Wonderful & Dreadful Online Stitching Stores

I received a wonderful package from Needlecraft Corner today. I'm sure I've mentioned Needlecraft Corner before. It's my most favourite Online Stitching store par none. There are always great sales on, but what makes this store so wonderful to me is the customer care and attention you receive. Drema (the owner) is one of the nicest people you could ever meet. They will go out of their way to order things in for you, have them sent exactly the way you want, etc.. They must make notes in all their customers files to help them remember how we all like to have our orders shipped -- e.g. for me, if it's a medium/large order I always, always prefer to have it shipped Global Priority, for safety (and it doesn't hurt that it gets here so quickly either!); but if it's a smaller (in size and expense too) order then Air Mail does. :)

I've been fortunate not to have had too many bad experiences with Online Stitching Stores, but unfortunately my luck ran out this summer when I had the misfortune of ordering from Diana Tharpe of Stitcher's Dream in Texas.

Long story short: ignored e-mails, then followed by obvious lies, ended in me being forced to initiate a PayPal chargeback as a refund was not forthcoming. This concluded in my favour this past weekend, but unfortunately they were "unable to recover any funds from the seller's account". What does this mean? I'm out $35, as I doubt very much that Diana Tharpe is going to refund the money she has taken stolen or send the item that I ordered in early July.

It's *truely* not the money that makes me upset, it's the fact that people can get away with this... do they not even have a conscience? It's a shame too, because it's put me off ordering from smaller stores that I haven't heard a great deal about.

Drema's package came at exactly the right time, as I was feeling quite down about the whole dreadful experience earlier this week.

This definitely put a smile on my face, which arrived with a sweet note:

:-)

I thought I deserved a stitching treat after working so hard all summer! That Picture This Plus linen is to die for! It's not something I'd have found any other use for I don't think, but it's perfect for that Christmas Tree design.

Leslie: the only two colours you need to worry about running out of with Halloween Fairy are the Black Coffee and Dandelion Stem. I think I JUST have enough of the Black Coffee, but it won't be a disaster if I run out, as I can easily use a dark brown shade of DMC for the backstitching, wings, etc.. there's not enough variegation (in the dye lot I got anyway) for it to make a difference. Dandelion Stem on the other hand would definitely be a problem. I've only just started using it for the wings, but I can already tell that it'll be unlikely I'll have enough. I luckily have another skein of this in my stash (which was for another project), and the dye lot looks to be the same. Definitely watch out for that, though.

Nicki: fantastic you'd like to do a Mira SAL at some point! :) I'll let you know what I have in my stash... I'd be really happy to do any of the ones you've mentioned really! I got Autumn In My Garden today from Drema too. ;-)

Don't be impressed at me doing Rainbow Ride at such a young age. Did you see those huge blocks of colours?! It was VERY easy! :) I tried to stitch Angel Procession a year or two later, and it sadly had to go in the bin! (I think that's the only cross stitch project I've ever had to literally throw away) LOL