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.
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.
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!
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.
Definitely a carrickmacross lace project which needs good light – of which there’s not much at this time of year!!
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!
The Dutch Tiles took me the longest time.
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!
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.
Oh wow! As a biologist, I would absolutely love to see your work! What a fabulous project!
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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!
Thank you for sharing. What a wonderful remembrance you’ve created of your mother. It must be beautiful.
WIP -maybe forever- outlining designs on fabric for twin sized quilt. What was I thinking?
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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
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!
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.
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!)
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!!
Maryland Inspiration by Heart’s Ease Examplar Workes
Thanks for the give away. My largest project is a Crewel fireplace screen I just ordered.
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.
Your yarns are so bright and beautiful. Watch your tutorials over and over.
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.
I once did an embroidered portrait of Will Rogers’ bust. That was pretty time consuming- but I finished it!
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
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.
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
My most time consuming project I’ve ever done was Jean Hilton’s Gleneagle. She said it requires 500 hours and it did!
Well I have been trying to finish our wedding sampler for 34 years
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 🙂
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!
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!
Monet, bullion flowers!
It would be so Merry to win Christmas threads. Thank you for your beautiful projects, inspiration and contests.
I once did a landscape that was all French knots. It wasn’t large, 9×12, but it took me a couple of years.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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. 🙂
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!
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.
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!
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!
Just finished a piece for a liturgical vestment. Simple stem stitch bold monogram but probably took 40 hours! Biggest for me…. so far!
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.
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.
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!
The project I have spent the most time on is Dorcas Haynes – still not done
Definitely Home Sweet Home. I am not quite finished, but slowly getting there!
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
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!)
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!
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.
I am still working on a 60″ round tablecloth, embroidered with scrolls and flowers.
My most time consuming project was very large alphabet featuring Beatrix Potter animals. So much fun.
My church quilting circle reclaimed a crazy quilt, repaired the silk with ties and embroidered the blocks anew.
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
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!
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.
It’s a Bird Brain pattern that has a lot of scrolls to embroider.
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.
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
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.
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…….
Goldwork project
A long white wool skirt done with trapunto. Very ambitious.
Carol b
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.
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.
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
To date, my most time consuming project was a corner design on a flour sack towel.
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.
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.
A cross-stitch design on a small table cloth was MY most time-consuming piece of embroidery by far!!!!!
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!
I worked for years on a pair of medieval figures in counted cross stitch.
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
Two years ago I started hand stitching a replica of the 1718 coverlet. I will finish it one day!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
My most difficult project was completing a large tablecloth and 10 napkins!
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.
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!!
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.
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.
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.
My most time-consuming project was a horse worked over linen, with a “frame” worked via hardanger.
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!
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!
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.
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!
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.
I’ve kitted up a HAED design…still to start but really looking forward to it!
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
This is a fun one! The most time consuming project that I have completed is this crazy quilt piece featured here on needlenthread https://needlenthread.wpengine.com/2014/12/lessons-from-crazy-quilt-square.html
It took me three years of on and off work.
I am now working on a larger piece for my son, also a crazy quilt project. I expect that this one will take even longer.
Still, the joy is in the doing, not necessarily the finishing.
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 😀
A pair of pillow cases with a watering can, flowers, and foliage.
My most time consuming project had been stitching the sea on an undulated wire netting. It took years – but it is finished.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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!
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!!
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.
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!
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.
A Hazel Blomkamp foot stool seemed to take forever with all the different stitches involved. Well worth the time spent.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 !!!!
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
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.
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. 😀
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 🙂
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
My first most time consuming project is Teresa Wentzler’s “Angel Procession.” Yes, still in progress…
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!
4 Needle painted bluebirds for a crazy quilt.
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?!?
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.
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!
“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!!!!
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.
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.
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?
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.
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… 🙂
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!!!
My crazy quilt was very intensive and time consuming
Although not huge it was amply covered with my interpretation of life under the sea.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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! 🙂
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.
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!
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!!
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!
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.
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.
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. .
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
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!
