A New Year!

Here at In the Company of  Friends, we are hitting the ground running for the New Year!  We have several new products in the pipeline, and lots of events and fun brewing on the horizon, for the book, and for other products!

The Tokens of Friendship, which is such a wonderful program, gives you a surprise gift from our hands to yours, four times a year!  Who doesn't love to receive a gift-wrapped surprise in the mail?  In this era of Twitter, email and IM's, old-fashioned mail is usually filled with bills and junk.  Wouldn't you like to bring back that lovely feeling of  "is there something in the mail today?"  Last year's Tokens subscribers all seemed to love the offerings - items we've never offered for sale otherwise - so it truly is a gift that's made up especially for you!  Don't miss out - there are just a few days left to subscribe - subscriptions close on January 15th!  After that, we start to order in the supplies and get working on our first surprise...

We are busy now taking pre-orders for the book Imitation and Improvement: The Norfolk Sampler Tradition!  We expect to receive the books (all 338 boxes of them!) very soon, and will begin filling the orders we've taken as soon as we can!   Meanwhile, we are also very excited about upcoming book events! The author of this wonderful book, Joanne Lukacher, will be speaking at the Attic's  Sampler Symposium later this month, on the book and all her research into it.  This will be the first time the book will "out there" (at least, we have our fingers crossed that it arrives in time), and we are also so excited because the sampler chart we've made will be featured as well!  

This picture of Becky's sampler shows our interpretation of the quintessential Norfolk sampler!  The chart is found inside the book - a little "something extra" we hope people will enjoy.  Don't you love the form of the classic Norfolk sampler?  Can you think of some of the products it might be inspiring in us?  Stay tuned!

Joanne's speaking calendar is getting well booked!  On Sunday, March 24th, she'll be speaking at the Marshall House in Vancouver, WA - if you're in that area, you will definitely want to stop in, as there is also to be a small exhibit of Norfolk samplers to accompany her talk and book-signing!  If you do want to attend, the event is free, but please rsvp to: jmpknit@msn.com Seating is limited, so a reservation is definitely required.  

May 17 and 18th is the first ever Penn Dry Goods Market Show and Sale!  There will be several speakers, including our Ms. Lukacher!  This looks like such an exciting event - at the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center!  There will be dealers of antique and vintage textiles, lectures and workshops on samplers, quilts, vintage clothing and more, and on Friday night, Dinner with the Dealers!  We will be there, plying our trade, hawking our wares, and generally having a wonderful time!  We can't wait to hear the speakers - see the antiques, and join up with old friends.   Contact curator Candace Perry to find out more: candace@schwenkfelder.com

Several guilds have contacted us and I think it bears repeating that we love to get our books into the hands of the true sampler afficianado, so we are offering a 20% discount to guilds who purchase 8 or more books sent to the same address (which also helps on the shipping - it's a very heavy book!)  Please let us know if your group is interested.  If you'd like Joanne to come to your guild to lecture, please contact her directly at: lukacher@hvc.rr.com

For non guild members, remember that there will be lots of stores and places to buy the book besides our website, and you can pre-order from these dealers:

Amy Mitten Designs in Canada, is taking pre-orders, and has designed a wonderful mini sampler and needleworker's pocket from her Norfolk sampler which is featured in the book.  These online tutorials will be available later in the year!  While you're there, take a look at Amy's beautiful site, and remember, drooling on your computer can cause technical difficulties!

The Essamplaire, Margriet Hogue's wonderful sampler site, is also a Canadian marvel and you can pre-order the book there as well. 

Traditional Stitches in Canada is also taking pre-orders.  Their site is chock-full of lovely needlework "must-have's". 

Whew!  We are well represented in Canada, aren't we?  We're so happy our friends there will have no trouble finding the book.

Here in the US, 

The Attic, as previously mentioned, will be sure to have a copy.  We will also be featuring a trunk show there during the seminar.  This is probably one of the prettiest shops in the needlework universe and their sampler wall is to die for!  

And The Mad Samplar, a fine online purveyor of needlework books, will soon be set for taking pre-orders.

Across the pond, just a tad closer to Norfolk, the Sampler Guild is gearing up to take orders, and we hope to soon have more news for those in the UK!

We are working on getting the book into the hands of a few more European dealers, and are confident that you will soon be able to purchase your books closer to home than Seattle!

We wish for you a wonderful new year filled with joy!