't be disappointed. And then next Wed., we go to Phoenix. If you want us to bring anything, contact us by Tues. We have lots of new stuff! Always!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, we hope everyone can come out and see the shows. 

We have a new item up on the Web site, it's called "Patch Attach". It is a special glue for appliques, that don't have their own glue. You can use it on our appliques, but you have to scrape off the glue around the edges, so that this glue touches the threads. It is then applied by heat-activation. The complete instructions are on the accessory page of our Web site.

Take care everyone, and we hope to see you down the road.

Hi Everybody!

Soon we'll be in San Mateo, Puyallup and Pomona seeing our friends and customers again. I am so glad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't done a show in 3 weeks, and boy do I have itchy feet. 

Thanks ladies in Denver and Phoenix! We had great shows and loved seeing all of you. In Denver we ate at the little burrito shop next to the Mart, next to the liquor store. If you haven't been there, their food is fabulous and cheap. Last year when I missed the shows in Denver, I dreamed about the burritos. How sad is that? Then we ate at our special place 'The Broker', where you get this big platter of shrimp. First time I went, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I LOVE shrimp! We ate with Linda and Harris MacPhee, who have their sewing show "Sew Much Fun" on PBS. We are a proud sponsor of that show, so look for it in your local listings. We hope to be on it a couple of times this year. 

Then in Phoenix, we finally got to "Abacus", a chinese restaurant. It was great! Love chinese food, maybe just food in general? Seems to be all I talk about sometimes. 

We have lots!!!!!!!!!!!!!! of new designs being listed on the Web site within the next couple of days. Really cute alligators, chicks, a gun-toting cactus, beautiful hearts, and two new flag designs. A USA that says "Lets Roll" across it, and a waving flag that says "These Colors Don't Run". Thanks to my customer in Phoenix that gave me that idea. She saw it on a billboard and got permission to use it herself, and she passed it on to me. It turned out great. Thanks! In all, there will be approx. 55 new designs on our Web site within the week. Let's whip those Webmasters, Marc and Ann! 

Anyway, please take a look, we're sure you'll like them as much as we do. Let me remind you, we don't bring every design to a show, so if you want to see something in particular, please e-mail or call a couple of days before the show. We'll be glad to bring what you want to see, no obligation, but we can't bring it if we don't know. 

I'm so excited about our new stuff. I'm bringing a lot of it to the shows, so you can get excited too.

Take care, and we'll be seeing you down the road.

Hi! Everybody--

Hope you are all fine and sparkly. We have just had a great run, and now we are recouping a little. Thanks to all the ladies in San Mateo, Puyallup, and Pomona. We had some great shows and it was wonderful to see you all. Barry and I ate our usual chinese meals in San Mateo. We always go out with lots of friends and share. Barry is getting past ordering just chow mein. Now his current favorite is orange chicken.

Our show in Puyallup was wonderful, and no earth quake this time. Got to go to Christine Alexanders and shop for my little worker bees. We love our stuff, but hers is different and we like it too. Got downtown, did a little shopping, and ate at Salty's, a local favorite. Wonderful location on the water. Then, we ate at TGIFridays after that. We were able to get in pretty quickly. Don't like to wait when we are really tired! Barry put me on the plane Sunday morning, so I could get a little rest and get ready for Pomona. Isn't he wonderful? Make sure you tell him I said that. He is one in a million!

We had a great show in Pomona. Funny, but after the hectic pace in Puyallup, it seemed so slow. But, in Puyallup, you do in one day, the whole show in Pomona, so the pace is quite different. But, it just gives me more time to run around and talk. Oh, I forgot to mention, I bought a sewing machine in Puyallup. I've been looking for one, and talking to a lot of my customers about them, so I settled on a Brother Disney embroidery machine. He just sent it this last Monday, so I should get it any day. I'm really excited. They have progressed so much. I bought my last machine about 15 years ago, just when computer machines were coming out, so I can't wait. I just have to find the time to work with it. So, now we have to paint and clean the sewing room and get it back in to shape. We've been using it for storage.

We went to the Harvest Festival in Del Mar, a week ago, and we bought some more hanging sculptural stuff for our garage walls, and our house. We're going to start looking like a gallery. And I bought SW switch plates for the bathroom. It's so much fun to decorate. If any of you are ever in Oceanside, call for a tour, or we'll put pictures up on the web, if you care to see.

