Punch with Judy - August Newsletter 2010

Email: judy@punchwithjudy.com.au

In This Issue:-

Unsubscribe

Hi Everyone,

Seems that I've been trying to compile a Newsletter to you for weeks now.  The last couple of months have seen too much time on the road away from home attending shows in various States.  Am presently in Canberra where it has been below freezing every morning with such a "black" frost this morning.  Yet some of the guys still played their traditional 9 holes of golf at 7am and still arrived at the Show ready for action by 10am.  Mad as March Hares, but they enjoyed themselves though one player told me that the course was the winner! 

Exciting news - I'm off to the UK on Thursday to attend the Festival of Quilts Show at Birmingham and having a couple of days as a tourist too.  Highlight will be attending the Edinburgh Tattoo which is a world famous event.  Soooo looking forward to this.  Will keep you up to date via my blog.

Lots of updates below so please read with care and may I welcome all our new subscribers.

IMPORTANT:  Punch with Judy website will not be available over the weekend due to some maintenance being carried out.  Apologies for this but I'm sure you will appreciate these updates are crucial for keeping the website as a premium shopping experience.  Please be patient with us.  Kindly email, phone or fax your orders during this time.

Email: judy@punchwithjudy.com.au    Phone:  02 6920 2238  Fax:  02 69 202021

May I invite you to keep up with our news on a weekly basis by reading my blog at http://punchwithjudy.blogspot.com/   There have been several newsy announcements made recently and all the day to day happenings of our travels make interesting reading.  You may now subscribe to my blogs to be informed via email when a new blog is posted, once or twice weekly.  This is easy to do, just visit the blog and request same in the section on the right hand column.  I do encourage you to do this so as you don't miss anything vital.  They are fun and light-hearted, different to my Newsletters and have reader participation encouraging comments and questions with answers re products etc.   I have just introduced FREE Giveaways.  One lucky person who posts a comment will be the recipient of one of our products for FREE.  The current one is for a Just Curves Template Set to be used with the Curve Master Presser Foot.  All you have to do is tell me about a project you've made using curves.

Apologies for not many photo images in this Newsletter nor links due to the website being down as I have prepared this for you.  I wanted to keep in touch with you before I travel overseas and to let you know there were only a few vacancies left in our forthcoming Machine Embroidery Retreats.

Happy Sewing,
Your friend,

Judy

Sydney Stitches & Craft Show
I have had many emails asking if we'd be attending this show which is always held in August that I felt compelled to make these comments.  Punch with Judy has not attended any S & C Shows for a few years now and secondly, I'd advise anyone thinking of attending Rosehill Racecourse later this month to check first if the Show is actually going to be held as I personally don't think it is on at all.  None of the Exhibitors I know have had any confirmation either for stands or schedule for workshops.

However, the good news is, the Craft Expo normally held in the past at Homebush, has been transferred in 2011 to Rosehill Racecourse and I know this will be welcomed by most attendees.  The date for this show will be 10th - 13th March, 2011.  Sydney-siders, see you there!

Newcastle's Craft Expo, usually held the end of Feb or beg of March has now been taken to August and will be held from 18th to 21st August 2011.

It was announced recently that the Textile Art Festival will be held every alternate year from now on and in different States.  This has now been updated again to resume to an Annual Event, held in Brisbane, coinciding with the Scrapbooking Expo - both being held as a Two for One experience for attendees.  10th - 12th June 2011 has been announced for this show at the Brisbane Exhibition Centre.

The Craft & Quilt Fair in Tasmania has been brought back to Launceston in 2011 to be held at the Silverdome from 29th April to 1st May. 

For the full schedule of events for the remainder of this year and for 2011, please visit our Show Schedule.

2. RETREATS

Machine Embroidery Retreat we have two scheduled for September.  I have a few vacancies in the one held from 12th -14th September if you would like to attend. The one from 17th - 19th September has been booked out since January with a waiting list.  I've tried to encourage some to change to the earlier Retreat if it suits so as to accommodate all who wish to attend. 

