As I write this winter is closing in and snow is falling.  However I wanted to start by sharing part of my November tradition.  In 2020 I made 2 poppy wreaths, one for my house and another for the local cenotaph.  Each November I put these out.  It is a small contribution to Remembrance.  But I feel it is important, especially with war and unrest bubbling around the world.

On Nov 8th I attended a Punch Needle workshop.  This was part of an event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the invention of the Oxford Punch Needle. The workshop was at the Calabogie Lodge, about an hours drive from my house. When I walked into the lodge I was surprised to discover this massive stuffed polar bear in the lobby.  I had to take some photos.

The workshop was put on by Christine Johnson, aka Free Form Fibres. The studio space upstairs was beautiful and so cosy.  There were punch needle projects at each station. We were given the opportunity to try punching with both regular and fine punch needles.

The first piece I worked on was this Christmas tree piece. I learned how to do the outlines.  Then to come back and fill in the background.  You apply the punch needle from the back of the canvas and it forms short loops on the front. The tails from where you start and stop each piece of yarn end up on the front of the piece and need to be trimmed off later. This photo shows the front of the piece.

Christine had some samples of her work on display.  They were so inspiring. It was also interesting to see that some of the pieces were 3D.  They were very cool. Christine has been working on a punch needle series PUNCHING WITH ATTITUDE. I love that she is using her art to express her feelings.

We rotated through a couple of projects during the workshop and I ended up at this frame with a freeform piece on it.  There really wasn’t much on the canvas when I sat down.  Mostly some neon lines wandering around the canvas.  I started by drawing in some hearts.  Then filling them in.  Then adding a blocky border in the middle of the canvas.  Next I filled in the background around the hearts. I played with filling in space using straight lines and with meandering stitches so that I could compare the results. I was hooked and purchased 2 punch needles to take home.

Christine ended up giving me the Freeform piece and some of the neon yarn to take home.  She also gifted me this awesome skein of Briggs and Little Atlantic (hand dyed colourway) and a nice bag with the colour wheel on it.

The next step down the rabbit hole was to buy supplies.  With some help from Christine and Robin (of Hooking Outside the Lines) some basic supplies were ordered.  I picked up a large frame, frame cover, fancy scissors, a kit, and some blank canvas.  The package arrived quickly. And putting the frame together was very straightforward.  The hardest part was holding the pieces steady without pricking myself on the gripper strips which have many very sharp needles.

After getting the frame together it was time to remount the freeform piece. The monks cloth is stretched on the gripper strips until a nice tension is achieved.  Then a cover is added to protect the user from the needles on the gripper strips.  At this point I was ready to restart, but I must admit that I was undecided about how to proceed.  So I took a break.  (It never hurts to consider your design choices.)

By the next day I had an idea.  I could rip out that lower neon line and move it down to make a larger box.  Luckily I had the spare yarn and so was able to do that. One of the neat things about punch needle work is that you can undo it easily. In the images below you can see the faint line where the original neon line was. This will disappear once I have filled in the piece with new yarn.

After making a larger box I could add the word LOVE below the hearts. I traced out the letter size on some paper, cut them out, then tried them on the canvas.  When I was happy with the size and placement, I flipped the letters over (remember working on the back means text must be mirror image) and traced the design onto the canvas with a Sharpie. Finally I was ready to select some yarn and start punching.  After punching the word Love my next choice is to decide what yarn to use for the background, and whether I’ll do one solid background behind all the letters, or blocks of background as was done with the hearts above. I am still undecided which way I will go.

So this is where the work is so far.  It was really fun to learn something new and experiment with a new way to use some of my yarn stash. I have also signed up for a number of classes at my guild in the first half of 2026 (Tapestry, Art Yarn, Short Draw to Long Draw – Drafting Woolen to Worsted, and Warp Painting). I look forward to sharing my punch needle piece and some of my other explorations with you next year.

Since this is my last blog post of 2025, I also wanted to say Happy Holidays!  I hope you have some terrific time visiting with family and friends and recharging your creative batteries for next year.

I also wanted to share that Christine will be teaching as part of In the Studio Online Workshop Week 2026 which runs from February 5-15, 2026.  Here is the blurb about the class:

Christine Johnson @christinejohnson1959 joins Workshop Week for the first time to teach us:
HOW to say WHAT we want to say. (These days, we all have something to say about our shared world.)

She builds on her punch needle series PUNCHING WITH ATTITUDE. This text-heavy class is for both hookers and punchers.