Articles About Heart in Hand Needleart
Heart in Hand has been covered in various newspaper and magazine articles. We are pleased to provide several of these articles, either in full or with excerpts, depending on the permissiion granted by the original publishers. We will periodically post others in the future.
Just
Cross Stitch Special Christmas Issue: Christmas Ornaments, December
1997
Just Cross Stitch
Special Christmas Issue: Christmas Ornaments, December
1998
Better Homes and
Gardens Cross Stitch & Needlework, February
1999
Just Cross Stitch,
December 1999
(Profile)
Just Cross
Stitch Special Christmas Issue: Christmas Ornaments, December
1999
Better Homes and
Gardens Cross Stitch & Needlework, December
1999
(Profile)
The Middletown
Journal, December 1999
(Full Article
Profile)
The Cincinnati
Enquirer, January 2000
(Full Article Profile)
Good Morning Cincinnati
Appearance, WKRC-TV, February 2000
Just Cross Stitch
Special Christmas Issue: Christmas Ornaments, December
2000
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Excerpts from Just Cross Stitch Special Christmas Issue: Christmas Ornaments (December, 1997)
Heart in Hand Needleart was honored to be
a part of the very first of the popular Just Cross
Stitch Christmas Ornament issues. Cecilia's design is called Merry!
The design was accompanied by a remembrance of Christmas
written by Cecilia. The piece described how Cecilia and her
older sister, Julie, would take turns being lookout while
they searched their parent's closet for unwrapped presents.
It also described family outings selecting a Christmas tree
and the excitement of Christmas Eve: "Finally Christmas Eve
arrived.... The family would gather around the tree. Dad,
Mom, Julie, David, John, myself, Aunts Clo and Dolores from
Saint Louis and Uncle Bill from Rochester. But before the
presents could be distributed...the Story. Dad read the
Christmas story, as retold in his own words in a book Dad
had written and published. Once the real story of Christmas
was read, the magical evening had begun. "Now, years later, the
faces around the tree have changed. There have been births
and deaths, marriages and divorces, joys and sorrows. But we
still count on dad to read the Christmas story, now with
grandchildren on his knee. With each word of the story, you
see the magic of the night in the sparkling little one's
eyes."
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Excerpts from Just Cross Stitch Special Christmas Issue: Christmas Ornaments (December, 1998)
The Heart in Hand Needleart ornament in
the second Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue
is called Woodland Noel. The text accompanying the
design included a family recipe for
Hot Cranberry
Wassail. Heat in a large pan or
coffeemaker and enjoy!
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1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
Hearts
& Flowers Scissors Fob
Better Homes and Gardens Cross Stitch & Needlework (February,
1999)
Photo by Scott Little/Cross Stitch & Needlework
Reprinted and used with permission
Cecilia designed the below scissors fob as an exclusive design for Cross Stitch & Needlework magazine.
Excerpts from
Profile of a Needlework
Artist: Cecilia Turner
Just Cross Stitch (December, 1999)
By Michael Jones/Just Cross Stitch
The ever popular Just Cross Stitch included a profile of Cecilia to accompany a new design she did exclusively for the magazine.
"Cecilia Turner has been many things throughout her career. She holds a degree in broadcast journalism from Miami University and worked for years as a writer and producer at a television station in Cincinnati. Afterwards, Turner spent six years working as an editor at a publishing house. She is a wife and mother to two girls, Elise and Allison; and now she can claim success in yet another discipline--needlework. Heart in Hand Needleart is the name of her very popular cross-stitch design company that produces charming folk-art renderings that are quick-to-stitch and easy-to-finish."