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. 🙂
The most time-consuming project I worked on was a five piece Celtic Angel cross stitch project. They came out beautifully.
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.
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!
My most time consuming embroidery project was a reproduction of a sampler.
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.
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.
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!
“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.
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.
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?
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”.
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!
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.
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!
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!
I see these lovely threads and I am like a small child in a sweet shop I would love them all
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.
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!
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.
The most time consuming project is the large Carly Harper canvas I began which isn’t finished yet.
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!
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).
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!!!!!!
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.
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.
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.
My most time consuming project was a crewel Clydesdale horse. Took a while but I finished it.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I just finished an 8 inch black work earth. It always feel so good to have a project finished after a few months!
My biggest project to date has been a quilt for my daughter when I was pregnant with her, took almost the whole nine months!
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.
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.
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.
A wool and cotton Appliqué project that included lots of decrative stitching and then hand quilting.
I have numerous projects I would love to use this lovely collection of threads. Thank you!
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 =)
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.
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!
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.
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.
A bag embroidered with Broderie anglaise/English embroidery . I used an old pattern that was very nice but it was very time consuming
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.
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.
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! 🙂
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.
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.
Beautiful selection of color, very inspiring!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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
I am working on my first crewel work kit and it has taken over a year. Not for lack of trying. Lol
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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 .
I did a large, complicated crewel piece way back in my college days. I wonder where it is now.
Biggest project to date is restoring a very tattered quilt made by my maternal grandmother using hand embroidery.
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.
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
The time consuming project was a Mirabella angel,
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
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………..
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 🙂
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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).
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!!!!!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
My first project was a large Sea World with many different types of life under water which involved many varied stitches
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.
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!
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!
I finished “Home Sweet Home”. Love it and enjoyed the process—-well worth the effort.
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.
It was a Lizzie Kate Halloween mystery sampler. Finished stitching but haven’t decided to frame or make a pillow with it!
A cross stitched an Angel for a lady that couldn’t stitch it. She had purchased the pattern years ago. I did finish it!
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.
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
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!!!!!!
Many years ago I made a purse out of upcycled denim. I did freeform designs on the flap.
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.
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!
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!
The current traditional Romanian shirt, stitched with natural silk on pure linen fabric.
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.
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.
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.
Approx. 8 yrs making a berries and blossoms cross stitch from a kit, made that years ago in the 1980s. L.
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.
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.
A cross stitch of my 4 year old great granddaughter, with a bouquet of flowers from my garden
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 .
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.
I am working on a set of several pillows and a small rug in historic patterns worked in wool from Cross-point.com.
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.
I guess it would probably be the Flowers of Spring from a class I took at an EGA National Seminar.
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!
I am working on a Brazilian embroidery project of a rain forest. Still not done. I work other projects inbetween.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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!
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.
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! 🙂
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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
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”.
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!
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!!
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.
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.
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.
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?!?
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!
A segment of the Bayeau Tapestry, bought at the tapestry gift shop is my most oft set-aside project.
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.
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
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!!
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.
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.
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. 🙂
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.
I embroidered over My Small World quilt, designed by Jen Kingwell. A massive undertaking for me.
The longest project I’ve worked on is a family tree.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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!
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.
I am working ‘Gallery’ by Jane Rainbow. I’ve been working this one for over a year now!
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.
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!
I made an Avon mouse stitched project when I was a kid and it seemed to take me forever.
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
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!
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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???
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?
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.
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.
What gorgeous colours. This would be a fabulous collection to have in my embroidery kit. Love, love love.
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!
The color in these threads are stunning to say the least. I have never seen color blends like this. Pat
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!
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.
Love the colors. They make me so happy!!!
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.
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.
Still trying to complete a child’s tablecloth and napkin set my Mother started in the 40s
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
Making a crazy quilt took me a year to complete just 12 blocks. I was happy with the result though.
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 🙂
Beautiful floss. Would be great to win
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).
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.
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.
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.
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
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!
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
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.
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.)
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*
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
A beautiful Victorian sampler that is three quarters finished after 25 years
Maybe one day!!!
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.
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.
