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Mary Corbet

writer and founder

 

I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch (remember the '80s?). Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on...read more

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A Stitcher’s Christmas, 2018: The Four Seasons in Thread!

 

Amazon Books

Happy Monday!

It’s hard to believe we are already into December and onto the third installment of A Stitcher’s Christmas, a series of pre-Christmas give-aways here on Needle ‘n Thread.

When it comes to What Embroiderers Love Best, I think I can safely say that we love embroidery thread. The more I embroider, the more I love thread – all kinds of thread! When I see thread, I see possibilities. Don’t you?

Today’s give-away, courtesy of Colour Complements, involves a gorgeous collection of hand-dyed threads in a glorious four-season array of color.

Four Seasons in Thread, a Stitcher's Christmas, 2018

Winter, spring, summer & fall! All four seasons are represented in this collection of a dozen skeins of cotton embroidery threads. To provide you with plenty of texture, you’ll find stranded cotton (floss) and perle cottons intermixed.

Lorraine at Colour Complements hand dyes beautiful threads of all sorts, including specialty threads and ric-rac. Her sampler packs are extremely popular! She also supplies thread packs for various needlework designs on the market.

I love the riot of color on Lorraine’s website! It’s fun to browse, just to revel in color! The Colour Complements blog is also a lot of fun to follow. That’s where you’ll find out about new color and thread releases, but it’s also where she highlights needlework projects of all sorts worked with threads from Colour Complements.

Four Seasons in Thread, a Stitcher's Christmas, 2018

Give-Away Guidelines

This give-away is now ended. Thanks for participating!

If you’d like to join in today’s give-away, please follow these guidelines:

1. Leave a comment below, in the comment form following this article. You can follow this link directly to the comment form, if you are unsure of where to go. Please do not comment as a reply to someone else’s comment.

2. On the comment form, please fill out the name line with a recognizable name (no anonymous comments) and the email address line. You do not have to fill out the “website” line. You can just leave that blank. Please make certain your email address is entered correctly. In the comment box, answer the question posed below. Please do not leave your email address, mailing address, or phone number in the actual comment box. The comment box is also not the place to advertise your own needlework business, so please do not leave links to other websites in the comment box.

3. In the comment box, answer the following:

Tell us about the most time consuming embroidery project you’ve ever worked on. (I won’t say accomplished – it might not be accomplished yet!)

4. Please leave your comment by Friday, December 7th, 5:00 am central time (Kansas, USA). I’ll randomly draw the winner that morning and notify you by email.

5. Please leave only one comment on the give-away. Multiple comments will be deleted. You can enter all the give-aways in the series, but please enter them only once each.

Coming Up on Needle ‘n Thread

Well, on Wednesday, I’ll announce the winner of last Friday’s give-away (if you haven’t entered yet for the beautiful Crewel Work Company Kit, jump over there now and enter!)

I’ll also show you my “stitching break” project. It’s not a break from stitching – it’s just a project that makes a nice stitching break. It’s easy and relaxing, perfect for this time of year.

On Friday, we’ll have installment #4 of A Stitcher’s Christmas, 2018. I’ll give you a hint: ummmm… it’s two things, and they both begin with S (as in scissors… or silk…). But of course, I’d never want to ruin the surprise and tell you straight out.

I hope this first week of December is off to a grand start for you!

Do not be alarmed if your comment does not show up immediately. Comments on Needle ‘n Thread are queued for moderation and published only after they are approved, in order to prevent spam. Since I’m not always at my computer, the comments might build up in the queue for a while, but eventually, they will show up!

 
 

(1,031) Comments

  1. The most time consuming project for me started three years ago and will continue for several more years. That is the double casket stumpwork project by Thistle Threads. It was hard to design, to decide on stitches and colors and to even begin such a daunting project. These threads will come in handy for providing color and texture in some areas of this project.

    1
  2. Definitely a carrickmacross lace project which needs good light – of which there’s not much at this time of year!!

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  3. this year i finished a sampler i had been working on at least 25 years (off and on)! it had a dreadful border of tiny roses all around it that took forever to accomplish. it is beautiful but definitely a once in a life time experience!

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  4. Paula Monteith, Johannesburg
    I am working on a Christmas tree skirt which I suspect will take another few years. Poinsettias in shades of greens, whites and reds. Soothing single thread chain stitch but slow going!

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  5. I made patches for each of the 35 animal phylla (there are a lot of little wormy thing). It took 18 months, on and off and even longer to embroider the names and make them into a wall hanging.

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  6. My most time consuming embroidery project is a set of three needlepoint pieces to make a luggage rack. Because the pieces are narrow and roll up easily, they have been my airplane project since the 1990’s. Two done; one to go.

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  7. A pillow, that seemed like it would never be complete. Various blues that were so close in shades that separating them was the first day’s progress.

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  8. Thank you for such a lovely giveaway!!

    The most time consuming embroidery project I’ve worked on is my current (unfinished) project – I’m doing an applique quilt with significant embroidery detail work. It will be awesome in another year or so!!

    9
  9. The most time consuming project I’ve ever done is one that started with a photo of my mom. After she passed in 1997, I scanned that image into a software program and created a pattern. Looking back, I now realize that working on that was incredibly instrumental in helping me work through my grief. I was diligent and worked on it non-stop until finished. Every stitch was a combination of two different thread colors. It looks very much like a photograph and is mounted in a window box along with some of her personal items. It is truly a treasure to me not only as a reminder of my mother but also the time I spent creating it. I’m glad I had the chance to share this story. Thank you.

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    1. Gosh, I would love to see this! Please share if you can, perhaps on FB Needle and Thread group or send to Mary and maybe she could share it with us!

    2. Thank you for sharing. What a wonderful remembrance you’ve created of your mother. It must be beautiful.

  10. My most challenging embroidery project was a large pillow that had many different stitches on it, I did complete it and it’s one that I treasure, it taught me a new stitch with each type of seashell that was depicted.

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  11. I have not been stitching for long but could not resist buying the Owlfred kit by Hazel Blomkamp. I was daunted when it arrived but I have persevered and have about 2/3rds completed. Thanks though to help from Hazel.

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  12. I have been working on a Gold Collection kit “The Samurai” for at least 4 years. It is to complement “The Geisha” that I did for my daughter which took 4 years. Hopefully I will complete it in 2019. I will be retired and will have more time for stitching. I enjoy your reading your emails.

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  13. Most of my projects take 2-3 years to complete. I am pretty busy so can get only an hour here or there to work on projects . I will also only have one project on the go otherwise I’d never finish any . I have way more ideas than time!

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  14. Years ago I started a needlepoint version of the Lady and the Unicorn. I worked on it intermittently for five and a half Years before accepting I had taken on too much. I have it to a charity for someone else to finish.

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  15. I am relatively new to embroidery and so the most time-consuming project is the project I am working on right now. It is a crewel project called Lady Anne’s Flowers.
    I love your website! It has been very helpful. Amy

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  16. Probably the most time consuming embroidery project I have ever worked on was a Traveller’s Blanket I started many moons ago in a class taught by Dijanne Cevaal. Lots of stitching enjoyment–that’s for sure!

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  17. I had to think way back for this one! These days I tackle more manageable projects.
    The biggest stitch I tried to do was a cross stitched tablecloth, and not a luncheon cloth but a full sized tablecloth. I did more than half of it but finally let it go when we retired and downsized our home.

    Thanks for this fun event Mary.

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    1. Oh my! ANOTHER Sue Thomas! I haven’t known another person with my name since back in college (there were 5 of us with my maiden name at the same main campus, 3 of which were piano majors … made for great fun!)

  18. My most recent time consuming project is Betsy Morgan’s Edinburgh Etui. I was privileged to take a workshop with her through my local EGA chapter. It is completely stitched but now I have to assemble it. Her directions are impeccable but some of the stitching is cross stitch over one thread on 32 count. It turned out just beautiful….now to put it together!!

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  19. Thanks for the give away. My largest project is a Crewel fireplace screen I just ordered.

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  20. Hands down, the longest project I’ve ever worked on is the Thistle Threads casket. I doubt I’ll have it finished until I retire. It has been a very interesting journey.

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  21. Hi, My most complicated embroidery project to date is Ribbon Embroidery and Stumpwork by Di van Niekerk. I have had it for a couple of years but haven’t had the nerve to start it. I am now learning new stitches and working with new threads with the help of my friend, Skip. I am excited about this project.

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  22. I once did an embroidered portrait of Will Rogers’ bust. That was pretty time consuming- but I finished it!

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  23. The most time consuming project is one I never finished! Designed by me a banner picture 12 x 24 completely filled in with cross stitches. Whimsical and colourful. I discovered I absolutely dislike cross stitch. Lol

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  24. I would have to say that the most time consuming embroidery I’ve ever done is on crazy quilt blocks. When I’m in the mood, I’ll do the piecing, and then I’ll have the blocks ready to embellish. Some blocks will be done in a day or two, but some I’ve even working on for years.

    I did finish 16 blocks and sent them to my sister to (magically) turn into a quilt. She donated it to her local quilt guild to sell in their Christmas fundraiser for the local hospital.

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  25. I am working on the Mellerstain Firescreen kit from the crewel work company. It is a big project and i am halfway done and won’t be finished till this time next year. I love the design and colors and work on it a little bit each week. I try to set a small goal for each week to make the project more manageable.

    marysue c

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  26. My most time consuming project I’ve ever done was Jean Hilton’s Gleneagle. She said it requires 500 hours and it did!

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    1. Your wedding sampler and marriage are both of them a work in progress. Congratulations on 34 years together, may your sampler be one day completed and your marriage continue to be a ‘Work in Progress’ for all time.

  27. The most time-consuming embroidery project is one I am currently working on… a Christmas tree wall hanging for my mother-in-law. I want to make sure that she gets it at least a week before Christmas, but I also want it to be *perfect*, so it’s kind of slow going! The clock is ticking, though!

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  28. Both projects that come to mind were counted cross stitch. One took a lot of time because it was for a friend who needed something beautiful in her life. I did not like the pattern so maybe it seemed like it took time. The other was a piece for my mother, and I loved every stitch. It was a spring of magnolia flowers done in about 15 shades of white, creams and soft yellows and about 10 greens on black fabric. It is absolutely gorgeous, and when my mother passed the piece came back to me. I see our love for each other in every stitch.

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  29. A vintage stamped tablecloth. I’ve had it for three years and I haven’t even started on it because I can’t decide which color scheme I want!

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  30. Todays question is an easy one for me. At the time with three of us in the family and wages a lot less than expenses….my art work had to be challenging and take time to complete with little expense. I bought a shadowbox embroidery with lots of colorful items in the box…visually appealing and not difficult but took lots of time for the cost of the embroidery….about $20. I worked nightly on it when my husband worked and son was in bed and it took about a year to complete but when done was beautiful. It was a treasured item for many years…….till the flood of 1983 in Arizona and the roof leaked and colors flowed down parts of the piece. Although ruined then, I still kept it for the memories. Thanks for the memories.

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  31. Hi Mary,
    I received a lovely danish cross stitch tablecloth and napkins for a wedding present from my dear husband. We have been married 42 years and I just need to do a little bit more to finish the tablecloth. I can’t believe how time flies!
    Best wishes,
    Liz

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  32. When I was an adolescent my uncle designed a bell pull for me to embroider, using crewel yarn. It was about 8″ x 3 or 4′ long. It was completely filled with French Knots. It certainly took quite a while, but French Knots are still one of my favorite stitches. Thanks.

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  33. If we are including cross stitch, it would be my daughter’s very intricate stocking that I started when she was born. She is now 24 and I’m still not done. Heavy sigh. For embroidery, I started the mandala sew along but wanted to practice more befor I got too far into it.

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  34. I am currently working on a long term project of a stumpwork mirror frame based on a 17th century example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. So far I have been working on it for two and a half years with approximately one more years work to go. I am really enjoying discovering old stitches and techniques that have long since disappeared from our embroidery vocabulary. It’s a labour of love that I will miss once it has finished.

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  35. I started crazy quilting about 18 months ago because the enbellishing appealed to me, so with no prior embroidery experience, I have to say crazy quilt embroidery is very labor intensive . A 7” square can easily take 12 glorious hours to complete.

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  36. About four years ago I started a quilt with panels in red work with a block a month. They were of different Father Christmases, presents, etc. Although I finished most of the panels in good time, they sat and sat in my sewing room until a couple of months ago when I got the girls over for coffee and they helped me put it together. So now the completed quilt covers my favourite armchair just in time for Christmas.

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  37. I purchased a sewing basket kit with an oval emblem which involved hardanger embroidery! For such a small area, the hardanger was quite tedious, but the end result, although not perfect, was very pleasing & I was delighted! I hope to do more in the future! Thank you, Susan

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  38. When I was a teenager I began embroidering a tablecloth. The cloth was covered with national flowers of the countries of the British Commonwealth. Hours of work. Twenty five years later I finished it, and my mother enjoyed using it, until on her death it came back to me. I’ll never take on such a challenge again but I am quite proud of it.

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  39. I love handwork, my most time consuming was an embroidered Christmas quilt that I completed last year. I work on more than one project at a time so even though it took 6months, i did other things in between.
    I do lots of wool work and love using Lorraine’s specialty threads for those type projects she has great products.

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  40. My most consuming project was at my grandmoth’s side learning to embrodiary. This was a skill that I have used throughout my life in many forms. Patience, love of color, difference in textures, meditation to quiet the mind, comfort for the soul, as well as laughter for the heart.. For my grandmother I am eternally grateful for the time and skills she shared with me.

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  41. I’m a quilter and fairly new to embroidery, the biggest thing I’ve done (and finished) so far is a Christmas table runner. I was made up of ten squares each with a different Christmas image, some redwork, some applique and some surface embroidery. It took me ages to design it, sort fabrics and threads and then make it. I loved it and gave it to my daughter who also loves it.

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  42. My most time-consuming project is the one I am working on now, a cross-stitch piece from a book my sweetheart of a son got me for my birthday. Only I don’t enjoy cross-stitch, and all the projects in the book were very big. But I had to do one! I’ll be glad when it is done, but it will be a few months down the road. And one day he will inherit it and it will be wonderful for him to have. 🙂

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  43. A few years ago I finished a crewel pillow kit that was a gift from my mom. I hadn’t enjoyed stitching it but after she died I thought I should try working on it again. This time it went much more smoothly and I gave the finished pillow to my dad. It was probably at least 15 years from start to finish and I’m really glad I didn’t give up!

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  44. The longest project I have worked on was two squirrel and pine cone complimentary large crewel projects. They are finished now and I just have to decide how to display them!

    Thanks for the giveaway. I love those threads!

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  45. It would be so Merry to win Christmas threads. Thank you for your beautiful projects, inspiration and contests.

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  46. I once did a landscape that was all French knots. It wasn’t large, 9×12, but it took me a couple of years.

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  47. My most time consuming (and enjoyable) embroidery project was creating and completing a floral themed baby quilt for my granddaughter. She is now 9 years old and cherishes her quilt.

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  48. My most time consuming project is Teresa Wentzler’s Pegasus. I started it about 15 years ago and got so bogged down with the confetti stitching and losing my place I put it in the naughty corner indefinitely. However, this year I discovered ‘Flosstube’ where I saw people gridding their pieces and Pegasus is back in my workbasket, gridded up with previously incomplete pages now finished. It’s still taking forever to stitch and I am less than halfway done but it will get finished in 2019.

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    1. I hear you re: everything! Mine is TW’s peacock tapestry as mentioned in my other post. 🙂 Hang in there, you will get it done and you will be soooo glad you did once you get there.

  49. I still consider myself kind of new to embroidery, but I sure dove right in the deep end! I love the various colors & textures fibers offer us in creating. One of my biggest projects was Imperial Blooms by S. Spargo . . .finished w/off & on work over a 6yr period. It was a wonderful learning experience. I hope I win the hand-dyed threads!

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  50. What a lovely palette of thread . . . very yummy! I think the toughest project I’ve worked on is one I did for an embroidery challenge. The design was an intricate Celtic knot that was filled with all kinds of French, Colonial, and bullion knots, with all kinds of subtle colors changes! Whew! I love your site — it’s one of my favorite resources. Especially for specialty stitches like some of the ones I just mentioned! I’m a visual learner, so your videos help me SO much. 🙂

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  51. The most time consuming project I worked on was Christmas stockings for my two boys. They were extremely detailed and the entire surface was covered in design. They still have them and display them every Christmas and they are in their mid 30’s. Well worth it!

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  52. The colors of those threads is amazing. I can see stitching spring and summer patterns using those colors. I never do very involved stitching, but the one I am doing now is larger than what I am comfortable with. It is “Welcome Home” fall wall hanging from the book Stitches from the Harvest by Kathy Schmitz.

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  53. The most time consuming project I have worked on is a cross stitch kit with 100 stitches per square inch
    and 864 squares. I hope to finish it in my lifetime!

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  54. My most time consuming project has been a Baltimore Album quilt with much applique and embroidery. It isn’t finished yet but I have hopes that I can get the top totally done in the coming year – the quilting is another story!

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  55. Just finished a piece for a liturgical vestment. Simple stem stitch bold monogram but probably took 40 hours! Biggest for me…. so far!

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  56. Hi Mary,
    The most time consuming embroidery project I’ve worked on is a lady in a rose garden design that I started about 25 years ago. It was eventually put away until after retirement. It finally came out again last spring, and may some day yet be finished. Thank you for the give away.

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  57. In the 70’s there was a wonderful classic needlepoint shop in Beverly Hills. They had lots of trame work. There was a a 3 feet x 5 feet scene from Versailles – the court with all kinds of detail. I bought it and over the years would periodically work on it. 40 years later it is still with me on its roller bars. I dream of finishing it although it is a tapestry no one but me will want.

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  58. Last year I was working on this piece that was for my biological mom. It was a dragon with butterfly wings checking out some flowers. Lovely piece but it took me almost a year to finish because of the detail I put in while also dealing with an ongoing keratitis issue in my right eye. Still I loved doing it!

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  59. Hi Mary,
    I’m still working on a reduced-size Baltimore Album quilt begun in 2014. This project was the “gateway” that made me fall in love with embroidery, as there is quite a bit used to embellish the applique blocks. It seems I love anything that takes a long time to finish! I hope to finish my quilt (wallhanging) in 2019. Fingers crossed.
    June

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  60. I suppose the most time consuming project was the denim embroidery on my children’s clothing. Thank you for this BEAUTIFUL giveaway. (I am really hoping for this one!)

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  61. The most time consuming project I’ve ever worked on was a Christmas tree skirt done with 8 panels. I used 8 of the charts from Gloria & Pat’s “Merry Mouse Christmas” I worked on these panels for 5 years. They were stitched with DMC on 18 ct AIDA. What took quite some time was the amount of back stitching detail in all of the panels. I completed it in 1992 and I backed it with a prequilted Christmas fabric and edged it with a pretty fringed trim. I’ve put it under my tree every year since except for the year I moved into my current home which was Dec. 15, 1995, I didn’t have time to put anything out that Christmas . My kitties like to lie on it under the tree too! Thank you for the drawing for the beautiful flosses!

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  62. The longest embroidery project I’ve worked on is a quilted wall hanging with embroidery and ribbon embellishments. I’d like to say it’s done, but I keep finding things that should be added or would be cute!
    Thanks for this opportunity!

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  63. The most time consuming hand embroidery I’ve ever done took me 3 years to complete. It was a rabbit pushing a cart of vegetables. It was an Easter gift, but I would put it away after each Easter to bring it out the next year to work on it some more until I finally finished it!

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  64. It took me two and a half years to embroider twenty five panels, sew them together, then feather stitch around the panels in my alphabet garden quilt. The quilt is now hanging on my wall. And I love it.

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  65. I’m cross stitching a 3-D nativity from a book called “O Christmas Tree” by Leisure Arts. The individual characters stand like stuffed bean bags. The tallest is seven inches high. I’ve got Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, two wise men and a very fancy camel done. I’ve still got the last wise man, a donkey, two shepherds and two sheep to go. I’m changing the colors of the robes on some of them, and some have beads. I’ve been working on this since summer of 2017, off and on.

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  66. For time-consuming projects, I also do bobbin lace. Embroidery seems to go so quickly compared to the bobbin lace! But, for all needlework and bobbin lace projects, the thing I love is watching it grow – stitch by stitch, the design grows and fills out. That always keeps me going.

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  67. Wow! Those colours are gorgeous! Thank you for the opportunity.

    I did a HAL (Hardanger a long) that was very time consuming but enjoyable at the same time. I learnt a lot of new stitches, which some were difficult to get looking all the same.

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  68. My most time consuming embroidery project was a 11 X 14 art quilt design of mine. Sunrise early morning with stark black limbs of trees against a blazing orange sky. Lots and lots of straight stitches with black embroidery thread that got thinner towards the top. It was well worth the time taken.

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  69. I am a beginning stitcher. The most time consuming project that I ever completed was stitching of vegetable motifs on a market bag. The canvas bag was a challenge to work with; I had to open it up to get the canvas into the hoop and it was very stiff. But I completed it!! woohoo!!

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  70. It has to be Seasons, by Lanarte. It is a Marjolien Bastin cross-stitch kit. Started this one in 2000, it is a work in progress. Mary, thank you for this amazing give away you do every December. For your blog and keeping us all inspired. We may not write to you, to say this often. We fondly think of you, more often than you realize. Many of us have improved, once our paths crossed yours. Embroidery is alive and well because of you.

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  71. My most time consuming project was very large alphabet featuring Beatrix Potter animals. So much fun.

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  72. My church quilting circle reclaimed a crazy quilt, repaired the silk with ties and embroidered the blocks anew.

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  73. Most time consuming project would be a cross stitch pattern my mother and I each worked on. She was in California and I in Colorado. We would chat on the phone and mail pictures of our progress. It was taking forever. I was not use to the 28 ct stitches. But I kept working on it . She passed away a few years later never having finished this Celtic Angel. Now I have 2 to finish! And I think of her every time I stitch!
    Thanks for the memory!

    Barbara Downey

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  74. My most consuming embroidery project was a cross stitch embroidery I did for my son. It was two wolves peering between silver birch tress on a moonlit night. It was stitched on Black Aida and the threads were mainly gray . It was supposed to be for his 18th birthday, then his 21st, then his graduation, then on finishing he’s PhD. Well he finally got it! When I go to visit him and look at it on his wall I am amazed it was done by my very own fingers! I love it, as so does he. A true labour of love!