This last week, I went to Portland with my friend Marcie, to a couple of fabric shows. She puts together fabric kits for her "Picture It" craft. I'm sure many of you have seen her at the show also. It was great fun - girls' weekend. But when I was supposed to fly home on Saturday, I got bumped. Bumped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Spring Break. Who would have thought that people went to Portland, instead of the other way around. Barry and I were supposed to do Torrance on Sunday, and I wasn't going to get there. They couldn't get me home until Monday morning. I don't feel guilty very often, but this time I did. He got up at 3 am, set up the show, and did it all by himself. He is perfectly capable, but it's hard to do it by yourself. What a trooper, huh? Like I said, one in a million. Well, I just lazed around a hotel room, watched the Academy awards, got up early, and got home Monday morning. Such is my life. Little breaks come, just when you need them. But, I still felt guilty.

Well, next week, we are on our way to Las Vegas, and if it is true to form, Barry will stay out late, and I'll end up doing a day by myself. Payback!!!!!!!!!! Then on to Pleasanton, and then to a quilt show in Tulare. Hope we make some new customers there.

Take care, we'll see you down the road! We have lots of new designs up on the web, and decorated shirts, so take a look, and let us know what you think.

Hello Everybody!

Hope you're all having a great summer, I think it has pretty much started everywhere. My family is in southern MN and the crops are in, but struggling to come up. They need a little heat, like everywhere has also.

Well, I'm bored, summer is slower in the store, not many shows, so we're having a SALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope that makes you all happy.

The sale is 20% off all the designs, loose pieces - metals, rhinestuds, crystals, appliques, crystal watches, zippers, sequins, hologram film, sew-in collars, and the clearance. I'm so tired of the clearance, you all better buy it all. That's all I have to say.

The sale DOES NOT INCLUDE: clothing, purses, or decorated shirts.

Just mention in the special instruction box "SALE", and you'll be all set (we will do the math and deduct your discount from your order before charging your credit card. NOTE: you will not see this discounted price "live" in your shopping cart, but we will take care of you). You will see the special instruction box after you have chosen your method of payment (when you are finalizing your order). This sale is for the whole month of June. I'm so good to you people!

Not much else to say is there? Take care, we'll see you in June in St. Paul at the car show and in Pomona at the RV rally.

(Please note any mention of this "sale" refers to the sale offered in 2002.)

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are all having a great summer, while I toil away. No, actually, I've had a wonderful summer. I've even taken some Fridays off. I felt like I was playing hooky. Went to my Mom's in June. She lives in southern Minnesota with my brothers, and she needed help with the landscaping on her new townhouse.

So, Barry, being the wonderful son-in-law that he is, went early, helped out, put up shelves, changed light fixtures, handy man stuff. Then, I came, we went to Home Depot, and upgraded her kitchen handles, ceiling fan, and other cosmetic stuff that we could do in a short amount of time. She loved it, and we loved having something to do when we visited. 

Hopefully you've been noticing that we've added a lot of new designs. They are not all available yet, but we needed to get them up on the Website, because our Webmasters are going on a trip to Sydney, Australia! So, we've been trying to get as much work done as possible before they go. We're really excited about our new stuff, lots of color and detail. We hope to see you all down the road, look at our schedule. We've added 2 new shows in Batavia, NY, and Edison, NJ, so we hope to bring this product to a lot of new people.

Hi! Everybody, where does the time go? I've been reminded by everyone that there hasn't been a recent newsletter, so here goes.

We had a wonderful short vacation in the Denver area. We flew in early, and went to Silverthorne to stay for a few days. We drove over to Aspen, Breckenridge, Frisco, and Vail. Such beautiful areas! But so high end. 

Lucky are the people who bought in years ago. Their rising prices are equal to Ca. But, it isn't easy to read a map in the mountain areas. You forget that the open areas, with no roads, are probably mountains. So, when we went to Aspen, we didn't take the freeway, and then go down 82, nooooooooooooooo.

I had us go down beyond Vail, then head south, around one part of the mountain, down, and then up the other side of the mountain to Aspen. At least we got to Leadville. We had always heard the name, and now we've seen it. Boy, up that other side of the mountain, roads are pretty narrow, and the switchbacks! You know why they post it for RV length, and why, in some parts - 2 cars can't meet. But, it was really beautiful. North of Aspen, they were doing construction, and we had a detour off on a 2 lane road. We followed the roaring river for a ways. How wonderful it would be to live along side it. I love the sound of water. 

