Interview with Judie of Thistle Needleworks

I love talking to other stitchers, to designers, and of course to shop owners. I managed to talk Judie of Thistle Needleworks in Glastonbury, Connecticut into an interview. Judie graciously sent me photos to make into a slide show for blog readers. Here is Judie speaking below, answering my questions and talking about her shop and the pieces she and her staff have stitched.

"A few shots of the shop are attached (that's Julia at the register, not me) as well as pix of three commercially available painted canvases for which I have written stitch guides -- 2 from Anne Brinkley and 1 from Cooper Oaks. (The Hummingbird piece has two areas - one wing and the bud - worked on 18-mesh canvas and then appliqued to the 13-mesh painted canvas. I don't think that shows very well in the photo. All three pieces have a variety of threads and stitches, but I would like to think that they do not show because they just enhance the designs but do not change them.)"

Judie, the photos are wonderful! I had a lot of fun looking at them last night. Now I have questions about the stitched pieces and then about the shop itself. I think you are right that the individual stitches don't show up much because they are not intended to call attention to themselves, but it is hard to take good photos of stitching that shows much detail. What threads did you use?

"The two flower pieces are all done with Gumnut Yarns -- Blossoms, Daisies, Stars, Buds, Poppies, and Tulips. Mr. Wonderful uses Watercolours from The Caron Collection and Gold Rush 14 and Cordonnet from Rainbow Gallery in addition to Gumnut Yarns."

What did you use for the ermine on Mr. Wonderful's robe?

"Gumnut Yarns' Daisies 990 and 999."

Why did you choose these pieces for a stitch guide?

"All three were designed to be used at trade shows at classes co-sponsored by Anne Brinkley or Cooper Oaks and Custom House of NeedleArts, the importer of Gumnut Yarns."

Are these things that just spoke to you or are your customers big fans of Anne Brinkley, for example?

"In the case of the flowers, I chose the designs, but Mr. Wonderful was chosen by the designer for the class and stitch guide."

Is your original website (link below) more geared toward counted thread stitchers?
http://www.thistleneedleworks.com/

"Yes, indeed it is........... We acquired the Alex-Paras web site a little over a year ago when Alex-Paras NeedleArts, the brick and mortar shop in FL, closed. The former owner was a longtime friend and customer of Thistle Needleworks before she moved to FL and later opened her shop there. She has now moved back to CT and is on the staff of Thistle Needleworks."

(If you haven't browsed the AP website to see their painted canvases, here is the link for a good long browse.)
http://store.apneedlearts.com/

You were the first shop I know of to offer counted thread monthly clubs and there still aren't many folks who cater to this breed of stitcher. Do you have anything special planned for them for 2009-10?

"Not on the calendar at this time, but things may change...................."

How did you happen to open a needlework store anyway?

"Before I opened Thistle Needleworks in 1983, I was a partner with two other ladies in The Needlework Studio. We were primarily a teaching studio -- I was the counted thread person, Anne was the canvas person, and Rosemary was the surface embroidery teacher -- and we sold merchandise only to support our classes. It was a concept whose time had not yet come and we closed after only one year. But that whet my appetite and so I opened Thistle Needleworks later that year."

Do you do a lot of mail order?

"Yes, we do. We ship multiple packages daily to stitchers all over the US and the rest of the world."

What are folks looking for when they either email you or find their way to your shop?

"Just about everything for the threaded needle -- fabrics and/or canvases, threads, tools, accessories, etc., etc., etc."

Is there a thread you carry no one else does, or a designer that everyone wants?

"We have no exclusives on threads -- I do not know if any shop does. We have a few exclusive cross-stitch kits and are now working with a designer to create an exclusive charted canvas work pattern or kit."

Thanks for the photographs. If you have another one of perhaps several completed pieces from your customers I'd love to add them to the slide show.

http://store.apneedlearts.com/christmas.html -- " there are two stockings there -- Harrison [top of the page] was partially stitched by a customer and completed by staff after she took ill and could not do so. The bear [Blue Snow Bear for Hannah at link below] was stitched by another customer."
http://store.apneedlearts.com/snowbear.html

I'd love to have more eye candy.

"Funny that you should use that term -- Eye Candy is the name of a needlepoint company and we have a number of her pieces on our web site."

Judie went on to describe some of the other photos she sent me:

"The fish is a Leigh design and was stitched by staffer Linda Prout after a class we piloted with Deborah Forney on Or Nue. It was stitched with Balger braids and Caron Impressions.

"Scottish Santa is a Petei canvas which I stitched using a variety of threads and stitches.

"Snowman Ornament is a charted canvas design from Kick Back & Stitch which I stitched and donated to the region's ANG auction tree a number of years ago.

I stitched both the Egmont Key Light ornament and the Vermillion Light, which was later made into a standing weighted figure. Both are from ABS Designs. Don't remember what threads were used on the Egmont Key but I do know that the Vermillion Light was stitched entirely with Sampler Threads since it was a gift for my old friends that own The Gentle Art.

"How could I forget him????????? The first Thistle Needleworks exclusive................

http://store.apneedlearts.com/bewithtave.html

"And this toy poodle -- a Leigh canvas -- stitched by Martha Piontkowski, the same gal who stitched the blue snow bear stocking from Tapestry Tent, and stitched as a gift to Julia because they share a love of poodles. Lilly belongs to Julia, who is one of our framers and is shown at the register in one of the shop photos, and comes to work with Julia twice a week -- have attached another picture of the two of them hard at work in the classroom. [Lilly the poodle is on the right side of the third shop photo in her dog bed.]

"I forgot to mention that in the photo of the outside, that window on the right is in the classroom (which is used as the framing workroom when classes are not being held).

"Every year I give each of our four children and each of our three DIL's a stitched ornament. These are the seven Kathy Schenkel ones I did a few years back -- had lots of fun with stitches and textures and threads."

And I've had a lot of fun talking to you, Judie, seeing photos of Thistle Needleworks and enjoying the stitching you and your staff have done there. Thank you very much for allowing Blog and its readers to visit with you today!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow