I made the daffodil pattern I got from the festival at Manor Mill.

Punch needle is so quick! I really knocked it out in a couple days.

The hardest part was getting the right frame. I had a tufting frame I got at Michael’s months ago free with some rewards cash but it was too big. I contacted the woman who made the pattern and she said her husband made her frames. I contacted the rug hooking store way out in Western Maryland and they never responded.

I ordered the same gripper frame from Amazon twice and they were both broken in different ways—one had the grip installed backwards on one side and the other didn’t have holes for the braces. I could not find any place that sold them locally. Getting the refund was a battle as was the return—I did it at a far off Whole Foods that only had a drop box (unbeknownst to me) because I was going to be in the area. I cut both of my hands on the frame trying to get it in the tiny bag. They should not have allowed the return at that location. Then the third party seller kept overriding my “return for money” request and trying to send me replacements. I already had ordered two and they were broken! I did not want more. It was a mess and involved a lot of chats with customer service and emails.

I ended up getting a much cheaper clip frame from Amazon (couldn’t find them locally in the correct size either) and that worked okay. I had to readjust it a few times but it worked. I feel like if I used it a lot, the plastic in the clips is going to stretch. You have to have it so tight for punch needle and the fabric is thicker than you’d use for regular embroidery.

Honestly starting to lose interest at this point but I pushed on and I think it came out pretty cute!

I had done a couple tiny punch needle projects before but this was the biggest and the first one with wool. I liked it a lot! The Oxford needles really are nice to work with. I used a regular 10 for this.

I think my only mistake was punching a tiny bit close together, it curled a little at the sides. I was able to flatten it out between some books over night. I really wanted some distinct color variation in the leaves and details in the flowers and I think that’s what led to it being a little tight.

Next time I will have to leave more space! It’s hard to tell while you are doing it since the side you see when punching is so messy looking. You have the impulse to really fill in the lines. When I did it with some cheap kits two years ago, the yarn wasn’t wool. I think you can punch closer together with synthetic fibers because the yarn is less substantial. The wool is pretty coarse and thick.

I didn’t know how to finish the project but I saw a video on the Woolery site that had you just clip it and hot glue it to a wood plank. Sounds good to me! I cut off the excess fabric, glued the edges to towards the middle and then hot glued it to the wood board. I weighted it down with books overnight again.

Other methods I found online required a lot of hand sewing and even wrapping cording for a border. I don’t know; I might get into that if I get really into punch needle but it looked so tedious. The book I got out of the library had you sewing it into pillows or bags or framing them in embroidery hoops. That wouldn’t work with this project.

I was going to look for a wood frame or wooden plank/ugly sign at the thrift store and just staple it to the frame/plank but then I saw Michaels had painted wooden planks with hangers on the back for $6 for 2 with a coupon. I couldn’t beat that even at the thrift store. Picking it up was a drama though, I had to do a pick up order to be able to use a 30% off coupon. I placed it after hours and then the order wasn’t ready after the store had been open for over three hours.

I had waited at home for the confirmation to pick it up but finally gave up and started my other errands. I got them done and the email never arrived. I thought maybe it was a glitch so I went to the store and it wasn’t there. I finally offered to shop it myself and let them scan it as if they had packaged the order themselves.

I don’t want to be a bother but I couldn’t kill more time in the suburbs waiting for it and did not want to go back later that day. I do not live near Michael’s.

Why does Michael’s do this to all of us? Just let me use the coupon in-store and I can grab a hot glue gun and a wooden plaque myself. Let the workers do other things than shop my tiny order. I didn’t even want to go to Michael’s but there are like no independent craft stores near by anymore and at least I could get it in person.

I felt like this project was way more drama-filled and exhausting than it needed to be. The actual punch needling was fun and I liked finally using my Oxford needle. It is so much better than the other punch needles I’ve tried. I have the whole set thanks to a super sale back in November so I’ll have to do another project soon.

My weaving guild themed project for the year was to create something seasonal out of any medium and I think I will use this as my project. I did make a fall scarf and a winter bird and tried out cyanotype which kind of works for summer. Maybe I hit all the seasons? Should I take them all in to show and tell? The guild “year” ends this weekend.