New Melissa Shirley Halloween designs at the Bristly Thistle

These 6 glamorous witches have flown into our Amelia Island store and are flying out. Just imagine a brocade stitch for a coat, fur trim, a darning pattern for the background, beads for extra bling. Start stitching now and these girls will be ready to step out next fall.

These are available on our web site.

Amy Bunger’s new needlepoint DVDs are in …

…and I know what I’ll be doing tonight—getting a “private lesson” from Amy and her special guest, Kelly Clark.

Volume 7 “The Ins & Outs of Needleweaving covers attached and detached needle weaving. Watch how to weave such things as an open pocket, a door latch, cute little sheep’s ears and seaweed. Kelly Clark demonstrates Picot needleweaving, a woven basket technique that covers the basket, the rim and the handle, and semi-detached weaving for a scarf.

Volume 8 is all about Spider stitches—raised, oval, padded raised, ribbed horn, woven spider and more. Who knew there were so many variations to add punch to our canvases? Amy, of course! With 18 “chapters” this is loaded with new techniques.

These are in stock now and are $38 each. Here’s to learning new stitch techniques!

Clara Wells Needlepoint Sale at the Bristly Thistle

From now until the end of November, we have over 150 canvases in our Florida store from Clara Wells and all are on sale at 20% off. The show includes belts, bracelets, bucket bags, clutches, clutch bands, shoes and sandals.

New Alice Peterson needlepoint designs

We ordered some great new canvases from Alice Peterson at the St Charles market and they are in the Florida store now.

For kids, there’s a terrific Ten Inch Worm—perfect for helping a child learn to count to ten. The worm’s face is too cute! There’s also a great race car canvas with room for a child’s name and a train birth announcement. They are all on 13 mesh, so they are easy to see and quicker to stitch.

There are two rectangular pieces that would be terrific framed or made into bolster pillows—Hummingbirds and Orchids—reminders of warm weather in these cooler months.

My favorite is the Dragonfly—it just calls out for specialty threads and stitches.

Meet the artist at the Bristly Thistle Florida

Suzii Lund, a nationally known needlepoint designer, will be at the Bristly Thistle Florida October 22nd, 23rd and 24th. Known especially for her belt canvases, she is also the creator of the needlepoint sandals and key fobs featured at the Bristly Thistle. She will be painting monograms on her self-finishing needlepoint/leather key fobs in the store–a perfect gift for the holidays. Come meet the artist between 10 to 1 and 2 to 5 each day.

Gators vs. Bulldogs Needlepoint

It didn’t take us long on Amelia Island to find out about the fierce rivalry between the University of Florida and the University of Georgia. Kathy Schenkel has painted these stand up Santas with a football for the fans of each team. They are the perfect project to stitch while you watch the games this season. The big game this year is on Saturday, October 31 in Jacksonville Florida. Click on the photos for more information.

New needlepoint thread at the Bristly Thistle Florida

I just finished unpacking the entire collection of Trebizond silk thread—all of the colors (over 190) with wonderful families for shading. Trebizond is a joy to stitch with—use it “as is” on 18 count canvas. The thread is a twisted filament silk with a very high sheen. Although you can use it as is, you can also separate it into 3 strands and lay it smooth and flat. For the colors, the sheen and the ease of use, Trebizond is one of my favorite threads to stitch with. 10 yard reels are $3.50 and available on our web site.

Needlepoint sale at the Bristly Thistle

We are chock full of canvases here in our Florida store—both Kathy Schenkel and Raymond Crawford trunk shows are here and ready go home with you at 20% off.

Kathy Schenkel’s wonderful designs are perfect for special stitches. In fact, many of her canvases come with her very own stitch guides. My favorites? The stand-up Santas, tiny cubes with bead accents and the mini-socks with critters. My favorite new mini-socks come with African critters–monkeys, tigers, hippos, elephants and more. The tiny cubes are wonderful gifts—they stitch up quickly, are adorable and you get the easy instructions to finish them yourself.

Raymond Crawford’s designs are full of bright color and also lend themselves to special stitches and threads. His Christmas designs hint at a bit of the days of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope yet look wonderfully modern.

Squiggee needlepoint at the Bristly Thistle

We now have a selection of adorable 3D houses by Squiggee in stock. Whether you choose the Log Cabin, Halloween House, Chocolate Drop or Little Schoolhouse I’m sure you’ll be pleased!

New needlepoint designer at the Bristly Thistle

DC Designs is a new designer in our store. The artist is committed to creating great designs at reasonable prices. All the canvases in the store are under $50.

Three of the designs are perfect for a 7×7 lacquer box from HP that is on sale this month on our web site.