Stitched with success
She held three Sterilite containers full of canvases and a dream that stretched well beyond her new 2,500-square-foot space.
At the time, the entire notion still seemed wild to Nelson, who started an online needlepoint store during the spring of 2025 while she taught Language Arts at Alcoa Middle School.
Two months later, she was ready to quit her job and take the leap in a brick-and-mortar.
“I walked into this space with 2,000 square feet, and I’m like, ‘What am I going to put in here?’” she said. “I looked at the space, and the rent was five times more than my mortgage payment. The entire time, I was like, ‘This is crazy.’”
Yet in the next breath: “I think we should do it.”
More than a year later, Nelson’s gamble on Canvas Queen Needlepoint has more than paid off.
On Saturday, Aug. 15,
the store celebrated its one-year anniversary, and the online brand has skyrocketed in popularity.
While 20 employees hustle to handle daily foot traffic, Canvas Queen boasts more than 65,000 followers on
TikTok with almost 15,000 on Instagram.
“I probably should have planned for this to be bigger than I expected it,” Nelson said with a laugh. “But honestly, I think even me getting this space was me expecting to blow it out of the water. You don’t get a 2,500-square-foot space without betting on yourself. You have to believe some kind of magic will happen, or you wouldn’t be doing this.“
For Nelson, that magic began less than three years ago when she looked into needlepointing as a hobby.
One class hooked her, and she began buying and kitting new canvases.
As her newfound passion lit a spark, Nelson experienced a different feeling toward her teaching job.
“I felt like maybe there was something else out there for me, and needlepoint in general has a reputation for stores not being the kindest or most welcoming,” she said. “I thought I could do it better, and I was burned out from pouring everything I had into my teaching job. I knew I could not sustain that the rest of my life.”
She launched an online store on March 1 last year, selling items she would enjoy stitching, too.
After purchasing the space and renovating, Canvas Queen opened its doors to a long line on Aug. 16, 2025.
But even when the initial boom faded, Nelson kept the faith as word spread.
“We spent a lot of days mopping floors and finding stuff to do because we didn’t have the foot traffic I was expecting. I was just like, ‘What have I done?’” she said. “But slowly and surely, word started getting out, and we’ve kind of become a destination.”
Visitors to the store (and still surging online shop) can find canvases of all sorts, ranging from Taylor Swift lyrics and Dolly Parton’s hair to Harry Potter references and Tennessee-football-themed artwork.
There are Christmas ornament and stocking options, hats and even vibrant, rainbow-esque thread walls that are divided by color.
“Every item is something I would buy for myself, so that’s my strategy,” Nelson said. “The stuff I tend to gravitate toward is not your traditional style of needlepoint. They are items that represent warmth and nostalgia.”
“The design is already painted on there, but what you do with it is up to you,” she added of the canvases. “I could sell 100 of one canvas, but every one could be different depending on the type of thread, stitches and colors they choose.
“There’s no right or wrong. It just depends on what you want the end result and experience to be.”
While Nelson has come
to appreciate each customer’s unique approach, she has found even more
gratification in the sense of community that has developed within her walls.
“We came out of Covid-19, and people really wanted community,” she said. “It’s been so cool to see needlepoint be a common thread for people. At stitch nights, they aren’t talking about what they are stitching; they are talking about life and what they’re going through. It gives people a social experience with also having something tangible to show for it.”
Those messages have resonated with Nelson, who has created a warm and welcoming atmosphere for anyone who walks through the door.
“It has become my ministry in a way,” she said. “We get to love on people. We may
not be sharing the Lord with them, but we get to show them they are valued and appreciated. I don’t care if someone walks out of here spending $1,000 or zero dollars; they will be treated the exact same way.”
Fueled by that approach, Nelson hopes to expand Canvas Queen into other areas of Franklin Square, perhaps even with designated classrooms for teaching the craft that has changed her life.
But no matter what happens from here, she is thankful to have taken the leap that officially began this time last summer.
“It has become an integral part of my life,” she said. “On the days I don’t come into the store, I miss it. If I could go back and tell the Kelsey who quit her very safe, stable, secure job, it would be to just do it — and it will work out way better than you could have ever imagined.”