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  75. My first large crazy quilt was very time consuming. The project dragged on and off for years. I have since learned how to accomplish larger projects in bite size pieces.

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  76. I recently completed a crewel work cat on black linen from a kit. There were lots of colors and stitches. As it is a stuffed cat shape pillow, there was also stitching on the back. My daughter loves it.

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  77. The project I am working on now is my hardest. It is a pillow for my daughter in law, original design embroidered in blue flowers. Usually I do kits so I am enjoying doing my own from scratch. Happy Holidays

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  78. Hi, Mary,

    The most time-consuming project that I have worked on is my current one. I haven’t even started stitching yet….it is the planning process that has already taken more time than any stitching project I have previously done. There are so many variables.

    I started with determining what I would use the project for—a jacket. That narrowed down the choice of ground fabric to a sturdy wool. Other decisions included, of course, what sewing pattern for the jacket, what sections to embellish (collar? sleeves? front?), what color scheme, what embroidery design, what threads, what stitches, what sequence of stitching and on and on…..

    So I have the ground fabric, but I still have to test it to make sure that it will cooperate with my plans nad stitch up well. I am doing a small trial run before I invest too much time on it.

    Thanks, Mary!

    Beth B.

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  79. I bag an a lovely sampler some 30 years ago and have moved it from house to house on its frame. It is about half complete and always pricks my conscience as it ‘looks’ at me, pining for attention! One day though…….

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  80. The most involved embroidery project of my life time was The reproduction of the Laura Standish sampler.(Miles Standish daughter).
    I took the class from Joanne Harvey in Plymouth , Mass. The sampler was worked TOTALLY reversibly in silk thread on linen. It took me 266 hours.
    I logged my stitching time as I felt that was an important part of the experience. My goal was to finish it before we left on a cruise for our 25th wedding Anniv.
    Whoever completed the sampler, would have their name noted in Pilgrim Hall, Mass. Whenever I was stitching and the phone rang, my husband would say “she cant talk, she’s making history”.
    It was a goal I set for myself and achieved. I had the back professionally photographed to show that it surely is reversible.

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  81. Most time consuming embroidery project. Since I am a beginner, I don’t have many and I am still slow. I did the colors kaleidoscope you have posted and that took me a long time. So much detail. I am also working on a 7 day towel project.

    I hope to eventually get faster.

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  82. The project that I worked on the longest is a needlepoint bellpull which featured flowers. It took me two years to complete. Like most needleworkers I love thread of all types, also yarn for knitting. My husband says I can find a needlework shop anywhere in the world we go

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  83. It is the project I am working on now. It is a Heaven and Earth chart, Tree of Life, artwork by Ciro Marchetti. It is max color and supersized. It will probably be a 5+ year project.

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  84. A large Alpine village.
    I probably ripped out every stitch at least once. Took forever to find the right thread, stitch, number of strands etc, but it finally turned out beautifully.

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  85. A cross-stitch design on a small table cloth was MY most time-consuming piece of embroidery by far!!!!!

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  86. The colors in this collection seem to promise a warm and colorful Spring!

    As I recall, the project that took me way too long to complete (maybe several years between children, job, and homemaking) was a 4 seasons clock face, but it now hangs in my bedroom, and I really like it. I believe it was the first embroidery project I actually finished!

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  87. The most time consuming project was an embroidered and beaded 3 dimensional peacock ornament I designed and made for my daughter. I make her a bird ornament every year.

    101
  88. A Stumpwork project, seperate leaves over wire. Lilium flowers and a blue bird I thought at the time I was growing old as it took for ever. But the finished article is just amazing to me.

    102
  89. The most time consuming project I have ever worked on is the Marbek Nativity – 5 panel screen. I started it in 2002 when I heard a rumor that it was being phased out and no longer would be for sale. It is a counted cross-stitch project, so not at all difficult to do other than meticulous counting. Part of the reason it is taking so long is that I have not found a great solution for the single cross stitches for the starlight shimmers that appear randomly done in Kreinik metallics, as I don’t want to carry the thread on the back to the next one lest it show through the 32 count Belfast linen, and these individual stitches tend to unravel. So, I have put it aside in my frustration. However, at this time of year, I tend to pick it back up and give it another go. The other reason, is that I have moved on to other techniques that I find imminently more enjoyable than counted cross-stitch or projects for gifts that have pressing deadlines. So, I really need to be in the mood for Christmas stitching to pick up the Nativity. I know I will finish it someday though!

    Thanks for the opportunities for these holiday gifts.

    Christa

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  90. I cross-stitched a large Canada goose sitting in a Christmas basket. I thought I’d never finish all the “weaves” of the basket. Finished product is about 22 x-26″ and still hangs in my Mom-n-Law’s house.

    104
  91. I am working on a Christmas stocking for my granddaughter. I started it last year and it’s a very ambitious project, with beading and wire flowers. The most challenging part is the 3-D ballerina. Maybe it will be finished next year. There are lots of learning steps to the project and many start overs and step-backs to mastering various techniques!

    105
  92. My most time consuming project was for my daughter who asked me to make eight serviettes embroidered with miniature needle painting birds from Trish Burrs book. My daughter was so delighted with them that she then asked for a table runner with the same assortment of birds that would match. Not a simple small runner as her table is over 2 metres long and she wanted it hanging down at each end. I hem stitched both the serviettes and runner by hand. To see her face when it was all compleated was one of the best moments of my life and worth all the hours it had taken me.

    106
  93. Mary,
    I would have to say that the most time consuming embroidery project I have done as of yet would be a design I put together myself. I call it: The Dragonfly Pond. It is finished but not yet framed so I don’t have the exact size however it should end up being approximately 14X16 give or take! It is done in freehand stitches using both regular embroidery thread as well as metallic thread for the dragonflies. It depicts a large dragonfly in the forefront, lily pads with flowers in the mid area with smaller dragonflies and at the back is the pond itself there are smaller plants and foliage as well as a few very small dragonflies and a small frog. Working on it from design concept to completion (other than framing) took me just short of a year, mainly because I worked on it about 3 hours each day (once I started the embroidery itself) and 5-6 days per week.
    I love how it turned out and my husband thinks its the best one I have done so far, which makes me happy as he doesn’t give compliments easily.

    107
  94. My most time consuming embroidery project is a 15×20 picture of an old sewing machine within a cabinet filled with threads and fabric. I purchased the picture at craft show 5 years ago. Not only is it challenging for a new embroiderer by also challenging trying to trace it onto the fabric.

    108
  95. I am STILL working on a Cluny like hunt tapestry. This thing is in, almost 2×3 feet. My husband bought it for me in a small shop in Alexandria, Va, during our second year of marriage. We celebrated our 33rd anniversary in November ! I have lived on the West Coast and started working on it there. Packed it for a move to the East Coast and worked on it there. Took it with me on a duty assignment to Korea for the US Army, but never worked on it as I hoped. Came back stateside and rather forgot about it for almost 5 years. Pulled it out and went overseas again with it to Tokyo. I tried to work on it there. but my first apartment was so tiny I could not walk around the canvas when it was set up in the frame , so I put it away. After 12 years, I retired from teaching and we moved to Lake Chapala, Mexico in 2014. It’s out again, partially on a frame and I try to get in gear to work on it. It is still lovely, a medieval hunt scene. All basketweave, 2 strands of DMC floss, 18 or 20/ inch. I am 68 , nearsighted, thank goodness, and I do not have a big stash (on purpose) so there is actually a possibility I might finish it before I die. Now all I need is time. Since I retired, I find I am busier than ever. Thanks, Mary , for all the joy you bring to us ! Cindy Stone

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  96. Two years ago I started hand stitching a replica of the 1718 coverlet. I will finish it one day!

    110
  97. It’s a toss up between a quilt with pictures of the four season hand embroidered or a Christmas stocking embroidered with 10 different Needlepoint stitches. I am self taught and started about 3 years ago.

    111
  98. Thus far it was probably a pair of deer or a peacock (both very similar pieces), I did the deer for my mother for Christmas years ago as a teen and the peacock after that. Both were purchased from a little 5 & 10 type store (remember those?) in a small town in Iowa. They were printed on black satin with white print. Unfortunately moths (or something) got into mom’s framed piece and destroyed it. I still have mine hanging in our bedroom. But one of my next projects looks to knock them out of the ball park- a full coverage counted x stitch. May have bitten off more than I can chew!
    Thanks for these lovely Christmas give-aways Mary!

    112
  99. I cross stitched Thea Governor’s Collage of New York for my husband’s
    70th birthday, which he finally received on his 75th .
    I cross stitch very slowly. It was well worth the time.

    113
  100. The most complicated is the one I’m currently working on. It’s a wool appliqué quilt – Fresh Cut pattern by Sue Spargo. Each block is embellished with embroidery stitches. I’m loving it and these threads would come in very handy.

    114
  101. About 48 years ago I began a beautiful crewel embroidered Afghan. I was expecting my first baby, and was snowed in during one of Chicago’s worst winters. Then the baby came. Then we moved several times. For years the Afghan was missing in the shuffle. This past August I was unearthing sidelined boxes. And there it was! In perfect condition! Time to get stitching!

    115
  102. What gorgeous thread!
    My most time consuming embroidery project was filling the back panel of a denim jacket with rows and rows of french knots and adding a few floral stitches to the collar. I did finish it! I wish I still had it, it was quite some time ago and was lost in one my many moves.

    116
  103. I hand embroidered a rose pattern onto two sleeves of an Elizabethan dress that I made. It was an allover rose pattern in metallic gold thread. The sleeves took me s year and a half to complete but the results were beautiful. When my friends looked at what I was doing they would say “you’re insane, so I named the dress Insanity.

    117
  104. Ahhh so many ways to answer that question (and so many wips)! I’m relatively new(ly returned) to stitching having learned it at school but came back to it this year after a suggestion from a friend since I needed a new hobby when I was ill for a few months and couldn’t dance. I spent 6 weeks this summer working every free minute on my first big blackwork piece “Box of Delights” from Elizabeth Almond’s Blackwork Journey. That time is going to be dwarfed by the “Save the Stitches” project from the same website, which I have kitted out but am slightly terrified of starting in case I mess it up! Longest running project on the other hand is a picture of Lyme Park in Cheshire (used as the exterior shots for Pemberly in the 1990’s Pride and Prejudice adaption) that I started in around 2007 and still haven’t completed. I do know how to do a french knot now so… one day!

    118
  105. I started a kit of a cardinal family 6 months ago and it’s maybe 1/4 done! I haven’t been sewing that long so I haven’t had enough opportunities to drag a project out over decades. Just wait!

    119
  106. The most time consuming embroidery project I have done (and yes, it is completed) was the ABC Tapestry Sampler from Rosewood Manor. It took two years to complete, and it was the only thing I worked on in the entire two year period. It is a very large project – on 32 count linen, the stitched area is 24×36.

    121
  107. The project taking the longest for me to complete was a Dimensions full-coverage, 11×14 of a lovely peony blossom with greenery. It took me all of 6 months to crosstitch. I love it!!

    122
  108. My most time consuming project is called a Crystal Christmas. It is embellished throughout with different textures of threads and thousands of beads. I have to say I have been working on this for quite sometime and have just invested in a new embroidery frame which is a godsend.

    123
  109. I am working on a very large crazy quilt, one year now & still have loads of blocks to finish. Looks as if it will be a two year project.

    124
  110. The most time consuming projects are any that require the slate frame, and stand…my stand is not good quality and I spend a lot of time fussing with it, and finding a comfortable position, and then those projects feel like they take forever, since I spend more time adjusting than I do stitching.

    125
  111. My most time-consuming project was a horse worked over linen, with a “frame” worked via hardanger.

    126
  112. Although I’ve known how to embroider most of my life (Grandma taught me 50ish years ago), I’m very new to taking it at all seriously … I’ve only done small projects so far, although those Christmas stockings feel elaborate to a newbie while you’re working on them!

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  113. My most time-consuming project is a reproduction of fox from a local artist that is ~950×750 stitches (in cross-stitch), stitch one-over-one on 29 counts lugana. I’m on it since the last ten years!!! But it is just so beautiful!!!! Thank you for the giveaway!

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  114. It is a toss up between 2 projects. Several years ago I did a cross stitch of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. It took me several months to complete since it was completely covered with stitches and there was constant changing thread color. I had not yet learned about threading several needles to have available for the stitching so kept rethreading my one needle!
    A more recent project is Ambrosia Honey through the EGA. I have been working on this canvaswork for almost a year now. Hoping to have it done for a Christmas gift but beginning to doubt that. It will be close.

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  115. my most labour intensive project would have been the stumpwork panel from Di van Niekerk’s book A Perfect World. i have it finished and hanging and it is really lovely. i just loved working all the little bugs and beasties in it as well as the florals. i changed a few things in it but otherwise followed the book. thanks!

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  116. When I was 28 I embroidered a pillow cover with hummingbirds and flowers on it. It was very intricate and difficult and it was taking me forever. I was a lifeguard and the pool wasn’t very busy. I took my project with me to work a d finished it while watching people swim. I’m 64 now. I don’t have the pillow anymore but I still have the embroidered cover.

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  117. Years ago I started a cross stitch project that had a dark brown fabric as it’s base. Because of the dark background, it took months to finish as I could only work on it in bright daylight. It was back in the days before we had wonderful LED task lamps to light our way in the night time hours.

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  118. Hi Mary
    Thanks for this opportunity. My most complicated project was a gift for my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary. They were having a quiet celebration with just the family, but I knew that my two sisters-in-law would do something spectacular (one was a quilter, the other a cross-stitcher), so the pressure was on to do something unique. I decided to do a stumpwork image of them based on their wedding day photo…the only problem was that I’d never done stumpwork. So armed with Roy and Barbara Hirst’s book ‘Raised Embroidery’, I taught myself as I went along. It took me six weeks, working 8-10 hours a day…I’d send my kids off to school/bed, listen to books on tape, and I’d stitch away, reading how the Hirsts created the components of their charming images and translating it to fit my requirements. I loved it! My in-laws loved it! And it took second prize at our national embroidery conference…bonus! When my in-laws passed, my gift was returned to me, and it is still my favourite piece of work. December 8th would have been their 73rd anniversary.
    Cheers, and thanks again for this opportunity. Have a merry Merry and a happy Happy!
    Deb

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  119. The mosr time consuming embroidery project I’ve worked on was an hanging Advent calendar I designed. I wanted to create an interactive way for my daughter to count the days leading up to Christmas in a fun way that wasn’t about chocolate or gifts. I used a large piece of felt as a background and appliqued pieces of green felt onto it that we’re cut to create a Christmas tree shape. Each layer that makes up the tree is edged with embroidery stitches. I then attached 25 different buttons to various places on the tree so it looks like a decorated Christmas tree even if nothing more is done to it. Next, I created 25 “ornaments” cut out of felt. Things like a snowflake, a mitten, and a present, to name a few, Each one is cut double and stuffed with a bit of fiber fill to make it slightly dimensional and has beaded and embroidered detail.

    135
  120. When I learned my mother was dying of liver cancer, I had the perfect cross-stitch pattern to make her for Christmas. I worked on it for months. Unfortunately she didn’t live to see it. I gave it to my husband instead, even though he knew for whom I had worked so hard. At that point it became meaningless to me. Now I am a widow. I have it hanging in my home, but it makes me sad to see it. I think it is time to pass it on.

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  121. I am newly back to stitching, and have so far stitched mostly small items. So for me the largest project has been a cross stitch round Robin. My piece was done in silks, dyed by a friend. Thank you for the chance to win.

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  122. I embroidered a very detailed prayer book cover for a friend as a surprise. Unfortunately, I was given the wrong measurements for the book and there was no good way to adapt it to the new size, so I had to start over and do it all again in a bigger size 😀

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  123. My most time consuming project had been stitching the sea on an undulated wire netting. It took years – but it is finished.

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  124. The most time consuming embroidery project I’ve worked on is one I made up. I’ve had the concept in my head for a long time, but I always make everything harder than it needs to be. That said I have enjoyed the process, putting it side if I need a break so I don’t become annoyed with it. I spent a lot of time trying out materials and practising stitches before starting the actual project, which helped me to learn a lot.

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  125. Oh, dear, I lied!!! (Hoping it’s ok to add another comment here)- my biggest project (was reminded of it when reading other comments) was a bedspread I did, again years ago as a teenager. It even rode on the back of my motorcycle a few times, and once ended up strewn across the entire 2 lanes of road when it fell off. I saw 2 large trucks approaching it and thought “if they run over it, I’m leaving it”. Well, they avoided it! But it needed to be quilted, I am not a quilter, so after all that work, I have no idea what on earth ended up happening to it (I finished the embroidery). It sat folded up in a closet for years, then who knows…

    143
  126. The most involved project, still a work in progress, is Tony Minieri’s “Journey to Satchidananda” done in silk and metals, representative of different styles of Indian saris. Maybe this year I will finish it.

    144
  127. The most time consuming project was my first. As a little girl I sat in my rocking chair next to my grandmother in hers while she taught me the basics of embroidery. She also taught me the basics of ripping out and redoing. She insisted that I learn to do neat stitches. I still have that project which I framed many years ago.

    145
  128. When my son was a baby I embroidered a Christmas stocking to celebrate his first holiday season. It was complex and time consuming . . . But we’ll woth it, as he uses it to this day, 35 years later!

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  129. Alas, I have two 30 year unfinished projects, and because you asked it made me figure out why they are not done. One is a large needlepoint canvas of an English cottage, the other is a cross stitch of a Lake Michigan lighthouse. Since I love the variety of embroidery stitches we all like to do, these two projects have too much of repetitive stitching and that is not enticing to me. So I pick up my other embroidery to do that involves different stitches, and those projects always get finished. I guess I will have to “will” those unfinished projects to someone who might finish them!!

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  130. I made a Christmas gift for my mother in law that has taken over a year. It was a simple quote with floral embellishments but it’s where I learned the most about letter stitching so far.

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  131. I believe the most time consuming embroidery I did was a cross-stitch of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. It was pretty tedious following that chart!

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  132. My most time consuming project isn’t a large project. It’s a simple Christmas stocking. But because I keep leaving things behind when I travel , it is taking forever to complete.

    150
  133. A Hazel Blomkamp foot stool seemed to take forever with all the different stitches involved. Well worth the time spent.

    151
  134. The most time time consuming project I worked on was Ann Dale 1827 Big and Beautiful by Shakespeare’s Peddler. I loved working on and it turned out beautifully!

    152
  135. My most time consuming embroidery was a very large woodland scene with lovely pink flowers in the foreground and sun shining through the branches in the background. To achieve this I used pale green net over some stitching and then stitched onto the net. The embroidery took about 5 years to make and now takes pride of place on my wall.

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  136. I am still working on a counted cross stitch project called Full of Shadows. I told my daughter to pick the project she wanted. It is 1 over 1 on 32 count linen AND is over 36” wide. I will be working on this in the old folks home—given that it is on its 10th year.

    154
  137. I am working on a complimentary pair of throw pillows for the couches in our house. When they’re done they will tell a story of a dragon attacking a castle!

    155
  138. My most time consuming project to date has been the priest’s stole I stitched for a friend. It took about two years. I really enjoyed it though, and the present was well-received, so I am about to embark on creating my second stole. Hopefully, having one under my belt means the second will go much faster. I’m also working on a piece for my sister with her sorority logo and her initials. That one is a few months in the making, and might take another few before it’s done, but it should be under the two year mark.

    156
  139. A Miniature Needlepoint rug is my most time consuming project. It 8×6 inches with many color changes. I will put 15 minutes of time into every few years and now close to twenty years have past since starting.

    157
  140. The project that took me the longest was the sleeves on an Elizabethan dress. I embroidered an allover rose pattern in metallic gold thread on the puffed sleeves which took me a year and a half to complete. As I was working on it my friends would say “are you insane?” So, I named the dress Insanity. It turned out beautiful.

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  141. My project would be the MarBec Nativity. A friend of mine started it when it came out in 1989. She worked on it over the years and I would see her progress when we visited her in FL every year. She suffered a stroke and could not do any more needlework and gifted me with the threads and 4 panels, all I had to do was the center one. It took me over 4 years to complete that one panel. It had tons of blending filament and at that time, I was still working a full time job. It is now completed and hangs year around in our spare bedroom. I lovingly look at it and always think about Jane when I do. She’s in Heaven now, stitching away.

    Chris

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  142. I am still working on the project that is both needlepoint and embroidery. It is more time consuming because all though it is all in one color there are many thread ends to deal with. Hopefully, my sand dollar will be done this year.

    160
  143. I am currently working on a table runner with my first attempt at thread painting. Before that it was a crib quilt. I have decided that each grand-niece and grand-nephew will get a hand embroidered crib quilt. I did one with 5 baby animals each with a toy or book. It took me about 4 months to get it done.

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  144. The most challenging project was Di Van Niekerk’s silk ribbon and stump work Garden Sampler. It took me a year intermittently to complete and frame. It is gorgeous and the only
    project of hers I have done. Next I will do one of the fairies.

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  145. The most time consuming project I ever worked on was a counted cross stitch of Santa and a big bag of toys by Mary Englebright. It had so many fine details and the stitches I swear were minuscule. It’s beautiful! I get it out every year and admire it.

    These threads are gorgeous. I would love playing with them.

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  146. My most extensive work is a portrait of my father in cross stitch. There are at some spots, more than 20 different floss colors in on square inch ! It is atill a work in progress !!!!

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  147. I think my most time consuming project was not a complex embroidery, but a cross stitch design by Long Dog Samplers. I started stitching ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ in 2005 and completed it in 2009, I have the chart, fabric, and threads for the second verse, but have yet to start stitching it

    165
  148. I am embroidering a family legacy afghan for each of my 2 daughters. I completed one of the blankets in 2018, but have not yet begun the second one. Much thought and design prep is part of the process in order to make them family specific but also child and grandchild inclusive. The older I get (65), I find more satisfaction in completing meaningful family keepsakes, rather than “random” designs that I am attracted to.

