Needlepointing is for Winners.

I am obsessed with needlepointing these days. I think about it all the time. I’ve been working on a big project that is seeming to take FOREVER, but I’ve also been trolling the internet for a new project. I usually do projects of my own design, or designs adapted from photographs, but lately I’ve been craving the ease of doing a painted canvas of someone else’s making. 

I’ve done so many black and white designs in the past couple of years. Here are a few for those of you who can’t be bothered to check out my super amazing awesome needlepoint page. Look. Feast your eyes and stuff.

I know. Estelle Getty's head is totally floating. It's just the way it worked out.

Here’s what I’ve been working on lately.

It’s part of a wall hanging of 70’s TV detectives. Columbo is done, and Quincy is nearly done. Still have to do Kojak and Charlies Angels. Not sure what to do with it when I finish it when I’m 120 years old.

It will never be done.

It is huge.

But every home needs a needlepointed wall tapestry of 1970's TV detectives, am I right?

So, sick of black and white, I wanted to do something a little more cheerful.

And here’s what I’ve ordered from the internet. It’s by “Princley Creations” and I purchased it from Fireside Stitchery.

Here’s something else I want to do by JP Needlepoint Designs from theneedlepointer.com 

(Imari. when it's done it would be much more vibrant.)

I also started a huge wall hanging several months back - a Maggie Lane design that I can’t finish because stupid Paternayan isn’t making their stupid Paternayan yarn anymore and I can’t find enough wool to finish the stupid background. I’ll have to find a substitute for the stupid Paternayan.

photo of finished Maggie Lane wall hanging

what I've done so far and can't finish because of stupid Paternayan.

could have been amazing except for stupid Paternayan.

Stupid Paternayan. Pull yourself together.

I realize this might not have been the post of your dreams. But it's what's on my mind. Needlepointing, and cheese. And chocolate chip cookies. The cheap kind.

So, here's a little drawing to make up for the fact that I wrote about needlepoint instead of things that are funny.

You're welcome.

Yarn

I love yarn.

I come by this love honestly. My mother also loves yarn and instilled in me a respect for yarn that borders on worship.

My mother is a knitter and crocheter, while I am a needlepointer. She, at one time, had about 15 garbage bags full of wool in our front porch/storage room. Most of it was beige, which she would buy in bulk if she found it on sale, in case she "ever wanted to make another beige afghan". She had enough beige wool to make about 10 extra large afghans. She also had bags of crocheted granny squares, waiting to be sewn together into afghans. She had quantities of sock yarn, baby yarn, variegated yarn, cotton yarn, itchy wool yarn, acrylic yarn, novelty yarn.

When mom downsized to an apartment, she got rid of most her wool, which I think was more difficult for her than selling her house. Still, she has devoted a good portion of her present closet space to wool, and continues to buy it. It's a sickness. And she passed it on to me.

I love needlepointing. It's very calming. I used to work in a needlepoint store for the discount and just to be near all those scrummy colours of wool. When the shop closed down, my boss sold me, at very very deep discount, all of her remaining Paternayan Persian wool. Sometimes I take it out of the pillow cases I store it in, just to look at it.

I also love my pyjamas, as you can see from the photo. My pyjamas have cup cakes on them.

I have more wool on backorder from a couple different needlepoint outlets in order to finish a couple of large projects I've started. It's hard to get certain colours sometimes.

It's hard to be me.