Natasha: You're listening to O Stitch, the podcast where needlepoint, creativity, and real conversation come together. I'm Natasha Sewell. And I'm Alan's a Riddle. You don't have to be a needlepointer to be here, but you might leave as one. I have a canvas in my cart right now. It's been in there for months, and I just haven't pulled the trigger in buying it. Okay, which one is it? I mean, you know which one it is. You know what I have been looking at forever, and I'm pretty sure you have one too. It just keeps selling out. ⁓ yeah. It's your white whale. You got it. That's exactly what it is. And today we are talking about the canvases we would swim across an ocean for, and the ones we have not let ourselves buy. quite yet, maybe because of price and maybe because of literally they sell out in seconds. Yep. Today we're doing three things. First, what we're actually stitching right now, then the big one, the white whale canvas we dream about, but we haven't bought yet. And finally we're going to say the quiet part out loud. Needlepoint is expensive. And we've decided that it's nobody's business but ours. Absolutely nobody's business. Okay, I think last episode you shared your whip first. So I'm gonna go ahead and share two whips today. Okay. Okay, two. So while I was in Maine, we went to destination Needlepoint in Kitty Bunkport. As one does whenever they're visiting a new place, they search out a needlepoint store, right? Yes, of course. Yes. And so you cannot go in a needlepoint store and leave without buying a canvas, correct? Correct. Correct. So I I bought two. We actually went to Destination Lethal Point two times. So I bought a canvas each time. So clearly you had to buy two. I get it. Yeah, I had to buy two. I had to support the the the small business. I'm a firm believer in that. So these were two that just spoke to me. I do not know what I'm gonna do with them. I did not buy them with a purpose. I just personally they spoke to me and I love them. And one is we, the French we, yes. ⁓ And it is adorable. It has Wii is in two tone blues and there's an exclamation point with a little heart and then there's a red and white stripe background. And I did not buy any of the threads while I was there. I did not kit anything because in my head I thought I might have some of these threads at home. And you can support a small business by buying the canvas and not buying the threads there. Just gonna say it. Yes. I actually have all the threads for this. So I I have here here they all are. It's mainly Milan. I think there's one silk and ivory in here. And I'm going to stitch this again. Don't know what I'm gonna do with it. I think I think is it too big for a bag tag? You know what? It would actually make a really cute ornament or door hanger would be really cute. ⁓ would be a cute door hanger. ⁓ maybe an ornament. Maybe you're right. Maybe a s a little square rectangle ornament would be cute. I think it's actually supposed to be a luggage tag. I just Okay, that makes sense. Which would be adorable. I just I'm not gonna stitch it as a luggage tag. So anyway, that is my first one. The second one I bought, I actually bought the matching needle mind because it was so cute. It is this one. It is a woman with a towel wrapped around her head, stitching a a needlepoint canvas in bed, and it's a pink bed, might I add. And it's adorable. Dev a ⁓ if you're listening. It's a very sketched out. It's an illustration. Yeah. It's an illustration. And I think it's by Love Bug. Is that the name of her? Anyway. But I got the matching needle minder. I did go to one of my local L and S's to kit this. I did not have this is on eighteen mesh and I did not have enough essentials colors to kit this myself. So I did go and buy all the things. I have options for colors. Because I wasn't a hundred percent sure what I was gonna do. Again, I don't know what I'm gonna do with this. It it could be a cute pillow. Mm-hmm. Really cute. For a bed. For a bed would be a really cute pillow. So maybe because it's a woman stitching on a bed, so that seems logical. So maybe, maybe this will be a pillow with a really fun fabric. Yes, I love that. I love that. Okay, I have a finished So it's not a work in progress. It's a finished. And it is from our newest drop, but it is the topiary, the Americana topiary. I love this one so much. So for those of you listening, it is a topiary we do toap a lot of topiaries. And this one is in an adorable square pot. And it has two American flags coming out of the pot. Kind of. And so it's really, really cute. Yes. And it's a double topiary. Double topiary. I just think it's so cute. I made it into a door hanger with a really pretty background fabric that's like a what's that called? Eye cat I cat, but it's greens, which I love because it picks up the topiary and not doesn't focus on the Red, white, and blue kind of thing. Right. And even the cording I made is the two tones of blue and a green. So it's not it it isn't the American flags, I think it makes them stand out on the canvas rather than having it all over the finished part. So that is my little whip. Your whip. That is a fun finish for sure. Absolutely love it. Love, love, love. Okay. So now we are going to discuss our white whale canvases. So for those of you that don't know what a white whale is, white whales are rare and people love them. And so this is the canvases that we pine after, that we just every time we see them, we're like, I really need that canvas or I really need to stitch that. You know We dream about. We dream about these canvases. And do you want me to go first, Ma? Yeah, why don't you share yours first? Yours is such a fun one. ⁓ I love it. I think I saw it on Instagram first and it's the colors and the theme of it that just hooked me right away. But if those of you who know Pippa, she is a designer for Needlepoint Canvases and she has a Eurosummer canvas. It's big. It's for a pillow, really. ⁓ it's that big. And it is so fun. It has an April spritz and ⁓ it just has all these amazing fun Eurosummer things in