And They Sinned was the name of the piece. It was about 5 ft long when I finished. A beautiful design
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
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
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.
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!
Embroidering 35 roughly A3-sized flags, each of them with 2 to 5 word sentence. Took me 3 months!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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!
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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!
My most time consuming project was a tree with hundreds of French knots as buds.
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.
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. 🙂
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.
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.
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
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….
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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!
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.
The most time consuming project I’ve done is an English cottage and garden with over 100 thread colors. All cross stitch. Never again. 🙂
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.
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.
Lovely colors!
Love to do handwork.
Still not completed: 18 embroidered blocks for a baby quilt. Mixing hand embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery, EPP, and counted cross stitch.
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.
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!
I did a cute Kathy Schmidt this summer, not so terribly complex, but more detailed than I usually would do.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
I love to stitch with hand dyed thread. It adds so much to your piece,
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.
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.
My daughters birth sampler started before she was born finished a few years ago but finally got framed last year. She is now 16!!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
I made a mint colored skirt with a matching top with embroidery. I still have it!
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!
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.
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).
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Still not finished – a canvas of geese walking along a beautiful country road.
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.
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!!!)
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.
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).
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.
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!
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.
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. 😉
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…
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!
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?
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.
My most time consuming length of time for embroidery was a wedding clutch for my daughter, designed by Higuchi Yumiko.
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.,
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
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!
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.
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.
I have been working on a picture smocked ornament featuring a nutcracker from 3 angles.
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.
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
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.
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 !
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.
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
The project that took me forever was a very large mountain scene. It was almost all French knots and each section took forever.
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.
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 🙂
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 !!!
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.
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.
A set of six tiny scenes that went together.
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.
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!!!
Hello Mary,
The needle point of Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustav Klimt took me 5 years to finish.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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!
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.
Baroque Gardens, a Chatelaine design that was provided in instalments over 2 years. Meant to be finished in 2012 (maybe one day)
It would have to be a Christmas stocking I’ve been trying to complete for my daughter. Operative word here is “trying”!
My first reproduction sampler. I bit off a bit more than I realised. Took many years, but i did get there! Still love it.
I am working on a Christmas SAL that I started last year…thankfully Christmas comes every year!
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.
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.
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!).
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
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
I have never seen hand dyed thread, this is so beautiful.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
As a relatively new stitcher it would have to be a large baby Afghan of Woodland Babies for my great grandson.
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.
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).
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!
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!
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!
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!
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.
GayAnne Rogers’ Catherine has been the most time consuming and I am close to done!
Little vignettes of birds, flowers and trees as I was learning and practicing new stitches.
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.
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.
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.
I finally completed a Long Dog Sampler called Bagatelle. It took a couple of years(on and off) but was well worth the journey.
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………?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
After working over 600 hours I finished a cross stitch china doll, using 1 strand of floss on fine linen.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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!
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!
The most time consuming project was a counted cross stitch piece done on 40 ct. Gauze.
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!
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!
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.
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
Strangely, mine is a cross stitch. ‘Death By Cross Stitch’ is taking me forever and is very time consuming.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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
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.
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
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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 !
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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!
The piece that took me the longest was a hardanger sampler. Turned out beautifully!
I am currently stitching Hazel Blomkamp’s Autumn Lace design, and have found this very challenging, especially the different needle lace stitches.
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!
The most time consuming project I’ve ever stitched is a cross stitch adaptation of Stuart Moskowitz’s Noah’s Submarine. It’s 320 x 220 stitches, full coverage, and it’s huge and colourful.
I’ve been working on it off and on since 2001 but I’ll finish it one day!
Most time-consuming so far has been the zenbroidery garden design I used to get back into surface embroidery. I spent months working on it to cover all the design elements and learned a few new-to-me stitches that I used throughout.
So many to choose from that have been time consuming! I think the one that will be the longest is one that is actually partly done by my late mother. I keep putting off working on it, but I know it will take many weeks.
