Welcome to our October Newsletter. 

Things are starting to get back to normal, Kate is back in the office 9-3 Monday to Thursday and 9-2 on a Friday. Unfortunately we are still short staffed, so Kate is putting orders together, answering the phone and your e-mails so please be patient. 

This month we have news about courses/retreats, updates on shows and international postage. Plus we have a special offer for October, and details about our Autumn/Halloween Pumpkin project. Make sure you check them out .

We are now back in our studio. The recently announced restrictions in the UK known as 'the rule of 6' does not apply to our classes as they are educational and not classed as a social gathering. We are still taking the usual precautions and everyone is asked to use hand sanitiser and wear masks to lessons. The building is Covid safe and a QR code is available for track and trace.

We have contacted everyone currently booked on retreats and our Saturday classes with updates already, and are now subject to the standard terms and conditions.  If you have missed any information please contact us as soon as possible.  

More information about upcoming retreats can be found below. 

Anyone already booked on day courses were contacted back in April regarding the new dates. 

We will be holding our own retreats in 2021 at Foxhill House in the Cheshire countryside. We are offering an early bird discount on the courses, and we expect them to sell out quickly. Book now to avoid any disappointment. Bookings can be made via our website by clicking the link below. 

The Dates are as follows:

17th -21st May 2021 - Illuminated letters - Sold Out 

26th - 30th July 2021 - Illuminated Letters (due to phenomenal demand) 

6th - 10th September 2021 - History of Goldwork; Flames and Cross

We will have further Residential's planned for 2022 which includes a Mirrors and picture frames,  Art Nouveau, and Goldwork Box*, more information will be released soon, but you can register your interest, by e-mailing you and we will then contact you when dates are released 

If you are interested in joining us on one of our retreats you can find out more information by clicking the box above. 

To Confirm your place click the box above

*subject to change 

Early bird offers 

Thinking about joining us for our Summer Illuminated letters Retreat. Be quick our early bird discount ends on the 31st October 2020 and we have limited spaces, book now to avoid disappointment and at a great price. Price includes, Meals, accommodation and all tuition.

 Book your place for Illuminated Letters retreat 2021

This month we are excited to bring you a special offer - we haven't done any for a while due to Covid 19 and being short staffed. Now however we are excited to bring you some offers in the build up to Christmas. 

This October for every project pack or Sample/Taster pack bought we will send you a FREE brooch frame.  The offer will be valid for orders placed from 00:01 BST on 1st October - 23:59 GMT 31st October 

You don't need to do anything and no code is needed we will add the brooch automatically.

Please be patient as the post service may also be slower and there maybe restrictions in individual countries, so if you are outside the UK please check how your local service is dealing with deliveries.

USA Customers

You may have noticed that the postal rates have changed for sending to the US, we expect a postal increase every year, but for the USA the Royal mail has increased the costs 3 times since April (most recently at the end of August) there has been an almost 50% increase on the cost of sending post to the USA, this is due in part to the reduction of commercial flights (down by 95% due to the pandemic) and change of policy by the US government for international mail. We will of course continue to monitor the costings and amend as needed (hopefully down).

We have also made the decision to send all orders over £20 to the USA tracked and signed - this is reflected in the price - this is due to a few reasons: 

1) we have had parcels stuck in customs for long periods of time and we do not know whether the package will get to you or us. As we can not take responsibility for a package once it has left the UK it makes it difficult to assist especially if the package value is high. 

2) Packages are only insured for a maximum of £20 if sent by standard post, and for the reasons above we would not be able to resend an order or refund the full amount if worth over the £20 

We are aware that there have been delays in delivery, please allow at least 25 working days before contacting us. The procedure is different in each country and we do know that USA has had long delays in customs at the US border. 

please check our terms and conditions

Other overseas customers

You still have the option to choose standard or Tracked and signed (if available in your country) a few countries do not give the option of tracked and signed but items will be sent Tracked as a minimum (this applies to Australia, Canada and South Africa to name a few). Tracked and signed will be insured up to £250, standard post will only be to £20 please bear this in mind when placing your order.

UK customers

Due to still reduced staff our post days will remain limited, but we will aim to clear all orders each week. All post under £40 (excluding p&p) will only be sent standard 1st class (UK only) - this is to reduce contact that we need to have with members of the postal service.

Please note that we work on a 10 working day turn around you will be sent an e-mail when your order is complete, if your order is urgent please send us an e-mail if we can send quicker we will but this is not guaranteed.

Please allow 10 working days from date of dispatch for delivery, this is a timescale set be Royal Mail. Please do not e-mail to chase before this time as we will not be able to tell you anymore.

We have a brand new kit that is now available on the website. This new kit is a beautiful rainbow and will also be our first charity kit, and is available to order now. Order here 

We are delighted that £10 of each kit sold will be donated to 2 of our nominated charities, NHS Charities together and St Rocco's Hospice which is a local charity who offer end of life care in our local community and we love to support them whenever we can. Please click the links for more information on the charities and what they do or if you would like to make your own donation.

In addition to the kit we are also doing a stitch along on our Youtube channel,  These videos are all live, please go follow our YouTube channel to receive notifications and to stitch along with Sarah. You will need to purchase the kit to stitch along, however the videos will remain on our YouTube channel.

Due to the current climate and restrictions the Alexandra Palace show has been scaled back this year, due to this we have made the difficult decision to not attend this year. We will be back next year subject to restrictions. 

The Harrogate show for this year has been cancelled for 2020. Again we are hoping to be back next year 

We are still open and taking orders via our website, and we will continue to do this for as long as we can. We have lots of kits available, there is something for everyone whether you are a beginner, an expert, or if you just want something to keep you going.  You can also buys all the threads, wires and fabrics that you need to create your own project or sampler. 

We are continually restocking so keep checking if you need something. 

Knitting and stitch show  

 The current dates set are below

Alexandra Palace London 8th -11th October 2020

Harrogate 26th-29th November 2020 CANCELLED