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The article discussed how Heart in Hand came to be. Cecilia won a design contest in a national magazine and began submitting her designs, many of which were published. This led to her decision to turn her popular design work into a true business. "In consideration of some good advice from a distributor she met at the Rockome Gardens consumer show in 1992, the budding entrepreneur attended the 1993 Charlotte trade show with a design she finished stitching on the way there." The following year that design and two others were released under the name Heart in Hand Needleart. |
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The article discussed the broad popularity of Wee Ones™, the quick-to-stitch smaller design line Cecilia produces. The profile concluded with Cecilia discussing her involvement with two other popular design companies to form The Trilogy, a new design company that features designs created jointly by all three designers. "Heart in Hand Needleart, Bent Creek, and Twisted Threads have joined together to create an entirely new line of cross-stitch designs. According to Turner, the three companies have been friends for some time now and have decided to combine their energies... 'We're just so excited to be working together on this. It seems like every week we come up with a new idea,' the artist shares." |
Excerpts from Just Cross Stitch Special Christmas Issue: Christmas Ornaments (December, 1999)
The Heart in Hand Needleart ornament in
the third Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue
is called Starshine. The design was accompanied by a
description of a tradition in the Turner household of doing
something nice for someone during the Christmas season
anonymously. "The concept is to play
Santa for someone. You pick your recipient and do something
nice for him or her in secret. You must not let that person
or anyone else know what you have done. "You might buy a week's
groceries for someone in need, put the groceries on the
doorstep, ring the doorbell, and run! ... You may not claim
responsibility for your deed. That's the hard part! You'll
be dying to tell! "Join us this year. Treat
someone you know, or someone you don't know, to a gift from
Santa!"
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Excerpts
from Cecilia Turner:
Designer Profile
Better Homes and Gardens Cross Stitch & Needlework (December,
1999)
Photos by Perry Struse/Cross Stitch & Needlework
Reprinted and used with permission
Better Homes and Garden Cross Stitch
& Needlework ran a wonderful profile of Cecilia. A
magazine representative came to Cecilia's home along with
photographer Perry Struse, who did a fabulous
job! The article first discussed Cecilia's
background. "Cecilia Turner seems
almost surprised to be a cross-stitch designer. Indeed, as a
teenager, Cecilia seemed more destined to become an actress
or a television reporter. She was involved in speech and
theater activities in high school and college. In fact, she
met husband Randy at a speech competition. Armed with a
degree in mass communications, she worked in television news
and later as an editor in a publishing house. "'Actually,' says
Cecilia, 'those experiences prepared me for the constant
serach for new cross-stitch design ideas! As an assignment
editor for a television station, I was responsible for the
activities of 50 to 60 reporters and photographers. I had to
come up with fresh story ideas day after day.'" Cecilia's Wee
Fruits and Wee
Vegetables, above, are among her
most popular designs. Her Winter
Tiny Timmings, right, are
quick-and-easy ornaments, appropriate for stitchers of any
level. The article described Cecilia's first
exposure to cross stitch as a child by her grandmother, who
taught her to cross stitch on stamped designs. It also
described trips she made with a childhood friend to the
local five-and-dime where they would choose skeins of their
favorite colors. "Even today, her design
process starts with color. She puts together floss, fibers,
fabrics, and embellishments, combining and recombining until
she gets a pleasing mood." The article recounted how
stitching provided solace after the loss of her son,
Matthew, in 1985. "Eventually Cecilia began
designing her own work, a business that's grown in
successive steps. Winning a [cross stitch magazine]
design contest in 1991 encouraged her to submit other
designs to magazine publishers. When success and friends in
the industry persuaded her to publish leaflets, Heart in
Hand was born..."
Heart in Hand Artist Cecilia Turner
says, "Listening to shop owners is a key to designing. In
response to their input, she's currently focused on small
designs and versatile finishes. Most of her Wee Ones
designs, like Wee
Bee, above, and Wee
Hope, a tribute to the millennium.
above right, can be stitched on assorted fabrics. She likes
box finishing for her Monthly
Miniature
series, and suggests
prefinished pillows to those who don't sew. A chicken-tracks
frame accents Wee
Chicken, left.
The article discussed
how the business has become a family affair, noting that her husband,
Randy, travels with her to trade shows and becomes a solo parent to
their daughters Elise and Allison when Cecilia travels to teach. The
article also noted that Randy organizes and directs A
Stitcher's Retreat and
lectures on the legal aspects of shop ownership and designing at
trade shows.
"[Their daughters] are prominent in Cecilia's business motivation. 'I want my daughters to understand how important it is for moms to build something of their own.'