    166
  149. My most time consuming projects tend to be any of my Mirabilia cross-stitch projects. However, I just finished & framed a project that I took at an RSN class at the summer school. Overall, it took me 60 hours to complete the gold/metal work “Queen’s Silk” designed by Helen McCook. But I enjoyed every minute of it. 😀

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  150. A pattern from one of hazel blomksmos books. I’m still gathering supplies lol… maybe have been for 3 years . Life went a little sideways but even if I’m not able to do it eventually one of my girls is now old enough to take an interest. She loves your emails too 🙂

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  151. My longest embroidery project is the Gardeners Alphabet. It had 22 blocks of various sizes and shapes. I stitched it all with silks- floss, cords and ribbons. I didn’t work constantly on it but it took me 1 1/2 years to finish. It is now a gorgeous quilt that will be in the AQS Daytona beach contest

    169
  152. My first most time consuming project is Teresa Wentzler’s “Angel Procession.” Yes, still in progress…

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  153. I have worked several projects that took huge amounts of time, but right now I have in my lineup a beautiful sewing kit stitched over one on 28 count linen. It has many different components and pieces. So far I have completed the top border on the front cover. I hope I live long enough to finish the whole thing!

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  154. ooo … the most time-consuming embroidery project i’ve ever worked on? probably the embroidered petals for a Crab-Apple Hill quilt – i don’t even know how many years i stitched on those … the petals are FINALLY stitched, but who knows how long the applique will take?!?

    173
  155. I just bought a home and we are deep in the chaos of moving and I found my oldest project. It is the medallion of a quilt featuring a cat silhouette surrounded by appliqué flowers, vines and lots of embroidery vines, tendrils etc. it’s only about 6 years old, but it’s significant because I put it aside because of someone’s criticism. It beautiful and I love it. Now I have more skills and totally intend to finish it.

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  156. Almost any Gay Ann Rogers project, is for me all consuming when I work on them. Not hard, but, it will keep calling me back over doing other household projects I should be doing!

    175
  157. “Asian Elegance”designed by Gloria McKinnon a truly epic quilt that incorporated all kinds of stitching…beadwork, ribbonwork, knotwork, and all kinds of embroidery stitches. It was epic!!!!

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  158. It was a Silk & Metal piece by designer and teacher, Judy Soliotus. It was a 4 day class and I learned sooo much. I did finish it and it is hanging on my wall.

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  159. I stitched two different reproductions of masterpieces for my daughter’s when they completed their masters. They reach took 7 months of intense stitching. The first completion was “An Afternoon on the Isle of the Grand Jette”by Surrat and with the exception of the black figure on the foreground was also pointilist. The second was “The Milkmaid” by Vermeer. They are both picked out by the recipient and are displayed prominently in their home.

    178
  160. I have a Roseworks project that still is not finished after more than 5 years. It’s a lovely project and not too difficult – lots of bullion stitch roses, detached chain, and stem stitch, and it must be 85% finished, but for some reason, it’s difficult to put the final stitches in. Can’t say why, just one of those things. And I’ve finished so many other things in the meantime. I really feel that I want to give it to someone else to finish. Any takers?

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  161. Started a cross-stitch in 1997 – children and life intervened as I slowly worked on this over time. Finally told myself I had to finish it so I could start working on other types of hand embroidery so I finished it last year (and love it). Since then I have worked on Kongin (not sure of spelling), Silk shading, canvas work, blackwork and a bunch of other new stitches and designs. Did a small gold work project this weekend. It has been freeing.

    180
  162. All my UFOs! I’m such a slow stitcher, it takes me forever to do something, then I get frustrated, bored, and/or distracted, and start something else. Some day… 🙂

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  163. Most time consuming project. A hardanger 48 inch long table runner on linen just a bit too hard for old eyes to see! Will finish sometime soon, I hope.

    182
  164. Well….if you don’t count the afghan I started 50 years ago, my longest-running project is an Erica Wilson crewel teaching kit, begun in her Madison Avenue shop 40 years ago! It’s half-finished, but I have moved frequently, and have had to unearth it each time and get a bit further. I am determined to finish it now!

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  165. I started a very complicated Noah’s Ark scene for the front of a diaper bag for my best friend’s second child. I didn’t finish it until 3 years later when she was expecting her third child!

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  166. The most time consuming project for me was when I was new to needlework and took a Maggie Lane needlepoint design of swans and lotus blossoms to cross stitch. It took three years, partly because it is large, I only worked in the winter and because some of the pattern was incomplete and I had to decide how to continue. I also wanted to try new threads, add some glitz to the flowers and all this was new to me. It now hangs proudly in my entryway!

    185
  167. There are three very large pieces hanging in our living room that were embroidered by me several years ago. One is larger than a door and it shows Queen Anne’s Lace. The second is a picture of Nyhavn in Copenhagen, Denmark. This one took nearly a year for me to finish and is the piece that took the longest to complete. It is six feet long and about 12″ tall. Beautiful! We lived in Copenhagen when we were kids and that is one reason we love it so.

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  168. The most time consuming project I’ve worked on was a historical piece done in cloister stitch of two sets of coats of arms. It was great fun but took quite while to complete!

    187
  169. The most time consuming project … hmmm.
    Might have to be the eagle I did for my cousin. While it didn’t take years and remains unfinished (that record is 28 years and counting) it took hours of work every day for 3 months straight (counting finishing and framing) and I missed his birth anniversary by a week. In addition to job, college, home life and family commitments. I must have slept in those 3 months, but I don’t remember it.

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  170. My current project is the answer to the longest one. I am working on the little book that is featured in Inspirations Special Issue #100. Not much so far but I felt it was time for a long, time consuming project. I have completed Page 1 and some of Page 2. Just recently discovered Perle Cotton to embroider with and love it.

    189
  171. The most time consuming project to date is the Calico Cat Tapestry counted cross stitch pattern by Payne Free. Every single bit of the fabric is covered by a stitch! Very intense, but beautiful. I anticipate it will take me a year to complete, working on it every day. It is a gift for my good friend, Maria.

    190
  172. I haven’t figured wished it, but is a cross stitch of some Irises for my mother. The Iris is her favorite flower and she loves when I craft things for her.

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  173. I’ve had several challenges over the years, a large Dutch doll, Lavender & Lace’s Angel of Hope (fabric was 26 count over 2) which made her really large, a Danish Christmas tree (8 ct burlap sort of fabric). That one is really large! Now I’m presently working on Thea Gouverneur’s Cathedrals of St Petersburg (31″x 19″ on fine fabric with 1 thread of floss). I’ll do better after January when I get the cataracts taken care of, LOL. I seem to like large pictures!

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  174. Hi there, I think my most complex and time consuming project I’ve worked on is my current one – a table cloth for my brother in law. it’s 137x137cm and has lettering in Irish script with a blessing for after meals, with corners that are derived from the book of Kells.

    193
  175. I am currently working on my first full coverage piece of Cross stitch Rusty Fence And Lilies from Charting Creations .It looks like I am really going to take some good amount of time to complete this big a project.

    194
  176. My most time consuming project is an elephant I am embroidering for a granddaughter. She loves elephants. This elephant is decorated with a lot of different flowers allover it’s body.

    195
  177. I started the long dog “Plight of Fancy” band sampler in 2008- did not like the colors
    (threads pulled did not look anything like the picture), so I recolored it to a purple. orange and red color way, recharted a few motifs, improved a few bands that looked too plain, deleted the boxers, well…. you know how it goes/grows….. and finished it in 2014!!!

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  178. My crazy quilt was very intensive and time consuming
    Although not huge it was amply covered with my interpretation of life under the sea.

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  179. I’m on my second year of working a project I found in a magazine. I changed the thread and the colors and the instructions ended up being vague at best. Compensation stitches abound. I am determined to finish….someday!

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  180. The most time consuming project I have worked on was ‘A Redwork Sampler Full of Surprises’ by Gay Ann Rogers. I say it was time consuming because I did it three times in different colors – two as gifts.

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  181. I’ve done a lot of different types of embroidery, stumpwork and needle painting being my favourite, but the most time consuming piece of embroidery I’ve even done….and not finished yet 🙂 is a Teresa Wentzler dragon cross stitch design: The Guardian.

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  182. The longest project was not embroidery, but cross-stitch. A Theresa Wentzler carousel horse. Lots of thread combinations and 1/4 stitches. I got the horse done but not the large grapevine border that went around the outside.

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  183. This year, I stitched a needle painting embroidery inspired by a children’s book illustration and it took me 9 months to finish it. I was working only on this project all this time and now I feel a little bit.. lonely! That’s why I started another embroidery right away! 🙂

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  184. The Victoria Sampler Gingerbread Village is the most time consuming project I’ve ever worked on. It isn’t accomplished yet, only 2 of the 10 buildings and some of the ornaments. Just hope I live long enough to complete them all.

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  185. One project that took a bit of time was a canvas piece by Carole Lake called “Church of the Spilled Blood”. I had been to Russia and saw the actual building, so itvwas very meaningful to me. Rather complicated stitchery, but fun.
    Love threads, hope to win!

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  186. Ooh, pick me pick me!! I love these threads, especially the very velvet!!
    In terms of my longest project- I have a crewel unicorn panel that I started in grade nine. I finished it a year ago, and I’m 60 now!!

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  187. The most time consuming project I have completed was Dimensions Parisienne Market. It took me just over a year however I am very satisfied with the result. I do love color and part of what kept me going was the splash of beautiful color throughout most of the project. What a gorgeous array of colorful threads you are giving away! I would love to win this fantastic Colour Complements thread! Thanks for the opportunity to do so!

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  188. Still working on the Primitive Garden wool applique. Started about 14 years ago but only half finished. The problem is that I have been doing a lot of embroidery so I want to go back and embroider some on it. Will need several more life times I think. 😉 The thread would be mighty handy. Thank you for these wonderful prizes.

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  189. Most time consuming ever worked on (started!) is a large 40 x 40 stamped linen, which is a pattern from historic American Quilts in the Smithsonian collection.

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  190. The most time consuming. .Poinsettia counted cross stitch placemats on linen. There were so many shades of red ( before variegated threads) and the weave was so fine I only completed 2 of the 6 I had planned. .

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  191. Two years ago I started a crazy quilt. For the first time in 25 years of stitching I had no pattern to follow. The totally original design included beads, lace, felt, ribbon and numerous new stitches on thrifted menswear material. I finally finished it this fall

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  192. Most time consuming…. I would say a Sue Spargo Block(s) of the month, since that is a year long project. And I loved every minute of it!

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  193. I love early reproduction samplers and have done a number of them. I am not sure which one was the most time consuming because I loved every minute. 🙂

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  194. The most time-consuming project I worked on was a five piece Celtic Angel cross stitch project. They came out beautifully.

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  195. I think there is a tie for the most time consuming needlework project I have ever worked on between a needlepoint rug that a friend with a frozen shoulder gave me and a wool applique quilt that is large enough to fit a full sized bed.

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  196. I am (still) making a trifold case with zippers and compartments. Each side, inside and out, is embroidered. I am embroidering on cotton and wool fabrics. It is forcing me to learn new stitches, as well as about needles and threads!

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  197. I have only recently returned to stitching after 35 years. I attended a seminar in July and took a Jacobean Crewel class. I have been working on this piece, but after using wool in the past, the one strand of DMC is really daunting. The needle lace part of the design is something I will need to practice for a while before I find it good enough to do on the piece.

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  198. The project that took me the longest to complete was a cross stitched table cloth that I began as a teenager just as I was beginning to branch out my skills from what my grandmother taught me. I had to hurriedly finish it years later as I wanted to use it at our wedding reception.

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  199. The project I worked on was for my sister. It started out to be cushions but once she saw the results she said they were too beautiful to use as cushions and hooped them instead. I “ reinvented” the appliqué flower and baskets all in embroidery! Using your videos on different stitches….the baskets were stitched in the examples you used in your Jacobean Jumble. It took me about 3 months, easy 6 hours a day to embroider 4 of the 7 patterns. She has commissioned me, again, to finish the other 3 . Loved every minute I spent embroidering and trying out so many new stitches. It was exhilarating!

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  200. “Angles” by Debbie Rowley is the most time-consuming piece I’ve worked on; it is also the most challenging and, above all, the most satisfying. It is only about 1/3 completed, but every hour spent on it has been pure pleasure.

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  201. The most time consuming project I ever did was a 3’ x 4’ needlepoint rug. I started it in 2000. I was stitching on it when my father in law was ill. After he died I put it away for a while and it took me several years to be able to pick it up again. I finished it in 2005. I know the dates because I put them in the border of the rug.

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  202. The most time consuming project was one the local embroidery guild used as an “ongoing” project. Boy, was it! Three tulips in complicated stitches and fine threads. I finished it but did not like the back ground, so I filled it in with more stitching. Took forever and so boring. I still did not like it, so it sits in a drawer. I’m thinking maybe a book cover?

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  203. Oh my. I embroider obsessively! I love hand dyed thread especially. I like doing large projects. My last one was a design I made myself capturing a childhood family memory. I painted the entire thing with needle and thread, no empty space anywhere. It is 14” x 21”.

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  204. When I was a teenager, I took on bigger and bigger projects. I have one that is an autumnal wreath in wheat colored crewel yarn on a brown background. It is from the 1970s, and I am in my 50s, but I WILL FINISH IT.

    I have done many kit projects over the years and gifted my family and friends. I love the four season yarns with mixed texture. They inspire me to branch out into doing my own designs. Thank you!

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  205. I think I would have to say that the series of crazy quilted blocks (going to be 2 books – one for each of the grands) based on Anne Stokes art cards has probably been the most time consuming. I have 18 10 1/2″ blocks done and 4 more to go. I’ve been working on them for about 3 years.

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  206. Oh boy! My longest/largest, and most ambitious project to date is a big stumpwork bouquet of Canada’s 13 provincial and territorial flowers! My goal was to complete it for the Canada 150th celebration…but some health issues (and perhaps being a tad over ambitious) have delayed the finish. I’m about 2.5 years along. Its modeled after a colouring book page from the Prime Ministers office, but each flower had to be redesigned into a full stumpwork piece. I’ve got 10/13 finished… so close!

    Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Mary!

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  207. I am aiming to complete monograms for all my family as Xmas gifts, learning new stitches as I go, from Mary’s tutorials. I hope I’m able to finish them in time!

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  208. I would like to think that the “3 Kings” crewel kit would be mine to complete. Right now, I am within about a week from completing one of Crewel Works Jacobean panels.I have promised my embroidery workshop leader that this panel will be completed “and framed” by the first of the new year.

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  209. My most time-consuming project was one I thought I’d never finish: a crewel-work design of geraniums. Ran out of wool for the leaves, needlework shop closed (no online shopping then), intended recipient became my ex-sister-in-law, etc. After nearly 40 years, it’s framed and making my sewing room a cheery space!

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  210. The most time consuming project was a Christmas stocking. It now is a gentle and happy reminder each Christmas that it was well worth the time.

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  211. The most time consuming project is the large Carly Harper canvas I began which isn’t finished yet.

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  212. Carol Pedersen has a pattern called “Picket Fence” which is a Hardanger valance. I saw hers in person at a Nordic Needle retreat and fell in love with it. It shows a fence with several different types of flowers. It was gorgeous and I was blown away by her creativity. I decided to make some for my kitchen after we moved to a new house, but I needed three of them for my windows. I thought it would take me a year to finish, but it took three! But yes, they are finished and up!

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  213. Oh dear! I have “works in progress” that go back years and years, my security blanket, I will never run out of projects. Some I work a bit on every year (depending on the time of year, I guess you would call them seasonal).

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  214. When I first retired three years ago, I spent a year stitching a design inspired by a picture my daughter had painted in kindergarten. It was a picture of my sister, in glowing primary colours, hair flying, standing outdoors in the sunshine (you know how little ones always draw or paint the sun). My sister died of cancer at 47, and I didn’t want to lose this sweet memory, which was fading over time. I was getting back into embroidery after a long time away from it, so it took some time to remember the stitches and to finish, and it took time to stitch away ten years of grief. It worked beautifully, and Auntie Charlyn’s picture is now brought back to vibrant life in our living area!

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  215. I’m going to say it was Vintage Tin. The embroidery was very detailed, and then the quilt blocks took a lot of time too.

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  216. I did the embroidery on a medieval style coat for a friend. It was 200+ hours of work in wool threads on wool fabric using mostly stem stitch.

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  217. Birth announcements for my grand-daughter. One finished and one not. I designed the unfinished one. It could probably be finished in an evening and I just can’t seemed to get it finished!

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  218. Ten years! It was a mermaid cross stitch. At some time, I left a needle in the stitching area and when I pulled it out a year later to work on it again the needle rusted and left a hole. Fortunately, I was able to repair it and cover it with a bubble similar to other bubbles in the background. Taught me a valuable lesson – NEVER LEAVE A NEEDLE IN A PROJECT!!!!!!

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  219. My most ambitious and most time consuming project is a current WIP, an antique reproduction sampler from Hands Across the Sea, Ann Tong Uffindell. It is enormous, beautiful, and detailed with a number of “over 1” motifs. I expect to be working on it for a number of years.

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  220. A couple of years ago started a wool applique foot warmer for our queen size bed. Still working on it off and on. Love the colors in the picture. makes me think of SPRING.

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  221. The most time-consuming project I have undertaken so far is ALLURE by Carolyn Mitchell. It is a gorgeous canvas design replete with many kinds of materials and threads including silk, gold kid leather, Kreinik metallics, perle cottons and so on. The final touch was sewing on 208 pearl beads! The whole process was enjoyable all the way and never reached a “tired” stage. This hangs on my stitching room wall and is still a delight to me.

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  222. The most time consuming project I ever did was to design a stichable map of the Okefenokee Swamp in South Georgia, USA. It is very simplistic, but at the time, I was much younger and knew no one else who embroidered, so it was a series of stitch/remove stitch/try again.

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  223. Thank you for arranging giveaways!! And thank you so very much for the daily dose of embroidery encouragement. My most time consuming project is still a work in progress. It is a lovely Hardanger tablecloth. I’m at the outside border, but get distracted with other projects so it sits unfinished. Ive spent sooo many hours on this project – many many more than I have ever spent on a project. It’s been in progress 3 years – with only smalls as distractions to work with colors & other stitches.

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  224. Relative to its size, my most time consuming project is The Nostalgic Needle English Pynpillowe by Sharon Cohen which requires counting to get the running stitch outlines accurate for lots of tiny areas then filling them in with tent stitch over one on 32 count.

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  225. Probably the most time I ever spent on one project was a pair of blue jeans when I was a teenager! I just kept adding flowers, birds, strawberries and scenes that I made up. I never really finished because there was still empty space on them!

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  226. My friends (7) this year are getting embroidered boxes done on linen. We do a gift exchange of handmade gifts and I loved doing the embroidery and sewing the boxes. They will be filled with homemade fudge and truffles. So glad embroidery is back in style.We do lots, along with our quilting and wool projects.

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  227. All my most time-consuming projects have technically been needlepoint. The Unicorn-in-Captivity project might never have been finished but for the 1984 Olympics. Backgrounds take forever (or just feel like it) and can be fairly mindless. The Olympics involved long stretches of talk punctuated by thrilling things you have to watch. Long stretches of talk are perfect for handwork that doesn’t require a lot of concentration.

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  228. Undoubtedly, it’s the coat of arms for my HH. It’s roughly 8″ x 11 1/2″. There’s a large Finnish cross that covers side-to-side and top-to-bottom (like the Finnish flag) that needs to be filled in as smoothly as possible with countless long and short stitch. There’s also a wide outside border that needs satin stitch. I’ve designed some goldwork into the project where appropriate. (the strings on the celtic harp, goldleaf on the page edges of the Bible, the blades of the lion’s swords, etc.) As this is my first goldwork, there’s a huge learning curve adding to the mix.

    My goal was to have it finished and framed by the time HH retires in April, but I’m thinking that’s way too optimistic. The design alone took several months.

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  229. The project was a spray of lilacs. My Aunt had bought the kit but didn’t realize it was counted cross stitch not stamped cross stitch (she onl does stamped). So in conversation with my Mom, my Mom volunteered me to stitch it for her.I don’t remember how many stitches it was or who the was designer. I just remember I was doing so much frogging I had to grid it with thread. I was getting so lost with the number of pinks and purples. To this day I have a dislike of pink and purple. I did finish the picture and my Aunt was thrilled and has it hanging in her living room.

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  230. I cross stitched a set of 6 Victorian Christmas stockings. They were intricate but satisfying. I needed to recover from seeing my then 4 year old daughter get run over by a car. It was my therapy. That was over 25 years ago and she has her stocking today.

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  231. I just finished an 8 inch black work earth. It always feel so good to have a project finished after a few months!

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  232. My biggest project to date has been a quilt for my daughter when I was pregnant with her, took almost the whole nine months!

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  233. Since I am a beginner, i can only comment on the redwork I am doing. I took a class & got hooked. As I saw more intricate work being done by others, I am excited to be starting on my next adventure.

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  234. A few months ago, I finished a project that took me about 6 months to complete. It is part illustrated map, part memory quilt, and part “traveler’s blanket.” It commemorates a trip to Africa my sister and I took seven years ago. I used a variety of African fabrics, which I appliquéd and embellished with different embroidery stitches.

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  235. This wool quilt, Folk-tales quilt, took me about a year and a half to complete. I was very happy when it was done. I learned many new stitches and still use them.

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  236. A wool and cotton Appliqué project that included lots of decrative stitching and then hand quilting.

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  237. Still working on it after 5 years, a gorgeous Unicorn in cross stitch on dark navy blue linen and all of it is stitched. It is one of those “hard on the eyes” pieces but when I finish it will be amazing =)

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  238. It took me 3 years to complete Lavender and Lace’s Celtic Christmas in cross stitch. Loved it so much I purchased the 4 separate ones of each season but something bright and shiny caught my attention and I’ve been slow getting back to them.

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  239. My most time consuming project is still in the works and it is a scene depicting the Holy Spirit and its fruits as rays of light on a garden. So many knots… bullion and french knots everywhere!

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  240. Smockred/embroidered and beaded Baptismal gowns with coordinating slips, bonnets are some of my most time consuming projects. I loved every minute working on them.

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  241. I received the pattern for That Darn Basket at a guild function and thought one day. However “one day” came sooner than expected as I was gifted the Longaberger darning basket by Shirley Mae Collis with the caveat that she wanted to see it done. So from that point I stitched on that project only and was able to complete it within the year of receiving the gift from Shirley. It may not have taken years to complete but in that year I learned a lot.

