Some Shopping, some stitching and the SBQ of the week

Well, lets start off with the shopping. After work I jumped on the Muni and got to Powell street station. Then walked up to Union Square. I went straight to the second floor housing Needlepoint Inc. which is right on Post street overlooking Union Square. Let me first say that we did have a tiny couple of days of warmish weather and most places in the city do not have air-conditioning. NPI certainly does not, as it had to be 95 degrees in that store with the windows closed, I guess to keep everything pristine and clean. Alright... I was shopping in an oven! I had the gift certificate from NPI that Rob gave me and I wanted to use it to get the rest of the silk floss that I needed for VOHRH. I went in thinking that it may be a little more expensive than other places as this is a store on Union Square and they all jack the prices just for the privilege of spending money down there. Well, I was blown away by how expensive these 5mm skeins of silk were. I have been getting this NPI silk from Drema at Needlecraft Corner and she charges $3.70 per skein and has been having a sale of 25% off of this price and with no tax as she is in Baltimore makes the 5mm skein to be about $2.77. At NPI they charge $5.70 plus tax. for a 5mm skein which is almost double!!!! Now don't get me wrong it is a lovely shop and they do have every colour in both the 5mm skeins and the bigger 45mm hanks, but really....$5.70.....whatever, I know where I will be buying NPI silk in the future.

Now I ask you why is there such a HUGE discrepancy in the price between shops. I realize that online shopping can be cheaper but when two bricks and mortar stores sell the same thing (and when it is your own product) why can one shop charge almost $3.00 less and they are still making a profit as I would presume that it is not being sold at a loss.
Enough on my soap box, I was just stunned.

After the NPI experience I trotted over to Britex which is a block away. Now I had never been in this fabulous store. They have floor after floor of fabric and trimming and then more of the same on a top, I think 4 floors. I found some trim for the stockings and here is a snap.


I went with trim that coordinated with the pieces and not the traditional colours of Christmas. The pieces are on the red felt that will be the lining and the green silk that will be the backing. I am having them finished off by a friend and so when I get them back I will show a snap!! I was going to finish them off myself but I am afraid that I will screw them up royally, and would rather them be done correctly than me mess them up.

I got home and them took off to south city to Joann's fabrics to pick up some DMC (which Britex sells but I had no idea and did not have the list of colours I needed) for an exchange that is coming up.

I did some stitching on VOHRH and here is the little progress from last night.



This weeks SBQ......

Do you railroad?

I had to look up the meaning of exactly what this was as I really had no idea. I have heard and read about railroading in the past but did not really know. To answer the question I do railroad when needed but not consistently throughout my stitching as I find it unnecessary if the floss is not tangled or twisted or thinning.

I watch "Americas Next Top Model" and have since almost the inception of the show. Last night I could not believe that Ebony would just give up and quit the competition. With so many people that want to be on this show, just unbelievable, and Ambreal was saved for one more week.

That's about it for today, after work today I am running over to Needle in a Haystack and the framers across the street. The two pieces I put in to be framed for Christmas presents are finished!! I figure if I am going all the way to Alameda to pick up some pictures I am certainly going to stop in and see if there is anything I need to buy at NIH.... :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Take care,
edgar

PS: Donna, VOHRH comes as a complete set of charts in one pack.