how do I restore a stickies note I accidentally deleted?

It's very simple. I should start by creating a new folder on your Desktop.

Open the Library folder in the Finder (see the note above about its being invisible).

Then go to the Time Machine icon in the menu bar and choose 'Enter Time Machine'. Wait the TM display to open. Navigate backwards to just before you deleted the note. Locate the database file. Control-click it and choose 'Restore StickiesDatabase to...'.

You will be asked to choose a location: navigate to your new folder and click OK. The restored file will appear in your new folder, from where you can replace the existing one (which you could move out first).

Or you can just click the 'Restore' button at bottom right of the TM display and in the dialog which follows choose to replace the original file directly.

I'm afraid deleted is deleted unless you have a Time Machine backup which includes the folder at (user)/Library/StickiesDatabase (note this is the Library folder within your Home folder, not the one at root level of the hard disk).

(Apple have hidden the user’s Library folder in Lion and above to casual viewers, in an attempt to stop new Mac users messing their machines up. To access it, in the Finder go to the ‘Go’ menu and hold down the Option (Alt) key; the Library folder will appear as a choice. In Mavericks you can make it permanently visible - open your Home Folder the from the Finder's View menu, choose show View Options and check Show User Library.)

If you have a full backup which includes that folder then you should be able to restore from there.

BEAUTIFUL!! And phew!

Thank you - this seems to work in Yosemite (10.10.1) too.

Really appreciate all you and others do on here. Has saved me hours of pain.