Friday, January 7, 2011

needlepoint classes

With the slowing economy, people examine needlepoint classes with extra scrutiny.  Is this worth more than the actual canvas?  Do I want to spend 8 hours (or 4 hours or 16 hours) with a group of strangers?  What will I get from this experience?  Needle Nicely tries to answer these questions with the classes we offer.  This year our offerings have diminished, primarily because I want people to concentrate on the few classes I am offering.

Even though Needle Nicely is on the space coast of Florida, we (I think of the shop as we, because  while I am the owner, the shop also encompasses my employees who represent me) are in middle America.  Our customers in the "season" are from the mid-West and from New England.   



A project I started last summer (2009) is the first class I am offering this year.  It is a geometric doorstop stitched in silk 'n ivory in two color families.  I conceived this class last year when I visited the Historic Museum on Nantucket and saw a blue and white geometric doorstop.  It spoke to me.  Florida coast towns have lots of ocean breezes and the inhabitants need lots of doorstops to stop the slams.  I can foresee designing several companions to this "mango" doorstop.  I saw the central motif last summer while cruising the web on needlepoint sites.  What a marvelous focal point. 









My next class is a companion to one I taught several years ago, Aran Sampler I. (See right)













My first TNNA market (long before TNNA) was a New York market in the mid-70's where I encountered Ella Projansky, author of Sculptured Needlepoint Stitchery.  She was a wonderful picture of middle-European (Polish?) ancestry with marvelous apple cheeks and a crown of braids and very approachable.  Thank goodness her designs were as delightful.  I have now developed a 2nd pillow as a companion to Aran Sampler I, of course, Aran Sampler II.  This pillow-sized piece is done in Medici. 





Later this weekend I will discuss the other classes I will be teaching.  And I have been working on a wreath design to accompany my tree with crystals ornament. 

2 comments:

  1. What a wonderful/refreshing kind of shop you must have! These are great projects, and they don't resemble all those tired things "out there" that look just alike.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your snowbirds have some wonderful things in store for them!

    ReplyDelete