Art ~ What A Needle And Thread Can Do

My love of doing intricate embroidery and stitchery needlework came about unexpectedly, and I owe it all to my beautiful mother. The year was 1973. I was a teenager, recovering from surgery. My dear family showered me with gifts, and I still have them all packed away somewhere, but there is one gift hanging on the wall in my dining room.

It was Mother’s “hospital” gift to me—the very first piece of stitchery that I ever attempted—and it started out as a pile of yarn in a plastic wrapper, with a few instructions for completing.

Even though the stitches were simple, it is far from perfect. I keep it visible to remind me of many things, not the least being how my love for needlework began.

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What you will see below are some of my needlework pieces. These are all either embroidery pieces, or what's called "stitchery." (I've never been into cross-stitching, although I do have a few pieces that I've done. However, they are not pictured here.) My "artwork" will never be worth much money, but these pieces are priceless to me.

The earlier pieces were small.

Ah ... mushrooms.

They were a big thing in the 70's.

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In 1981, I underwent major surgery and Mother “rewarded” me again with a stitchery kit called, "Oriental Winter," only this time it was not a simple piece, but extremely complex and large. I'm not sure why I kept the instructions and left-over yarn, but I assure you the diagram was referred to so often it is split in every direction.

The end result would measure a whopping 18x26, and would take me a year to complete. That is mostly due to my giving up hope of ever getting it done a number of times.

I display this piece every winter, and still marvel that I actually completed it at all. Perseverance pays off.

When you work on a piece this large and this detailed, you have days when you can hardly wait to start working on it, and days when you can't bear to pick it up again.

I especially love the detail paid to colors and clothing.

Everything you see is done with a needle and thread.
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One of my favorite pieces is this one of adorable kittens playing in the window.

Love, love the window shade.

The lace curtain was a difficult stitch for me, and there was a lot of trial and error.

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My mother is partial to this piece called, "Oriental Ladies."

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In 2006, my twin sister gave me a kit that scared the daylights out of me. I opened it up, studied the directions, which were about a paragraph long and the diagram, which appeared to be a nightmare.

There were some complex stitches that I'd never done, and I wasn't sure I wanted to learn.

Just interpreting the keys proved challenging, which is why I decided to stash the whole thing in the closet, convinced I would never find the energy to finish it, so why start?

But a year later, itching for a project, I pulled it out of the closet and took the first step … then the second one … until I had completed it.

It features a magnificent crocheted tablecloth, and I knew I would give it to my mother, who is not only the Queen of Crochet, but who also has a crocheted scarf almost identical to the one in this piece. (The finished product was difficult to photograph because of the specialty frame; the photo doesn't come close to doing it justice.)

The most difficult stitch, for me, was the Bullion Stitch, which just happened to be needed in abundance on the tablecloth. I managed to find a good tutorial on YouTube.

I love how the tablecloth looks like it's softly folded over in places.  Amazing how you accomplish all of that with mere needle and thread. (I hate to sound like a broken record, but I apologize for the fuzziness of the photo; very hard to capture behind the glass.)

In 2008, I presented it to the Queen of Crochet for Christmas. It took her a minute to realize it wasn't a painting. Needless to say, she loved it. No matter what my hands find to do, she remains my biggest fan.

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These days, I keep my needlework simple, but if I ever decide to go all out again, there are several contenders in the closet, just waiting to be chosen.

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