it. It's kind of oranges and blues and I love it. And I but it sells out in, I don't know, one minute when she gets them back in stock. But one day. I wonder, I think does she sell them? She some L and S's get it, don't they? I wonder if they've waked up. I don't know. But it's so beautiful. I love it so much. Anyway, one day I'm gonna get my hands on it. And I do love seeing how people stitch it too, because a lot of times it'll show up in my feed, someone stitching it. And they use some really cool decorative stitches throughout to just give it more texture. It's a big pillow, too. Is it 20 by 20? I'm gonna. I think I have it right here. It is I think it's twenty by twenty. It is a sixteen by sixteen. So it is really big, but it has like coral, olives, ⁓ mussels on it, a sardine, oranges. It's so fun. The whole thing is just amazing. So yeah, I love it. So what is your holdback in getting this canvas? The fact that you literally cannot get to the site fast enough and click buy. Be before it sells out. Like is that the whole bag? Both. Yeah. It's also expensive at Needlepoint Canvas SR. Worth it, yes, because I think it's gorgeous and it's big. But yeah, also I have not been able to even have a chance to buy it yet. But And she has other ones too. I think she's a mountain one, am I right? And like a Palm Beach. She has a yes, she has Palm Beach Summer. She's a camp mountain summer. Trying to see what other ones she has. And she I feel like she just posted that she might have it. ⁓ a new she has a New England summer as well, a Palm Beach. And she had a little hint of another one that she's designing. So yeah, they're really fun canvases. Go check them out. We will definitely link her in our show notes. yeah, and hopefully one of these days you're gonna get to the site. I'm gonna get it. And you're gonna get it. And it's gonna be such a fun stitch for you. It really is. Such fun stitch. So my White Whale canvas, there are a couple designs of this I like. I have not actually pinpointed the exact one I want, but it's a backgammon table. It's not a table, it's a board, a backgammon board, a top. And someone sells the acrylic that it can fit into finished, which is super cool. But I there are several I like. I go back and forth for from be wanting one that's very geometric and more design to having one that's like breathtaking piece of art almost, you know? ⁓ but maybe a little harder to play on because it's it's it leans a little more art. But we ⁓ grew up playing Batgammon. It is a game that my kids love playing. I love playing. My parents love playing. So many memories. So many memories. My grandfather had a back Yammon table that actually now my youngest has. And it is just something that means a lot to our family. And I can think of nothing better than stitching a beautiful backgammon board. My holdback is A, I can't decide which one I like best. And every time I go in an L and S, they usually have a couple. And I always check them out. ⁓ And also the cost. Th a back gammon board is large and these are not cheap. So that is the other setback. I mean, some of the back gammon canvases I've seen have been four hundred and fifty dollars, five hundred dollars, they are very expensive and that is not including any of the thread. So that is sort of what is holding me back on that. But Someday I'm gonna do it. It's gonna be a big project. I do have a friend right now who's doing one and she has it on like a big stretcher bar stand because I I honestly think that might be the only way to stitch that. I I think it's would be a hard one to stitch in hand. What do you think? Just the weight of it might be difficult. ⁓ 'cause it is so big. But maybe if you rolled it properly, I don't know. Okay. That would be you'd have to maybe play around with that and see if you could do it. Yeah, she has this whole setup. It's quite spectacular. So that is definitely my white whale is that back gamment board. But someday, these are our someday canvases for sure. I feel like one day you're gonna walk into a store and the one on the wall is gonna speak to you and then I think so too. I think it'll be the right one. I think that's part of it too, is I just haven't found the exact right one yet, right? Yes. Yes. Here's the thing about a white whale canvas. When you finally get it, you want to do it justice. Which is exactly why we made you a decorative stitch video playlist. Once you're past the basics, decorative stitches are how you make a canvas feel even more special. And a lot of people use decorative stitches for backgrounds only or to fill in details. There's so many different ways to do it. And they really can make A canvas shine and really show off the design without being distracting. I think some people get caught up in that and thinking that a decorative stitch is a bit distracting, but I really think done correctly, it makes your canvas shine. And we have a decorative stitch playlist for you. So if you go to georgieandlottie.com backslash decorative dash stitch, you can sign up right there and have it sent to your inbox and you can start learning decorative stitches. Today. Okay, it's time for the thing that nobody wants to say out loud. Needlepoint is expensive, and we have decided that it is nobody's business. Nope. Not one person's business. No. It's an expensive hobby, but I have to say that a lot of hobbies are expensive. Let's be honest. Probably most hobbies are expensive. I have golfers in my house, and guess what? That is a very expensive hobby. Super expensive. Because not only do you need expensive golf clubs, but you also are playing golf in courses where you are paying greens fees. A lot of times you have to rent a cart. You need special shoes. You need I mean, like the list goes on and on. Or you travel. You travel to play at certain golf courses. It's really expensive. Yes. Yeah. You don't have to travel to Needlepoint. So that's that's one thing. You can needle point while you travel, but you don't have to travel to needlepoint. Exactly. Exactly. So here are some things that