Embroidered Creations by Harp & Thistle Stitchery |

Valentine’s Day Avocado Love Necklace.

To pass the inevitable downtime during auditions, rehearsals, or shoots, New York City-based actor/singer Erin Flanagan Lind would make sure to bring along punch needle projects to work on. Her work started to get fans among her fellow cast mates. “They would tell me I should sell them, so three years ago I took their advice and opened up shop on Etsy.” Her husband Corey photographs all of the merchandise and ships the items.

Lind’s mother introduced her to punch needle embroidery over six years ago. Punch needle, or needle punch, is an ancient rug-hooking technique shrunken down onto a much smaller scale and uses a special twice-threaded hollow needle, embroidery floss, and weaver’s cloth. Each piece is designed, and each tiny loop is meticulously hand-punched by Lind. Her punchneedle creations have been featured on The Martha Stewart Show, marthastewart.com, Apartment Therapy, Apartment Therapy’s Re-Nest, Plus Model Magazine, Going Home to Roost, and on Etsy’s Front Page.

We asked Lind a few questions about her embroidery.

How long does a piece typically take to complete?

Good question. Depends upon the piece. Take for example this piece.

Honeycomb Hexagon Embroidery Hoop Wall Art

The embroidery part itself probably only takes 20 to 30 minutes (I’ve gotten extremely fast over the years) — but I stain the embroidery hoops which is weirdly more time consuming than it sounds and my husband and I hand dye the weaver’s cloth green. In a lot of my listings I indicate how long the embroidery itself takes.

This piece takes about 2 1/2 hours:

Snowy Pine Tree Christmas Wall Hanging.

This one took about 4 hours:

This one took about 12 hours:

This one took about 40 hours:

What has been the most challenging piece to date?

Without a doubt, the Lady and the Unicorn was the most challenging, and also one of the most fun.

What inspires you?

I really love holidays, especially Halloween and Christmas — and this form of embroidery really lends itself to great holiday decor. I try to always have a lot of unique pieces listed for whichever holiday is just around the corner. For example, right now I’m working on building up my Valentine’s Day inventory, focusing on unique pieces for both him and her.

I am also really inspired by nature and one item from nature in particular, the avocado. I love them. First of all, they are delicious, and have healthy fats, Folic acid, Fiber, Potassium, and Vitamin E. I also love them because they compliment the punchneedle technique so much, with the adjustable needle making such a realistic pit. Mostly, they are just plain quirky and fun.