If you own a computerized machine embroidery machine, this is a must! Everyone learns so much whilst having a great time with other fellow enthusiasts. What we've done with this particular Retreat is update it completely with many new Projects.  The industry is advancing in leaps and bounds, so we've taken on board lots of new Stabilizers & Techniques.  View full particulars on our Retreats section.

3. ONLINE CLASSES

Our first Online Punchneedle Class has now been completed with students exploring the wonderful craft of Russian Punchneedle Embroidery.  Online Classes do not require you to be in front of the computer at a certain time on a certain day; they are available for you in your time since they are downloaded from PDF Formatted lessons.  This is in reply to the most commonly asked question I receive about Online Classes.  That's the beauty of them, your time when you wish!  Do think about joining us for any of our Online Classes in 2011.  I posted some students' work from our Punchneedle Class on my blog to share - http://punchwithjudy.blogspot.com/

4. WHAT'S NEW

Please visit our What's New Section to view all the wonderful new products that have been added over the past two months.  Since the website is down this weekend for maintenance, I am unable to give you specific images, so I simply ask you to browse that section during next week.  I'll endeavour to send you a special email with details of some of these to remind you.

5. MADE IN AUSTRALIA

We have a new Machine Embroidery CD released for "Tags" suitable for travel or labelling your equipment when you attend classes.  Digitized by Leaenda Ingram exclusively for Punch with Judy, I'm sure you'll be delighted with these fun designs.

Lots of new CDs by Julie Hall Designs too.  Many of which are stitched over the "hot" new product Mylar Embroidery Sheets giving a sparkling effect without using metallic thread.  View all the designs in the Machine Embroidery CD section or the What's New?

6. SPECIALS

There's always a monthly special on the main shop page of the website and the one for August may even interest the handyman in your family.

7. STITCHES SUBSCRIBER OFFERS

These have been discontinued by the magazine so I've deleted the section from our website.  I'm sorry to disappoint magazine subscribers as they were a lot of fun and I know you welcomed your own special offers.  As I said, it was a decision by the magazine to discontinue these, not me. 

8. FREE PROJECTS

In this section we have wonderful FREE Projects for you.  A new one has been added this week so make sure you see what a wonderful project we are offering using Borders Made Easy for a Cable Applique Sweatshirt Jacket.  Really easy for you to make and so very different.

9. DAMAGED & DISCONTINUED

A new selection of products have been added to this section with some Westalee Design Rulers waiting to be snapped up besides many other popular products.

These are all are bargain prices because they have been damaged in transit somewhere along the way. Simply visit Damaged & Discontinued, order whichever you please, then type in the Additional Comments section of your order that you wish to purchase the one from the D&D for such and such a price as the normal retail price will be showing on your order.  Don't worry about that, we'll adjust manually. 

10. TIPS & TUTORIALS

I've recently updated many of these so I do encourage you to scroll through these as they are offered with a view to explaining our products in more detail.

11. GALLERY

This is the place where I display some of your work, projects from our Retreats or Online Classes, so please send my your photo with a paragraph about it.

12. DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that you Rotary Cutting Mats will last longer if you wipe them with a soft sponge, firmly wrung out with mild soapy water?  This will remove all those fuzzy fragments of fabric that may have been pushed into the surface as you cut.  Don't forget to completely wipe dry the mat though.  Try it, you may be surprised how much fluff and dirt you didn't realize was there.

Did you know that there is a section on the website explaining how to use your Punch Rewards?  It surprises me how many online orders arrive showing hundreds of Punch Rewards yet they are not being utilized. 

Did you know that when you place an online order, you don't have to give your Credit Card details if you don't wish to?  Simply phone them through and ask that we keep them on file separately so as you simply have to type "On File" in the payment section of your order.

13. GOLDEN OLDIES

I like to tell you about some of my favourite products and this month's is our own brand of Punch with Judy Duckbill Applique Scissors that are very well priced at $15.00.  The duckbill shape prevents accidents occurring when trimming applique edges.  You will be delighted with the ease of snipping around the shapes knowing it would be impossible to make an error. 

Till next time,
Judy