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  

Wednesday Inspiration!

 Remember that southwest needlepoint piece I started 26 years ago from one of my previous posts?  I loved it, but—like so many projects—life got in the way (grand babies!) It ended up tucked away, waiting for “someday.”  Well, “someday” finally arrived! I’ve made real progress—woohoo!

 All that’s left is the border. Which should only take me another 3 months!  HA  I just started on the outside border, which has 3 or 4 rows to go!  UGH

Our meeting area!

The push to pick it up again came from two wonderful ladies: Beth and Cheryl.  Every Wednesday from noon to 3 p.m., three of us—Friends of the Goodrich-Atlas Library volunteers—meet to sort through donated books for our next book sale.  I call us the Three Musketeers, and while we take our library duties seriously, we are also like to ‘play’.

Once the patron donations are sorted and placed on shelves, out come our projects: knitting, embroidery, cross stitch—anything that keeps our hands and creativity busy. 

Beth is my knitting idol. Her stitches are absolute perfection, the kind you point out to other knitters and say, “See? This is how it’s done.”  She just finished a stranded knitting sweater, which is amazing.  She also dabbles in other crafts—like the Christmas cross stitch hanging she’s working on now—and every single stitch is meticulous.

Cheryl is my cross stitch hero. Each year, she hand-stitches a tiny design for all of her family’s Christmas cards—those stitches are so small you practically need a magnifying glass!  Actually, I would need a magnifying glass. And she always has multiple cross stitch  projects going, moving between them so she never gets bored. She actually finishes them, too—an admirable skill in itself.  Look at the detail in her current project.  The bird is amazing!

Both Beth and Cheryl work on 16-18-count Aida fabric. For those who don’t stitch, that means there are 324 tiny squares in every square inch! It’s no wonder their work is so precise—it has to be.  They are both meticulous and their workmanship is beyond good!!! 

Meanwhile, I’m happily plugging away at my needlepoint, with my friends’ talent and dedication cheering me on. Just some closeups of the nine blocks.  

 One of these Wednesdays, I just might finish that 26-year-old project. And when I do, I know Beth and Cheryl will be the first to celebrate. 

 

They’ll probably be tired of looking at it and hearing me complain “I can’t see the squares!”. 

You can see I took these closeup pics before I started the borders.  And those little diamonds will also need to be finished.  

SIGH.......

Goodness sakes, Robbie!

Here I go again! It's been awhile since I have had multiple projects going on at the same time!  BUT, for some reason, I'm getting back into that mode!  I honestly don't have many UFO (unfinished objects) laying around.  I always feel like it's homework that I have to finish...guess I had good study habits as a kid!  HA  But guess what I found!!!!!

Back in '98, Bob and I took a 2 week trip out west, flying to AZ and rented a car for traveling the state!  Which we did..top to bottom.  We had a stop in Sedona, which was beautiful and a walk around the business district, where I found this needlepoint pattern.  It's about 17"x17" and because of my love of anything southwest, I purchased with high hopes.  HA

And look what I found in my sewing room closet!!! Back in '99, I remember stopping at a local needlepoint shop to purchase threads I needed.  And I found receipts for threads in the project bag dated January 5,1999! And another one for two weeks later.

When we both were still working, Bob would golf on Thursday's after work.  So, after work,  I would take my project with me to a local needle craft store in a town a few miles from our house.    There were about 4 or 5 of us that met each Thursday and just sat around working on our stitching...just like a knitting group!  

I can't believe how much I actually finished!! 

Close up

If you look at the picture above I don't have that much more to do...well, when I look at the patterns on what I need to do, it's overwhelming!!!!  And it looks like A LOT that needs completed!  

I can't believe I did these blocks!!!!

Just reading the pattern for one of the blocks has me shaking my head!  HA

So, the plan is...I am going to start working on this each Wednesday...why Wednesday you say?  Well, that's for another post!  Until then, I'll keep scratching my head; do a little knitting, work on my paper quilting piece I want to finish and continue to be Betty Crocker and Suzie Homemaker!  Who knows, I may finish in 2025 or 2026 or ?????