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

SALE Cotton Fabrics!

Homespun plaids, prints, solids, and tickings: ALL our quilt-shop-quality 100% cotton fabrics have been marked down to only $2.99 per half yard! I'm looking to close out much of these mostly discontinued fabrics to make room for NEW fabrics coming soon, so stock up and save big! The best part is, our every-day discounts still apply: So the more you buy, the higher percentage you can save... if you order over $75 worth, our shopping cart will automatically reduce your purchase by 20%; so you could pay only $2.40 per half yard for these fabrics: That's only $4.80 a yard!!!

I really want to close out as much of these fabrics as I can, so take advantage THROUGH THIS WEEKEND ONLY on this incredible sale and stock up. We both benefit: I make room for the new fabrics we have coming in, and you can stock your stash and save big-time! :-)

This Way to the Big Cotton-Fabric Sale!

Have fun shopping! :-)

Still Tweaking the Blog

Okay, now it's become a mission. Yep, in addition to all the incredibly generous help you folks gave me, I also did some snooping on source pages and discovered just where you have been getting all those great templates for your blogs. You see, HTML I know; but CSS leaves me scratching my head.

At any rate, once I found the source information for your templates, I first tried the "Cumulus" template (3 column) and really liked it, but there were a few features that didn't transfer, and I am evidently completely incapable of figuring out how to add them back in. So now I'm trying this new one called "Minibox." And so far, I really like it! Features wanted are back in place.

Next step will be to work on the colors and graphics, but that part shouldn't be too difficult. I draw all my own graphics, and I do understand how to change colors. It will just be a matter of crawling through the template and finding the appropriate places to insert the changes. Yeah, I know; famous last words. "It will be a breeze!" ... Knock on wood! ;-)

Hopefully by next week, this blog will be beautiful. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks again to all of you who so generously helped me figure things out a bit!

Jodi

Getting There...

I'm am so delighted at and grateful for -- and, I must admit, sometimes surprised by -- the degree to which so many folks will take the time and put in the effort to help others! I received emails and comments from so many of you after my last post, and while I haven't had a chance to work through all the great suggestions and information yet (I will, I promise), I thank you all from the bottom of my heart! I was able to scan through your replies and glean enough to help get me going again on my blog design. Thanks to all of you, I took another look in "Dashboard" and realized that yes, you were right: The new template I'd installed did indeed have all 3 columns in place; I just needed to move a few things from the third to the first in order to get them all to show. Thanks so, so much!

I still need to work on new graphics, but that part won't be a problem. Many of you already know, I'm an old self-taught graphic artist anyway, and I still design all the graphics for my own sites. So over time, I'll get it all fixed up now. Thank you again to all of you who helped me out so much... that you were so willing to take the time to help me out is so sweet, and so appreciated!

I posted another "poll" of sorts on Facebook recently, and it looks like, per the votes we received, we'll be adding some good-quality muslin and Osnaburg to our inventory next. I'll get in touch with the wholesaler within the next few days and get them ordered. And, we should have those new patterns coming in soon from Sweet Meadows Farm, so go ahead and get your pre-orders in, and we'll send them out just as soon as they arrive here.

Back to work I go! :-) Thanks again!!

Jodi

Remodeling Time!

Okay... so, as you can tell, I have no clue as to how you gals are making your blogs look so fabulous! And while I used to consider myself a self-taught whiz with good old HTML coding... well, that was then. Now, there seems to be all this "new stuff" that this old dog just hasn't learned.

Clearly, I'm in the midst of trying to fix up this poor blog. And yep, it's gonna take me some time and effort to figure it all out and get it looking the way I want it to look. For one thing, this newfangled template I've just changed it to is supposed to be a 3-column... and I'm only seeing 2 so far. Don't give up on me, though! With time, and plenty of trial and error, I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. And, just in case anyone cares to share a site with tips, or some pointers of your own, or what-have-you, may I say in advance, it would be most humbly appreciated! Thank you!

As for our store, we're still adding new goodies here and there. I listed a few new wool felt patterns the other day, and we have some fabulous new patterns coming soon from Sweet Meadows Farm, so be on the lookout for those to be listed on our site very soon! Oh, and don't forget: If you haven't already done so, please be sure to visit our Facebook Page and click to "Like" us! :-) I recently posted a request with some options I've put up for your votes, and all the input you folks are willing to give is appreciated! We quite often ask our Facebook followers for their opinions and suggestions regarding the goodies we add to our store inventory, and we'd love and appreciate your ideas as well! :-)

Best Always,
Jodi

Happy New Year!

Our wool felt is in, and it is beautiful! We have so many great colors in stock! We're spending this weekend getting your pre-orders processed to ship on Monday and Tuesday, and we'll have plenty left in stock for all of your incoming orders as well. :-) There are a few colors we don't yet have in stock, but we can order them and have them here very quickly to send out to you.

We also have another batch of great patterns coming soon from Maureen of Sweet Meadows Farm (some dolls and some ornie/tuck type patterns), and a few more from Kathy of Penny Lane Primitives (wool felt candle mats), so we'll get those listed on our site soon. And, as we're able, we are going to add the option to order either just the pattern, or a "kit" option or two! This will entail being able to order a combination of the pattern and the supplies all at once. We already have some options in our cross-stitch patterns in terms of being able to order either just the pattern or the pattern plus the appropriate DMC flosses. Next, we'll probably get started on those wool felt patterns, and Kathy has graciously consented to our doing so. You'll be able to order just her patterns, or at the same time, in one easy stroke, order a "kit" containing either (1) the pattern, pieces of the appropriate wool felt colors, and the flosses... or, (2) the pattern, flosses, and the wool felt shapes already washed and cut out for you! Let us know what you think of this idea. If it's popular and well-received, we'll get it done!

With many cold winter evenings still ahead, don't forget that we have LOTS of great patterns and supplies to keep you busy! :-) You'll find most everything you need to do your primitive and colonial cross-stitch projects; primitive dolls; quilts; ornies, fillers, and tucks; those darling wool felt mats (and other wool felt items on their way soon); there's even a punch needle pattern in stock! And with your continued support, we're hoping to add more of everything, including more punch needle, and eventually a whole bunch of different rug-making patterns, instructions, and supplies.

We're hoping for a fantastic 2011; a year of adding more and more great patterns and supplies for all your old-time sewing and needlework needs, whether you're a hobbyist or a professional artisan: So don't forget to visit our site often, and to let us know along the way what else you'd like to see us carry for you at Hannah's PinKeep! :-) We want to become your supply store of choice, so please feel free to let us know what you like, what you don't like, and what you'd like to see in the future.

May 2011 be a fantastic, prosperous, loving, and joyous year for us all!

Hugs & Best,
Jodi