Do It Yourself

I think I have been needlepointing seriously for about the last six or seven years. I first learned to needlepoint as a child, but stopped around college. About a year after I restarted, my friend Christy picked it up again too. Since we were both self taught we were enthralled to listen to our friend Elizabeth talk about the workshops she would go to all over the country. Elizabeth was the best stitcher we knew and we envied her wealth of stitch knowledge.

One of Elizabeth’s favorite teachers is the famous Tony Mineri. Five years ago Christy and I got the idea that we would go to one of his workshops. We looked online to see how they worked. The one we picked to go to was a three days class where you sent your canvas ahead to Tony, who would create a stitch guide for your project and then when you got to class, he would teach you the various stitches. I purchased this cute bunny to be the canvas I would send him.

Christy and I called the shop in Texas eight months in advance of the workshop. The lady on the phone laughed hysterically. Turns out that class had been sold out two years previous. We were welcome to find a class two or three years out and sign up. We thought it was crazy. We couldn’t know if we were free three years in advance.

That was five years ago. Two weeks ago I finally gave up holding on this canvas and decided to just make up my own stitches. It has been a very slow two weeks so I stitched like crazy and didn’t worry about doing graduate level stitches.

I have decided that anything I need to learn I will just teach myself. I can’t wait around for two or three years to learn new things. I have stitching time now, during the pandemic. Once we get out of lockdown I am going to find new things to do and places to go!