I think needlepoint was my first craft. I colored and I drew like every little girl, but before knitting and crocheting and sewing came needlepoint.

At this moment I can’t imagine what I loved so much about it.

A few months ago I ran across these Charley Harper needlepoint canvases from Purl and fell in love. Specifically with the bird prints. Immediately I thought of my friend Colleen, who has made a couple appearances here and has a serious love of birds AND just happens to be getting married over Memorial Day weekend.

Kinda perfect, right?

Only, did you look at the price of those kits? Yowza.

I'll Do it Myself!

Not that I wouldn’t be more than happy to spend the money on one of my close friends. But $55 plus shipping for a needlepoint kit that doesn’t even come with the embroidery floss you need? Now, that is just ridiculous.

Oh Yes I Did!

So I went to JoAnn and bought a sheet of canvas for $1.99, yellow embroidery floss for 37 cents (I had all the other colors I needed), and a hoop for $1.29. I pulled out some graph paper and did some math to figure out how big I wanted the birds to be. Then I pulled out my Sharpies and a ruler and got to work.

DIY Charley Harper Needlepoint

Not to bad, if I do say so myself! After MANY hours of working on this I’m about 75% finished. Done with yellow and gray, about halfway finished with the blue and I’ve still got those beaks to fill in.

My one regret? That I didn’t dye the canvas before I started. It would have a lot more pop if the canvas was colored instead of just cream. I’m going to see how it looks when I finish, but I might get a light blue color floss and fill in a little around the birds.

The though of that makes me want to take my embroidery needle to my eyeball, though. God. Damn. Did I forget how tedious needlepoint is. And I’m a knitter! A RIDICULOUSLY tedious craft. And I’m saying this. Is. TEDIOUS.

I’m dying for a knit. But I know that if I start a project I’m never going back to the needlepoint. So my April sweater will just have to wait. For as long as I can take it.

I’m trying to cut corners in my head, but there is no way I can paint the canvas around the birds. The paint will hit the floss and run like mad and I’ll have to start over and I’ll kill myself.

Any ideas? Does anyone out there needlepoint or am I officially the oldest 26 year old on the planet?

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