One of my earliest projects was a cross stitch bouquet kit, but it was in something like 10-count Aida. I made a coloured copy of the fabric, added lines by hand, and used that to create a 24-count pattern. It felt like forever, but it’s the only framed piece I’ve made 🙂
mid-stream, I decided to modify a beautiful swan cross stitch pattern to incorporate other embroidery stitches. It is fun (not finished yet) but more time consuming than I thought.
Without a doubt it is Jenny Adin-Christie’s The Owl and the Pussycat which is also beautiful and the most fun and instructive project I have attempted.
I embroidered a bag for my mum for Christmas with a robin in snow flakes, I felt that it took for ever! 🙂
The most time-consuming project that I have worked on (and it isn’t finished yet!) is a pretty French-designed necessaire (a pouch, pincushion, and needlebook) that I bought to do for my daughter for her birthday two years ago. Each holiday–either birthday or Christmas–I think that I will put in the effort and finish it to give her. Maybe next year… It is cross-stitch on linen, in very pretty country colors. First problem, few minimal instructions in French. Second problem, working on linen when I had only done cross-stitch on Aida, so had to eventually get better magnification and a tapestry rather than embroidery needle. Getting closer to the end–the pincushion and needlebook are finished, and just about 2/3 of the pouch to go. Can’t wait! Her birthday is in May, so maybe this coming year.
My ‘forever’ project is The Twelve Days of Christmas by Teresa Wentzler which I started in Dec 2006. So far I have completed six days and hope to get back to it next year.
The most time consuming embroidery project I have worked on is a piece of Japanese embroidery I had started as a beginner in this style and I have yet to finish it four years later!
Hmmm, I am not sure between 3 projects.
I did a reproduction sampler (sampler – The Farm. kit from Elsa Williams) which took about 10 years as until towards the end I only worked on it at (1770s) reenactment events as a needlework demonstration.
Overlapping that I did a piece that I designed and called “Sudoku Sampler” which consisted of nine large boxes, each containing nine smaller boxes. There were 9 stitches in each of the smaller boxes. While each smaller box had the same stitches in it, of course the stitch in the box varied so that each smaller box of stitches made up what would be the number in a regular Sudoku. For example, a smaller box with 9 bullion knots in it (3 rows of 3 stitches) would be one of the number boxes in a normal Sudoku puzzle and there was one of these smaller boxes in each row of boxes, each column of boxes, and each larger box. I had the inspiration for this from a quilt at quilt show – it was the second annual of that show, and I finished it within the week after the 12th annual of that show, so it took just less than 10 years.
I am currently working at reenactments on a reproduction chair cushion and have been working on it for about 8 years. I have also worked on this piece at other stitch in public demonstrations.
But then after all that, I realized I have project in progress for about 20 years which would make it the longest. I started a felt application tree skirt for a small tree I have upstairs. That tree was incorporated into a holiday village and I stopped working on it. We now have a small tree in our studio with all handmade ornaments and I plan to finish the skirt and use it for this tree.
Probably the most intricate piece of embroidery I did was a Longdog Sampler called “Mouline Rouge.” It was counted cross stitch on 32 count linen, stitched with burgundy silk thread. I loved working on the piece, had it beautifully framed, and it proudly hangs in my living room. 🙂
The project I worked the longest on was a crewel kit by the Crewel Work Company from England, I forget the name of it. Philippa came to NJ to teach it for our EGA chapter. I learned a lot from her and her DVD. She has a great method for french knots.
Thank you for the chance to win, I want to try your autumn acorns and leaves kaleidoscope and would love these threads for it. Happy Holidays, Mary!
I love your thread colours and will probably get some in the New Year…we are off to Arizona for three months so I will be bringing my threads with me. Thank you for the great emails and regular updates…good luck with your preps for Christmas!
Dawn
The most time consuming project I ever did was a set of 3 cats, all different breeds , posed in front of a quilt and a basket. Was counted cross stitch and took the better part of a year to finish, but I love them still.
I started a Sue Spargo embroidery/wool quilt project in 2008. Those 12 blocks traveled everywhere with me. So I thought I’d finish them in a year or so. Well, last year I finally finished quilting the piece. And I love it. Sometimes it’s OK to be slow (I guess).