we think is really important to remember about this expensive, expensive hobby is that ⁓ you don't owe anyone an explanation of the cost. You can keep that to yourself, right? You don't need to share what you have spent on needlepoint with anyone. Because it's very easy to walk into your LS and walk out six hundred, seven hundred dollars in the red. Because it's just a it's expensive and you have to buy the canvas and then all the threads and all of the things. But it is also really worth it, right? Mm-hmm. Yes, a hundred percent. The hours and hours you get from those canvases you just purchased or this hobby in general is Priceless in my opinion. Yeah. I mean, it's really, as I've mentioned before in the podcast, helped my mental health. So I think of it as a a mood booster, needle pointing. And so when you think of that, it's actually helping my mental health, which is amazing. Also, the fact that you can stitch something that yes, you've paid for and then give it to someone as a gift is I think that's priceless, to be totally honest. I mean, who doesn't want a handmade gift, right? A hundred percent. You can also, you know, make it personal so you can add an initial to it. Or I just saw somebody was stitching something for a wedding gift and they had their new last name on it. And I just that's such a such a lovely personal thing to give to somebody. So Alonsa and I both had needlepoint pillows made by a close family friend that were our ring bearer pillows. And I still have mine it's still d in my house. It's a special thing. So these are not even though it's expensive to buy the canvas and buy the thread, every time I look at that pillow, I think of Aunt Georgia who stitched it for me. Like it it immediately brings back. So it's just special. So they are priceless, you know? And you're also paying for You have to remember that you're paying for, as an artist, you are paying for something that is hand painted and it is designed and the design itself takes a long time. So I sit down when I design a canvas and it could be multiple times that I sit down and start it over or edit it, send it to Natasha, and she says, Hey, how about this? And then I rework it. So it takes a long time to come up with a design and then also hand painted on a canvas. So there is a reason for that cost. Yeah. I mean they're really a work of art, every canvas. They truly are, because a lot of thought has gone into it, a lot of, as Alansa said, time goes into it. All of those things. So not to mention the fact there is the cost of the actual canvas. Right? I mean that so you so You are really buying a work of art. And if you think about it, art is an expensive thing to collect. So there you go. There are some ways though to make needlepoint a little bit more affordable. One of the biggest tips I have for people is once they have gotten some projects under their belt, buy a bigger project that's going to take longer because you do get more bang for your buck with that. It takes longer to stitch. Yes, you will need more thread, but it you get more you get more f more bang for your buck. So definitely looking into larger, you know, when you're only doing bag tags and ornaments, those are very small. They don't take that long to stitch. Also a lot of them take a lot of different thread covers. And some of the bigger projects, you know, you don't need as many colors. So you're not necessarily buying as as much thread. Right. And they the little canvases add up too. So you might think that you're saving because that little canvas was less expensive. But when you finish it in one night and you need another canvas, it does add up. So like the we were I was talking about we're talking about the backgammon and that PIPA pillow. They're big. Like those will take us a long time to stitch. So it's a lot of hours that you get out of that. Yeah. So just think about that sort of stuff. Also, you do not need to have twenty canvases just that you haven't stitched yet. at your house. Do you know what I'm saying? Right. A lot of people do do that. They they have needlepoint cabinets, which are lovely and they display all their canvases that they've purchased all over that, but they haven't stitched it. You don't need to do that. Just buy what you're going to stitch right now. And that's a way to kind of spread out the cost. Also obviously using thread that you already have because a lot of projects do not take up all of your thread. So if you can use thread that you already have in your stash, that will save you money as well. Yes. Good point. So spend what brings you joy, do it on whatever budget is actually yours and explain it to absolutely no one. It's this is your hobby. Do with it what you want, right? I like that. Maybe we need to put that on a pillow. I mean, I think so. I think that would make a really, really good good pillow, to be honest, for sure. And if you are looking for a canvas, we just so happen to have them on our website. We had a restock recently. And if you use the code OSTITCH10, that's O H S T I T C H one Zero, you will get ten percent off your first order because we truly want you to go out there and stitch something. Here's the truth. This is your money, your time, your peace. You get to decide what it's worth, and you do not owe anyone the receipt. Just keep those to yourself or put them in the garbage before you go home. Two quick things. Wherever you're listening, hit follow so that the next episode just shows up for you. If you're on Apple Podcasts, a review there especially helps other Stitchers find the show. And send us your white whale too. We might even confess what's really in our cards. Thanks so much for listening to O Stitch, the podcast where Needlepoint meets real life. This podcast is brought to you by Georgie and Lottie. Whether you're looking for your next canvas, stitching, inspiration, or a community that loves Needlepoint as much as we do, we'd love to have you join us. You can explore canvases, products, and more at georgieandlottie.com. Until next time, happy stitching.