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  242. A bag embroidered with Broderie anglaise/English embroidery . I used an old pattern that was very nice but it was very time consuming

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  243. What a beautiful combination of colors. Beautiful. The most time consuming project for me was a quilt I stitched for my daughter. Every other square was outline stitched cats in various poses. It took forever to finish into a full sized quilt but she loved it and therefore was well worth the effort.

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  244. The Laura Standish Sampler has been the most challenging this far. It has been a slow process but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. She will be beautiful.

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  245. I’m pretty new to surface embroidery, so not many large(ish) projects yet – unless Hardanger counts, I started a Hardanger table runner in the mid 80s on linen that is yet unfinished 🙂 But for regular surface embroidery, the longest-running project so far (unfinished as yet, but shortly to be resumed) is a set of 6 handkerchiefs for myself, each with a different small design. I hope that counts, as I’d love to win that prize – I feel certain it would get me going again very quickly! 🙂

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  246. My most time consuming project is not completed. I started an invloved cross stitch piece of St. Nicholas when I was pregnant with my daughter, who is 26 now. Then she was born and the first year went like a flash, and then I was back at work, plus I mixed up the colors and the counting somewhere along the line. Every once in awhile I come across it and think someday I’ll get back to it.

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  247. To date, I think my most consuming embroidery project has been Lavender & Lace’s Angel of Love. Overdyed threads were not so much the rage when I stitched it as they are now. I love the effect of the overdyed threads.

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  248. My most time-consuming project was on canvas. I designed and stitched eight coasters in petit point, using a variety of color schemes and stitches, as a gift for my sister. Although I wish I had finished them more elegantly (I sewed the canvas under and used carpet tape to attach felt on the bottom, leaving the sides rather raw), she uses them with pride many years later.

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  249. The most time consuming project…I’m still stitching….is the Save The Stitches blackwork pattern. I picked this as my first blackwork and am loving it. Had to set it aside now because of Christmas stitching but I’ll pick it back up afterwards.

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  250. Most time consuming embroidery project was a king size pillow sham. It was how I learned to do stitches as well as including tiny buttons and sequens. It had a large pond scene in the middle, 6 smaller scenes around it, and had tiny flowers on the ruffles. It took 1.5 years .. it had many stitch rods.

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  251. I did a heart in flowers in counted cross stitch for my sister. When I got to the part where the point came together it didn’t. I had to improvise to fill in what wasn’t working.

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  252. So far it is a set of bluework snowmen embroidery for a quilt. The embroidery is done but now I have to design the quilt and finish it.

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  253. Heirloom Christmas Sampler, a beautiful piece with hardanger at the bottom. It’s all done but decorating the Christmas tree at the top and I am not very creative, especially with ribbon embroidery, so it’s been at a stand still for over a year. The beads, also, need to be added.

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  254. My most complicated and “long” stitching project ever was on of those Tribal cross stitch patterns of a giant snail. It was lots of fun but also my first stitching project as I re-entered the world of needlework in over 30 years. Slowly, slowly it came together. Now I’m hooked of course and working on much more complicated patterns like samplers.

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  255. My most ambitious and time consuming project started 3 years ago and finished a few months ago. It is a something I created using ideas from pinterest and my own vision of a tapestry. I used a variety of stitches to create a bucolic scene.

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  256. Definitely the Cabinet of Curiosities course with Tricia Nguyen of Thistle Threads. I signed up for the first of these classes in 2013. I completed the stitching of the 18 lessons in Cabinet of Curiosities I this year on to lesson 2 of the Cabinet of Curiosities II stumpwork class stitching the mirror frame, and am still in the design process for my own casket. I will admit that there have been long periods of time when I have not been stitching on this project in the past 5 years and working on other things instead – including pieces of bobbin lace that have taken 1200 hours

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  257. My most time consuming project were some flour sack towels I made for my niece for Christmas. When I sent them to her in Portland, OR, the package was stolen or lost, never to be seen again. I had to re-make them and sent them a second time. Luckily, she got the second set and only a few month after Christmas.

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  258. I spent almost two years of steady stitching making a purse, mostly in basketweave in black silk. Both sides required stitching, and it was soooo tedious to do all that black. Worth it though, as those designs with black backgrounds always seem so stunning to me!

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  259. A Schwalm table cloth by Luzine Heppel took me a couple of years to finish. I loved every minute of it and hope to start another large Schwalm project soon

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  260. So many to choose from! I would have to say The Chase, a Williamsburg reproduction of an antique sampler. The bottom third was all solid work depicting a chase scene (of course). I thought I would never get it finished! My sister-in-law and I each did one and they proudly hang on our walls to this day.

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  261. I have been working on Tempting Tangles’ Panoply of Peacocks for a little over a year and it is 90% complete. The arthritis in my thumbs has become so bad that I can work on it only occasionally.

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  262. The most time consuming project I worked on was a picture of the Last Supper for my mother. I would work on it for several weeks at a time and then not touch it for a year or two. It took me about 10 years to finish it. Thank heavens it turned out really pretty! Thank you, Mary, for your giveaways and for sharing all your embroidery knowledge with us.

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  263. The most time consuming embroidery project I’ve ever done (and yes, it’s done!) was a box that was entirely stitched all all sides – inside and out. Each section of the box is stitched together as well. The box, a little smaller than a cigar box, was designed by Marsha Papay-Gomala and depicts a scene with fawn curled up among many leaves and flowers, birds, a bird’s nest, tiny spiders hanging from a tree branch and more. The stitching methods include stumpwork, a full sampler on the bottom, blackwork and many, many specialty stitches and threads. It took over a year to complete and has won 2 ribbons in 2 needlework exhibits – Callaway Gardens School of Needlearts and the Woodlawn Exhibit.

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  264. The most time consuming project is the one I’m working on right now. It is more than time consuming, it is life consuming, it is soul consuming. It is also the biggest. When I make things, people tend to buy or lay claim to them before they get finished. I have no needleworked thing in my house that I have done! This one is for me.
    It took a year to find the right fabric. The design is roughed out and I’m still collecting threads. The framework will be completed separate, attached and worked in after the center portion is about 75% complete.

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  265. I think the project which took many hours was a house and garden which I thought was beautiful when I bought it but had so many colours it took forever to complete mainly due to the fact there were so many single stitches everywhere which meant a lot of starting and tying threads – I am happy to have finished it but would look closer at another such project in the future!
    Many thanks again for this amazing giveaway.
    Eleanor

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  266. Beautiful selection of color, very inspiring!
    My most consuming project to this point has been a set of crewel bedhangings done on handspun, handwoven linen with wools grown on my own critters, dyed with traditional (1680-1730) dyes, spun by myself. Seven years. Lost the whole thing in a house fire, still miss it, but it’s vivid in delicious memory.

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  267. The most challenging project to date is a pair of green cheek Conure’s I am doing as a donation for our parrot rescue. It’s only my second project ever, but working from a photograph and choosing colors is not as easy as it seems

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  268. Hard to say. I’m thinking that maybe it could have been an elaborate design of a girl looking out a window next to a cat, surrounded by a lattice of roses. I’m not sure what to do with it now that it’s finished.

    Or it could have been the advent calendar l completed last year. At the top is our home with snow falling. Each of the pockets has a holiday image embroidered .

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  269. Biggest project to date is restoring a very tattered quilt made by my maternal grandmother using hand embroidery.

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  270. Thank you Mary and Colour Complements for this giveaway. The longest project I have ever worked on is one I am still toiling on. It’s a cloth to wrap our Gospel book in at my church. I started by taking photos of the two angel icons that are above our icon screen and converting them into cross stitch patterns. Then I charted a cross for the center and designed a border. It’s not a portable project and I need my magnifier to stitch on it. I finished the center and started one of the angels, but due to over exuberant ripping out and my perfectionism, I had to start over. This is a multi year project and I am sure my priest thinks I will never finish.

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  271. Oh boy ! My biggest project took me about 10 years : it was a folding screen with three parts and each part had six
    embroideries taken from or inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry !!! I’ve made all the 18 embroideries, but not the folding screen. I guess it was too much at that stage 🙂
    Diane from Montréal in Québec

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  272. My most time consuming project so far has been a cross stitch table cloth. It is my take along piece, so it only gets worked on when I am out and about for stitching.

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  273. Many years ago, maybe 47, I made dresser scarves in counted linen and cross stitched herbs. They were hem-stitched as well. I think I worked for many months, maybe over a year. I am still using them in my bedroom.

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  274. Hi Mary, My Victorian Santa (it is 2ft x 3ft) which hangs over my fireplace every Christmas season. Counted cross stitch. Took a year but it was worth it.
    Have a wonderful holiday, Mary. xx

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  275. My most time consuming but also my most rewarding project was the embroidery embellishments on a mini quilt I made for my quilting partner in Australia. I designed it as I went along and kept adding texture and color until I was satisfied.

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  276. I quilted a manhole lid for a retiring engineer. I was told the retirement party was in four weeks time! A lot of work but it was done on time. I had the CAD drawings to scale so it was accurate size. Looking for fabric that was “manhole-ish” was fun. Batik patterns worked well. Fabric pens at the party allowed co-workers to sign the back.
    Link above takes you to the photo.

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  277. I was born with an auntie Grace. She was born in 1902 and never married but thought every girl should learn proper things and one of those was very neat embroidery. I always loved her for her patience in teaching embroidery. My first project was a pillowcase that had horses on it. The thread is pretty much gone now after 60+ years but I still have it. I ripped out a lot but learned to do tiny neat stitches. I still use all that she taught me.

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  278. I remember my most time consuming project very clearly. I was much (much) younger than I am today, at college. I had decided to make my mother a tapestry project (like crewel work, all one stitch) and had grossly underestimated how long it would take. It was big. It had flowers. It had broad areas of just cream. I worked on it every evening after class for a month, presumably while watching early 90s television, but as Christmas drew near it was at least one third undone, and I still needed to get it stretched and framed! I ended up working literally through the night for two nights in a row in order to finish it, and got so clumsy that there is definitely blood on it somewhere from me pricking my fingers so many times. But it got done!! And when my mother opened it on Christmas she actually cried, because she — also an embroiderer — knew how much effort and time it must have taken. She still has it on her wall, over thirty years later. I, however, was pretty much put off that kind of tapestry for life, and moved into surface embroidery instead! More variety!

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  279. OOoooh, I love Lorraine’s threads! I have a shoe tote dedicated just to her luscious threads and ric-rac. And who wouldn’t like more threads?
    The longest embroidery project I’ve worked on to date has been a wrapping cloth, or blanket, made from found and new white or off-white fabrics, donated and new laces, and small pieces of a wildly coloured fabric I loved. The blanket was formed from varied sized pieces, embroidered and titivated with needle tatting and beads on a backing of muslin, then joined together, and backed with new cotton. The entire blanket was hand-stitched, and measured 45.5 ” x 58.5 “. It has 97 pockets, some tiny, some hidden, and some layered on top of other pockets. Although I began this during an on-line class, all decisions regarding fabrics, embroidery, techniques used, and design were my own. Begun in the spring of 2013, it was finally finished late this summer and travelled with me to Australia where I gave it to my daughter in celebration of her 40th birthday. She loved it! As I explained to her, each pocket holds all my love, my pride in her, and countless best wishes for her future happiness. It may have taken 5 years to complete (in between other projects, of course) but I enjoyed every minute it took to create the wrapping cloth for her. I’m thinking of starting another………..

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  280. My most consuming embroidery project was most definetively an entry I submitted to the SFnad challenge this year 🙂
    I’m used to embroidery small pieces, so to embroider a 25 cm cat was quite a challenge 🙂

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  281. The most time consuming project I have ever worked on is a Blackwork coiffe . I got the pattern off of Recreating History and traced it on to some linen, started embroidering, fell and dislocated my thumb. I spent 6 weeks in a cast and 6 months in physical therapy to get full function of my hand back. Then I picked up and finished my coiffe in August of the next year. It turned out beautifully.

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  282. I copied van Goghs Starry Night in silk and gold and hologram thread. It took four months, working full time. The moon is done in gilt kid leather. I think it’s the way Vincent would have done it if he had the right materials.

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  283. Thank you so much for this opportunity to win some threads from Color Complements. I actually have a list of threads I’d like to purchase from them.
    The most time consuming project, well, there are 3 but the most enjoyable one is the large cushion cover (which I think I’ll frame instead). A cross-stitch design framed in shades of pink, depicting fruits and leaves so there are many different shades involved (I love embroidery that has tonal shading). Made in the 80’s it took almost a year to complete.

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  284. My most involved and lengthy embroidery project was a petite point picture of Madonna and Child that I stitched several years ago. The piece is very close to my heart. Thanks Mary for all you do for us ! Cheers!

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  285. I add embroidery to my quilts! Unlike machine embroidery that embeds the thread into the fabric, I stabilize the blocks and hand-embroider, causing the thread to sit atop the fabric for another dimension. It sets my quilts apart! I would love, love, LOVE to win!

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  286. I finally finished a cross stitched Christmas piece featuring the Magi bearing their gifts, surrounded by their camels and the stable animals. I used floss, metallics, beads, and blending filaments. It was the most challenging piece I have ever done. Sitting under my “Happy Light” (living in one of winter’s cloudiest, gloomiest areas of the country, I suffer from SAD), it took me 8 winters to complete! But it is done and framed and is gorgeous,if I do say so myself.

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  287. The projects that I remember taking the most time were thread painting type projects. I finished one by Trish Burr – Katarina (a regal cat) and a Tanja Berlin Burrowing Owl. Both are complex with lots of color changes, but absolutely beautiful when done. The variety of threads used helps make them stand out when done. I did enjoy them. I have another waiting to do – it’s from a coloring book and is an elephant family at the edge of a forest (I love elephants, so should be fun).

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  288. In a massive coast to coast move, from a lifetime of sewing and needlework acquisition I have unearthed a partially embroidered afghan bought back in the 1950’s when I had just turned 21–I am now 83. It is from a kit and the look of its circling bouquets of mixed flowers is quite bright and cheery. However, the fabric is mediocre and the kit’s thread is mixed ordinary yarns and threads. It is only half done, and to ease the tensions of moving I have begun to work on it again. The poor quality of the materials, into which so much time and effort will have been poured, and the changed awareness of needleworkers with regard to their methods and materials is much to appreciatre. It is a good metaphor for aging in which one may feel as if she has suddenly arrived on a different planet.

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  289. My most time consuming project was a gift for my daughter that took forever because I kept miscounting and hard to reverse stitch way too many times. AAN’s Happy Owl.

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  290. I wanted to embroider a table cloth and napkins for 12 as a Christmas present. It was stamped for embroidery and all I had to was buy the threads. It was the Pfaltzgraff Winter Berry pattern. It took me over 7 months to finish it. I would do it again just to see my friend’s face when she opened the box and saw what was inside. It was all satin outline stitches. If I were to get the embroidery floss I would stitch all the trees in your ebook. Have a Merry Christmas

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  291. Tell us about the most time consuming embroidery project you’ve ever worked on. (I won’t say accomplished – it might not be accomplished yet!)

    I am almost finished with a project that our EGA chapter did with the sampler subgroup – where every member contributed a band, so we got a new band each month for almost two years. I am on the last band.

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  292. The most challenging project was a bolster cushion. Each surface was covered: the ends were needlepointed plaid, the cylinder colourful bands, each a series of different stitches. I’m sorry I don’t have a photo to share, but it’s fabulous and is now with my daughter – somewhere in her stash of things!

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  293. My most time-consuming project was a church in the winter season. It was completed on a navy blue background and used lots of blending filaments. I love Lorraines’s threads. They are always beautiful and these look lovely.

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  294. Early 1970’s my mother acquired a set of UN-embellished crazy quilt blocks which she joined with red velvet. Inspired by beautifully embroidered tops we had seen, I eagerly volunteered to finish the project. I had progressed through pillow slips and crewel kits and thought I was ready for the big time. Mom delivered a bundle of colorful stranded rayon floss and the top. My reference library was a couple of Coats&Clarks embroidery booklets with stitch instructions on the back pages. The shiny rayon colors looked good against the dark fabrics. The shiny rayon floss behaved abominably and pulling floss through/over/around the thick, multilayered cloth was so painful I usually only completed one seam a session. ( Having never seen the reverse of a decorated crazy I innocently assumed one must needle through all the layers.) I worked steadily, in short stints, for about 18 months. The end product did look pretty good. I learned that kind of quilt was called ‘crazy’ not for the style of the piecing but for the mental condition of someone adding the fancy work.

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  295. I have 2 most time consuming projects, b/c they both took/are taking about equal hours. The first was a picture of my husband’s old Navy ship- the original Bainbridge. I had found a picture online, made a pattern, & stitched it freehand. It came out beautifully! He will get it for Christmas this year. The current project certainly rivals it in hours, but I’m working from a pattern this time. It’s a peacock with several flowers & bunches of leaves & trailing vine. Hard to describe but beautiful.

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  296. The most time consuming design I have worked on was one of Sturbridge Village, I can’t remember the designer or name of the design. I had to add different buildings, animals and paths to the original piece to make it the size I needed to put under the glass of a glass top coffee table. I purchased this broken down coffee table at a lawn sale, friend glued and clamped it back together for me, he also refinished it, it had no glass for the top so after stitching, matting and so on I took it to a glass company and they put the glass on top of the stitched design and sealed it so no spills could seep in onto all of my hard work.

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  297. The most complicated project, huh? I once tried to do a counted cross stitch project that totally covered the fabric with stitches. Therese Wentzel was the designer and she always does complicated things but I loved it enough I had to try it. I still have the pattern and the start of the project but it isn’t quite accomplished yet!

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  298. Thanks again for this great contest.
    My biggest project has been a cross stitch blanket on a woven wool fabric with 30 blocks (I think to be used as a quilt top in the end). I am about a third of the way through and it is a great wintertime project as the blanket keeps me warm while I am stitching it.

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  299. My most time consuming project is embroidering diffent types and coloured butterflies all over a cream duvet for our bedroom, and no it is nowhere near finished but it will have been a labour of love when it is.

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  300. I look forward to all your many emails with wonderful suggestions and ideas. Your love for embroidery is contagious and I hope to one day be able to finish the many projects that I have found on your pages.

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  301. I recently finished a cross stitch picture for my daughters 30th birthday on Remembrance Day. I charted a painting by Loui Jover called “Perhaps Again”, an Australian artist. It was 15,000 stitches and 50 colors. Not too sure how many hours it took me. Too many to count!!!!!

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  302. First, I would like to thank you for another gorgeous give-away!
    I am currently still working on my most time-consuming project, and I am loving it! It is one of Hazel Blomkamps designs, it is one of the Jacobean projects, which requires a lot of different stitches and colors. So it never gets boring.

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  303. I’m not sure it was my longest stitching project, but it did take 3 years, start to finish. Not all of my long projects are finished. One fall I started making a crazy quilted witch’s hat, full size so I could wear it. I probably could have finished it faster, but I kept thinking of things I wanted to add, like “You say wicked like it’s a bad thing” and “Don’t make me call the flying monkeys” and spiders and a haunted house painted on a MOP button….I was kind of sorry to finish it.

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  304. The longest is my sampler: it goes on and on. If one piece of fabric is full with stitches, I will attach another piece of fabric!
    I love your give aways!

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  305. This year my husband and I tied the knot. . . .Literally and figuratively. When I decided to embroider all the signs and special gifts for our wedding party I bit off a little more than I thought. After many late nights we ended up with 5 signs, 11 personalized handkerchiefs and happily ever after. In the end it was totally worth it but I’m glad we won’t be doing that again any time soon.

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  306. My most time consuming project was a very large sampler for a pilot class that I spent all of my stitching time on this year–starting November 2017 & finishing early October 2018–with a break for seminar resulting in MORE unfinished projects. The result is lovely but it is the only project I have completed so far this year. Plan for next year–finish some of the many UFOs I have.

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  307. I am working on Carolyn Pierce’s Home Sweet Home project. I have 2 granddaughters and I’m making 2 houses, in different colorways at the same time. My mother is 87 years old, she made one for one of her great-granddaughters. She started at the same time I did and is now building the box, waaaay ahead of me

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  308. Angel of the Morning was the most involved project I ever did. About 90 colors of floss, large and densely stitched. She is finished, framed and beautiful, and the only one I will ever make. Thank you for the chance to win.

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  309. The first time I ever did cross stitch was a poem for my sister. It was a long poem which included a gift for each theme. Good thing I allowed time to complete this
    project because it was hard for a first time cross stitcher.

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  310. The most complicated embroidery project is a counted cross stitch of 5 different Santas. I started it 20 years ago and every year I add to it. One day I will get it done and give it to my son for Christmas. Fortunately, I never promised him which Christmas.

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  311. My first cross stitch project. Larger in scale than it should have been and of course it was my design of an AZ Indian rug.

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  312. I have been working off and on, on a Table cloth for 44 yrs. Hoping some day to finish it, but there other projects that keep calling me to do.

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  313. My most time consuming project was an embroidery kit I bought very many years ago when I was still a teenager. It was a large, fairly advanced design and I was a fairly new embroiderer (fools rush in !). It was a Penelope kit called “Garden Village”, consisting of a row of thatched cottages with flower packed cottage gardens, a row of trees, a church tower, a pony and trap carrying three ladies in Victorian costume and two little girls, also in Victorian costume, in the foreground picking flowers. The most time consuming part of the scene was the row of thatched roofs, which made up about a third of the picture and were worked in closely spaced french knots. I began working on the piece when I was 16, and didn’t finish until I was 25. Suffice to say, I was a far better embroiderer by the time the piece was completed that I had been at the start.

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  314. My most time consuming embroidery project would have to be actually projects because I like to us the French knot as the only stitch in my stitching. I’ve created many pictures with many little raised bumps and I just love the stitch and can’t get enough of it. I love to run my fingers over them….they are JUST FUN!

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  315. My longest needlework was a counted cross stitch that went from 3 threads down to 1 to show depth. It turned out beautiful – a deer in the foreground with a cabin in the background – but it took forever. Will always love that piece. Thank you for the chance to win such beautiful threads.

