Rittenhouse Needlepoint

Wow.
A beautiful store with so much to see. They have a ton of needlepoint yarn and they have many, many examples of things you can *do* with your needlepoint! That has been my struggle... how many needlepoint pillows can you possibly own? And I suspect my family does not want a ton of pillows, either.... We are not cutesy pillow people. Nor are my friends, for that matter.... it's an internal struggle for me....

I am not in love with all the ornaments or three dimensional pieces, though the variety of stitches on the pieces are really pretty and very creative.

An aspect of this store which is new to me is that at Rittenhouse Needlepoint they both create custom canvases and they make the pillows or the boxes or the backgammon sets which can be the final product.

Clearly I have been extremely limited in my vision as to what one can make with needlepoint. At Finishing Needlepoint you can see a variety of things to make - from hair accessories to coasters to the aforementioned backgammon sets.

I spent a good amount of time speaking with Kaitlyn who custom paints canvases for the shop. Kaitlyn is trained as a graphic artists and she showed me an example of her work. Not inexpensive to get a custom canvas.... But for those of us who like the process of creating but are not artistic, seems like a nice collaboration.

The intriguing thing about Rittenhouse Needlepoint is that they encourage lingering - as they even clearly print on their windows they are for needlepoint-coffee-conversation. They also encourage the meditative aspect of needlepoint. (I have been struggling with the feeling that I am wasting my time when I do my fiber art/crafts; this gives me 'permission' to work away during the day when I think I should be doing something at my desk. Of course, in all cases, needlepoint or desk work, is going against our intrinsic need to be standing and moving. How can we combine exercise and needlepoint?)

Kaitlyn kindly let me photograph one of the canvases.

Terrible photograph, but I didn't want them to think I was taking the photograph to copy it; and I was taking the photo just to show my husband who knows about my llama and alpaca fetish. A nice combination of interests... now if only there were an exercising, healthy eating llama canvas.

Here is a very colorful and playful foot stool from their web site:

Check them out at 18th and Walnut Streets in downtown Philadelphia, on the second floor. Plan to spend  while - heck, bring your project with you. I bought a ton of beautiful yarn to complete a geometric piece I am currently working on.

Go back here to see the discussion of one of my recently finished pieces. Here is the photo, though: