Make Your Needlepoint Projects Come To Life!

About Your Host

Hi I'm Ellen Johnson, a former needlework shop owner turned online needlepoint teacher. When I opened Serendipity Needleworks in 2003, I thought I knew everything there was to know about needlepoint.

Then I attended my first market. Boy-oh-boy was I ever W R O N G!! 

After stumbling upon the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous pieces of needlepoint that I’d ever seen, I decided - right then and there - that I had to learn how to stitch like that, too. 

So I bought some kits with stitch guides and the adventure began. After experiencing success with a variety of professionally written stitch guides, I decided to try my own hand at choosing stitches and threads for a project.  

It. Was. AWFUL!! I’ll even go so far as to say that my first attempt at writing a stitch guide was downright hideous. (And no, I didn’t keep the canvas, although I should have. It would’ve been a terrific teaching prop. Teehee!)

Like so many stitchers, I couldn’t figure out the “how” behind the stitch and thread choices in those professionally written stitch guides.

So I was back to square one. And that’s when my stubborn streak kicked into high gear. Not being one who gives up easily, I dove in - head first - and started learning all that I could about using canvas embroidery stitches to embellish painted canvases. 

I read every article and book I could get my hands on. I watched every single video I could find. And I took every class I could sign up for when Market rolled around. Heck, I even hosted guest teachers in my shop so I could learn from them alongside my customers. 

And slowly, but surely, ideas began to form. Then concepts crystallized. I tested my theories on my own canvases and I was pleased with the results, so I shared my strategies with the students who took my classes at the shop - and they had success, too. 

In January of 2017, my husband suffered a brain hemorrhage and, to make a long story short, I decided it was time to close the doors to my retail shop. After it became evident that he was amongst the “lucky ones”, I decided to take a stab at teaching my Stitch Guide Formula™ online. 

Now, stitchers from around the world tune in to watch Needlepoint TV™, my weekly live broadcast where I share needlepoint tips and helpful hints. They read my “Stitching with Confidence” column in Needlepoint Now magazine so that they can learn new stitch and thread combinations they can use on their own needlepoint projects. And they develop their needlepoint skills through their membership in The Stitcher’s Club, my online resource center for all things needlepoint.