I swore I would never use the H2P line (Hail to Pitt!) but I couldn’t think of a catchy title for this blog.

On Wednesday we took what will be the first of many trips out to Pittsburgh so that Nora could attend Freshman Orientation at the University of Pittsburgh.  We spent the day traveling and then dropped her off on Thursday morning for a two-day orientation to meet other students, take part in various information sessions, consult her Faculty Adviser, and actually register for her Fall classes.  She spent the night at the dorm so Steve and I had two days to explore the area. Luckily, I had a list of three needlework shops to investigate!   We did manage to visit all three shops.  (By the way, I’m going to break this into three blogs so as not to overly bore everyone.)  It was hard work but someone had to do it.

Our first stop was in Sewickley, about 12 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.  The town dates back to 1767 and reminded me of what the town in The Music Man would probably look like today.  The downtown streets – Beaver Street and Broad Street – are just made for strolling with plenty of shops and restaurants.  Our destination was The Porcupine Needlepoint Shop, located on Beaver Street.  Although a seemingly small shop, it packed a lot of canvases and threads inside!  The owners, Nancy and Barbara, were so very helpful in pointing out canvases and finished pieces.  I was particularly impressed by their selection of Christmas stockings. My family has not really been interested in having me stitch stockings but I was tempted by some of the pieces I saw at the shop.

I did manage to find a few canvases to add to the collection (I am now claiming that collecting canvases is a second hobby) and was pleasantly surprised that the price of the canvas included the threads to go with it!  The Porcupine will kit the canvases with pearl cotton along with some specialty threads such as Kreinik as needed.   Isn’t that a great concept?  If one wanted to substitute other threads, I was told that the price of those threads would be discounted. We took a leisurely walk around the town while Nancy and Barbara pulled threads and when we returned my kits were ready.  I was happy with the thread selections.  In addition to the pearl cotton I have Snow and Kreinik braid to some glitz. And each of my canvases and threads came in its own little bag!

At the suggestion of Nancy and Barbara we had lunch around the corner at 424 Walnut (yes, located at 424 Walnut Street).  The food was delicious and the service was excellent.  We would definitely stop in there again for lunch – great sandwiches and salads.

The Porcupine Needlepoint Shop is located at 404 Beaver Street in Sewickley, on Facebook, and on the internet at theporcupineneedlepointshop.com.  The shop is open Monday through Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

After lunch we headed back to the city to Needle Point Breeze which is located in the Point Breeze section of Pittsburgh east of the University.  That store will be the subject of the next blog (hopefully tomorrow).  Until then …

Happy Stitching!