Needlepoint 101

Ms. Mc's mom has done needle point projects for years and I have long admired them. I became the most smitten by needle point when she made a stocking for Ms. Mc's oldest son. It looks incredible and I decided that I would have to learn how do do it so I could make stockings for my own children. It is so quintessentially Victorian that it would be perfect for me. Flash forward many years and 3 children later and I have made zero progress.

Mrs. Mc referred me to In Stitches, the needle point shop where she gets all her supplies and projects. They offered instructional classes as well. I stopped there once after my first son was born and looked at stockings. As with many projects I consider, I'm off to a slow start because I want it to be perfect, so I'm challenged to find the 'perfect' design (or fabric, or furniture piece, or tile etc.) If I'm going to invest a lot of time and money into something and I know I'm going to live with it forever, then I need it to be just right. Consequently this is why I have never gotten a tattoo; I had a great idea for what I would want, but never found the perfect image. Initially I wanted to put an image of the real St. Nicholas on a stocking, but no one makes that and the ladies at the shop made it seem like making modifications to an already designed  screen is next to impossible. So I put off the idea for a couple years.

With the birth of my 3rd child, and the magic of paternity leave, I was motivated to pursue needlepoint again. I called earlier in the year and gathered information about instructional classes. Last week I finally set up an appointment and had my first lesson. I went in a few days before and picked out my project. With My Little Helper's input I settled on an ornament with a crocodile wearing a santa hat. We are slightly modifying the background and will eliminate the stripes. In this was I can have more practice with my basket weave stitches.

I asked the woman teaching me how many projects she thought I would need to complete in order to work my way up to a stocking. She said with my previous knowledge of cross stitch that I am picking up needle point well and should be able to move on to a stocking right away. My goal to have all 3 stockings completed by next Christmas seems attainable. Mrs. Mc did full stockings for her grandchildren but encouraged me to look into just doing needle point cuffs, the the rest of the stocking is created from fabric. I love that idea, and who knows, if I find one I like I might even get it together this year. There is an October deadline for getting projects finished by Christmas, so it could very well be too ambitious to hope for one for this year. But this is my progrss on the ornament since my lesson on Friday. I'm so excited to do this and work on it every chance I'm not holding a baby!