OK, so I lied.

17"x17"
1999 - 2025

I told myself (and Cheryl and Beth!) that I’d only work on my needlepoint project during our Wednesday meetups. I figured that way it would last me through 2025. Well… that didn’t happen. I started stitching every chance I got!

And let me tell you—never again. I gave up beading years ago because those tiny Delica seed beads were just too hard to see. This project felt just as bad. Even with my bifocals and a magnifying glass around my neck, it was a real eye strain. Headaches and all, I kept pushing through because I didn’t want to let Cheryl, Beth, or my daughter down (since she’ll be the one who inherits this piece someday—lucky her! HA).

When our DIL, MJ, was here a few weeks ago, we took the finished needlepoint to the new Michael’s store for framing. They did an amazing job! Three people worked on it—Rachel (she assisted in picking out mouting board, framing, etc.), Olivia (helped remove backing for me to fix a thread!) , and Christina (who handled most of the work initially and fixing the thread). I even wrote a letter to the manager to let them know how much I appreciated their help.

Now it’s finally done, and I couldn’t be happier with the result. Bob will hang it up this weekend, but in the meantime, here are some close-ups of the finished squares.

This is the pattern booklet.  

Some closeups of finished squares:

I'll send pic when Bob gets it hung.  Until then..off to work on my illusion quilt top!  

Did I really do all this stitching!!!!   I amazed myself that I did this!  HA HA