stitcher’s profiles Archive

Originally posted 2008-03-22 11:10:12. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Her flyer has a quote by Ghandi, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Judy Standish has certainly taken this to heart. As Needlepoint by Nanny, she is taking her talent in needlepoint to help in the fight against diabetes. She has been personally affected by the disease, losing an older brother to Type I Diabetes when he was in his 30’s. She also loves needlepoint and she says “Like Linus with his blanket, I’m never without a canvas.” It was while she was stitching on vacation in Florida one year that her project began. She was stitching and many people came up to her and said that they owned needlepoint projects, they hadn’t finished (or sometimes even started) stitching. How many of us have had the same thing happen to us? But this lit a

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Look at the needlepoint by Sarah Homfrey pictured here, isn’t it amazing? Sarah Homfrey is the talented British stitcher who designed and stitched it. She is a graduate of the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) Apprenticeship program and has both taught and written books for them. In an interview with The Unbroken Thread, you’ll learn about her and see many stunning examples of her stitching

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Daphne Goodyear is both an amazing and prolific needlepointer. Far better than lazy and cheap people like me who have most of our stitching sitting in boxes waiting to be finished. I just spent a long time on her wonderful site, Needle Artistry (UPDATE: Link added), exploring her work, reading her story, and admiring the work of other stitchers there. I easily could have spent the whole day lost in looking at her lovely work. It’s like a needlepoint only museum. The site is, by far, the best organized showcase for needlepoint I’ve ever seen. I’m not going to give away anything by showing you her work, just trust me and go. It will fire up your needlepoint, I know it did for me. UPDATE: The link for Daphne’s site is: http://needleartartistry.org/home.html

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If you live anywhere near Des Moines go and see the amazing needlepoint by Joyce O’Brien now on exhibit at the Ankeny Art Center. The picture above, a skyline of Des Moines, is one of her pieces. Much of her work focuses on stitched renditions of landmarks in a style called, in art, hyper-realism, where the artist renders something in near photographic exactness. This piece is HUGE 3 feet by 2 feet and the artist estimates it took her 6000 hours to stitch. Even if you worked on it without doing other projects and stitched 6 hours a day on it — that’s almost three years of work. She is an artist who switched from paints to needlepoint because it was “more portable.” There is a short article about her in the Des Moines Register. Another article from the same paper has more about her along with information about some

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The Scarlet Thread has a wonderful, long interview with their newest designer, Jeff Kulick, on their blog, It’s a Stitchy Thing. I’m in awe of Jeff’s wonderful pieces and his stunning stitching. In the interview you’ll see lots of wonderful pictures of his work and get some great ideas for innovative things you can do with your own stitching. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of his designs in print (my top choice would be that Log Cabin in different sizes)

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Here’s a portrait of the average needlepointer: You make about 13 projects per year About 1/3 of your projects use materials from your stash You spend between $600 and $800 on materials for all your projects, about 30% more than cross stitchers and knitters, and about twice ass much as crocheters You spend about $100 less on needlepoint than you did three years ago You spend about $500 on classes and education The projects your prefer to make are pillows, Christmas items, ornaments or stockings (listed in order of popularity 2/3 of your purchases come from specialty needlework stores (on-line and off) 30% of your spending is for threads and another 30% for canvas (I assume this includes painted canvases) Needlepointers spend a slightly higher percentage of their purchases on finishing than cross stitchers and significantly more than knitters (who don’t spend money here and crocheters, who spend little Only

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Diane Bosworth, author of Beards I have Known, was recently profiled in the Cleborne, Texas Times-Review. Diane is a well-known stitcher, teacher and former needlepoint shop owner. She has stitched over 150 Petei Santas, which served as her inspiration for her book. The book looks at different ways to stitch beards. The short article gives the reader a delightful feel for Diane, her life, and the joy she takes in stitching. As a bonus there are pictures of some of her work, including the lovely nativity pictured here

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This portrait of Abraham Lincoln is one of the Presidential portraits done on Tent Stitch on 4 mesh canvas by a Tampa area resident, Shirley Kerstetter. They form the border of a massive quilt. See the quilt and learn more about its story and its maker in this article from tampabay.com

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He died in earlier this year, but Raymond Dockstader was a phenominal needlepointer whose work graced many needlework exhibits at Woodlawn Plantation in the DC area. I became more aware of his work through a recent blog post. His specialty was 3 inch square Tent Stitched pieces that were stitched and either finished as “paperweights” or assembled into larger pieces. The Washington Post, in his obituary, described the work he had in his apartment as “abstract works, usually in riotous colors; floral designs; and needlepoint that resembles poster art.” He had a clear acrylic box with 25 of the 3×3 paperweights displayed. This was shown at Woodlawn one year. These small squares weren’t drawn out but stitched on plain canvas. The geometric and abstract floral designs often have small color changes that add life to the designs. Threads and colors were picked from his stash. He gave many of them

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