Then we did a short trip up to Boulder to visit their arts and crafts stores. There are such wonderful artists in Co. that we don't ever want to miss those stores. Our show in Denver was great! Our customers really loved the new designs and all the new color, so thank you very much. You see us twice a year, and you're all so nice and friendly.

August was pretty quiet, and the last week we went to Las Vegas to the Magic show, which is a wholesale jewelry and clothing show. We saw lots of our stuff on clothing, and there is going to be a lot of leather and suede this year, and a lot of lace-up in the clothing. That's why we came up with our new lace-up neckline, which should be in this week. It seemed like a great idea, to go along with all the jeans and stuff. There is going to be a lot of brown and turquoise for colors, and a lot of sweater jackets. Still some of the 60's going around.

We just finished with the Orange Cty. show. It was fantastic!!!!!!!!!! 
Best we've ever done there, so thank you all very much. But, what could you do with all those new designs and great new color? We've been working hard, and I guess it's going to pay off. The promoters must have gotten in a lot more people, because we seemed busy all the time. It was great to see everyone, and we do appreciate your patronage. 

Thanks again for all your support, we love our product and you guys!

Hi! Everybody!

Sorry Torrance, the rain did us in. Barry was there to set up at 6am, and it was raining. The guy in charge said he would give us our money back, because the field was just soaked, and he didn't think it would turn out.

Barry waited around longer, and since it takes us 3 1/2 hours to set up, we knew we wouldn't be able to get our product up in time for the show. So, we apologize, and anyone who would like to order from us in that area, we'll give you free shipping. I know it's not the same as seeing the designs in person, but it is the best we can do. Spread the word to your friends who may not be online. Again, we had to make a decision, and we do hate to disappoint people.

Our shows this fall have been great! The quilt festival in Houston was wonderful except for all the construction going on in the area. Makes it real hard to unload and set up a booth, but we manage. The weather was strange though, usually it's humid and warm, but this time it was cool and rainy. Very different!!! Also, they had just gotten a huge rainstorm and flooding the Monday before we flew in. Lots of weather! 

We had a great show in Seattle! Thank you to all our customers. We saw a lot of new customers that we don't get to see in March at the big show, because a lot of Seattleites go south for the Winter. hen we got to see regular customers who got to see our Christmas stuff, which they don't usually see in March, so it was good all around. We went out to a great restaurant on the bay, on an island, but for the life of me, I can't remember what town we were in. But it was good lobster! 

Now, when we did Portland, the plane couldn't land because of the fog! 
Now, I think of fog in San Diego, but didn't think of it there. It comes off the Columbia River, and usually burns off by 10am, except of course THIS time. We circled for an hour, and then at 10:30, we flew to Seattle. I had this dreaded fear that we would have to bus back down, but we went down 2 gates, got on another plane, and flew right back. So, we were only delayed about 2 hours. It could have been worse. Thank you Portland, we had a good show, and we always love your city. No sales tax doesn't hurt either! 

Then, we had Thanksgiving off, and Barry made a nice little turkey dinner.
Very quiet. Very enjoyable. Then we got on a plane for Cleveland, and snow was falling and it was beautiful and COLD. In the twenties and thirties.

Hey, not too bad. Grew up with that in MN, so I knew I wouldn't melt, but it sure does take your breath away. The show had really long hours, so my wonderful husband did the late hours, and I took the shuttle back to the hotel. Thanks Cleveland, we had a great show. Next year, the show is before Thanksgiving, so it should be even better. On the way back to San Diego, we connected in Minneapolis, and my Mom got on our same plane, and flew back with us for a visit. She is helping out at the store, by bagging appliques and putting hang tags on the designs. She has to work off all the designs and shirts that she has picked out. Hey, that's fair! 

It is so nice to sit back and relax a little, meaning no travel! We love it, but we do get tired. We're having fun shopping with my Mom. We're buying her some new living room chairs, and some sun porch furniture. My house is so small, so now we've turned to her house to decorate. I'm watching too much HGTV. I want to paint, re-carpet, and tile everything in sight. 

Have a wonderful holiday season, hope you all get to share with family and friends, and take time to remember all the good things from the whole year.