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.