"Teaching her daughters to stitch was a philosophical necessity for Cecilia. 'Needlework is a gift we need to share with children, friends, and neighbors. If we don't, it won't continue.'"
The article concluded with the design Jolly Old Elf, which was designed exclusively for the magazine.
Stitching
Together Hearts and Hands
by Phyllis Cox, Features Editor
The Middletown Journal
[Middletown, Ohio] (December 19,
1999)
Photos by Mark Bealer/Middletown Journal
Reprinted and used with permission
Interior page article heading: Stitching: Artist selling own designs
A couple of years ago at a folk art show
in Sharonville, cross-stitch designer Cecilia Turner saw
tables and tables of different crafts dealing with fruits
and vegetables. "There were boiled wool fruits and
vegetables, wooden fruits and vegetables, quilted fruits and
vegetables, and I thought I have to do 'Wee
Fruits' and 'Wee
Vegetables,'" recalls Turner as
she sits in the family room of her brick two-story home in
Liberty Township, just south of Monroe. Area cross-stitchers may be familiar with
Turner's Heart in Hand Needleart company and her series of
"wee" cross-stitch designs, which are available at local
stitching shops.
The fruits and vegetables theme took a strong
hold on Turner because of the colors she had seen. She says a lot of
her designs come out of her attraction to different
colors.
Above, Cecilia Turner works on a cross stitch pattern in her
Liberty Township home, just south of Monroe. Her Heart in
Hand Needleart company is known for its series of "Wee"
designs like "Wee Santa,"
"Wee Chicken," "Wee
Wooly" and others. At top, Cecilia Turner dedicated her
"Heirloom Baby
Sampler" design to her son, Matthew, who died just 15
minutes after he was born in 1985. The dedication on the
back of the Heart in Hand leaflet reads: "Though his life
lasted less than a day, his love continues to touch each
moment of my life."
"I came home and one of (the designs) was probably stitched within about 36 hours of having gone to that show, seeing it, drawing it, and then I just immediately had to stitch it because the colors were in my mind. I'd seen a fabulous eggplant in boiled wool, and the color of that,...well, I had to find the right fiber and begin stitching it.
"I don't know, it's just one of those things. They say writers will stay up all night writing. Well, I'm the same way. If I get an idea in my head, I've got to sit down, find the right fabric and fibers and embellishments and just get going on it."
Turner, a former news staffer for Cincinnati TV Channel 12, launched her Heart in Hand Needleart business from her home in 1994 after winning a "design-a-heart" contest in 1991 and having her designs accepted by national publications.
Since 1994, she has released 86 leaflet
designs and 17 kits, which are sold here and abroad. She
also attends trade shows and teaches seminars throughout the
country. Inside Turner's home are rugs and wall
hangings of hearts and hands, some of them gifts of friends
she has made across the country. One of the embellishments
her company sells is a silver charm of a hand with a heart
inside. Turner picked Heart in Hand for the name
of her company because of its association with a Shaker
phrase.
"The Heart in Hand symbol is a Shaker symbol
which is most frequently associated with the words 'hands to work,
hearts to God,'" she says. "I liked that, and it always spoke to me
about why I enjoy doing handwork. I think, when I started looking for
an identifying symbol for my business, that just was what I wanted to
say about why I do what I do."
Cecilia Turner based the name of her company on the Shaker
phrase, "hands to work, hearts to God."
Stitching for Turner is more than just the needle, floss and fabric it takes to make one of her designs. It ties people together, and it offers comfort in difficult times.
"I talk to more and more people that I think it is just their therapy. It is their personal way of relaxing," she reflects.
"Some people, before they go to bed at night, have to read a book. It calms them and quiets them, and it's kind of their quiet time. Stitching is that for many people, it's their calming quiet therapy."
Turner knows only too well the calming benefits of stitching. She found comfort in stitching after her newborn son, Matthew, died in 1985.
"He died 15 minutes after he was born. It was a very difficult time for me," she says. "I had been a stitcher up to that time, and I had four months off work, and I stitched and stitched and stitched, and it was really comforting for me to have that to do.
