Nuts about Needlepoint » stitcher’s profiles

Needlepoint Eye Candy Bonanza

Janet Perry — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:26:23 +0000

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 Related posts: E Thor Carlson – Needlepoint Eye Candy Thanksgiving Eye Candy Big Time Bargello Eye Candy More Eye Candy Needlepoint Eye Candy – Faraway Hills Related posts:

Amazing Stitcher – Joyce O’Brien of Des Moines

Janet Perry — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:28:25 +0000

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 other artists who depict local landmarks.

Thanks to Renee Frank from Pepita for pointing this out on her blog.

Inspring Stitcher Interview

Janet Perry — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:40:04 +0000

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). Related posts: Designer Interview – Janet Perry Janet Perry Interview on SewingBusiness.com The Princess & Me – Designer Interview BlogTalk Radio Interview Available On-line Daphne Goodyear – An Amazing Stitcher Related posts:

Is This You?

Janet Perry — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:39:53 +0000

Woman Embroidering by August Macke

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 about 5% of your spending is on book and magazines

There is also a wholesale portion of the survey and it has some good news for us as stitchers. The revenue for needlepoint sales has grown, unlike knitting shops. The number of shops has stayed the same, and almost 80% of them have a website of some kind. About 40% of stores have both a physical and an Internet store.

If you like trunk shows and classes, retailers found them the most effective way to bring people into shops, so there should be more of them in the future. Needlepoint retailers want more new and fresh canvases to sell, so let’s hope that brings more innovation.

On the designer/manufacturer side, the market is profitable, with needlepoint the second biggest segment of the market, after knitting. What does that mean to you as a stitcher? A profitable wholesale market means that people with fresh new ideas will look at and enter this market, meaning more cool things for us to stitch.

These results are from The State of Specialty NeedleArts 2010, a survey done by TNNA (a trade organization) earlier this year and just released. Many of you took part in this survey through promotions of it here and elsewhere. Your answers greatly help those in the needlework industry create products and services that meet your needs.

Sunday Needlepoint Eye Candy

Texas Needlepointer Profiled

Janet Perry — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:34:25 +0000

needlepoint nativity stitched by Diane Bosworth

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.

Needlepoint of the Presidents

Janet Perry — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:09:43 +0000

stitched by Shirley Kerstetter

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

Amazing Needlepointer – Raymond Dockstader

Janet Perry — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:35:54 +0000

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 away.

Mr. Dockstader said of his needlepoint “My interest in needlepoint is an extension of my interest in other artistic techniques, principally watercolor and oil painting,” he once explained. “I begin with a canvas, the smaller the count the better. Designs are spontaneous with no advance drafting. I prefer abstract and impressionistic designs. I am never sure what a piece will look like when finished.”

Maggie Smocks was able to buy five of the paperweights at an estate sale and has a blog post about them with wonderful pictures.

Needlepoint by Nanny — Stitching for a Cause

Janet Perry — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:10:12 +0000

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 spark in Judy’s mind. There’s only so many canvases, “when you stitch for so many years, you run out of things to do,” she explains. She decided to combine her love of stitching with her desire to help the American Diabetes Association.

People send their unfinished needlepoint to her and she stitches it. Although you have to pay for out-of-state shipping and threads bought, in lieu of a stitching fee, you make out a check to the American Diabetes Association. There is no set amount and the check is sent to Judy to pass along.

She can estimate the amount of time it will take her to stitch and has a chart for estimating charges.

So far she has raised close to $4000 for the Association.

She has family and friends helping her to stitch, including her two daughters and granddaughter. The best way you can help is by passing the word along and by sending the work you need to have stitched.

Needlepoint by Nanny has grown to be a force for change.

You can contact Judy at jks314 @ comcast.net (remove spaces).