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  316. My first project was a large Sea World with many different types of life under water which involved many varied stitches

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  317. I participated in 1 Year of Stitching in 2017 and stitched something on my sampler everyday. It was a wonderful incentive and fun to do.
    Love Colour Complements…wonderful company.

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  318. I have to say the project that took longest was my first embroidered picture it was a kit someone had given me as a gift knowing I liked “sewing” ! I dutifully followed the instructions and eventually ( about five years later I think!) I completed it and even got it framed and it still has a place on my wall after 3 house moves and the best part of forty years!
    It’s a picture of harvesting and shows the wheat(?) being cut with a scythe and bundled together by the farmers wife with a village in the distance and the corners each have hedgerow plants in all their stages of flowers fruit and seeds as well as butterflies and snails
    I was very proud when I finished it and I still enjoy looking at it sometimes finding something I’d forgotten
    it started off a lovely hobby which I enjoy doing as often as I can and the threads you are offering look absolutely wonderful so I’m crossing my fingers to be lucky!

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  319. I think so far, that the Mid summer night fairy by Mirabilia has been the most time consuming. The very small stitches and many color changes make it a challenge and to think, I thought I might finish several!

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  320. My longest project so far was when I used embroidery stitching on a multimedia fabric project. So fun. I haven’t done much embroidery for decades. Now it’s hanging in a gallery. Took me about a month to complete.

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  321. It was a Lizzie Kate Halloween mystery sampler. Finished stitching but haven’t decided to frame or make a pillow with it!

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  322. A cross stitched an Angel for a lady that couldn’t stitch it. She had purchased the pattern years ago. I did finish it!

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  323. Enjoy your blog and all your marvelous instruction! The most daring thing I have stitched is a 4 part picture, that is 4 separate designs, depicting the beautiful southern magnolia flower from the bud to a fully opened flower. Found the patterns in a quaint needle shop in the French Quarter, New Orleans, on a family vacation in 1989. Within a year I completed the advanced cross stitching series, had them framed, and they have hung ever since mounted over our bed.

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  324. I think my longest project hasn’t happened yet: I want to start doing art pieces with surface embroidery, beading, the works. I don’t know if you’d call them tapestries or sort of samplers, but I realized recently how much I love doing handwork like this and how much more relaxing it is than when I paint or draw.

    Thanks to Mary for all the stitching tutorials getting me back in the swing of it all! <3

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  325. I am still currently working on my most time consuming project. It is called Around the World in 80 stitches by Papillon Creations. When I decided to give this design a try it was in hopes of learning new and interesting stitches. It has turned into a life’s challenge-lol I get super frustrated with it one minute and the next minute I’m through that hurdle and on my way into the next hurdle. At times, I have to just put it away for awhile and work on something else. But the lure of all those different stitches always beckons me back. I believe that if it were easy I’d have never started it. I want it as close to perfect as my persnickety fingers will allow. Those bullion knots…on a 32ct fabric…….Oy!!!!!!

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  326. The most time I’ve put into a project was my Design the Glad Tidings Basket Quilt. Felted wool Appliqué and embroidery Stitches. Probably 60-80 hours.

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  327. The most time-consuming project I’ve done was a small birthday card for a friend, not because of the total time it took but because of the time it took relative to its size. It was cross stitch and involved lots of fractional stitches with lots of color changes for shading. In the end, it was worth every moment because it was beautiful and my friend liked it so much she framed it. But it was so much more difficult than I had anticipated when I started!

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  328. The most time consuming project? Definitely a table cloth which was stamped, but was all being done in an avocado green floss. I was enamored with that color when I started, but this was my learning moment when in doing this I realized I like lots and lots of “different” colors. So yes, it consumed me, and yes I finished it, but never will I do a one color project again! Thanks again for this great offer!

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  329. Mi trabajo más largo ha sido hace muchos años una manteleria bordada en todo el centro a punto de cruz, durante varios meses. No soy muy buena bordando, así que mis proyectos son pequeños y sencillos. ¡Estoy aprendiendo!
    Un saludo.

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  330. The most time consuming and daunting project is an embroidered stocking that I’m making for my daughter. She didn’t want a cross-stitch nor a needlepoint stocking, so I’m embroidering one for her. It is of my own design so that makes it a more daunting than other projects in the works. I am always questioning myself if this looks right or should I do this. It is fun but I find myself not working on it when I should because my uncertainty holds me back.

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  331. I’ve been working on this cross stitch dragon forever. It’s very intricate with lots of blended colors and lots of color changes. It’ll be beautiful when it’s done though. Thanks to Colour Complements and to you Mary for hosting this. CC is one of my favorite places to buy thread.

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  332. Approx. 8 yrs making a berries and blossoms cross stitch from a kit, made that years ago in the 1980s. L.

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  333. I really don’t know what was the most time consuming project I’ve done…is it the the black work map ? Or the 30×30 crazy quilt I did last year? Or….or…? I tend not to think about the time involved but the challage and enjoyment I get out of the project.
    I enjoy following Colour Compliments blog and drool over some of the threads. I’d be thrilled to win some.

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  334. Good morning Mary!
    Most time consuming embroidery project EVER was a needlepoint project my grandmother started me on….it was approximately 18″ x 12″ …not terribly large, BUT this was to be a learning project for me. Learning it was as I think I spent more time ripping out and redoing the huge background space than anything else. I did finish it and it became one of my Grandmother’s treasured possessions. To this day, whenever I begin a needlepoint project, I remember this old canvas and the hours I spent learning mostly by my Grandmother’s side. Thank you for the opportunity to share this memory.

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  335. 40 years ago I was introduced to Erica Wilson and her Needle Craft. I fell in love with the colors and texture of the work. I made many gifts. 20 years ago I relocated to Florida. My passion turned to quilting. I’m in the process of Stitching again. Quilting brought me out of the box. Stitching gives me rainbows .

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  336. The most time consuming embroidery project I did was a picture of the Holy Family. After three years I completed this in time to give to my husband for our 25th wedding anniversary.

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  337. I am working on a set of several pillows and a small rug in historic patterns worked in wool from Cross-point.com.

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  338. The most time consuming embroidery project. That’s an easy one. It’s the casket project from Thistle Threads. I took the course back in 2012. I then designed and built the box that is a bit larger than the original with a few more hidden drawers. I had to search out the best colors of handmade paper and match the fabric to the paper. I then searched and bought and had made needlework tools in rosewood. Then I had to come up with a design. I have most of the panels drawn out. Notice I said most. The design will be of flowers and butterflies. I started stitching the front panels but scrapped it and have started over and it’s the end of 2018 almost. So I still have a way to go. But so enjoyable.

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  339. I guess it would probably be the Flowers of Spring from a class I took at an EGA National Seminar.

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  340. I started a Cross Stitch Christmas stocking for my daughter when she was quite small and finished when she was 40! Talk about life getting in the way. Came out great and did many other projects in between. Just bogged down on that one!

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  341. I am working on a Brazilian embroidery project of a rain forest. Still not done. I work other projects inbetween.

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  342. I’m new to embroidery, so I haven’t taken on very complicated projects. I’ve worked on some placemats that are simple, but for some reason I just can’t finish them. And they are soooo close.

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  343. I have been working on a piece of needlepoint that is a dragon. I’ve found that to make myself happy with this piece, I’ve not followed the colors painted on the canvas, but have replaced most of them with much brighter silks. Now, I’m finding the piece coming together in a way that makes me happy. Thanks to you Mary for your inspiration and giving me the confidence to be able to make the changes and make it my piece.

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  344. My longest stitching project so far was a cross stitch project so the stitching itself wasn’t very complex, but there was a lot of color detail and I took the time to keep the threads nice and flat while stitching. So far my other stitchwork hasn’t included a very long project.

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  345. I think the most time consuming project I did was a 14 inch needlepoint pillow. It is a portrait of a long hair cat which was enjoyable to stitch with all the color variations. It was the solid background which seemed to take forever. A very monotonous job but it turned out well.

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  346. Years ago I painstakingly embroidered large flowers on a peasant-style dress I sewed of batiste. When no longer in fashion (or so I thought), I discarded the whole thing. What a waste of workmanship!

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  347. I have a Brazilian embroidery project of a rain forest that I work on sporadically for 3 years; I work on other projects in between.

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  348. I’m still working in my mostvtime consuming piece. Flower Power by Crossed Wing Collection. I’m almost finished and my goal is to get it done in 2019. Thank you for the chance and for all of your giveaways.

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  349. The most time consuming embroidery project I’ve ever worked on: I am 53 now and this project was begun in my early teens. I used a piece of cotton organdy to trace a design of small rose bouquets arranged in a circle and connected with a trailing ribbon. The edging is done in white scallops with buttonhole stitch and the doily has a diameter of about 8 inches. The edging is finished, the rose bouquets I did in pale pink and green satin stitch with small blue forget-me-nots, and I have started the ribbon using shadow work and pale yellow floss. So there my poor doily lies waiting to be completed and I’ve been thinking of starting again…maybe tomorrow!

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  350. I did a Suzani type embroidery kit from Ehrman that took me almost a year. I loved it, but I was really glad when I finished!

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  351. I usually do projects that are in the scope of getting accomplished before I get bored. Therefore, I don’t want them to take months or years. But the one I remember being the most time consuming because I thought I had a tight deadline was the Hexagon House and surrounding trees on the Shenendoah Valley Tapestry Project. I did it in less than a month and as it turned out there wasn’t the tight deadline I thought there was. But that was a good thing it was done and out of my house.

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  352. I recently finished a Victoria Sampler’s Wedding Sampler That had a large Hardanger section at the bottom. Because I decided halfway through to change the all-white to add some color, I had to re-do part of the top section. It took a looooong time, partially due to having arthritis that limits my stitching time, but it is now done and proudly hung on the living room wall. Whew!

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  353. I am still working on a Goldwork piece for my mum’s Priest, Father Kevin. I started it at the beginning of the year. the pattern is from one of your religious patterns and I’ve covered beads and made stump work leaves to represent a Grape vine. The tendrils are done in Goldwork and the initials are also done in Goldwork on a white silk material. I’m finding that I need to be in the right frame of mind and well enough to do it. I will get there.

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  354. Hard question to answer! I have many, many large projects that haven’t even been finished, and I really don’t tract my time when working on things – my joy is more in the making than in the finishing. But the project that SEEMED the most time consuming while I was working on it was the “From Mother to Daughter” sampler by Indigo Rose – it has almost 1,000 queen stitches, and I seriously thought I would never get it done! 🙂

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  355. The most time consuming Embroidery I have ever did was my very first one. I had to gather quipment, learn about the fabric and threads, and learn the stitches. It took a long time, but I was hooked.

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  356. The most time consuming project I have undertaken is a Japanese embroidery of a Crane and water lilies. I did one of the male and now I am doing the female but my site is not good because of medical treatment so I am not sure it will ever be finished.

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  357. My most time consuming project old have to be the embroidered lectionaries cover. Ten years off and on of long and short stitch shading, chain stitch filling, couched gold threads, single-strand miniature medallions, and second-guessing myself!

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  358. The longest running embroidery I’ve worked on so far is the Witches of Salem Quilt Guild panels! It is a 2 year and counting project! It has 3 large panels to be embroidered, colored with watercolor crayons, and put together in to a quilt. Since I am also a quilter this is the best of all stitching worlds for me!

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  359. Everything I start seems to be time consuming, I started making crazy quilt Christmas stockings for my kids, nieces and nephews when they were small. I haven’t been able to keep up with the numbers. My mom has 12 grandkids with spouses and now has 21 greats and 3 great-greats. At the rate they are multiplying I am falling way behind. Of course, it would help if I had nothing else to do but embroider which I love to do.

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  360. I am definitely a starter! I love gathering supplies and setting up new projects that of course means I have many projects going at once and they all take a long time.
    That being said the clear winner in long on going projects is a denim shirt from the sixties. I am still occasionally adding embroidery to the that shirt.
    It hasn’t fit me for years and some of the embroidery is quite primitive but it has become a kind of diary. I don’t think it will ever be a finished thing.

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  361. The most time consuming project (which remains unfinished!) is Dancing Threads by Hazel Blomkamp. It’s a gorgeous piece, and I got it as a challenge to myself, but certain stitches (I.e., the needle lace) were not intuitive to me, so I’ve had to keep putting it down and coming back to it. I can’t wait to finish it!

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  362. I did a landscape with a cottage in it and lots of flowers. It was fun but took me a while to finish. Thank you, have a wonderful day.

    Dianne

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  363. The most time consuming bit of stitching was done in the 1980’s. I finished and had framed a Susan Portra design called “A Series of Saints.” The Series could have been done as individual pieces but I did them all in a row. My husband had to make a special set of stretcher bars because the fabric was so long. I used an 18 count canvas with floss and flower threads. I loved doing the various stitches like a “Jessica” an “Amadeus” and the “Walnut”.

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  364. Thanks again, Mary!

    I’ve been following Colour Compliments for a while now so I am quite excited to see this week’s giveaway!

    The most time-consuming project I have done to date is Celeste Chalasani’s Poppies and Santa Barbara Daisies stumpwork through Craftsy. I learned so much and had such a sense of accomplishment with that piece!! It took me the better half of a year and everyone I know has seen it in person because I was so proud!

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  365. The most time-consuming project I’ve worked on is a family history sampler that was specially designed for me to stitch. It’s only about a third completed, but I keep working on it!!

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  366. My most time consuming embroidery project is currently a WIP – a Christmas crazy quilt. I started the planning for it in January of 2016, with the actual stitching started a couple of months later. I have eight CQ blocks, 15″ square, and am working on the last one. I’m using a combination of applique and embroidery. These blocks will be combined with four applique blocks and a large appliqued center medallion. I have had a grand time exploring lots of new stitches and even a bit of ribbon embroidery. The plan is to be done by Christmas 2019. We’ll see.

    397
  367. The most time-consuming project for me is one I am still working on. Years ago(more than 25) my mother gave me a 5-panel nativity scene including metallic threads. This was the first time I ever worked with metallics and I was very frustrated. Many years went by before I finished the center panel depicting 2 angels, the manger, Joseph, Mary,Jesus, several other figures and various animals. Unfortunately, my mother passed away before I was able to finish that panel. Now I am going back to the project with new threads to use and I will be “redesigning” the images to reflect my new needlework skills. I am hoping to use at least 30 new stitching techniques to finally finish the other panels and rework the initial panel. Your videos and blog have inspired me to improve my skills and have renewed my joy in needlework. Thank you.

    398
  368. I am still working on a denim “swing” jacket that I started last Fall. I love the jacket, but it’s not quite warm enough for Winter, so I thought if I covered it in embroidery, doilies, trims, buttons, etc. that it would be warm enough to wear on a not-so-cold winter’s day. I now feel like this will take me longer than I anticipated to complete.

    399
  369. I am currently working on an intricately embroidered tablecloth that has take almost five years years to date. It is always the go-to project when I am stumped by some crafting dilemma or as a “between” project.

    Now, after all of these years of work, how am I ever going to be able to set a table with this tablecloth?!?

    400
  370. A six-inch diameter circular printed sampler, with nine different stitches arranged in pie-shaped wedges. You can imagine how tiny the stitches got towards the center!

    401
  371. A segment of the Bayeau Tapestry, bought at the tapestry gift shop is my most oft set-aside project.

    402
  372. I have two projects. One is complete, finally and one never will be. I cross stitched two baby afghans and was able to finish before their first birthday, twins. The second is a tablecloth. I stitch signatures of any famify or friends who share a meal with us. I’ve been working on it for 24 years and hope to always have another name to add.
    Thank you for your amazing contribution to needle art.

    403
  373. Hello Mary! I love Lorraine’s threads and hope to win! I recently finished a painted canvas that I started in 1997. It is The Great Wave and I took it to an embellishment class with Tony Minieri. I recently took a class with Tony and decided to pull that unfinished piece out – finished it in a week! That shows what a few years of experience will do for you! Tony was able to see if finished after all these years. When I worked I did not get much stitching done, but I took lots of classes on my vacations. Now I have time to pull out those UFOs and work on the in my retirement! Merry Christmas, Mary! Diana Card

    404
  374. The most time-consuming project on which I have worked, and still am, is a rooster on a dishtowel-fabric wall calendar. I keep getting new stitch ideas (I’m in Sharon Boggon’s TAST) so I have to frog an area to redo in a stitch I believe to be better suited!!

    405
  375. I love Lorraine’s threads. Great stuff!! I started a Schwalm table piece and it is large and not yet finished. I am considering cutting it into a smaller piece! It is lovely but a bit too ambitious. Thanks for another great giveaway.

    406
  376. Well you’re so right Mary, lol it’s still a difficulty in progress. The rabbit and the moon from an Australian embroidery Magazine, is gorgeous and still unfinished. I run an animal rescue for livestock and thought this would be incredible in the office. And it will at some point, I won’t give up. I’m not a cross stitcher, I’m more of a freehand girl, sketch, color choices, prep frame, stitch, viola! This isn’t that. So let’s hope I’m building character. Merry Christmas to you, I appreciate everything you do for us.

    407
  377. My most time consuming embroidery project so far has been each Christmas stocking that I made for each of our daughters. They took quite a long time since I had to squeeze in the stitching around crazy busy family life. They’re sweet treasures now though – the girls and the stockings. 🙂

    408
  378. Years ago I did a large cross stitch project of a Southwestern pot of flowers. It was beautiful and I love it, but oh my goodness! Keeping track of those hundreds (maybe thousands) of little boxes on the pattern sheet was … well, hard. It took months.

    409
  379. I embroidered over My Small World quilt, designed by Jen Kingwell. A massive undertaking for me.

    410
  380. I started an embroidered twin bedspread around 1975. It came in a kit with the pattern stamped cross stitch on percale. My mother told me not to purchase it if I had no intention to finish it. I assured her that I would… To this day, the cross stitch is still not completed. I discovered what it was like to stitch on linen and silk and prefer them to the percale. At times my conscience gets to me and I will stitch on it for a bit, but it always goes back into my stash. The only reason I want to finish it is to prove my deceased mother wrong.

    412
  381. I’m still working on my family tree. I started with my son and am working backward. So far, I’m finished with is great great grandfather. I still have 5 more generations to go. I love this project for the history involved and the love of family.

    413
  382. I have lots of unfinished projects, but the one that took a long time that I did finish was my hand embroidered cow stitched with a variety of blackwork stitches.

    414
  383. I hope it’s me, but if not you need to know: These threads are absolutely the best ever. Also her blog and newsletters are such a joy to read. Take time to visit her Etsy site the next time you want to start a new project. You won’t be disappointed ! I promise! Can you tell I’m a fan?

    415
  384. The most time consuming embroidery project was a christmas themed table cloth. It was supposed to be for 1974 but was delivered for 1975.
    p.s. It came out great!

    416
  385. I stitched a piece for my Mother that took 2 years to complete. It was a large cross stitch of a Mother surrounded by toys and sitting on a bench with a stained glass window and a poem. Everthing had black outlines for definition. It is beautiful and hanging on her living room wall. I was very tired of it by the time I completed it, but I love it now and am so glad I put the time in to finish it.

    417
  386. I was the project manager for a medieval hood. It involved over a dozen people, many Opus Anglicanum-type slips, pearls, gold and a short time frame. There were multiple late nights, people wrangling and many many hours of stitching. Totally worth it though. The person who received it was very grateful and wears it often with pride.

    419
  387. When my first child was born, I decided to design and stitch an amarylis flower – in petit point on 40 count silk gauze. I calculated after it was finished that there were well over 6000 stitches in it! It took much longer than planned and was far more involved that I expected but the end result was wonderful – rather like my son, now 15!

    420
  388. I actually cross stitched a rug based off a William Morris design. It was really hard to work on because it was so large and I didn’t have a frame big enough so I had to just struggle along as best I could. And it was heavy! I guess it took me about 2 years to finish. Having a baby mid way through slowed me down a bit

    422
  389. The most time consuming project I have finished was a lotus done with couching the threads for each petal, and Byzantine stitched leaves. It had a pulled thread background, surrounded by a 2 inch needlewoven border. All this was done in ecru colors on 24 count congress cloth. This design was also the most challenging one I’ve done…I thought I’d never finish the couching….and then the border after took even longer!

    423
  390. I do quilting and hand applique along with embroidery. I designed a wall hanging with lots of embroidered details on the hand applique design. Then I densely hand quilted the background. It was my constant companion one winter one year. It was worth it. Love having handwork to do…especially in a midwest winter!

    424
  391. I embroidered 24 blocks to make a quilt for my husband. It took me over 3 years on and off, but I did finally finish it. He loves it.

    425
  392. My most consuming project to date is a basket of flowers (roses and peonies) in about 22 different shades of pink (and wasn’t that fun sorting out…). It was a crewel project that I completed 30 years ago as a gift. Runing a close second, and what may surpass the basket of flowers, is a Nicola Jarvis crewel piece titled Blossom Wood – which is currently in process!

    426
  393. Good morning Mary;
    I have what I thought was going to be a very simple cross stitch project I started a few years ago. I was wrong. I’m very accomplished at cross stitch but this particular piece has birds and flowers and lots of extras that turned out to be so fine that I have a hard time working at it for any great length at a time. It’s very close work and you need a lot of good, not make that great light and great magnification. I love the piece and can’t wait until the time I will actually get it finished.

    427
  394. For the past 3 years I’ve been embroidering a series of small Celtic style Angles on different colors of Kona cotton with guttermann thread in hopes of someday making a quilt. Sometimes I let it sit so long that the pencil drawing on the fabric disappears with part of the angel completed. Since I don’t draw it on paper first I sometimes can’t remember what I drew and have to improvise. That’s ok because it makes this project totally mine with mistakes and all.

    428
  395. Misty Morning Vineyard by Chatelaine is my most time consuming project (and still isn’t done). Why? Because I love stitching it. Martina was brilliant with her color selections. I’ll stitch an inch and then stare because it’s so pretty. Of course, it would be even prettier completed and hanging on my wall 😉 Maybe in 2019???

    429
  396. The one I’ve finished was the 24”x19” Hardanger Wedding Sampler. It was my first full size piece (after 5 bookmarks & 3 emory cushions!) and I had to find motifs & compose the design! What was I thinking? . Still, it was finished in 8 months and looked great.

