Chatter Buddies Needle Minders Product Review

Chatter Buddies are the newest magnetic needle minders available from The Meredith Collection. Just under 1.5″ in diameter, the magnets feature enameled sayings with a border of colored rhinestones.

I recently bought this one to try. Although it’s bigger than the magnets I usually use, I found that it worked well. It did a good job of holding my needles and was strong enough to grab my scissors when they got too close.

The magnet on back is only about 1/4″ around, making it much smaller than the top. In many cases this means that the magnet falls under the top or that it is too small to grab the needle securely. When I tested the Buddy by dropping a needle onto it from various positions, the magnet grabbed the needle and brought it securely to the center.

When you stitch smaller canvases all too often big magnets get in the way of your stitching. I found that because the back magnet was so small here, I could easily move the Buddy almost to my stretcher bars. This left me plenty of space for stitching but still gave me a secure place for my needles.

The only, and very slight, defect I could find is that the Buddy was a bit hard to move around the canvas. As long as I moved over empty canvas it was fine. When I had to move over stitching, however, it tended to catch on the stitching. I think this is because it sits pretty close to the canvas. This problem did not always happen and can be worked around.

Right now there are 21 different sayings available (one in your choice of two colors). Only six of the sayings are stitch specific. Only one is specific to needlepoint. This means they make great gifts for other stitchers or for anyone who uses magnets (they would be great fridge magnets). More sayings will be coming soon.

You can find the magnets at your local shop for about $20.