My Needlepoint Journey
One stitch at a time
My journey into the world of needlepoint began as a little girl of seven years old. It was watching my Mother, Nana, and my older sister, Christine, sitting around the living room chit-chatting about the latest soap opera, “Guiding Light,” working away on colorful needlepoint tapestries.
It looked like fun to create pictures with the needle. My mother patiently taught me my first stitch, the “continental.” It wasn’t easy, and I got frustrated, but eventually, I got the hang of it.
I spent hours of my childhood and teenage years sitting in front of the TV watching classic movies with the stars of Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Elizabeth Taylor, and Doris Day entertaining me as I stitched away on my needle points. I was probably the only teenager in school who would sit on the cold locker room floor during free periods or before an exam and stitch my floral needlepoint tapestries.
Needlepoint gave me something to do with my hands and kept my mind distracted. For someone who has anxiety, like myself, needlepoint was very therapeutic. It kept my hands busy and my thoughts on following the pattern.
My interest was flowers; I loved the colors and creating different playing with the hues of the needlepoint threads of the roses, hibiscus, and peonies. One after one, I would turn them into pillows, and they’d be lined up on my bed like trophies. As I got older, my interests started to turn to animals. As I was a young mom, I wanted to create needlepoint pillows that my kids would enjoy.
I had needlepointed a lion for my son and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel pillow for my daughter when they were little. They still have these pillows to this day. I wanted to branch out from the florals. I pretty much tried every subject: people, fish, birds. I turned a lot of my canvases into pillows, but eventually, they went into framed artwork.
This Jaguar piece was a gift for my Mother. she loved vibrant colors and Jaguars. I worked diligently to finish these in a timely fashion. It took about two years to complete this colorful Jaguars for my mom's 70th birthday. After she passed away, I have the framed needlepoint hanging in my home. I can remember where I was with each stitch. There is something about needlepoint, there is a connection to each color, each section of the canvas. It's a work of art and of memories.
Finally, I decided to try my hand at something more challenging. I was walking in a needlepoint store one day and fell madly in love with a 2 1/2-foot Santa’s canvas.
Santa took eight years to complete! With life challenges and sheer boredom at times, it took that long. It was also the first needlepoint that I varied away from my continental stitch and started going into many more challenging stitches. Santa was created with “Brick Stitch,” “Basketweave Stitch,” “Diagonal Mosaic Needlepoint Stitch,” and his beard was “French Knots.” Learning those stitches added some time for completing Santa.
When my boredom hit, I switched to other Christmas and Halloween designs. I loved Needlepoint, but with life, my interest varied to other things — watercoloring, writing, and illustrating, to name a few.
I will go back to needlepoint one day because I actually have another Santa Claus that matches this guy, but in a green robe with other wildlife. I need to complete him. Santa sits waiting in the closet for me, in a very large bag.
Maybe during one day, I’ll pick him up, and I’ll do some work, but then again, I won’t be able to write, so it is a bit of a challenge. I do have to find a better balance. I’m not quite ready to put him up online for everyone to see.
Have any of you done needlepoint? Do you enjoy needlepoint or other stitching?
**************
This was originally posted on Medium.
About the Creator
Daphsam
Loving Wife, Mom, Dog Mom- A Dyslexic dreamer who never thought I could read or write. But life changed, and I conquered my fears. I am an artist, photographer, wordsmith and illustrator. Looking to weave stories and poems with my artwork.
Reader insights
Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insights
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Easy to read and follow
Well-structured & engaging content
Compelling and original writing
Creative use of language & vocab
Masterful proofreading
Zero grammar & spelling mistakes
On-point and relevant
Writing reflected the title & theme
Eye opening
Niche topic & fresh perspectives
Excellent storytelling
Original narrative & well developed characters
Expert insights and opinions
Arguments were carefully researched and presented
How Gayatri Mantra Benefits Can Help You Relax in 2024?