    Now my crossstitch piece “By The Light Of The Moon” is another matter entirely! Does it still count if it’s on the frame even though I’ve ripped out the 2”x3” piece of stitching I had completed so far? Didn’t like the coverage of doubled thread, triple thread looks better. Of course this beautiful 19”x20” pattern is also my first crossstitch piece! . Do you sense I might have an issue here recognizing my actual ability?

    430
  397. I did a wall hanging of Precious Moments called Noah’s Ark for my first granddaughter and it was finished for her graduation rather than her birth, 16 yrs. it took to finish it.

    431
  398. My consuming embroidery is an embroidered quilt for my granddaughter. I think she was around 10 when I started it. She just turned 18. I am still working on it. If not close, the end is nearer.

    432
  399. What gorgeous colours. This would be a fabulous collection to have in my embroidery kit. Love, love love.

    433
  400. Hi Mary. Thank you so much for these fun give-aways and a wonderful blog. I enjoy reading very much.

    My most time-consuming project is one that is in process. As you said, not yet accomplished, but getting there oh-so-slowly.

    I tried some very simple goldwork several years ago and enjoyed it so I decided to use the technique to make a gift for the proprietors of a local pub. I play harp once a month at the pub, and they’ve become good friends. As it is a Tolkien-themed pub, I though a Celtic knotwork dragon would be lovely, and it will be, but Celtic knotwork in goldwork is involved, especially for a novice to the technique. I clearly did not think this through!

    I’m in over my head, but I am thoroughly enjoying the dragon project. It will be lovely, if imperfect, when it is finally complete!

    434
  401. The color in these threads are stunning to say the least. I have never seen color blends like this. Pat

    435
  402. It wasn’t a difficult embroidery, it came from a kit even. It was teddy bears riding in a hot air balloon and my first big project. I was pregnant with my son, it wasn’t finished when he was born. He’s now in his early 30’s maybe I can finish it now!

    436
  403. The most longevity on a project is the Danish flower canvas I started in 1982. It has been progressing through eye operations, kids, jobs, other distractions ever since. AS I age the single thread, fine canvas is a challenge, but I am not dome with it yet.

    437
  404. I do simple embroidery so this may seem a joke to some, but I did a series of of 12 stem stitch fruit blocks for a table topper. Since it was the first embroidery project I stitched, it took me a while.

    439
  405. Probably the most time consuming piece I’ve done was a hanging I called “Captain Nemo’s Attic Window.” It was a series of underwater scenes, including a chubby mermaid, framed by window sashes.

    440
  406. The most time consuming project I ever worked on was the first ring pillow I made for a friend’s daughter’s wedding. As usual, I’d procrastinated but once I got going I got a little obsessed with it. I’d taken the pattern from a Persian plate design in one of the Dover art books. and it wasn’t like the colors were really exciting because I was using all white, some pearl cotton, some stranded cotton, and blending filament, all in white. What was fun was all of the pearls and crystals I was using. It was the first time I’d ever really used beads when I was embroidering and I ‘went to town’ on it. It came out really beautifully and remains one of the favorite things I’ve ever done.

    442
  407. My current monogram..letter W. Started it a year ago and had to leave it as life gets busy! Hope to start up again after the holidays. Enjoy everyone!

    443
  408. Back in the early 1990’a, I was a broke college student. I bought an issue of “For the Love of Cross Stitch” and knew right away that I had to stitch the sampler by Linda Culp Calhoun for Mom. It was overflowing in pink flowers.

    Mom is from Germany. In her region, when a baby girl is born, people bring pink roses (if available) or other pink flowers. As she grows up, the girl / woman receives pink roses or other pink flowers for birthdays and other occasions. When she dies, people bring more pink flowers. The pink flowers symbolize the love which welcomes her to the world, follows her throughout her life, and continues even after she is dead.

    Mom is bilingual, but I wanted to do the words in German. Changing “Mother” to “Mutter” was easy. The hard part was changing Proverbs 31:31 to German. The words are longer and don’t line up the same way the English words do. Mom’s Bible is in the old German Fraktur font which was also a challenge. Compared to the charting, the pulled and drawn thread elements were a piece of cake (although I had never done or seen either).

    I stitched it, though. Being poor, for her birthday I showed her the fabric, then the next occasion the floss, and so on until she got the framed piece.

    444
  409. I am an embroiderer that is taking up the needle again after having allowed family and work to temporarily put it to the side except for shorter, occasional projects. My largest project was a counted thread picture for my husband with a career in law enforcement. It was a detailed depiction of tools of the trade – hat and gun belt with all attachments, hand cuffs, flashlight, etc. This was a celebration of 20 years served in the force. With children grown, I am embracing the time to enjoy an activity that has brought me such joy over the years!

    445
  410. The most time consuming project is my current one, the 12 trees of Christmas. While l enjoy doing the stitching, it is going to be some race to see if l can get this done in time to frame and deliver.

    446
  411. Making a crazy quilt took me a year to complete just 12 blocks. I was happy with the result though.

    447
  412. Thanks so much for hosting the spectacular Stitcher’s Christmas Giveaways again this year Mary! Colour Complements threads are gorgeous, and I’ve always wanted to try them. My most time consuming project to date was a Dimensions Gold kit of a yellow and pink rose that got me back into cross-stitching after a few years away. I kept picking it up and putting it down again, and all in all it took me more than 5 years to finish! And it’s still in a box, awaiting framing LOL. But it did get me back into a hobby I love, and for that I will be forever grateful 🙂

    448
  413. My most time consuming project is actually a series of projects. I’m stitching all 4 seasons of the Lavender and Lace angels and the Santa of the Forest. I have the Autumn Winter and Spring angels stitched and am slowly working on Santa. I still have the Summer angel to do. My plan is to (eventually) frame them all then rotate them on the wall according to the seasons (I even have the spot on the wall for them).

    450
  414. I stitch all kinds of embroidery and stitching, from blackwork to stumpwork but the pieces that room the most time were a pair of cross stitch birds by Theresa Wentzler, called Brilliant Plumage. These pieces had more colours then I have ever used in one piece and at least a dozen “blended” colours as well, 60 different threads! I stitch for a couple of hours each night and most of the weekend but these took me over 3 years to complete. I have done complicated stumpwork pieces that took less time.

    451
  415. Several years ago I started an embroidery quilt wi1th 24 squares – 12 have snowman globes and 12 have reindeer. I think I’ve done 4. I swear 2019 is the year.

    452
  416. I worked the embroidery Round the World in 80 Stitches. It took me 3 years to finish. I still haven’t framed it yet. Although it took so long I enjoyed it as there was such a variety of stitches.

    453
  417. I worked the Mystic Stitch Inc. ‘Trees in a Row’. I did it on 32 ct linen over 1. Every thread that shows has a cross stitch. The worked part is 10.5 by 10.5 in. It took me 3.5 years to work, with a few other projects in between. I loved working on it and as soon as I finished I started another Mystic Stitch project. I did not learn the first time

    454
  418. A friend found a 30 year old project that she had never started. In wool embroidery a tree with lots and lots of animals on branches. It took forever, but before I could begin needed to soak wash soak to get that musty odour out. The wool was still strong tho. My 5 year old granddaughter now has it but her patience was severely tested as was mine!! Never again!

    455
  419. Time consuming in the length of time until finally finishing is a cross stitch with too many quarter stitches. I would get so frustrated losing my place lining up stitches, it was put aside many times. It took close to twenty years, but it is finally done! I think I deserve a reward just for following through after so many years. LOL

    456
  420. My Most time c0nsuming embroidery to date has been a needlework rendition on a Tiffany piece. It was stitched in multiple pieces, and put together with black cording to give the impression of leading, as in a Tiffany window. While it was an extraordinary amount of work, it is one of my most favourite pieces.

    457
  421. When I was a teenager I made a cross stitched tablecloth. I don’t know if it actually took nearly forever to finish, but it seemed like it. Cross stitch on a stamped pattern is SO boring. (Counted cross stitch is a different matter, and I enjoy that.)

    458
  422. My most time consuming embroidery project was my first attempt at something more than pillowcases at 13. I saw a cheetah in a tree that was a mix of crewel and embroidery and I just HAD to do it. It took about 6 months of stitching and frogging to finally finish. My mother was so proud that she offered to frame it for me. This was a huge expense that my dad would NEVER have allowed had he known. WELL when the framer looked at it in dismay, I knew that my skills needed honing badly. He explained how my stitches were pulled so tight on the satin stitches and not so much on all the others. He was not sure that he could stretch it to hide the crooked fabric lines. He said that he would do his best. When we arrived to pick up framed piece, it was stunning! He had managed to make all the embroidery look perfect in spite of the crewel pulling. The fabric in the open areas looked more like zigzag, and there were holes showing in a few places where he stretched it A LOT. However, the actual artwork was magnificent. It was a treasured piece for my whole life until a niece admired it and I gifted it to her. I wish that I had a picture of it to share.
    It would be nice to say that my skills have improved since then, but I still have a tendency to pull too tight on long satin stitches. *sigh*

    459
  423. The most time consuming project was learning how to make a Birthday Plaid with no instructions. I had to work it 4 different ways to learn how to make a plaid & figure out what was the right colors in the right order to make my plaid.

    460
  424. My most time consuming project was one of my first, a hoop for my mum’s birthday with a design of her favourite flowers. The filling was all satin stitch and took forever!

    461
  425. I would have to say that the most time consuming project I have been working on for the past 15 years is a Christmas stocking I started for my granddaughter when she was born. It is predominantly counted cross stitch but includes a variety of overlay stitches to give the illusion of lace, one over one stitching and two over two stitching. I hope to have it finished before my granddaughter’s 18th birthday.

    462
  426. My very first counted cross stitch, which I started on Christmas Eve, 2003, months after my husband died & when I wanted to spend that night alone but busy, was in a package called “Weekend”. I assumed that meant it could be done in one weekend – wrong. The design was of a thatched roof cottage and it took me months but I still enjoy seeing it. My other most time consuming project is not finished but is a crazy quilt wall hanging with a tea theme; it will require lots and lots and lots of stitching on the many stitchbands.

    463
  427. It would be either of 2 as yet unfinished projects. One is a large Wizard that just needs backstiching. (He taught me a lesson. I now backstich as I go.) and the other is a large autumn “heart” made of a sunflower and other fall fruit and foliage.

    464
  428. Nora Corbett’s Mirabilia designs have given me fits — all the subtle color changes and repeats. Sometimes the frogging seems more frequent than the stitching. Thank you, Mary and Colour Complements, for the lovely giveaway.

    466
  429. I have just begun the most time consuming project that I have ever decided to do. I had a chart made of my daughter’s old cabin that was knocked down in the fall to rebuild a new cabin. The threads in this giveaway would be beautiful for this project with the late summer, early fall colours. Thanks for the opportunity to try to win them.

    467
  430. And They Sinned was the name of the piece. It was about 5 ft long when I finished. A beautiful design

    468
  431. The most time consuming project that I’m working on has been a needlepoint Christmas stocking for my daughter. I started it when she was two and she is now 23! It’s stitched with lots of different threads and stitches. I keep putting it aside because I become “stuck”. But I’m almost done. Shouldn’t take more than a year or two. Lol

    469
  432. Most time-consuming? Certainly, the project that *seemed* to never end was the stylized crescent moon I embroidered onto a large quilt block. Not only did the outlining and padding stitches take forever as I punched the pearl cotton & then multiple strands of white through 3 reluctant layers of fabric — but the satin stitching was done with 1 strand of a silvery DMC rayon floss. Was it covering well enough? Was it smooth enough? Was it time to fill the needle *again*?!

    Felt like I could have flown to the moon and back before it was finally finished!
    – Kathy

    470
  433. My so far biggest project is a Christmas present for my god-daughter that I’m still working on. It is a bath towel on which I’m cross-stitching her name and three adorable dragons. It’s also my first cross-stitch project in a long time, and I’m enjoying the different working pace of counted as opposed to needle painting.

    471
  434. I attempted to start a long cross stitch banner on black aida cloth a few weeks ago but decided to give it up until the brighter days of spring! Will be a nice Christmas gift for 2019!

    472
  435. Back in 1985 I worked a tapestry using Dmc 8 ply wool of a village scene. This piece I timed myself clocked on and off. Wow it took me 200 hours to complete.

    474
  436. The most time consuming project I have worked on is a tea cosy I made for myself. I have the three books by Diana Lampe and just loved her flowers. I decided to make myself a tea cosy and filled it completely with a garden scene front and back. It is my sampler using all the stitches I could find. I love using it.

    475
  437. Many yeas ago when I was a young wife I decided I want to embroider and sew a muslin Hippie shirt for my husband while he was away hunting. I used a flowery iron on pattern and did it on the back yolk. Needless to say the arms were waaaay too short and the look on his face when I presented it was pretty funny too! Lol. I wore it for years!

    476
  438. Most time consuming embroidery project? Well I have a french knot project that has been in progress for a very long time. I’m not sure how many hours I have spent, or how many more will be required as I am stitching someone intuitively, stitch, decide. stitch, decide. Thank you for introducing me to Lorraine’s threads.

    477
  439. The most time consuming project i’ve worked on is probably my felt bookmark with an embroidered pansy. I did it watching a you tube video, trying to learn long and short stitch/ needle painting. I’m not sure how many hours it took, but I was just learning and using a single thread to do it, and it took me weeks.

    478
  440. The most time consuming project is either a Discworld scene I did for my sister or my current project of needle-painting hummingbirds that is on 5 months and counting

    479
  441. The most time consuming was a counted cross stitch I did in the 90’s of a Lady and a Hound. It was on 32 count and ended up about 20 x 24. Beautiful!

    480
  442. I have a very old needlework pattern that I have been working on for years. It is a replica of a 1688 German Needlepoint Sampler. The V & A had the original at the time the pattern was created. (With permission, of course.). When I purchased it, I was not experienced enough to work on it. I might be experienced enough by now

    I have labeled it my project of 2019-2020. It should be 35 years in the stitching.

    481
  443. I have two projects that are seeming to take ‘forever’ to finish. I have a stitch-along project that started last November. The last section has been published, but I am still on February’s offering. I keep finding other projects to start. The second is ‘Queen of Freedom’. While I love the project, I keep mis-counting and having to rip out. I have finally made it to the lower section where I am once again ripping out because I mis-counted. In the long run, I do think she will be worth it, but here in the short run … I really want to run away and let someone else rip out all my hard work.

    Looking at other comments, these are absolutely quick finishes after all.

    482
  444. The longest project I have worked on was started by my mother in 1995 I tried to finish it when she died in 1999 but had to put it down until I retired two years ago still picking it up and putting it down.

    483
  445. I thing my longest-in-progress project is a beautiful design by Di Van Niekert. It will be finished, it will be finished, it will be finished…

    484
  446. It was a pillow top worked with wool threads on white wool, a kit from Denmark, and the first time I had ever done such a project. The lovely spring flowers in bright colors speak to me today just as they did when I stitched it decades (!) ago. I was then and still am proud of it.

    485
  447. The most time consuming embroidery project I have ever worked on is Maree Talbot’s (Australia) Elizabethan Casket. It is a beautiful project filled with gorgeous Elizabethan motifs BUT it is all worked in single strand silk and has 9 panels. I have completed 4 only at this stage but they are lovely, if I say so myself.

    486
  448. Most time consuming project:

    Well, I’m a beginner, but the reason I’m working on learning, is that I want to do a project for my children and grandchildren, a pillow, with their name, birthday, characteristics and a saying or verse that relates to them. It’s a big undertaking. About 14 pillows. Step one, learn embroidery!

    Another project I will probably do first, is to make a pillow to honor our nephew, who recently passed away after a 7 year battle against glioblastoma. To honor him, I want to put his name in the center, in some beautiful embroidery, then a border, then words that people used to honor him posthumously. Like a word map. Beautiful adjectives for a beautiful soul. I want to use different fonts and techniques for each of the words. And to make it beautiful and colorful.

    I feel some anxiety about the designing of this, but am praying that I can pull it off and make it beautiful!

    Thanks for all the help you give to newbies! You really are a great help!

    487
  449. Yaayyy more thread. You couldn’t be more right about stitchers loving thread. I for one can never have enough. I have stitches with Colour Complements and love their colours.
    I had an anatomical hear sketch charted for cross stitch, as a freebie by a designer who’s class I took about 10 years ago. She did a great job and followed my request for thread count and colour. I didn’t like the look the first time I stitched it, fabric colour was all wrong and the count made it look too pixelated. The second time I choose a natural raw colour linen and a slightly smaller count, I still didn’t like the final look of the piece. I have just re-started stitching it for the third, and last, time, and it is looking great. I don’t know why I am so fixated with this piece, but I apparently can’t rest until it looks just right. I’m hoping for a satisfactory finish in the next year. I have great respect for designers that’s for sure.

    489
  450. The most time-consuming project I’ve accomplished so far was Chatelaine’s Alpine Seasons Garden. It’s huge, with lots of specialty stitches, and took forever….but it was fun to do! I have a stack of several of her other garden mandalas and someday I’ll pick another one out to work on. 🙂

    490
  451. I collected all the supplies to stitch Hazel Blomkamp’s Maureen and then we moved. As soon as I figure out in which box the linen is packed I can start. It may take take quite some time ( finding the right box as well as the stitching) and it will be a very ambitious, as well as satisfying, project for me.

    491
  452. The largest, most difficult work that I completed was a VERY large cross stitch project of a mother and child. My children were small and I only worked on it after they went to bed at night. It took me two years to complete. It was BEAUTIFUL! I had it professionally matted and framed and it now hangs in our bedroom. I love it.

    492
  453. The stitching project that has given me the most problems is always put away until I’m ready to pick it up again. It is 6 foot long Crewel hanging. I love all the colors, and the stitches, but they frustrate me when trying to last for a long time. Originally it was meant for a daughter in her first house……………now she’s in her third, color scheme is different

    The piece that has given me the most trouble in finishing is a six foot long hanging in Crewel. I love the Crewel, and the stitches are not giving me trouble, it’s just that I cannot seem to stay with it for too long a time. Originally started for a daughter’s first house, she’s in her third…different colour scheme…….and when (not if) I finish it, I’ll put it up in my house……with a BLUE RIBBON on it

    493
  454. The most time-consuming piece I have done was Persian Iris Garden by Chatelaine. I stitched it on 32count black linen and it looks Bsolutely gorgeous, but, in retrospect, I realise that I was stitching it just as I was getting that middle-aged need for reading/stitching specs! I really struggled to see it. Then I got specs and hurrah! I could see just fine to finish it, only three years later….

    494
  455. I love threads. I bought a tablecloth kit because of the threads but also because of the design. The kit has holly in it and I live at Holly, USA. There are only three different stitches in it so I am hoping when I finish it, I will become an expert in those stitches. I am on a journey.

    495
  456. Time consuming, as the amount of time taken? Probably a big cross stitch project. Time consuming as the amount of time to complete portions ie stitches taking longer? May the trapunto/brazilian piece that is in progress.

    496
  457. To date my most time consuming piece that is finished took me 2 years to finish. That was working off and on but it was an 18 x 18 inch square piece with flowers, vines, hearts and butterflies filling most of the piece. At the time I hadn’t yet started keeping track of my time but one of the large flowers took 12 hours to complete and it contained 7 of those flowers. Plus all the other elements.

    I think my current piece is going to top that. It’s a peacock that almost fills a 2 x 2 1/2 foot quilting hoop. I’ve already got 62 hours invested in it and it’s probably not even 25% finished.

    497
  458. I usually do small designs for postcards, so my projects don’t take a long time. However, before my great grandson was born, I decided to make him a Christmas wall hanging with Santa, a snowman, a Christmas tree, and Rudolph on it. The project was originally called “Baby’s First Christmas”, but I had to rename it “Baby’s Third Christmas”.

    498
  459. My on-going fabric book of only 8 pages is the longest textile project I’ve ever worked on! I Finished page 1 in 2010 and I’m only now getting ready to design and work the inside flaps. Sheesh!

    499
  460. I made a crewel kit of forest animals that took over 20 years to finish. It kept being put away for years at a time. It is now framed and hung! I now mostly needlepoint.

    500
  461. The most time consuming project I’ve done is an English cottage and garden with over 100 thread colors. All cross stitch. Never again. 🙂

    501
  462. I just finished a picture that I started 22 years ago. Surface embroidery on canvas which was time consuming but I know that I put it down because of the turkey work ” fur” on the little
    girl’ s coat. After replacing the already begun turkey work,it went rather quicky. The Christmas picture is now finally displayed for the holidays.

    502
  463. My most time consuming project was my second ever. It was a whole eight inch hoop full cross stitch, and it took me over two years to finish it. But it did turn out quite lovely, and I was hooked.

    503
  464. Still not completed: 18 embroidered blocks for a baby quilt. Mixing hand embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery, EPP, and counted cross stitch.

    505
  465. The most time consuming project I have started is a spectacular cross stitch peacock. My eyes crossed so many times trying to get the fine shading of colours stitched that it is the only project I have that I’ve never finished.

    506
  466. My most consuming endeavor of recent was Carolyn Pearce’s Home Sweet Home Cottage. Once the embroidery was completed, the construction of the cottage was a greater challenge. A very rewarding project. However, nothing in comparison to others comments. Kudos to all!

    507
  467. I did a cute Kathy Schmidt this summer, not so terribly complex, but more detailed than I usually would do.

    508
  468. I’m just finishing one of Catherine Jordan’s map samplers which has taken me 8 months of on and off stitching. It’s meant for a Christmas gift and, for once, I think I’ll make it in time!

    509
  469. I bought a cross stitch pattern in Port Townsend, WA of a bas key of flowers & a hat with a veil sitting on a table with a Battenburg lace tablecloth in the early 90’s, if not earlier. Very intricate with many blended colours & partial stitches.

    510
  470. My biggest embroidery project is the 2020 Crazy Quilt Challenge hosted by Sharon at Pintangle. I have completed 4 hexagons and logged about 200 items so far so I have a way to go! Thank you Mary!

    511
  471. My most time consuming was a set if counter cross stitch pics for a Christmas gift. The large one was lots of potted greenery in the corner of a room. The 4 small pieces featured plants that were in the large piece. There was tons of small leaves and wicker baskets.

