Needlepoint!

Two weeks ago I finally finished Susan Portra's 'Spirit of the Southwest', a counted needlepoint project started and mostly finished in 2004. All I had left was the border--what my friend (and first needlepoint teacher) Alice calls 'primetime stitching' (not so complicated you can't accomplish a lot in front of the TV at night). With so little left to finish, and it being fairly mindless, I of course lost interest. I worked on it maybe 4 times in the last 6 years. How did I finally get the thing done? Alice.

A couple of weeks ago Alice finally had a Saturday off from teaching, and met me at The Attic's open stitch/potluck. Since she's primarily a needlepointer, and everyone else would be doing cross-stitch, I brought along a project to make her feel more at home. When I took the pillow case off, Alice was 1) happy to see the piece because I chose her favorite color palette (can't remember what it's called, but it looks like the ocean around Bermuda where Alice grew up) and 2) was appalled I had so little left to do for the last 3 years. I promised her I would finish, and the next afternoon I did. So thank you, Alice, for giving me a gentle kick to FINISH SOMETHING.

Bad picture from my phone

Actually doing needlepoint for the first time in years reminded me how much I really enjoy it--I love all the different stitches and the textures of the different fibers. So now I've been inspired to work on another of my 100s of unfinished pieces. I present to you The Prospector Santa, started in a class with the designer, Libby Sturdy, in 2001:

Slightly more finished than at the end of class--hands, shirt sleeves, and pants were worked on 2 weeks ago.

It doesn't look like it, but there's a lot of work in the burro's face; I think most of one day was spent on it. Thanks to a wonderful yesterday spent with Alice and our friend Jean, it now looks like this:

I had pants like that in the 70's. And red cowboy boots (tradition in my family) but mine weren't sparkly. I'd also like to add I wasn't old enough to be dressing myself yet....

I am still working on it today! I think I've set a new record for not being distracted by 1) a new project or 2) another UFO. Saturday is the monthly Attic get together for Hawk Run Hollow projects--we'll see if my enthusiasm for needlepoint (did I mention I have 5 other Libby class pieces started and a drawer full of her kits, plus a LOT of other class and non-class canvases?) survives the fun of over 1 on 40ct....