The longest embroidery project I worked on was a pillow cover. I’d designed it myself and was a bit ambitious for a beginner. I was just starting to embroider and didn’t realize I had to use my vacation time before the end of the year so I suddenly had two weeks with absolutely nothing to do except work on this pillow cover. I know that’s not very long in the project scheme of things… but for me it felt like forever.
Oh, that’s tough. I have done a couple of cross-stitch ‘pictures’ in the past that took some time but the one that really took a long time and was very tedious to boot was one of my own design which contained millions (at least) of french knots. It is now framed and hanging on our living room wall.
I love using variegated/overdyed threads and would really appreciate this giveaway, so thanks for the opportunity.
The most time consuming, frustrating, labor intensive project is a large goldwork initial with a multi-level Tudor Rose that requires 3 different kinds of padding. I started it more than 20 years ago and will probably finish it in the next 20….
I think maybe the Secret Garden Humming bird project. I had never tried anything quite like it before. I was mesmerized by it, all that beautiful shading on the birds and plenty of practice with my satin stitch (which still needs more practice). Much of it was worked during the winter months when I thoroughly enjoy sitting in my sewing room with the sunshine streaming in, stitching.
Thank you Mary for guiding me on such a fun journey!
‘the bug quilt’ as it was known was a 2.5 yr project I used for a stitching class sampler. It featured 15 edible insects of Australia along with a few aboriginal symbols and emu tracks. Each block featured 3-5 new stitches for the class to try. It was challenging to create and fun! Most fun is to see my students unique take on the bugs as they finish their quilts. ‘Walkabout’, the official name, was done as a wool appliqué embellished with over 75 different embroidery stitches, beading, ribbon, chip work, velvets and cotton. Mary’s videos and directions were priceless to us as we worked on this piece.
Thank you Mary!!
I have a very long project going of a Christmas stocking for my husband that I pick up every year around Christmas for a few weeks! I started it our first year married – 20 years so far! 🙂
My most time consuming project was a 4 part series from Cross Stitch magazine of buildings, done over 2X2 on 28 count linen, and their little window scenes done over 1×1. I wouldn’t allow myself to move on to the next building, which went quickly, until I had done all the windows of the current building. It took about 3 years to complete! I am still in love with it 15 years later! It was the last cross stitch I ever did!
I’ve been working on a large fantasy crazy quilt. It has a medallion center of a fantasy garden and 16 eight inch blocks of fairies, wizards and aliens. It’s heavily embroidered but still not finished
Please enter my name in the drawing for the thread. Thank you for such a great blog
The most time-consuming embroidery project I have worked on?
That would be the cross-stitched floral heart quilted wallhanging. I worked on it off and on for 10 years, but I’m happy to say that it is finally finished!
My most time consuming project so far is a counted cross stitch cartoon dinosaur scene I am making for my young grandson (2 yrs). I started in May 2018 and still have approx 1/4 to go! Hopefully will finish for his birthday in February-fingers crossed!
This year I have been working to complete a sampler primarily practicing long and short stitch & satin stitch. As I work through the sampler I can tell the difference in my abilities to work this particular stitches. It’s taking a long time yet it’s really cool to see that I am able to improve with practice.
I think the longest project I ever worked on was “Santa’s Workshop” by Cricket Collection. It was six vignettes each at least 6×9″ of 6 rooms. I started it in October 2012 and finished it in the spring of 2017. It was my car/appt waiting/airplaine project and went on several international vacations with me. When I bought the patterns I was given a free pattern showing an elf in bed with the calendar reading Dec 26. I just haven’t had the desire to start on that!
– The longest piece of embroidery I’ve worked on is something I’m about to start. I know it will take me a very long time because it’s a mixed media piece of acrylic inks and silk thread painting. If it turns out, I hope it will look like a woman wearing an enormous headdress and a unicorn. Fingers crossed.
the most time consuming project I have worked on is an embroidered quilt. after it was pieced, you embroidered all over it. it is still in progress
The most time consuming project I’ve ever done is a beautiful canvaswork daisy. It has all kinds of specialty threads and beads… ran out of beads because I dropped them on the floor and couldn’t find them all. Had to get more which further delayed the finish. But in the end, I came away with a beautiful piece.