    512
  472. I’m pretty sure the most time consuming, although not largest, was The Light of Peace Thomas Kincade counted cross stitch kit I was given as a “gift”. After the entire picture was cross stitched, then the detail of all the back stitching especially the stone lighthouse and pathway was done, I figured yay! THEN I realized I still had all the French knots to do for the cascading flowers. It was worth it in the end!

    513
  473. Birth sampler for my youngest daughter. With a two year old it was hard to find time to stitch but I finished it 3 months after the baby was born.

    514
  474. The most time consuming pieces I have ever worked on is a very large cross stitch of Noah’s Ark. It was time consuming because it was my first large cross stitch – I feel like I went from beginner to intermediate in the course of one piece! – and also because I wasn’t working on anything else at the same time. When I didn’t feel like stitching on the ark, I didn’t stitch at all! I have since mended my ways, and have MANY projects on the go at once.
    Thank you Mary!

    515
  475. My long lasting ongoing needlework project is a cross-stitch merry go round horse. I started this as a time filler when travelling in 1990 just after my husband and I were married. It is still not finished as trips have been on hold due to ill health. Will I ever finish it – we’ll, hopefully – God willing and the cricks don’t rise we’ll be able to go on a Norwegian Coastal Cruise in May.

    516
  476. my most time consuming current projects are a 2016 Sue Spargo wool applique block of the month with lots of embroidery – still not finished and a Lisa Bongean design BOM which I started in 2015. I guess I am a starter, not a finisher. But the beautiful threads from Colour Complements would sure encourage me to work on the finishing!

    517
  477. I am new to embroidering so everything is time consuming at this point. The project I’m working on now has really challenged me. It has these beautiful lilacs made of French knots. Your videos have been so valuable. I had to watch the French knot one over and over again because my practice knots weren’t turning out like yours. Eventually I understood what I was doing wrong then it became relaxing and fun. Thank you for all your articles and videos, I’ve recommended your website to others because of your kind, patient instruction.

    518
  478. I’ve been working on a stumpwork mirror surround for a couple of years now. I just love it, especially all the little insects, but life seems to always get in the way.
    One day though it will be finished and I will feel so very proud.

    519
  479. I stitched six large needlepoint canvases in cross-stitch. They were from the Elizabeth Bradley botanicals range. I have no idea how many hours it took, but about 10 years! They were intended to make a rug, but earlier this year I finally gave up hope of ever living in a house fit for such a rug, and instead I have used five of them to cover a chair and gave the sixth away. It is lovely to finally have them out on show and being used for something, as well as appreciated for their beauty.

    520
  480. So far my most time-consuming project is two celtic cat appliques, done completely in stem stitch, made specifically to look like my best friend’s two cats. So far I am a month into them and still not done yet.

    521
  481. My most time consuming project was the Marbek Nativity I did 4 years ago. It took me over a year stitching almost every day. Of course, it is really 6 patterns put together, so I think it went pretty quickly, considering that I added a bunch of stitching by filling in the area behind with Kreinik. It turned out so beautiful and even won first place and grand champion in our district fair!

    522
  482. In 2017 I got from the free table at our weekly Sit&Sew a crewel Tree of Life printed linen. There were no instructions or yarns, however two small motif’s were done in crewel yarn. They were perfectly done so I left them in memory of the needle artist. I like to work in size 5 & 8 Perle cotton thread, especially varigated. It took me 7 months to stitch. Since there was no stitch chart I chose my own stitches and colors. I am very happy with the outcome. Stitching is all complete but I have not decided on making it into a pillow or a framed piece. BTW it proudly sits atop a pillow on my sofa where I can see it each day.

    524
  483. This would be a wonderful Christmas gift to me..to win. I have used her threads on numerous projects. Most hours spent or will be spent ~ a new Brazilian Embroidery design I am working on. It is a sampler with 14 different motifs. I want most of them to be a new flower, with a few favorites mixed in with the new. The border between each motif, I am using one of Colour Complements #8 Pearl cottons. I have about 5 motifs to go, but already started the border while I thought about the remaining five. Sure hope I am lucky enough to win this sampler.

    525
  484. My daughters birth sampler started before she was born finished a few years ago but finally got framed last year. She is now 16!!

    526
  485. My most time consuming piece
    would be one of two cross stitched florals. One was peachy pink roses and the other a basket of lilacs. They took about the same amount of time.

    527
  486. My most time consuming project to date is the Linen & Threads Facebook Group for the 2018 Mystery Sampler stitch-a-long. The theme for the year is Mideval Menagerie. Only knowing the theme and final design size I had to figure out what type and color of fabric (linen or Aida and which count), and what color or colors of DMC to use (# of skeins depends on fabric size/count). Just figuring all that out took forever! I did some research on mideval embroidery colors and decided which colors to use. Then I had to decide how many skeins of each without knowing the actual design. Each band is released on the first of each month. Once the first band was released I went to an art supply store and purchased colored pencils to match my floss colors. I used the pencils to “color” the pattern, which I have continued to do for each band. This is also the first time I marked a grid in the fabric – I used sewing thread – to help me count the pattern on the fabric. I am a bit behind in the actual stitching but this is the largest project I have ever attempted.

    528
  487. Oh my I’d love to win that beautiful thread! My embroidery challenge has been a cross-stitch project, an apron with the pattern stamped on the fabric. I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to match up the corners of the stitches, unlike on Aida cloth. Also trying to make the back terribly neat on this functional piece has caused me to procrastinate frequently on it. Progress is slow and I’m frequently side-tracked; at the moment starting a little stitched pin cushion for a Christmas gift.

    529
  488. My most time consuming project has been BUCILLA’S table topper called “Florentine Border” It is beautiful. It has a lot of satin stitch, lazy daisies and french knots. I hope to finish it this winter.

    530
  489. Whoopeedooo, I’d love this collection. My most time-consuming project was a large pillow cross-stitched with an image from the Baldishol Tapestry.
    Thanks for the invite to the giveaway. Happy Holidays Mary
    Cheers
    Anna Clyburn

    531
  490. In the late 70’s (probably around ’78) I was heavily into crewel embroidery and started working on an Erica Wilson picture of a quail family with various greenery around it. It measured just 18″ x 20.” I was a newlywed and just worked at it here and there between camping trips and family events. Then some little ones came on the scene.

    Still, I didn’t forget my quails and finally finished the picture and proudly stitched my name and the year on the bottom of it, “Kay, 1985.”

    I can never forget my husband looking at it when I showed him proudly how I’d finally finished it, saying, “You should sew a ‘1978-‘ on that date.”

    It still hangs in my sewing room.

    532
  491. Hello Mary,
    The most intricate needlework piece I have ever started and finished was a 16″X20″ “Wedding Sampler”.
    I combined three different samplers into one and it was beautiful. After almost one and one half years of stitching tiny roses, little white doves, other flowers and hearts
    it was completed much to our daughter -in-laws’ delight! I used several different stitches (some I had to reference) as well as using stranded D.M.C. cotton floss and Perle. The man colors used were were a variety of yellows as that was her wedding colors. I did not dream it would be such a time consuming project albeit a very enriching experience
    Yvonne
    Have a lovely day.

    533
  492. I have a table cloth I have been working on for……. The problem is, I keep changing colors and as we know taking out thread is almost as long as stitching!

    535
  493. I thought it would be finished in a month or two but it took me a year. It was a portrait of my grandson that I developed from a photo and a needlework program. With 315 colors and 50 colors just in the eyes, it was a labor of love and now holds pride of Place on my daughter’s living room wall.

    536
  494. My most challenging/time consuming project is done and being enjoyed. I made a pair of drapes and lambrequin in wool Jacobean style embroidery. Loved the project as I created the design, worked on the stitching and finished the panels and still love it as much today (years later).

    537
  495. I’m working on a Halloween quilt right now, that has taken me forever to finish. The quilt blocks are embroider and these are taking me a long time, but I’ll get there eventually.

    538
  496. My most time consuming needle project was a cross stitch eagle with a bible verse & hills & trees in the distance. It was two over one and sometimes used two strands of different colors in the needle for the eagle.

    539
  497. Hi
    I juste love the Colors ! It’s ben a very rainy , foggy, and cloudy day here on France and your mail with all those threads was like sunshine and rainbow
    Anne Catherine

    540
  498. The toughest project I have worked is a Matryoshka doll. I made the first one for me to work out the “stitching bugs”. The second one I’m making for my sister. It’s a bit of a slow go with all the details but I’m loving doing it.

    541
  499. When my last granddaughter was born, I had gotten a cardigan welsh corgi pup. Dewey assumed that he was in charge of the care and well-being of Jessie. He would sit beside her on the floor as she played, walk beside her outside, and rest beside her as she napped. He passed away all too soon and to remember him, I found a generic canvas of a cardi. With some imagination and a photo to refer to, I started to re-create Dewey in thread. I showed the unfinished canvas to Jessie on her birthday several years ago promising to finish it. It is still a UFO but I am slowly learning to shade the face, make better color choices, add some new stitches to it, and perfect my ripping out of stitches! Jessie will receive the canvas, but something made with the heart takes time and patience to achieve the desired finish.

    542
  500. While not a difficult embroidery project but time consuming , I did a queen size quilt for my daughter. It took about 7 years to do because I kept putting it aside to work on appliqué quilts too.

    543
  501. I am doing a Trish Burr kit. I have never separated thread before or used needles so small. I have had to buy a needle threader and a magifying glass head set to progress corrently.

    544
  502. The embroidery projest that has been and still is the most time-consuming is a triptych of the poem “Twa Corbies.” I have been planning this for over two years now and am still in the sampling stage: does this applique fabric make a better feather than another; would this stitch make a better crow ‘s foot ? I need a push to just do it!

    545
  503. The most time consuming project – and just it is completed!!!!!! – was a reproduction of an Art Nouveau poster painted by Alphonse Mucha in 1897 to advertise books for the F. Champenous company. The chart is a Mystic Stitch product for cross stitch and there is a stitch on every square. The finished product is truly full poster size. A swirling design of vines, and flowers, and art nouveau style surround a graceful lady holding a large folio in her lap. It is lovely, and combines two of my loves, stitching and reading. Of course I worked on other smaller projects along, but it took me over two years. I almost despaired of finishing at times, but in the end it was worth it. I adore it. And the giveaway combines two other of my loves, floss and the seasons. What a lovely gift for someone. You and your sponsors certainly know how to give joy in this season Thank you for your generosity.

    546
  504. The most consuming embroidery project I have ever worked on was a queen sized quilt I made for our son and daughter-in-law’s 25th wedding anniversary. In addition to pieced blocks there were eleven embroidered blocks. The quilt pattern was named Berry Picking Party. The embroidered blocks had things like a wicker basket filled with jars of jelly, flowers, and strawberries all sitting upon a lacy doily. Whether a berry pie, pitcher of lemonade with berries floating in it, cake stand with beautifully decorated cakes, or bucket filled to overflowing with berries, all were complimented by the beautiful embroidered doubly on which they sat. This project was a true labor of love. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the beautiful colors of embroidery thread as they complimented the design and brought it to life.

    548
  505. I’m just (re) starting doing embroidery. That being said, in between regular farm and household chores, I am working on any and all lessons I can find! Needless to say, this is my most time consuming embroidery project so far! (but I’m having fun!!!)

    549
  506. The most consuming piece of work was taken from the web called ‘Save the stitches’. It is a black work sampler consisting of 124 interlinked diamonds, each in a different patterns. Each pattern varied within the diamond
    It took 5 months to stitch.

    550
  507. Though I have one [finished!] project that spanned 36 years, I’m pretty sure the one I spent the most time on was a HaED rendering of Jen Delyth’s Celtic Cross, about 18” in diameter worked on Hardanger fabric (22-count).

    551
  508. When I first started doing needlework other than sewing, I did a lot of cross stitch. I worked on one rather large piece, a gold colored vase of many red roses, off and on for about 7 years. When it was finally finished it, I had it framed and sent it off to my mom who seemed to appreciate it. When she died, I was asked if I wanted it back. ‘No thanks,’ I said. By the time that piece was done I hated it. No way I wanted to look at it forever! It went off with one of my nieces and who knows where from there. I’ve never done such a large piece since, and I prefer to work on designs that use more than one kind of stitch now, but I do still spread work out over months or years regardless of size.

    552
  509. Hi!
    My most time consuming project would have to be a canvas piece that I started years ago ( more than 12y). It is my own design and I got stuck and simply kept putting it away. I have planned to finish it for a guild challenge this year.
    Thank you!

    553
  510. How about ten years? I was given a canvas of Mon Seul Desire as a 25th anniversary gift and it took me all of ten years to finish it. No sooner is that one done, than I was challenged to do the other five! Luckily, I am retired now and they go faster. I am running about 18 months on each and have completed Sound and Sight is within two weeks of completion. Touch is waiting in the wings and ready to go. Taste and Smell will be done in cross stitch. I need a change of technique and the tapestries have become so popular I haven’t found them in needlepoint for a reasonable price. So, in truth, this anniversary project will probably take another ten years to complete! Did I mention I am doing them in petit point? The cross stitch ones are from Scarlet Quince so they are just as involved.

    554
  511. I’m not sure which project has taken the longest amount of time. It could be one of my current projects, ‘Wild Child’, a Japanese bead embroidery design. While the bead embroidery is time consuming in and of itself, I’ve added to the length of the project by changing things and adding shading. Figuring out the shading colours has taken inordinately large amounts of time! It’s been worth it, though. 😉

    555
  512. The most difficult project I have ever done was Mandala Musing by Hazel Blomkap. Wow! That was time-consuming and really, really challenging. Every element seemed to have 5 or 6 layers. But I got a blue ribbon at the fair, plus the award for Reserve Grand Champion. Not to mention a host of new skills and the knowledge that I really don’t enjoy needlelace…

    556
  513. My most time consuming project was a thread painted kingfisher from a design by Trish Burr. It took me months and became a gift to my husband. My son in law has asked me to do one for him, but I think I need recovery time!

    557
  514. I LOVE Lorraine’s threads. They are delightful to work with and the colours are superb.

    The most time consuming embroidery I have done -and am still doing – is a really complex sampler. As it’s cross stitch, which now bores me witless, added to the complexity of the design which is so time consuming, and the fineness of the linen count I am using, is the undeniable fact that I only drag it out when I have nothing more interesting to stitch, which is seldom! I also decided I dislike the centre of the design, know what I want to replace it with, but have to chart it yet. The thought of how much it will cost to frame is also a disincentive. Sigh. It’s a bit over 3/4’s done. I started it…maybe twelve years ago?

    558
  515. As a fairly new stitcher, I tried designing and stitching a graduation piece for a relative graduating from high school. Deciding on what stitches to use and flipping through books it all came together. It took me several month and came out beautiful. It is a good thing she doesn’t need it until 2019. Now needs framing.

    559
  516. My most time consuming length of time for embroidery was a wedding clutch for my daughter, designed by Higuchi Yumiko.

    560
  517. I’m still relatively new to embroidery (just a couple of years), so the project that seems to be taking the longest is one I started in a class at the EGA conference in October. I joined EGA specifically to take the four-day class with Katherine Diuguid and I think I’ve picked out as many stitches as I put in to my “lighthouse landscape.” I really want it to be just right and have to keep reminding myself that the perfect if the enemy of the good.,

    561
  518. It’s a draw between a plaited braid stitch prayer rug, or a quilt with 99 prayers to GOD in Arabic calligraphy, both very enjoyable and satisfying

    562
  519. I first came to embroidery via cross stitch. My very first project is a Heaven and Earth Designs, at 450 x 535 stitches. It has been six years, and it is 2/3 done. I’ve seen people whip them out in a year. I thought maybe three. But like with most areas of my life, I am very easily distracted by new techniques, new patterns, oh look silks!

    563
  520. My longest, biggest, and totally satisfying project (when done) was a counted cross stitch design of Stockholm harbor during the time of the tall sailing ships. It features the old city and the many church steeples that dot it.

    My husband and I visited Stockholm at the start of a cruise and took pictures of the church steeples that matched my piece. The colors of the buildings along the waterfront matched the completed piece too.

    564
  521. The most time consuming embroidery project I ever worked on was a Christmas stocking. I had trouble finishing it because I wasn’t happy with the lettering of the recipient’s name. I came up with last least 4 versions before I finally settled on one. I worked on that stocking for at least 12 months and then set it aside for another year before completing it into the final stocking.

    565
  522. My most time-consuming stitchery project to date has been a spider’s web that I used bugle beads to create. It was on a pillow cover and it seemed to take forever. I wanted to make sure the beads wouldn’t fall off so I double stitched every one down. It came out so pretty! Now, all I have to do is finish making the pillow cover.

    567
  523. My most time consuming embroidery project as yet was a Biedermeier cross stitch sampler that took me more than 20 weeks of daily stitching for about 1 to 3 hours a day. It’s accomplished, has been beautifully framed (the framing took additional several weeks of research and visits in various shops, because it was my first attempt) and was given to my mother-in-law as a birthday present.

    Angela from the Ore Mountains

    568
  524. I just love using variegated threads in my original works, they blend so beautifully, but my greatest challenge has been to recreate the spirit of the stained glass windows of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona after a visit in 2015. This is ongoing and not yet resolved, but part of the challenge was just using pure colours to represent the jewel colours of the glass – a bit out of my comfort zone.

    569
  525. The most complex and time consuming project I have worked on was an attempt to translate some beautiful mosaics in Pompeii into a tapestry. Several alterations along the way, I am pretty pleased with the result !

    570
  526. A chasuble, stole and burse for my Episcopal church. That was my most time consuming project – 2 years! I made it from scratch – dupioni silk, velvet, silk, gold threads, beads – lots of figuring, cutting, appliqué, sewing and couching.

    571
  527. Hi Mary,

    For sure the most time-consuming project I have worked on is a 6-inch broad, cross-stitch patterned floral design all along my Mother’s 6 yard chiffon saree. I was in college back then and used this project as a down-time thing. It took a long time, almost 2 years (2005 – 2007), but the end result made me as happy as getting my Bachelor’s Degree that same year. My Mom still has it and wears it for family functions.

    – Manasi

    572
  528. The project that took me forever was a very large mountain scene. It was almost all French knots and each section took forever.

    573
  529. I am new to embroidery but have been bitten hard by the bug to embellish fabric with beautiful threads and endless stitch variations. The longest project I have worked on is a sampler book of my newly learned stitches. Each page has lines of one kind of stitch worked in different ways to look different from the line before. The lower half of the page is devoted to using that stitch to create an image, say a flower, a bird, or just a beautifully adorned circle. After 10 months, I have 10 pages completed. I have plans to complete the book with 2 additional pages, a cover page, as well as a simple blanket stitch around the finished edges of each page. I am a beginner with so much more to learn. I love the challenge as well as the fulfillment of creating something beautiful.

    574
  530. Oh easy one, that has to be the Colour Wheel I did in Italian Shading technique from the family of Goldwork. I used passing and pipers silks so took me forever! And then I did it again in a smaller version of the same thing. Love love love couching 🙂

    575
  531. Hello Mary: The most time consuming embroidery project, and most satisfying was :

    NATIVITY, 15″x8″ Counted Cross Stitch Picture Designed by Nancy Rossi from

    1995 Bucilla Corporation. It is a beautiful representation of the Nativity of our Lord.

    It included: Virgin Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, an Angel, the three Kings with their gifts , 6 animals and a pastor. It’s an exquisite project and it took me years because I did from time to time till I finished it just a few years ago. It’s my best job and I love it.

    Merry Christmas to you all !!!

    576
  532. Presently I am just beginning Crewel embroidery of The Mellerstein Firescreen.
    I’m pretty sure this will take a great deal of time. I also am engaged in a wool applique project,Solstice Dream, that requires quite a bit of embellishment with embroidery stitches that exceed what I had thought was a well developed embroidery knowledge base. Love pushing the envelope.

    577
  533. I have been working since May 2014 on a tablecloth I found while going through my Mother’s possessions after she passed away. It is stitched in one color to coordinate with my mother-in-law’s china – a way to honor both women on special occasions.

    578
  534. My longest project so far…..and still going….is a Berlin Woolwork Sampler (in DMC stranded cotton), the Needle’s Prayse, a counted thread sampler with 106 motifs.
    I am up to 21 and so far into my 2nd year.
    Just bring it out and do a few when I feel I need a change of needlework style.

    580
  535. Thereis a needlepoint cat project using many different stitches selected by me—started years ago! Interesting and individual— but very challenging— and I have no idea if it willever be completed!!!

    581
  536. Hello Mary,

    The needle point of Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustav Klimt took me 5 years to finish.

    582
  537. Hi Mary

    The most time consuming embroidery I have ever done was when I made a quilt. Each square was embroidered – mainly flowers and birds. I really enjoyed it because each square was different in design and I was able to choose the colours easily as I wanted the finished project to reflect the colour scheme of my home.

    583
  538. I have been working on a bell shaped ornament that is 2 sided with an insert between and it seems like I will never get it done! It was time consuming to cut out both pieces (and I made 2 ornaments at the same time), so there were 4 to cut out. I need one of them for an ornament exchange coming up soon, so I hope to finally finish it in a few days.

    584
  539. I think the project that took the longest was the Marbec Nativity in 5 panels. There were 6 leaflets, and I did one a year until it was done. It stays out all year.
    Jane

    585
  540. In 1975 I did 2 embroidery pictures…this past summer, I found the 3rd picture that was part of the original set. So EXCITED to start it. Will purchase new threads as I am a little afraid of of the ones in the kit.

    586
  541. The project I found most time consuming and absorbing was the the Secret Garden Hummingbird design on your website. I love the colours, it makes me happy to look at it. Jude

    587
  542. Lovely threads! My most time-consuming is a pair of man’s suspenders. The pattern was adapted from the Egenolff Modelbuch, and the result is yard upon yard of tiny filling stitches. I will be delighted when it’s finished!

    588
  543. My most time consuming project so far was Gay Ann Rogers’ portrait of Queen Elizabeth. It isn’t a huge piece, but it has a lot of complex stitching. Also, the background is completely done in tent stitch on Congress cloth and then over-stitched in a pattern with the same thread.

    589
  544. Baroque Gardens, a Chatelaine design that was provided in instalments over 2 years. Meant to be finished in 2012 (maybe one day)

    590
  545. It would have to be a Christmas stocking I’ve been trying to complete for my daughter. Operative word here is “trying”!

    591
  546. My first reproduction sampler. I bit off a bit more than I realised. Took many years, but i did get there! Still love it.