"And I stitched more Christmas ornaments that year. Everybody got Christmas ornaments. It really was a kind of therapy for me.
"I designed a baby sampler for Matthew and published it a number of years ago," she says. The sampler features a quotation from Charles Dickens:
"It is not a slight thing when they, who are so fresh from God, love us."
"I hear from people all the time who have stitched that piece, and I put a dedication on the back for Matthew, and they read that, and it ties people together. They have a story about a child they lost or they have a story about someone who has tried to have a baby and has had a difficult time getting pregnant. It just really has tied a lot of people to their lives, and they will tell me those stories, and those are very intimate stories that they're sharing with me. It really is a gift that people have given me in sharing those stories with me. It's something I will always treasure."
Turner grew up in Kettering and graduated from Alter High School. Her husband, Randy, a Franklin High School graduate, is an attorney and law professor at Miami University.
She and her family are involved in
stitching. Both her daughters, Elise, 13, and Allison, 10,
are stitchers, and Randy has been so taken with the hobby
that he organizes his own Stitcher's
Retreat in Millersburg, Ohio each
year. Turner, who learned embroidery as a child
from her grandmother on stamped pillowcases from
five-and-dime stores, believes strongly in the value of
passing along knowledge of stitching and handing down the
heritage to future generations. "When we were little, somebody taught us,
and if we don't teach somebody, you know the art which has
been around forever will go away," she says. "And I think
that's sad."
She creates her designs today with busy stitchers in mind. Many are
quick-to-stitch designs. And although she likes newer specialty
fibers, she also uses traditional floss.
Some of Cecilia Turner's Christmas-themed designs are, from
left: "St. Nick," "Jolly Old Elf," "Woodland Noel" and a
"St. Nick" kit.
"I really try to make it easy for the stitcher to get everything to do the design or it's frustrating.... I guess I try to think about those things," she says.
All in all, she says she is happy in her business and her life.
"I'm very lucky to have this work. Not many people can find a job that really gives them as much joy as this does.... I feel very lucky to have this work because I get to meet so many wonderful people when I travel and teach and just hear from people via e-mail and letters and phone calls, and what a great joy that is."
Heart in Hand Needleart does not sell directly to the public, but a catalog of the company's offerings may be obtained. Visit Heart in Hand's website at www.heartinhand.com.
Stitcher's Retreat planned in
Millersburg By The Journal Staff Randy Turner is planning two sessions of
his Stitcher's Retreat in May in Ohio's Amish country at
Millersburg. The retreats bring together stitchers
with a few of their favorite cross-stitch designers for
classes. Turner's wife, Cecilia, founder of Heart in Hand
Needleart, has been a presenter in previous
years. The sessions are for three days and two
nights. Participants are limited to about 70. For more information or reservations,
send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: A Stitcher's
Retreat, 7215 Stonerun Place, Middletown, Ohio 45044.
Readers may also check the website, www.astitchersretreat.com
or telephone 513-539-2582.
She
Has Us in Stitches
by Mike Pulfer
The Cincinnati Enquirer
(January 22, 2000)
Photos by Dick Swaim/The Cincinnati Enquirer
Photo Illustration by Mary Eggerding
Reprinted and used with permission
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Interior page article heading: Turner: Cross-stitcher forges loyal following She could have chosen nurse or brain surgeon, actress or beauty queen, cop or firefighter. But no. The 12-year-old chatting with her friend in a West Chester subdivision had another plan: "When I grow up, I want to be a cross-stitch designer." Granted, this was no ordinary suburban household. It was the home of Cecilia Turner, a household name in the world of needle artists. And the preteen was talking to Ms. Turner's daughter, Elise. Ms. Turner, featured in three nationally distributed cross-stitch magazines this winter, is the proprietor of Heart in Hand Needleart, a 5-year-old cross-stitching design business she runs from her basement. The publications carrying her work--Better Homes & Gardens' Cross Stitch, Just Cross Stitch, and Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments--applaud her folk-art designs, as do the cross-stitching enthusiasts who attend the classes she teaches and the trade shows she attends. |
"It's just funny," Ms. Turner says. "When I go places, people want my autograph. It's like there's this little world out there of needlework people who treat us like we're celebrities.
