Today's Updates

Happy mid-February! We've stepped out of our yearly "False-Spring #3" again and are back in winter. Monday was shirt-sleeve weather (as it had been for the previous few weeks); Tuesday, we woke up to 9" of new snow, and it continued to fall hard for several more hours (and again last night, a bit).

The latest batch of wool felt is in at Hannah's, and I'm putting the "I Love Ewe" kits together to ship now, so watch for your orders to arrive soon. I hope you'll all send me photos of your finished "I Love Ewe" candle mats; I'd love to see them and post them at Hannah's for others to enjoy! :-)

Also, I've added a rather lengthy post to my other blog for Autumn Comforts (my other online business) that I would greatly appreciate having you good folks read. It's about the Docker's contest, and what it would mean for me. It explains my situation and my goals in detail, and hopefully gives the reader a full understanding of just how important this contest could be for me, and why I would so appreciate your votes. You can read the post here: http://www.autumncomforts.blogspot.com.

THANK YOU!!!

Blessings and best to you and yours always.

Jodi

Oh, no! Not another shameless solicitation for votes!!

Yep, I'm afraid so. I'm jumping on the bandwagon. For the very first time (and hopefully the last), I'm taking this opportunity to shamelessly beg you all for your votes!

There is a contest that just started on Facebook. It's sponsored by Dockers. Yep, the company that makes slacks for men. Thing is, both men AND women are eligible to enter this one. And it's quite an opportunity: To the tune of $100,000 to help fund the start-up described by the winning candidate in their entry submission. Yes, that's right: I said $100,000 in funding!

Those who know me, and have known me for awhile, know that I am disabled by autoimmune diseases. Not just one; several. You might also know that while I worked full time for many years beforehand, the diagnosis of my conditions took some time; and I missed some work while I suffered from symptoms in between doctor exams and tests. So when it finally became clear that what I have is both permanent and progressive, I had missed just enough work that I no longer qualified to collect Disability.

Another thing you may or may not know about me is that I've always, always loved to make things (since I was about 6 years old!). Working with my hands, creating things, has been my life-long passion. And while my 50-year-old arthritic hands no longer work as well as they used to, I'm thrilled that I can still be involved in the field I so love by selling the supplies to others who love to create with their hands, too.

Hannah's PinKeep was started just a few months ago, out of pocket. I don't have a bank loan... not even a credit card to fund my little business. It was started on a shoe-string budget, and it's being grown, slowly but surely, by strictly re-investing ALL of the income. I haven't taken a dime in pay yet; not since I first opened the store in early September. And, I wish every single day that I could afford to both dramatically (and quickly) increase the available inventory, and cut myself a paycheck every month or so. I knew going in that I would have to work hard for no pay for awhile, and I understand and accept that; it's not like I have any other options anyway! On the other hand, a little extra household income to help us catch up on those expenses will be nice, too, once I can afford it.

Now this contest comes along, sponsored by Dockers. And Dockers has offered a prize of $100,000 to help fund the dream of the winner! Can you imagine just what I could do with Hannah's PinKeep with $100,000 to invest? WOW! For one thing (and here comes a confession), I could actually lease a small space for the store; which would work much better than the current arrangement of working out of our two sons' old upstairs bedrooms! Yep, that's Hannah's as it stands right now: Hannah's PinKeep is located in two upstairs bedrooms in my home. And this old gal, with rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and a balance disorder called Meniere's disease, just doesn't handle those stairs very well these days. But climb them I must; several times a day.

In addition to leasing a space, I could invest in fixtures, vastly expand the inventory (and carry much more of ALL the supplies you all love!), and maybe even hire an employee or two (here in a community where the unemployment rate has been well-above the national average for quite awhile now) to help me ship those orders and run the store front. At this point, our town doesn't even have a store like Hannah's! And I know for certain that we do have plenty of needlework lovers who wish we had such a store here....

So getting back to my self-indulgent begging: Now comes the part where I specifically ask you all to please, please, please consider stopping in at the following Facebook page and voting for me! And, you can vote once a day, every day (oh, goody!) from now until March 15th.

Here's the link:

http://apps.facebook.com/dockerswearthepants/entries/871

Gathering enough votes for my submission could win me $100,000 in funding to make my dream come true.

I don't ordinarily ask for much. I truly don't. But I'm asking for this.

No one could possibly begin to understand just what this could mean for me.

Or maybe you could.

THANK YOU,
Jodi

New patterns, and our first official "Kit" option!

We got in a couple more adorable, brand-new patterns from Penny Lane Primitives the other day, and the one in particular is so darned cute, we just had to offer it in a "kit" option! Problem is, I didn't anticipate the HUGE response we got! Long story short, we're filling those orders as quickly as we can, in the order in which they were received... and, I've ordered more of the wool felt colors, so we should be able to finish sending out those ordered kits within another 1 - 2 weeks when the next wool-felt shipment arrives here. And, we ordered what should hopefully be plenty extra, to fill quite a few more orders for this adorable kit. So feel free to submit your orders, and we'll send out these kits just as soon as we are able. :-)

You tell us: How cute is this?

And you can order just the pattern, the pattern plus the DMC flosses, or our full kit, which includes the pattern, the flosses, and enough of the various colors of wool felt to make one mat (with extra wool felt to spare in most of the colors used). Here's the direct link to this, and all of Penny Lane Primitives', incredibly cute patterns:

http://www.hannahspinkeep.com/catalog.php?category=57

In other news: Unfortunately, the company I had ordered muslin and Osnaburg through... well, suffice it to say, it didn't turn out well. I waited (and repeatedly tried contacting them) for almost 2 weeks before finding out that they didn't have the Osnaburg in stock and wouldn't for over an additional full month! So I'm going to be ordering the same two products from another company soon. Just waiting until we can meet their minimum for that initial wholesale purchase, and we'll get the muslins ordered. Sorry for any inconvenience! We hope to have them available well before this new month ends.

Finally, don't forget that Hannah's offers every-day tiered discounts for ALL our customers on ALL your orders! The prices listed for our products only reflect what you will pay if your order is for less than $25. Order more, though, and watch for those discounts to be automatically taken in your shopping cart! :-)

Orders for $25 to $49.99 receive 10% off; orders for $50 to $74.99 receive 15% off; and orders for $75 or more receive a full 20% off! So keep that in mind when you're doing your shopping with us; we even have products (like the new kit, for example) that are priced at over $25... and this means that you will ALWAYS pay less than the listed price just for ordering a single quantity of any of those particular products! :-) So take advantage of our every-day tiered discounts and stock up on all your favorite fabrics, patterns, and other sewing and needlework supplies.

Happy crafting! :-)

Jodi