    592
  547. The piece that has taken me the longest is The Angel of Mercy by Lavender and Lace. I searched for years to find the perfect angel to stitch in memory of my first daughter and finally found it when L&L released this one I changed the hair color of the outlet girl to red for my daughter’s and have been working on it on and off for longer than I would like to admit. I just need to add the beadwork and then it will be finished. Being able to work on this piece allowed me to be able to say goodbye but yet still keep her on my heart. Embroidery has been such a huge part of my life and helped me get through difficult times and also celebrate everything that life has gifted me. Thank you so much for these opportunities but most of all your wonderful posts.

    594
  548. The first project that comes to mind is Betty Chen Luis and Gay Ann Rogers’ Friendship Sampler. I don’t keep track of hours, but I know there is already much time invested in this beautiful sampler. Unfortunately, even more hours of time-out have accumulated on this project–not because it was so hard, but because other things became priorities. Before I stitch more, I’ll need to frog the finish date (the first three digits don’t work anymore). I should put this back on the priority list for next year.

    595
  549. Many years ago I spent 3 years on a reversible band sampler – much of that time was spent checking that the back was indeed the same as the front (it is, except for the lettering!).

    596
  550. Mary…

    I spent 14 months embroidering “The Secret Garden” project from your blog! I was so proud that I did finish it! Your helpful hints and descriptions were wonderful, and I enjoyed being able to read and re-read your directions. It was a great year!

    Regards, Bonnie

    597
  551. My most time consuming embroidery project was a triptych I did of the buildings in our town. It took just over a year to complete

    598
  552. I have been working on a wild flower sampler for 40+ years. It is 80 percent complete. I finish the items I give away and return to this piece when possible.

    600
  553. I don’t keep records of how long each piece takes me, so I can’t be sure, but I think maybe the one that took the longest was a ca. 15 x 21 inch needlepoint of “The Sense of Hearing” from the Cluny Tapestries. I had chosen it because my husband is an ardent Medieval and Renaissance musician by avocation, and the small portative organ on the table in the piece would have been used to play the type of music he loves. It was a fun piece to stitch, but the mille fiori background meant a lot of color changes.
    A few years ago, I was in Paris and went to the Cluny museum and visited the original tapestries and spent quite a while in the room with them, just enjoying being there. I have kits to make a few more of the needlepoints of this six-part set, but haven’t quite gotten around to taking another one out.

    601
  554. I have been working all year on a Hardanger piece with my EGA chapter. I’m a relative novice and there are lots of new fillings to learn and practice before actually stitching them in the piece.

    602
  555. My most absorbing project was ‘The Rose Fairy’ cross stitch. It took about three years – I was still working – so I would do it at night. I had to buy a sewing light with a magnifying glass as it was on very fine linen. I love it though!

    603
  556. My most time consuming project was done back in 2009. I had decided that I wanted to quit smoking and that the best way would be to learn a new, to me, embroidery technique that required both hands. I choose brazilian demensional embroidery and Sunshine’s Valentine pattern which teaches the basic stitches and flowers. I was drawn to the way the stitches stood up from the fabric and the glorious colors of the rayon thread. I’m happy to say it was a complete success! I am still smoke-free to this day and I have a beautiful hand-stitched heart to go with my now healthier one.

    604
  557. The Trevelyon-Shakespearean night cap, has been the most time in learning, such wonderful embroidery project I have ever done. The amount of new ways of fabrics selection, embroidery equipment. threads, gold, was fascinating to me, who only knew so little compared to all this new lovely and sometimes exhausting, because I could not put it down. I just wished I had someone and physically see, do the work gold areas. I am deadly afraid of ruining the project if I don’t see it done first. So there I wait.

    605
  558. As a relatively new stitcher it would have to be a large baby Afghan of Woodland Babies for my great grandson.

    606
  559. Gorgeous threads.

    The longest embroidery I have been working on is a cross stitch by Mirabilia. The pattern was bought for me by my now in-laws when I started dating my husband. It is taking so long because I don’t work on it often.

    I have just started freestyle embroidery and have done a couple of pieces that have taken me a couple of weeks.

    607
  560. Oooh those threads look yummy!

    My most time-consuming projects to date have been 3 Heaven and Earth Designs – a prince riding a dragon for Son #1,
    the Wizard of Oz for Son #2 and a Stitch in Time for myself! In a moment of insanity I started all of them at the same time.
    Some other projects have gotten in the way but they will be my main focus in 2019. (At least until something else or some
    other occasion becomes a must-do).

    608
  561. I enlarged a Peacock to cover the top of a queen sized bed and had my daughter draw it onto white fabric. I knew it was going to take me a few years to complete, but it is about a fourth of the way done and I have not worked on it all the past year. So many of these beautiful threads would be a fantastic addition. Thank you for all that you do and share! Have a marvelous day!

    609
  562. My most time consuming stitching project was a wedding sampler that I did for my girlfriend back in early 1980s. A labor of love and she does cherish it!

    610
  563. My most time consuming project to date, is the one I’m in the middle of now – an Elizabethan casket designed and taught by Maree Talbot. The panels are worked over 3-4 years and can one is very complex with teensy weensy motifs filled with needlelace, plus a lot of gold braid stitch scrolls and tiny stuffed/raised animals. The end result will be stunning, when I eventually get it finished!

    611
  564. The most time-consuming project for me was a counted cross stitch design of an antique sewing machine by Linda G. Jary (153 x 156 stitches). Most of the colors were shades of black, brown, gray, etc. It had an incredible amount of detail created with back stitching. I did finish it, but only because it was a request from a very dear friend!

    612
  565. My most time consuming project is nearing completion. It is a quilt with 12 Paula Vaughan cross-stitch designs set in it. The blocks took me several years with breaks along the say. I am now quilting it on my Juki Mini. Seeing it near to completion is so rewarding. Each Paula Vaughan block that I included has personal significance to me.

    613
  566. I think my longest project was literally my longest project — a sampler- style piece that was about 45 inches long, featuring 4 outdoor scenes, the words to a hymn, and innumerable bands of interesting stitches or motifs, all framed with a design derived from the delectable mountains quilt block. It took ages! I finished it last year…and then discovered that it will cost an awful lot to frame. Am thinking of making it into a hanging.

    616
  567. A pillow I designed for my mom that included a mandala pattern including 6 lotus flowers that were done in multiple shades of pink and purple in long and short stitch shading. Satin stitched elements filled in the rest of the mandala. Then I had to figure out the sewing machine, which was the most stressful part.

    617
  568. I am currently learning how to do Goldwork. Couching Japanese threads is very time consuming for me. I am not comfortable laying the threads and staggering the couching thread. Plus burying the ends and securing them on the back seems to take forever. I know it will come along with practice, but right now it is slow going.

    618
  569. I finally completed a Long Dog Sampler called Bagatelle. It took a couple of years(on and off) but was well worth the journey.

    619
  570. My longest project has to be a complicated cross stitch picture which I have named ‘Honeypot. It was intended to be a retirement present for my boss, who was a beekeeper, and retired twenty years ago! Needless to say he never received it but I do pick it up from time to time with a keen vision of finishing it but other projects just seem to get in the way.

    One day………?

    620
  571. The most time consuming project I have ever worked is the one currently in process. It is a quilt for my grand daughter for her 18th birthday. The design is based on 12 squares each with a heart that is embroidered with flowers, and each one is different. I am just finishing square number 6 so almost half way there on the stitching at least. Then will come the patchwork piecing and the quilting, which will also be hand stitching. It is a very ambitious project for me and I am loving every minute of it because it is so lovely and so interesting that motivation is built in. Plus of course it is for Jessie.

    621
  572. I hate to say I am still working on a Candlewick quilt I started in the early 1990’s needless to say I have finished other projects in between.

    622
  573. It took me 10, yes 10, years off and on to finish a cross-stitch piece! I was so relieved when I was done that it took another 4 to get it framed. It now hangs on the wall for all to see and I’m proud of myself for sticking with it.

    623
  574. A long time ago I spent my honeymoon in Hungary and my husband offered me a very lovely table cloth with a desing already transfered, very typical of the country. As I worked and had children, I had very little time to embroider and it was only during the hollidays that I could find a few hours stitching. As I have done it in padded satin stitch it lasted years and years. As I was not at ease to choose the colors, for the first half, I asked my sister but time passing, when the moment came for the second half, my sister was away and I asked my (grown up !) daughter. So the two halves are not in the same style… but I love it now it is finished. Thank you Mary for this lovely give away and your wonderful site.
    Florence from Britany.

    624
  575. Tell us about the most time consuming embroidery project you’ve ever worked on.

    I bought a book of medieval patterns and in the book is a sampler with an illuminated alphabet. There are so many colors changes that I still haven’t gotten very far. I really should get back to it. I think when I started it, I bit off more than I could handle.

    Thanks…Susan

    625
  576. The most time consuming project I ever did was the Holland Mandala by Chatelaine. It took me a year of hard work but it is beautiful.

    626
  577. After working over 600 hours I finished a cross stitch china doll, using 1 strand of floss on fine linen.

    627
  578. My longest running embroidery project is Leon Conrad’s Medieval Majesty. Love working on the project but other projects seem to slip into my stitching time.

    628
  579. The most time consuming project I’ve worked on was a simple symbol design, in black thread, fitting a circle approximately 6-7 inches across. The entire background was filled in with long and short stitch, in a variegated thread, forming smooth gradients in dark to light radiating away from the central figure. There was a lot of thread on the back of the piece.

    I lost it before finishing, but I was going to put it on the back of a jacket as a large medallion design.

    629
  580. A series of roosters that i want to hang on my wall. I don’t really take on super intriquit pieces. I don’t usually have the patience.

    630
  581. I had the termerity to start a double bedspread in the early 70s, including designing it myself. I don’t know how many hours I spend researching and designing and starting to stitch. I realized about 3 months ago that I was never going to finish it. I kept the stitched part and put the rest of the fabric into stash.

    631
  582. Tell us about the most time consuming embroidery project you’ve ever worked on. (I won’t say accomplished – it might not be accomplished yet!)

    I started an intricate, cross-stitch patter that is a Celtic design in 1989 when I joined the Society for Creative Anachronism (a historical recreation group that recreates the years 600-1600). As of this year I am stitching the border around the design. The unfortunate part is that I chose black and red as the colors, two of my least favorite colors, because it was just going to be a learning piece. Then I felt I had to finish it so when it’s done I plan to find someone who LOVES black and red and pass it ON!

    632
  583. The piece that took a long time to complete was a gold work project for a class I was taking. It was a star filled with various gold work techniques. Quite pretty and shimmer with gold. Thanks for the opportunity to win a lot of thread. Oh, the possibilities!

    633
  584. The most time consuming is a stumpwork piece as there are so many
    little items to make and connect. I will be excited to finish.

    634
  585. 37 years ago this month I finished a cross-stitch project on tiny linen. It was about 20″ x 36″ and was all words, like 4 paragraphs – it was a sort of joke for my husband’s office, a quote from Isaac Azimov. Those little letters were so time-consuming! To make it worse, I was 9 months pregnant at the time and having some circulatory problems so could only work about 5-10 minutes before my hands went numb, forcing a break. The boredom of those letters and no color made it seem to take even longer than it did. Never again will I embroider all text, in all black!

    635
  586. As far as length of time spent stitching, I’d say embroidering a tablecloth of about 60″ by 90″ was the biggest; but as far as time consumed, that would be the wedding sampler that I changed the design on (a bit), then changed the color linen, after changing the colors of threads from all white (of different weights) to pastels, mostly silks, back to whites – 2 years from start to finish, and the happy couple finally received their 2-year-late wedding gift last month!

    636
  587. My most time consuming embroidery project is one I started several years ago and I’m still working on it! It represents hours and hours of stitching time collectively and yet it was begun with the idea of finding just ten minutes a day (in a particularly busy period of my life) in which to stitch. I pre-cut a stack of 2 inch by 3 1/2 inch pieces of cream wool fabric, choose a deep red, six stranded embroidery thread (using any number of strands I wished) and began to explore the use of straight stitch and running stitch and all the variations, possibilities, permutations and patterns I could think of – a different one each day. I moved on to chain stitch, then blanket stitch, then fly stitch, not because I’d exhausted all the possibilities of each stitch but just because I was enjoying exploring all the different stitches I could create. I don’t do it on a daily basis anymore, but I’m still adding to the collection!

    638
  588. The most time consuming embroidery project was the ‘Flowers for Elizabeth’ wool blanket. It took me 18 months and was the first project I had stitched in wool. I am so pleased with the finished item and love it so much that I am keeping it for myself!

    639
  589. Probably my most time consuming is my Elizabethan Casket – very fine stitching and a lot of new stitches to learn but a stunning piece. designed and taught by Maree Talbot I am happy with my progress so far. Will be a couple of more years before it is finished.

    640
  590. The most time-consuming project I completed some years ago was a Christmas tree with a background of falling, sparkling snowflakes on canvas. It was several years in the making. One reason was that my LNS displayed a finished pillow, but was unable to supply the pattern! When it initially sold out, no one kept record of the designer nor the publisher, even though the display piece was still up in the shop. From time to time as store personnel kept looking, someone in the shop even told me that one of the other clerks had handled it a few days back but didn’t know where she put it… Sigh…I persevered, however, in my search.

    One day, a year or so later on a break between end of school where I taught and a nighttime meeting, out of curiosity I wandered into a different shop, with about 30 minutes to spend. There was a table of miscellaneous sale items at the back of the shop with 4 tall stacks of folders, charts, designs, etc. I had time for only one of the stacks. As I sorted through it, lo and behold next to the very bottom of the stack was the pattern I had been years searching for, on sale!!!!! Woo – hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    On to kitting and stitching. The chart/directions was loaded with Hilton stitches, many of which I had never stitched before. Even though the diagrams were carefully drawn and detailed instructions were provided, it took two or three years of stop/start/doodling for practice, counting carefully all the time with the Hilton stitches, different types of threads, including metallic which I was unused to. This was something that required concentration and freedom from distraction, so any time when I was able to work on it was precious. It was an adventure in learning.

    Once stitching was complete, back to my LNS for finishing. That took almost 9 months, because the backing fabric, a deep red taffeta moire, was not readily available. Patience continues to pay off! When the piece was returned from the finisher, it was as lovely as I had hoped for. It now hangs year ’round in the living room of my small apartment. I love and treasure it. Remembering all it took, from the initial search to placing it in my home is very satisfying.

    Thanks for allowing us to share and learn from each other via these posts,
    Sincerely,
    Frances

    641
  591. Strangely, mine is a cross stitch. ‘Death By Cross Stitch’ is taking me forever and is very time consuming.

    642
  592. Ah, most time consuming project! They all seem to take a lot of time, I thought this was normal. I have just finished a cross stitch project that was meant to be for last Christmas. It’s tiny, but then the stitches are too so I use a magnifying lamp.

    643
  593. My most time consuming, and completed, was a canvas piece call “A Series of Saints”. It was the size that made it challenging and extremely awkward to work on. But I loved the finished piece.

    644
  594. Without a doubt, the Williamsburg Sampler! I bought it as a stamped kit, probably in the 70’s – but the xx’x did not line up so I did not get very far. About 10 years ago I got the chart version, and am now well on my way for the initial borders… but the scene is not as nice. Might finish it one day …

    hh

    645
  595. Longest project took me a year to complete. It was a cross stitch piece, of Rameses this has been framed and displayed proudly. 8 years on I am still to start the corresponding piece of Cleopatra.

    646
  596. I think the most time consumingembriudery that I ever did was a Sampler that I made in schoil. It took a while tern because I was only allowed to stitch on it in class.

    647
  597. I think the most time consuming embroidery that I ever did was a Sampler that I made in school. It took a while term because I was only allowed to stitch on it in class.

    648
  598. My most lengthy project was Chapter Patches, a canvaswork design by Jean Hilton. I worked on it non-stop for 6 months and it hangs proudly on my wall.

    649
  599. The most time consuming project I’ve worked on was one I started about 22 years ago and finally finished this past year. To be fair, I wasn’t incredibly dedicated to it until recently. Although, I could not be more happier with the results! It’s a table runner with representations of a cat I owned years ago and (since I finished it so recently) a representation of a cat my husband owned and passed away. There are flowers that line the edges and lovely lace trim. It makes my heart smile every time I look at it.

    650
  600. Easy question! Several eons ago I bought a kit. My dd was going through a pansy decorating phase so this would make a great gift. Many pansies in a circle plus lots of little one stitch background thingies. And all in cross stitch. Now I appreciate the beauty of cross stitch but I REALLY prefer needlework using a variety of stitches.
    I have finished 75% of the pansy cross stitch (no I will not be doing the fiddly one stitch stuff) and still have all the back stitching to do.
    At least it is now back in a frame on my stand but I really want to start a new project over the holidays!

    651
  601. I started a cutwork / embroidered tablecloth many, many years ago. I no longer have the table it was for, but I still intend to finish it someday. Thanks for the Christmas goodies!

    652
  602. The most time consuming project I have is a large cross stitch project that uses beads. Been working on it for a couple years and probably a few more.

    653
  603. A large tablecloth embroidered with cut work flowers and a drawn thread edging which took me around twenty years between bringing up a family and full time work

    654
  604. My most difficult and time consuming project was a fall pillow top by Ericka Wilson. There were many “fancy” stitches and it was not really for a novice. I should have chosen an easier piece.

    655
  605. My most time consuming project is a very large family tree sampler stitched on 45 count linen. I need lots of good light and a magnifying glass, sometimes 2! I am enjoying the process and it will be very special when finished

    656
  606. In the late 60’s/early 70’s my mom began a large embroidery project. It was on a fairly large frame and she kept it in the living room. It was such an overwhelming project, she encouraged my 3 sisters and me to work on it with her or with one another whenever we had the time after school or after dinner. I’m not sure whatever happened to that project, but we all spent time working on it over a couple of years and my sisters and I still have very fond memories of that time in our lives. It’s when we all learned our first embroidery stitches and how proud we were to make perfect french knots!

    657
  607. The longest project took me about 3 years on and off. It is a needlework rendition of the picture I drew in third grade. Done on 18 count 12″ x 18″ mostly basketweave which is boring, boring. An orange house, flowers in the sky, and my pet dog and me.

    658
  608. The longest embroidery I have done was a table cloth that was on linen and the theme was the4th of July. It probably took a couple of years to finish.

    659
  609. My 1st original crewel project felt like a final exam. I had been working and learning for some time and it was time to make my own design.
    I added and revised as I went. It was one of the most satisfying things I have ever done.

    660
  610. My previous most time consuming project was a copy of the Grateful Dead album cover of American Beauty done in DMC floss on the back of a denim shirt in the 70’s. I have just finished the Sue Spargo 2017 BOM Fresh Cut. It took a year and a month to complete the embroidery and appliqué and 11 months to hand quilt. I loved every minute of the time spent. Sue Spargo is a great teacher but I couldn’t have done it without Needle n Thread!

    661
  611. Most time consuming—i have to say this was an expert level x-stitch xmas stocking from a
    Usa magazine- exquisite (but who thinks of themselves an expert?) – layers Of Colours, Blended threads, outlined, -and embellishments like popcorn strings of french knots. Beautiful yes but a year of concentrated effort to do it!

    662
  612. I believe the most time consuming piece I’ve worked on was a surface embroidery alphabet sampler with poppies of different colors. It’s… almost finished. I tend to forget it all the time because of more pressing projects, and pick it up again every winter. It will be done, at some point, and has offered me many Christmas eves in the mean time.

    Thank you for the lovely give-away, Mary !

    663
  613. Last year my three granddaughters, ( ages 10, 8 and 7) ,
    and I embroidered an advent calendar. It took us months !
    We were so proud of how it turned out and just in time for December 1st.

    664
  614. The most time-consuming project I’ve ever worked on is yet to be finished as you suggested. It is a piece that has many different colors, lots of different symbols for these colors and each color is very close to the next one. I love the image of the finished piece, but have less and less interest in finishing it. I’m bad, I know, but I learned a lesson to not try to do a piece I don’t really, really LOVE!

    665
  615. With a couple of breaks for surface embroidery, I have been involved for over two years in a cross stitch version of Aragorn, aka Strider aka the Ranger. of the Lord of the Rings. I am drawn away from him by requests to knit and embroider samplers, but he always brings me back. When he is finished more than a quarter of a million stitches will be done. Now on the second last page of the chart. A sense of relief beckons, and another apprehension to make sure I frame him appropriately.

    666
  616. Gorgeous threads! The most time consuming project I’ve done was the third piece of stitching I attempted about 20 years ago which confirmed my passion for needlework. It was a needlepoint design based on a photograph I’d taken in China about 15 years before, of a ceramic tile wall depicting a dragon, located in the grounds of the Forbidden City in Beijing. There were about 20,500 stitches and it took me about a year to complete.

    667
  617. I love her thread! I could be a thread junkie! My longest project was a “Jesus in the Garden” cross stitch. It took me several years, and by the time I was done, I wasn’t as excited about cross stitch as I had been! Having learned to cross stitch as a young child, I’m enjoying surface embroidery as a freeing, away from the grid lines endeavor! Thank you for the giveaway! How fun!

    668
  618. The most consuming project that i have ever done was a sampler sal last year you had to choose your own linen and your own coloured thread as it came month by month the hard part was the placement of colour . As you didn’t know which colour to place where

    669
  619. The most time consuming project for me is the Acworth School Mary Wigham Sampler, I’ve worked on and off for several years, still having the majority left to stitch.

    670
  620. The most time consuming project I am stitching began about 7 years ago. A beautiful pattern of Hazel Blomkamp’s. It is taking me so long as I was not qualified to stitch intermediate when still a beginner, so I take a class, do some stitching, frog it, stitch, take another class, stitch, frog, stitch….and so on. I am not giving up!

    671
  621. I am currently stitching Hazel Blomkamp’s Autumn Lace design, and have found this very challenging, especially the different needle lace stitches.

    673
  622. I seem to take on a lot of these! A Black work sampler I worked on daily for seven months, a counted thread sampler begun 20 years ago (but work and kids got in the way) and finished lately. But I think the most time consuming was a panel designed with drawn thread, hardanger and needleweaving which challenged the first year of my retirement! Boy, did I learn a lot!

    674