I finally finished a gigantic wedding sampler for my parents…and then did the same sampler for my in-laws!!
By far Teresa Wentzler’s Peacock Tapestry. It was one of the first pieces on linen I stitched and to date, the only one that required THAT many 3/4 or 1/4 stitches, outlines and blended needles (of both 2 and 3 threads in the needle at a time) and that was all before you got to the back stitching. Ugh!
Incidentally, if I had to grab 1 piece of stitching out of the house in a hurry, this would be the one. I have others I treasure more, but this is the only one that puts fear in my heart about having to re-stitch!
Hi,
In recent years I can’t say that I have embroidered anything that has taken longer than a couple weeks of steady work, but back in the day I remember taking on a petit point project that I worked on for many months. I did finish it, but didn’t like the result, so it still sits in my WIP box at least 30 years later. Lol
Each skein looks like its’ own rainbow
My most time consuming project was a 34 page counted cross stitch picture finished last year. It took me 18 months, working on it every night. (Amongst other embroidery projects) I am now working on a 40 page picture. My 12 year old nephew said if I die before I finish it (I am old!) he would learn to cross stitch so he could finish it for me!
Dear, dear Mary – you are truly a gem in this needlework world of our. There are so many of us that are so appreciative of everything you share with us and yes, of course, appreciative of this giveaways at this time of year. My most time consuming project was the silk gauze piece I stitch, 40 count, finished size of 10.5″ by 10.5″. I spent about a year and a half working on it as mostly my sole needlework project. Probably close to 550-600 hours in that piece. One of my treasures.
My most time-consuming stitchery project was a Japanese embroidery project that I started while taking a class. We had to separate the silk threads and twist them ourselves before embroidering.
~Lynne
My most time consuming project is Mirbilia Adia the Garden Angel. My youngest granddaughter is named Adia (after the song by Sarah McLeachen?) and I started this for her at least two yers ago and am determined to finish it by her graduation from high school – May 16, 2019. That also happens to be my birthday, so we will have a real celebration.
The most time consuming project I have ever worked on is a baby announcement for my grandson. I finished it and it came lovely, but there were a million ( slight exaggeration) leaves on two trees in the project. All worth it 😉
What a gorgeous array of threads and colors! How delicious it would be to win it!
My most time-consuming embroidery project is one I began too-many numerous years ago, put aside due to moving, re-found recently, and now intend to finish!
I worked on a counted cross stitch project for two years. I finished it, framed it and gave it to my daughter. It was a bedroom with an open cabinet full of clothes and hats, beautiful. I have never done counted cross stitch again. The little tapestry animals you had kits for is tempting me!
Thank you
I’ve been working (occasionally!) on a lovely set of six embroidered ferns to frame, for nearly 40 years. I still love them, but so many other ‘things’ have got in the way of finishing them… 2019 is their year though!
The longest project I’ve worked on is a stumpwork portrait of my family. It was supposed to be my moms Christmas gift last year. Oh well, hopefully it will be done in time for this years Christmas!
What fabulous floss!!! The most time consuming embroidery project I’ve ever worked on was an ambitious sampler for my stepmom which I decided to do on 40 ct. using 2 strands of floss. Halfway through it dawned on me that 1 strand would have worked very nicely! The goal is to finish it for her birthday this March, but it has not been as much fun as 2 strands of 28 ct. linen. 🙂 Thank you so much for entering me in the give-away.
I’m new to embroidery, so every piece seems like a new accomplishment! I recently embroidered some fish onto kitchen towels and each one had new and fun stitches.
My simple elegant bookmark turned into a landscape of my friend’s garden including her 2 cats, chickens, espaliered fruit trees, garden sculpture, outdoor table and chairs (with her cup and saucer). This was created using a couple of her Facebook pictures as I’m making it as a surprise gift as a thanks for an embroidery book she sent me. I learned so many new stitches in the process and was quite proud of myself.
