The Loretta Spears Design Archive: Magazine Designs Checklist

Over the years, quite a few stitching magazines published Loretta Spears charts. These turn up on eBay quite often, so I've listed them below in date order to help you find issues. Please note that Needlepoint News changed its name to Needlepoint Plus in the 1990s before finally going out of business around 1993. EGW Publishing owns the rights to the magazine now.
https://www.egwpublishing.com/about

Items I've written about in the main part of the Loretta blog have a link to that article with both a cover page photo of the magazine it was in, plus a photo of the finished design.

Corrections are welcome. I've not had time to double check all of these in the issues I own personally.

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Needlepoint News July Aug 1986 - Tobacco Leaf
http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2012/02/tobacco-leaf.html

Needlepoint News Jan Feb 1987 - Circles of Time
http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2012/02/circles-of-time.html

Needlepoint Plus Nov Dec 1990 issue - Cameo Box Top
http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2012/01/cameo-box.html

Needlepoint Plus Jan Feb 1991 - Victorian Heart Ornament
http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2012/01/victorian-heart.html

Needlepoint Plus July Aug 1991 - Bargello Fantasy
http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2012/02/bargello-fantasy-needlepoint-plus.html

Needlepoint Plus Nov Dec 1991 - Nostalgia: A Keepsake Stocking (Nostalgia which is a large stocking on 16x24 18 count mono canvas in shades of pink-rose and forest green was also published under the Needle Adventures name as a chart in 1992. See second link below.)
http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2012/01/nostalgia-keepsake-stocking.html

http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2014/10/nostalgia-stocking-needle-adventures.html

Needlepoint Plus December 1992 - Christmas Heirlooms Ornaments
http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2012/01/christmas-heirlooms.html

Needlepoint Plus February 1993 - Antique Heart - also published as a Needle Adventures chart in 1989
http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2012/01/antique-heart.html

Needlepoint Plus April 1993 - Heirloom Egg This design was also published as a Needle Adventures chart in pinks (second link)
http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2012/01/heirloom-egg.html

Needlepoint Plus December 1993 - Wish Upon a Star small stocking
http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2012/01/wish-upon-star-stocking.html

Welcome to the Loretta Spears Design Archive

This site is a record of the designs published by Loretta Spears between roughly 1986-1996. After her death, Loretta Spears' family honored her wishes by not republishing any of her mystery designs or ornament charts and have refused multiple offers to license her designs. The only places you can find them now are on eBay or through stash sales.

I plan to list all the magazine articles and charts that include her designs, and describe them to help her fans know what is available. This is a collaborative effort and I wish to thank everyone who helped develop this site to honor and document Loretta Spears' work. By the way, the header photograph shows part of Fascination (Mystery #10) stitched by Needleartnut with the title created by lara hartley.

If you have further information about Loretta Spears' work or would like to share photographs, please email me at LorettaSpearsDesigns@gmail.com

About Loretta's Mysteries

There were fourteen mystery pieces total. Though the kindness of DH, I have the descriptions of each mystery as Loretta posted them on her old website (now gone). I also have a separate article about each mystery in blog postings which you can find by searching "Mystery #1," etc. Each mystery article has Loretta's description, a list of threads, photos of the threads she specified if I have them and finally photos of finished pieces and links to websites showing them. If the finished piece shown isn't in Loretta's colors, I'll tell you. If you don't want to see photographs of the mystery pieces, click on the Mystery Designs Checklist tab at the top of the blog under the header photo. That lists only the designs with Loretta's own description of them.

Not For Sale

Please note that this site does not have any Loretta Spears' designs for sale. In fact, I don't own any of her designs, and the kind folks who helped me with photographs and information do not wish to be asked to sell their charts. Your best source for her designs is eBay where currently mysteries go for $20-250. The small ornament charts seem to sell for around $5-50 although these don't turn up that often, making a price prediction hard. Needle Adventure charts for pieces such as Florentine Fantasy and Bargello Fantasy are common and usually sell for $5-10 although you can get bargains occasionally. (Currently the ornament charts aren't selling well so you can probably get some good bargains.) The old Needlepoint Now and Needlepoint News magazines with Loretta's charts also turn up on eBay periodically and go for $2-4 but they can be pricey due to shipping charges if you must buy a group of magazines to get the one you want.

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