She seeks wool, and flax, and works willingly with her hands. Proverbs 31:13
I fell in love with all needle arts at a very young age. I was mesmerized by ladies stitching, whether it was embroidery or needlepoint, I loved the quiet concentration and sweet friendships that grew as they worked. I also loved the finished products!
There was a little needlepoint store in the same shopping center where my mother shopped for groceries. I would sneak away and visit this shop every chance I got! ( It was a long time ago, when children weren’t watched as closely as they are today.). This store started a love that has lasted a lifetime.
My mother didn’t share my love for needlepoint. She hated to sew anything at all! She took my father’s shirts to the tailors if a button fell off! She absolutely didn’t understand my love of beautiful needlework. I kept trying to learn everything I could about it. I read every book our library had to see what I needed to begin this lovely craft, but quickly found out that I needed certain supplies that were not at our house, so I did what every eight year old that had a deep desire did. I begged Santa to bring me some needlepoint for Christmas!
I was very shocked when I received 2 needlepoint kits designed for children. They came with a canvas, threads, a needle, and a plastic frame to complete your project. My mother thought that I would never finish them and that would be the end of my needlepoint quest, but I showed her. I finished both of them before Christmas break was over and wanted more!
Fast forward to high school. Like practically every other senior in high school, i had to make a senior journal. This journal was supposed to contain stories of our senior year, our triumphs, our plans for the future. My English teacher told us that the cover of our journal had to be spectacular, something that she would remember us by forever… that was tough. I came home and told my parents about the assignment and they really deliberated about my dilemma. I however did not have to think very hard about it, I already knew that I wanted to needlepoint the cover. The problem came with what exactly I would stitch. I wanted a beautiful bouquet of flowers or maybe a beach scene. My father, who was the artist in the family…I can’t draw stick people, decided that I would stitch an old fashioned school house, so that’s what I did. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I stayed up late many nights to finish this masterpiece and I’m honestly thankful that I did. My teacher loved it! My journal was put on display as an example of what a truly extraordinary cover would look like. Even my non-sewing mother was proud!
While I was a student at Baylor University and for years after that, I concentrated on counted cross stitch. I stitched many canvases for my sorority sisters and friends, until one day, I realized that I had given away everything that I had stitched…and that was a lot! So I stopped and cross stitched two more canvases, an alphabet sampler and a wedding sampler for my husband and I. Then I was finished cross stitching. I didn’t have the time, patience, or energy to count all of those little x’s. Instead, I picked up needlepoint again. I stitched two ornaments before our first baby was born and then put that away for many years too. When my children became a little more self sufficient, I started stitching again. I stitched a gorgeous Texas pillow for my mother-in-law and a luggage rack for my mother. My mother cherished that luggage rack, even after all of the grief she gave me about stitching. I still have both of them. I stitched a gorgeous rabbit pillow for my daughter and then took several years off for smocking. I smocked my children’s clothes for years! Thank goodness you can buy cute smocked dresses now!
I say all of this because I needlepoint all of the time now, but I only do basketweave and I prefer thirteen mesh if it is available. I even have the sweetest designer on Etsy that will paint any of her canvases on thirteen mesh if I ask her to! I stitch now because I love it. I don’t want to count the stitches or be bothered with the latest in fancy stitches. I do it to relax and I love everything I have finished so far. Could it be more stylish if I used fancy stitches, probably, but some of the joy would fade away and who wants that. As you look at some of my finishes, they may not look perfect to you, but remember, I am self taught, the closest needlepoint store is an hour from my house, and I love what I do and that’s all that matters. Maybe one day I will kick it up a notch, but for now this is the best I can do and it’s a wonderful hobby! I just love to stitch!
Needlepoint has its own vocabulary…buzz words…for someone new to the craft they can be kind of confusing, so I’ll tell you what they are. I’m not an expert, but I know some of them.
- Canvas- the fabric that you sew on. Needlepoint canvas usually comes in 13 mesh or 18 mesh. The number stands for how many stitches there are in an inch. Eighteen mesh shows more details; thirteen mesh is easier to see!
- Fiber- Fiber is the thread that you sew with. Some people like to use all wool, some people like to use DMC floss from Michaels. There are many different brands of thread, textures, sparkles, and every color under the rainbow! Always check to see if you are buying the correct thread for the size mesh you are stitching on. You can Google it, check with your LNS, or read a book with all of that information included.
- LNS- Your “local needlepoint store.” This can be a tough one. Some towns don’t have a needlepoint store. The closest needlepoint store to me is almost an hour away! I am so envious of people that have a LNS close by!
- Project Bag- This is pretty self explanatory. A project bag is where you keep your latest canvas, fibers, needles ( right now my favorite needles are Tulip needles. They glide right through your canvas, not catching and fraying your thread.), and scissors. I have a different project bag for each canvas I’m working on. I have a Halloween project bag and a Christmas project bag. I’ve ordered a patriotic project bag because I know I will be stitching red, white, and blue very soon!
- Needle Minder- A needle minder is something relatively new to me, but has recently taken over the needlepoint community! It is a small decorative magnet. That you attach to your canvas to hold your needle if you have to step away for a minute. Needle minders have gotten very elegant lately. I have a gorgeous pagoda, the front door of Tiffany’s, Staffordshire dogs, fish; you name it, I bet you can find it! Are needle minders necessary? No, but they sure are fun!
- WIP- A WIP is your “work in progress.” I currently have three WIP’s, but I feel like I will be adding to that number very soon!
- WIP purgatory- A WIP that you haven’t worked on in a long time is said to be in WIP purgatory. That means you need to get with it and finish it soon! I have one canvas that has been in WIP purgatory for way too long!
- Frogging- Frogging is ripping out stitches that you have done incorrectly or are not happy with. My canvas that lives in WIP purgatory needs to be frogged or I need to just decide to carry on. Frogging takes a long time, can damage your canvas, and can damage your willpower to carry on with that canvas.
- Stash- Your needlepoint stash is all of the canvases that you have bought, but haven’t stitched yet. Yes…I have a needlepoint stash…and I love every canvas in it!
- Finishing- There are two kinds of finishing in the needlepoint world; lowercase f finishing, and Capital F finishing. Lowercase f means that you have finished stitching your canvas and are happy with the way it has turned out. Capital F finishing means that you have finished stitching your canvas, sent to off to someone to have it turned into an ornament or whatever, and it has been returned to you! Everyone cheers with a Capital F finish!!! There are two types of Capital F finishing. You can send it off to a qualified finisher and they will turn your canvas into an ornament or whatever you desire. The other type of Capital F finishing is self finishing. That is when you finish your canvas yourself. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube to help with that. I am definitely not brave enough to self finish anything, but there are lots of people that do. Finishing can be more expensive than the needlepoint canvas, so shop around to find out who the best finisher is with the best price!
Our nation’s big birthday is right around the corner and I’m already planning on stitching ornaments for my little feather tree. Look at this fabulous work by Jennifer! Can you believe that it won first prize at the State Fair of Texas?!?! This is so wonderful!
Are you motivated to start your very own needlepoint stash? I know that I’m going to spend the rest of the night stitching away. Hoping for some lower case finishes soon!!!