I began the four seasons cross stitched Angels by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum in February, 1993 and finished the first one, Summer Angel, in December, 1995. I started the second one, Autumn, within days of finishing the first, but did not finish this one until May, 2010. The third one, Spring, I began in October, 2010, finished it in July, 2012 and started the Winter Angel a week later in July, 2012 and finished it in November, 2013. I had each one framed as soon as I finished them, with the exception of the first one, it took me 15 years to get it framed! When I finished the last one, they had discontinued the frame I had used for all the others, so I have one odd frame. But no one seems to notice the difference in frames, except for me! They were well forth the effort to stitch and every visitor to my home, marvels at the amount of beading stitched on each. Even though it took me twenty years to complete all four, they were a joy to stitch.
Currently working on a Harry Potter house crest that I started a year ago. I’m about at the 1/3 mark, but I keep chipping away a little at a time.
So far my most time consuming embroidery project was a crewel work pillow cover in fall colors that I made for my mother-in-law years ago. She loved it and always showed it to visitors. I think my next very time consuming project will be the embroidered work box and accessories found in the Home Sweet Home book by Carolyn Pearce! Yikes! I’m excited but a little intimidated too :-).
My longest WIP so far was a piece called “Quaker Floral Puzzle” by Ink Circles. Think of pastel silks on black fabric in a Quaker-inspired mandala. It is done….but it was so intense that I only stitched on it once or twice a year for a very long time! But it is done, framed, and hung now!
Most time consuming, perhaps because it was one of my first pieces when I returned to embroidery, is a huge garden scene — I’ve been working away in between other projects on the plenitude of tiny flowers, and it is getting there…still just getting there…. 😉
I worked on a Tree Of LIfe Pattern. It was a Jacobean Style(my favorite) stamped linen. I had to come up with all the stitches and colors which I loved but it took me a lot longer. It took several years as I was teaching full time. I have loved it ever since. I finally found the original pattern in a vintage embroidery book.
Lovely colours !
I started a dresser scarf when I was in college. It was fun, but mostly in satin stitch, which I was not particularly adept at back then. I have worked on it off and on, but I’m still not finished. Let’s just say it’s been decades in the making. At this point in my stitching life, my satin stitch does not begin to match what I started with, but there’s no way I am ripping out the old, uneven stuff to start over!
The threads are beautiful. Today I especially like the darker, fall and winter colors. Thank you, Mary, and Lorraine, at Colour Complements, for the chance to win some. An embroidered baby daydress, slip, and booties would have to be the most time consuming project I have ever worked on – but only in the sense of the length of time from start (April, 2011) to finish (not yet). The intended recipient grew too fast, but there’s a new baby now who may benefit from the delay. I’ m really looking forward to retirement! Thanks again! Lauri
I have several time consuming projects but by far the most would be a Stumpwork EGA GCC piece called “Gracie” ( I call mine “ Goldie”), she is a Koi swimming in the ocean with a beach made up of hundreds of tiny French knots , It’s my husbands all time favorite !
Probable Tony”s Millenium piece. It was being taught in stages. There was not only the stitching but the long commute to and from the shop after getting off the nightshift
I am fairly new to embroidery at the moment. Probably the items I have spent the most time on were a pair of cross stitch cushions. Knowing my love of Celtic anything a friend gave me a magazine with a cross stitch Celtic cushion pattern. I did the cushion (It took me a couple of years) but while I was working it my mind was busy. The design was an interlace centre with white Celtic dogs chasing around a border. I prefer cats to dogs, so I decided I wanted a pair, and to do a cushion with black Celtic cats to match. That designing was fun. Part of the reason it took me so long with each of the cushions was that there was a lot of back stitch outlining and because I knew where I was going with it, I didn’t really need to study the pattern each time so it was perfect to have as a ‘stitching to go’. So although I was working on it constantly I usually wouldn’t get much done at a time. They are finished now and have pride of place on my couch. Only problem, I need to find something else I can use as ‘stitching to go’ that I can pull out of my bag at any time and don’t need to keep consulting a pattern.
