New Needlepoint designer at the Bristly Thistle

Waterweave is a new artist for us this year. I found myself coming back to their booth each day of market, drawn in by these unusual and beautiful canvases.

When I lived in College Station, Texas, I had peacocks. I loved watching the males show off for “the girls” and I also loved watching them fly up into the trees to roost at the end of the day. This canvas comes with a stitch guide that makes the peacock even more striking.

We are gradually becoming true Up North folks—we have started feeding the birds. We have a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers that show up every once in a while and are fascinating to watch. This woodpecker, framed by acorns, will be fun to stitch.

These designs and more are available on our website.

Kaffe Fassett needlepoint on Mackinac Island

What a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend you could have on Mackinac Island this year.

The amazing Kaffe Fassett will be teaching four classes (one each for needlepoint, quilting, painting and knitting) and giving a lecture at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Class sizes are limited, so you will get the full benefit of Kaffe’s knowledge and talent.

Kaffe Fassett is a best selling author, television series host and most importantly, an artist. He is the first ever living artist to have a one man show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He works in many media, including knitting, needlepoint, patchwork and mosaic. He has designed wallpapers, fabrics and interior accessories. His 11 published books include “Glorious Knits”, “Passionate Patchwork” and “Mosaic”:

Here is the class schedule:

“Potpourri” Patchwork Workshop 1 Thursday, May 7, 9am to 4pm $90

Color and design are what Kaffe does so well. In this class large and medium scale floral prints are cut into various sized squares and are arranged cleverly for easy piecing in this riot of color quilt

“Painting with Kaffe” Friday, May 8, 9am to 4pm, $95

Kaffe is an artist and painter and still paints all of his designs for his fabric collections. In this workshop you will be given simple exercises that will teach you about color as well as design. Paints and paper will be provided.

Lecture: “The Wonderful World of Color” Saturday, May 9, 1 to 3 pm $25 lecture only, $50 lecture and Grand Luncheon Buffet

Come take a journey with Kaffe as he shows us how the colors around him have inspired his creativity in quilting, knitting, needlepoint and painting. The lecture is followed by a book signing and light refreshment.

“Color in Design” Knitting Workshop With Brandon Mably from the Kaffe Fassett Studio Sunday, May 10, 9am to 4pm, $75 (All skill levels)

Using the stocking stitch, knitters will develop their ability to use color in design from the source material into a knitted swatch. The methods of carrying in fairisle will be demonstrated. Kaffe will be present for book signing.

“Needlepoint with Kaffe” Monday, May 11, 9am to 4pm, $95

This class will concentrate on the mysteries of shading colors, one of the elements that distinguishes Kaffe’s needlepoint designs. Working from source material supplied for the class, participants will learn to work in a quicker more expressive manner to achieve beautiful color harmonies.

Registration: Contact the event coordinator Jackie Compton at 231-264-8129 (EST) or jcompton@torchlake.com

All class attendees are required to stay at the Grand Hotel at special rates. More information is available on our website.

We hope to see you there—we will be the official needlepoint store for the weekend. We will have lots of beautiful Kaffe Fassett needlepoint kits for sale and a special edition Limoges Box canvas by Julia’s Needleworks.