The old-fashioned bells over the doorway at The Picket Fence gently ring, announcing the arrival of visitors. Everything about this quaint needlepoint shop is gentle and refined—from its beautiful beige wicker settee and chairs, tastefully set with pillows and original needlepoint art, to its elegant and soft-spoken owner Joanne Mahoney.
Mahoney has created an artistic and inspirational environment that does not even belong in the traditional “craft store” category. It is a cozy, welcoming place where classical music plays softly in the background, vibrant skeins of cotton, silk and wool thread hang invitingly from one wall while custom-designed needlepoint canvases featuring song birds, garden flowers and butterflies are carefully arranged along another.
Every Wednesday and Friday morning, women (and the occasional gentlemen) arrive when the store opens at 10 a.m., pull chairs around a white table beset with flowers and gently unfold needlepoint projects from the confines of their tote bags. With glasses perched on their noses, they begin the task at hand.
“I’ve always believed it’s important to teach the women to work with their needlepoint and to know how to do things a certain way,” says Mahoney. “Some have done needlepoint before and just need a refresher; others might need more one-on-one help. The most important thing for me and for the others who work here in the store is to be helpful.”
Many of Mahoney’s customers have been coming for years; Christine Hoigaard of Edina is one of the newer devotees and first joined the Wednesday morning sessions a year ago when she was seeking help with a needlepoint Christmas stocking she was making for a brand new granddaughter.
“It is so therapeutic to come in here. Everyone becomes friends. We talk about books, movies and each other’s lives—it’s about so much more than just needlepoint,” she says, adding that her new hobby has captivated her to such an extent that she’ll often stay up late at night working on a project.
Hoigaard’s latest creation is a fairly complicated needlepoint centerpiece design for a lucite tray by local artist T.White. “Circles are very hard,” she says with a laugh, as Mahoney looks on smiling.
In addition to getting to know her fellow needlepointing enthusiasts, Hoigaard has come to cherish the friendship she has developed with Mahoney. “Joanne is the most artistic woman I’ve ever met,” she says. “I cannot say enough nice things about her. She is a treasure.”
Joanne Mahoney could also be considered something of a pioneer for women business owners in Edina. A painter for several years, she worked for a shop in Lake Minnetonka before deciding “it was time to do my own thing.” In 1972, she opened The Picket Fence at its first location near Lake Calhoun, when launching a business was considered something of a novelty. “Women weren’t working outside the home as much in those days,” says Mahoney, who was also raising a family at the time. The Picket Fence has been at its current West 54th and France location, the former site of the Dairy Store, since 1977.
One of the hallmarks of The Picket Fence is its selection of custom needlepoint canvases, created by local artists such as White and Mary Hoben; designs include pillows, rugs, ornaments, coasters and more. There are no kits sold in the shop—every patterned canvas is hand-painted, using acrylic paint, and prices vary.
Mary Louise Pivec of Minneapolis is one of Mahoney’s top artists and has been working with The Picket Fence for more than thirty years, beginning when she was only 12 years old. Mahoney vividly remembers visits from the little girl who would come into the original Picket Fence location, look at the designs lining the walls, pull out a sketchbook, draw for a few minutes and then leave. “One day, she came up to me and said, ‘I think I can work for you now,’” says Mahoney.
“The first thing I painted for the shop was a bear ornament,” recalls Pivec. “And Joanne showed me how to do it better.” Soon, the young girl was designing checkbook covers, fly swatters and more ornaments. “Joanne always gave me the freedom to come up with whatever I wanted,” she adds.
Pivec never stopped creating. Now the mother of five children, with the youngest a sophomore in high school, she continues to paint a wide variety of designs for Picket Fence customers who know and appreciate her work, from the more traditional flowers or bears to the occasional offbeat request, like a Christmas stocking decorated with Star Trek imagery.
Every Tuesday, Pivec stops at the store to pick up new orders and drop off work she has completed. For her, painting and designing continues to be “really, really fun.” “I like to joke with my kids that I’m not going to be much help when it comes to telling them how to fill out a job application or go to an interview. This is literally the only job I’ve ever had,” Pivec says with a laugh.
Mahoney frequently meets with Pivec and the other artists to suggest design ideas, especially every spring and fall when the store’s décor is completely changed. From furniture to pillows to footstools, the entire room undergoes a transformation, generally in April and again in September. The theme is kept secret and revealed to customers during an unveiling that takes place after a long weekend of re-organization in the shop.
The Picket Fence also employs several artists/craftspeople who specifically work on the blocking and finishing aspect of needlepoint projects. Whether it is sewing a pillow or incorporating a design onto an elegant footstool, Mahoney believes the final product deserves as much care as the effort made by the customer who completed the needlework.
“Everyone has a part to play,” she says. “When projects leave here, I want them to be special.”
Visitors to The Picket Fence might not like the thought of leaving at all. Sitting around a table with new friends, working on the same type of needlework that their mother or grandmother might have done, surrounded by beautiful colors and images, patrons cannot help but feel content.
“This place is really like an old small town barbershop for women. It is a community,” says Pivec, who adds that she would love to see more young people come to the shop and learn how to needlepoint.
Mahoney, now a grandmother to 12 and a great-grandmother to 9, agrees. “Friendships develop and there is comfort in that,” she says. “Everybody has a story.”