"It's gratifying--it really is--that people recognize your work, because it took a lot of work to get there."
At the same time, "It's a little weird."
"She's very popular with the customers," said Stasi Buhrman, manager at Twisted Threads, a Madiera shop that specializes in counted cross-stitching. "Her stuff has a fun, whimsical-type theme.
"She's one of our best sellers. We stock whatever she comes out with."
"Her charts (patterns) are always easy to read," says Pam Leonhardt of Madiera, who has been cross-stitching for about 10 years. "She thinks about the stitchers when she designs...some really cool stuff."
Ms. Leonhardt, who considers herself an intermediate stitcher, says Ms. Turner's designs are good for beginners, too.
"Every once in a while, she'll introduce a specialty stitch, but they're not so overwhelming you give up and say I can't do it. There's a real sense of accomplishment."
Ms.
Turner's primary business is the production and wholesale
distribution of cross-stitch patterns, which cross-stitchers buy and
use to create wall hangings, pillows, and scissor weights (a pretty
bean bag that lets your scissors dangle over the arm of a chair while
you make more things with needle and thread.) She also produces kits,
which includes threads and ornamentation.
Most of her designs, Ms. Turner says, falls into beginner to intermediate categories for cross-stitching, a needle art based on patterns of X's.
Ms. Turner has won acclaim for her development of smaller patterns--4 to 4 1/2 inches square--that are less expensive and require less time to complete. She markets them as Wee Ones.
"The big sellers right now are anything that stitches quickly," she says. "People don't have a lot of time. They like to have something to sit with in the evening...to sit and stitch and get a sense of accomplishment."
And a sense of peace.
"A lot of people use it as their quiet time," Ms. Turner says. "It's calming for them. It can be a way of dealing with a lot of what's going on in their lives."
Ms. Turner, a Kettering native whose grandmother taught her to stitch pillow cases and quilts when she was about 8, says, "Stitching became an obsession for me--my therapy," when her infant son, Matthew, died in 1985.
"God only knows how many Christmas ornaments I stitched that autumn. Stitching continues to be very soothing for me."
"Serious stitchers," she says, "need that stitching. They get grumpy if they don't have that nightly fix."
And they're not all women.
"Men do some spectacular pieces," she says. "Very complicated work. They're just very good at it."
Sources If all this talk of needles and thread
has you in a stitching mood, find some of Cecilia Turner's
cross-stitch designs at www.heartinhand.com, where you can
call up a list of stores that carry her work. [Area
shops were included in that list.] --Mike Pulfer
Appearance
on Good Morning Cincinnati
WKRC-TV (February, 2000)
Cecilia appeared on Good Morning Cincinnati, a local television news show, to discuss Heart in Hand Needleart. She is pictured with co-anchors John Lomax and Cammy Dierking. During the interview, John jokingly commented how hard it was to refer to Cecilia as something other than "boss" as Cecilia had formerly worked at WKRC-TV. When Cecilia left Channel 12 to start a family, she was the Assignment Editor determining which stories were covered and which reporters did the stories.
Excerpts from Just Cross Stitch Special Christmas Issue: Christmas Ornaments (December, 2000)
The fourth Just Cross Stitch
Christmas Ornament issue included the Heart in Hand
Needleart ornament Snow Joe. "My family is fortunate
enough to live in a neighborhood filled with wonderful
friends. The families look out for each other's children.
Some families vacation together, others go to church
together.We have an annual Oktoberfest celebration in the
cul-de-sac with grills and a potluck supper. In our
neighborhood, my daughters, Elise and Allison, are blessed
with more than a half-dozen girlfriends (more like
sisters!)..." Cecilia went on to describe annual
Christmas gatherings that begin with caroling around the
neighborhood with both Christmas carols and a Hanukkah song.
Parents join is afterwards for hot chocolate, holiday
cookies, and candies with the children. "It's a great way to
celebrate the holiday season with friends. Try it in your
neighborhood this year!"
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E-mail Heart in Hand Needleart
at hihn@aol.com
URL: http://www.heartinhand.com