Gayatri Mantra In Hinduism, the Gayatri Mantra is a revered and ancient Sanskrit hymn with great meaning. It can be found in the Rigveda, one of Hinduism's oldest scriptures that is thousands of years old. The mantra is said to be a prayer for spiritual awakening, wisdom, and divine guidance, and it is dedicated to Savitr, the Sun deity.
By Vedic Meet 2 days ago in Art
Comments (36)
Wow, I love your works, specially flowers. I used to cross stich years ago, with simple projects. You're so talented, congratulations !
This was special. Growing up all the women in my family cross-stitched and on numerous occasions came together to quilt. Reading this, I felt all the old emotions of sitting down next to my mom to watch tv while she worked on her stitching. This was a wonderful read.
Oh wow! This is tremendously talented. Thank you for letting us read such an inspiring story! My grandmother loved needlepointing and embroidering. ❤️
This was so inspiring and interesting to read. As someone with anxiety and Autism, crafts are therapeutic to me. I’ve never tried needlepoint, but I’ve done latch hooking, which is one of my favs! With respect to other forms of creative art, love to knit, paint, draw, do digital art, write, bead, and I want to learn amigurumi. I always bring my knitting on the bus, as that helps me with stress and anxiety. Keep up the phenomenal work. You’re so talented!
Thank you for sharing these with us
Your needlepoint skills impress me greatly! It is a huge blessing to have found such an enjoyable way to express yourself!
where all in-game content, such as levels, characters, and items, is unlocked from the start. These mods provide players with immediate access to all features without the need to progress through the game normally. Players may seek out such mods to experience the full range of content without limitations, although caution is advised when downloading from unofficial sources to avoid potential security risks or violations of the game's terms of service.If you want to get this kind of more game then get this link : https://findmobapk.com/
These are just beautiful! Congrats on Top Story!🥳
I really like doing needlepoint projects, and I have completed several. A few needlepoint projects and even a long stitch project. I also liked making pictures out of yarn thread. I will post some of my old projects here soon if I can find a few of them.
This is all about elope east coast tasmania https://www.oceanabnb.com/post/elope-tasmania
Really loved your work of art. So eye soothing.
one of the great story
good
complete! With life challenges and sheer boredom at times, it took that long. It was also the first needlepoint that I varied away from my continental stitch and started going into many more challenging stitches. Santa was created with “Brick Stitch,” “Basketweave Stitch,” “Diagonal Mosaic Needlepoint Stitch,” and his beard was “French Knots.” Learning those stitches added some time for completing Santa. https://slope-unblocked.org/
Wonderful needlepoint works and a great story!!
I do needlepoint, too! My great aunt taught me how to do it. I'm still on simple stitches with pre-made guides, but it's great for giving me something to do with my hands since I'm so anxious, and it helps improve my surgical and suturing skills. I love your artwork, it's so good!
Terrific work! Keep it going—congratulations!
Those are amazing pieces, you should be very proud ❤️
Wow! These are spectacular artworks! My mother in law does needlepoint and she says the same about calming her mind and giving her hands something to do.
Beautiful artwork, wonderful story. 🩷💙
Your work is amazing! I love to knit and I enjoy the repetition and the creating, seeing something emerge from my motions. Can't wait to see that green Santa.
Love your creations...no, I have never done any needlepoint. I lack patience and now my hands won't cooperate...or my eyes (aging) Congratulations on Top Story!!!
Such beautiful work, and what a blessing for your children and your mother to have these pieces, lovingly crafted just for them by you! I'm glad you added such good photos of some of your needlepoint creations! As for having time to write, maybe you could record your voice saying what you want to write, while you do the needlepoint. Just a thought. Congrats on your Top Story!
Awesome needlepoint creations!!! Loved your story!!!
I often admire people who have the patience for beautiful pieces of art like yours. Thank you for sharing them with us! Congrats on the Top Story! 👏🏾🎉👏🏾