This week’s Stitcher’s Showcase features a piece from Trish Heath, of St. Joseph, Missouri. Trish says, “Hi Roz, here is my most prized piece, a Lavender and Lace design. I bought a late 1800′s frame and had it placed in it just before this last Christmas, it was the show piece of all my pieces but loved the old frame touch, thanks for letting us share.

Written by: Ryan

“I finished the Lavender and Lace (I believe the title is Lady of the Thread) in May and the other one title Flowers and Lace (this is a kit by Dimensions) was on display at the fair in August.”

Written by: Ryan

“This is a cross stitch piece I did by Linda Myers. As you can see, I haven’t framed it yet. I love reading your e-mail newsletters.”

Written by: Ryan

Dear Nordic Needle,

You have so many great people who write to you about how they got started doing this needle work or that. I do not have such a story. I first became interested in reversible pattern weaving or darning and how great the geometry of the weaving worked. There is not a lot on line about it but the American Needlepoint Guild does have a great article.

From there I went to Huck Weaving, once again for its beauty in simple geometric patterns. I have fallen in love with this art form and have started collecting many “older patterns” from antique stores. I have enclosed a few photos to share with you my successes.

Thank you for caring such patterns and materials.I appreciate your caring on the traditions

Written by: Ryan

“This is the McKee Bridge Tabletopper I made for a friend whose uncle donated the land upon which the McKee Bridge was built. The covered bridge was built in 1917 and has now been decommissioned and is used for foot traffic only. While owned by Jackson County, Oregon, the Mckee Bridge Society pays to maintain the bridge so that it passes all safety inspections. On each corner of the tabletopper is a yellow “Logtown Rose”, descended from a rose start that my friend’s great aunt carried on the wagon train with her on the Oregon Trail. The rose start was carried in a potato and soaked each night in some of the water set aside from that which ended up in the cooking pot.

More of the story can be read in: “Maryum’s Yellow Rose: Story of a Pioneer Woman” by Evelyn Williams. The rose is now growing along the fence of the Logtown Cemetery outside of Ruch, Oregon. The actual town of Logtown is long gone but the roses are still there, as is the cemetery and many old (for this half of the country, anyway) graves. :-) The idea for the tabletopper came from Claudia Dutcher’s Dutch Treat Designs tabletoppers but the bridge and roses were charted from photographs of the bridge and the roses at the cemetery. In my “spare time”, I have plans to make an actual working chart of the McKee Bridge and of the Logtown Rose, so that those two groups can sell them to raise money for bridge and cemetery upkeep. The tabletopper reminded me, however, that, while stitching is lots of fun, designing can be a real pain!!!!!!! :-)))

For the bridges, I used leftovers of two different “brown” overdyed threads and for the roses, I used a yellow overdyed and started in the middle, spiraling outward until the edges matched the chart I had drawn from the photograph of the rose. The wave around the outside border represents the Applegate River and came from the “who knows where” of water borders. I made the tabletopper back in 2007 & 2008 for the 50th anniversary of my friend and her husband.”

Written by: Ryan

In the “Stitcher’s Showcase” this week, here is a photo of Teresa Wentzler’s “Winter Carousel Horse” (available in Best of Teresa Wentzler Christmas Collection book) stitched by Rita Engdahl of Lingle, Wyoming. Which took “Grand Champion” & “NeedleWork Champion at the county fair. It placed Third at the State Fair. Rita says, “This took me four years to complete as my hobby was interrupted by heart complications that took 11 stents to repair and the arrival of two more wonderful granddaughters plus a couple of cousins had babies! All new babies into the family get gifts from my needle.”

Written by: Ryan