Testimonials
I know exactly when I became a stitcher. It was June 1987, and I had driven by the Needle’s Excellency in Evanston, Illinois every day for 7 years. The shop drew me in, finally, with the colorful variety of needlepoint canvases on the walls and classes amenable to my schedule. I started by stitching a sampler and jumped in whole-heartedly after that. I’ve lost track of how many canvases I have finished and wish now I had kept an inventory.
Credit for my enthusiasm goes to the shop’s owners, Amrita and Edward Goldberg. Amrita combines her artist’s background and interest in fiber arts into a business that has thrived with great taste and personal attention. What sets the Needle’s Excellency apart is that Amrita creates individual stitch guides, section by section, piece by piece, for all her customers who attend workshops. Thus, even those who are working on the same painted canvas will end up with unique pieces, differing in thread types and stitch patterns. Most of us are seriously devoted to our projects and our individual stitching journeys. As we often repeat: needlepoint is cheaper than therapy.
When I semi-retired in 2019, I decided I could now sign up for classes. The first was February 2020. Then Covid came, followed by a diagnosis of breast cancer. My cancer treatment lasted until November 2020. By early 2021, I had signed up for classes again. Since then, I have completed 8-10 projects, including animals, florals and a VERY elaborate Christmas stocking. With Amrita’s help, I have expanded exponentially with fibers and stitches. I have gained a reputation as a “fast stitcher,’ although some projects take at least several months, which is a long time for me.
During the longer-than-usual holiday closing this past year, I cleared my mind and my storage space, by finishing up two small projects I abandoned some time ago. I have at least one canvas waiting for me when I finish my current project, but every time I’m in the store, I see more things I want to make. None of us knows how much time we have in front of us, but as long as Needle’s Excellency is here, and the stitches still make sense to me, I will be consulting with Amrita and creating fiber art. There is no place like Needle’s Excellency anywhere else. I know because I’ve been looking for over 50 years.
I know exactly when I became a stitcher. It was June 1987, and I had driven by the Needle’s Excellency in Evanston, Illinois every day for 7 years. The shop drew me in, finally, with the colorful variety of needlepoint canvases on the walls and classes amenable to my schedule. I started by stitching a sampler and jumped in whole-heartedly after that. I’ve lost track of how many canvases I have finished and wish now I had kept an inventory.
Credit for my enthusiasm goes to the shop’s owners, Amrita and Edward Goldberg. Amrita combines her artist’s background and interest in fiber arts into a business that has thrived with great taste and personal attention. What sets the Needle’s Excellency apart is that Amrita creates individual stitch guides, section by section, piece by piece, for all her customers who attend workshops. Thus, even those who are working on the same painted canvas will end up with unique pieces, differing in thread types and stitch patterns. Most of us are seriously devoted to our projects and our individual stitching journeys. As we often repeat: Needlepoint is cheaper than therapy.
These past 20 years at your studio have added a dimension to my life that I am very grateful for. The joy of working on and producing such interesting and unique pieces has brought me untold pleasure and delight. Sometimes I really felt challenged by some complicated stitch, but in the end, after developing the proper rhythm, the challenge made the project more interesting. My thanks to you for your expertise with choice of color, stitches, and threads that gave each piece its special beauty.
Doing needlepoint gave me something to do that was never boring and an opportunity to create a gorgeous piece of art even though I’m not an artistic person. I also found it to bring balance, comfort, and calm to my life in all the good and sometimes the difficult stages of what life has to offer.
A side benefit of attending your studio was an opportunity to meet some very interesting people and reconnect with some old acquaintances.
The past 20 years at your studio have added a dimension to my life that I am very grateful for. The joy of working on and producing such interesting and unique pieces have brought me untold pleasure and delight. Sometimes I really felt challenged by some complicated stitches, but I the end, after developing the proper rhythm, the challenge made the project more interesting. My thanks to you for your expertise with choice of color, stitches and threads, that gave each piece its special beauty.
Doing needlepoint gave me something to do that was never boring and gave me an opportunity to create a gorgeous piece of art even though I’m not an artistic person. I also found it to bring balance, comfort, and calm to my life in all the good and sometimes the difficult stages of what life has to offer.
These past 20 years at your studio have added a dimension to my life that I am very grateful for. The joy of working on and producing such interesting and unique pieces has brought me untold pleasure and delight. Sometimes I really felt challenged by some complicated stitch, but in the end, after developing the proper rhythm, the challenge made the project more interesting. My thanks to you for your expertise with choice of color, stitches, and threads that gave each piece its special beauty.
Doing needlepoint gave me something to do that was never boring and an opportunity to create a gorgeous piece of art even though I’m not an artistic person. I also found it to bring balance, comfort, and calm to my life in all the good and sometimes the difficult stages of what life has to offer.
A side benefit of attending your studio was an opportunity to meet some very interesting people and reconnect with some old acquaintances.
This is by far the finest needlepoint store in the entire country. I’ve visited other needlepoint stores, both many other states, Illinois included, and The Needles Excellency is head and shoulders above all the others. This is due completely because Amrita Goldberg, artist extraordinaire teaches classes, sells canvases and fibers and anything a needle-pointer would ever need.
Maybe it was a coincidence, but then again, maybe it was an intentional act of marketing genius. The storefront was eye-catching; warm light that cast an ethereal glow through slightly fogged panes of glass and floor to ceiling wall-mounted canvases that created a remarkable display of design and color. The sign said, “The Needle’s Excellency.”
For months I’d been wanting to stop in and have a closer look. The day I finally made it inside the shop, I felt like the proverbial kid in a candy store.
It was a circle of intensely occupied needlewomen, all engaged in the craft of fiber art and, upon closer inspection, each individual piece proved more exquisite than the next.
I purchased a small needlepoint kit that came with prepackaged fibers. After two more kits I selected a larger project and signed up for classes.
The other women attending classes, some for over 20 years, had formed connections over time. There was a broad background mix, but a substantial percentage of women were working on canvases with judaic themes: challah covers, t’filin bags, decorative atarah neckbands for the tallit, Israeli landscapes.
The store’s proprietress, Amrita Goldberg, is a gifted teacher, a talented master crafter, an artist extraordinaire. As she moves round-robin among the circle of women in attendance, she teaches complex stitchery, lends advice on the use of fiber, dispenses praise, gently directs or offers corrections. I’ve come to view her as an art therapist, a shaman of sorts, a healer. I realized this was a shared perception when one woman jokingly remarked, “Needlepoint is an organic form of relaxation and I have something beautiful to show for it!