I had a kit once, long ago, that were two ovals of groups of flowers. I LOVE to embroider flowers, so I was excited about the kit. Well, it took me 10 years to finish! Some of that was life, but some of it was learning new stitches. They have been framed and on my wall for many years now – I still love them.
I did an embroidery and crewel kit back in the late 80s for my sister – she collected teddy bears. I worked on that for six months and *still* didn’t finish it in time for Christmas. So I took it back and worked on it for the next year and she got it *again* the next Christmas – finished this time!
My longest project was Teresa Wentzler’s peacock design. There were so many blended colors of green for the tree leaves that I don’t think I got them all correct.
The most time consuming piece of needlework that sticks in my mind was the step six of a MasterCraftsman certification in Plan & Fancy Needlework ( through EGA)… a whitework cotton handkerchief with three different styles of whitework worked with floche. I love that project.
I’m working on Carolyn Pearce’s Strawberry Fayre heart Etui. Plan to finish it this coming year.
I have a 2 pieces i started many years ago. They are a boy and girl, ready for bed, kneeling for bed time prayers. What makes them so special? Some of the embroidery thread was passed down from my Mother, so you know it is very special and also very delicate.
The most time consuming project I have stitchec on was probably the dimensions charm pack on a wizard stitched on black aida. But it was so worth it. It was a gift for my husband and he loves it. Judith
A set of embroidered bookmarks which kept getting interrupted by life happening! They’re still not finished…
“Winter Woods” was a Gold Collection Dimensions design. It took me 3 years (intermittent stitching) to complete it. It was my first Dimensions kit. My husband asked me to do it for him. So glad it is finally completed.
The most time-consuming project is one I actually just finished a few weeks ago. An advent calendar that’s taken me 2 1/2 years to finish. It has double-sided ornaments that hang on an appliqued tree. One side is a plain number on a white ground fabric. The other side is a decorated ornament–holiday greenery, birds, members of the nativity, sun, moon, stars, all decorating an appliqued green tree whose edges are finished with overlapping lines of feather or blanket stitch in various shades of green.
It’s hanging in the hall right now, and I am *very* proud of it.
I love the colors of Lorraine’s threads, but the most time consuming project I have ever worked on is Drawn Thread Sampler by Gay Ann Rogers. I have not finished it yet, but I am bound and determined to in 2019!
This weekend my daughter decorated her home for the holidays
with her 3 year old son and husband. It made me smile to see that she still hangs the Christmas stocking I made for her over 25 years ago. It took me a few years to get it done!
A cross stitch pattern of Renoir’s A Girl with a Watering Can. I’m still not finished! I’ve been picking up and putting it away for years now. 🙂 One day I’ll finish it
It was an embroidered blanket I made for my Mum, for her 80th birthday.
The longest is a counted cross stitch pattern of an eagle with the verse from Isaiah 40 : 31. It was very meaningful to my sister who I gifted it to. There were so many neutral colors in the shading of the eagle I could only work on it a little at a time. Now many years later I thought of making one for myself, but you just reminded me of the challenge. Maybe this summer when the day light is a little longer.
What luscious colors! I would say Over the River by Crabapple Hill took me quite some time to finish. I used stem stitch throughout and finished one “panel” every winter. It’s a quilt so I have some borders to make it larger and then the quilting-not my favorite part. Now I’m doing about 10 stitcheries to later put together with some pieced work as a quilt for my Mom. I’ve been working on it from time to time for a year and a half because I’ve had some upsets in my life that interrupted my stitching. I have one more block to finish and another block that will be the label on the back. When those two are finished, I’ll be trimming them and putting little borders around them before assembling. I think it’s more fun because there’s a lot of french knots, buttonhole stitch, etc.
My biggest project was an alphabet in cross stitch that was a baby gift for my god-daughter. I had 8+ hours in each letter. It may have been my final cross stitch project as I discovered embroidery techniques that I found far more enjoyable like smocking.
My most time consuming project will be a very large cross stitch picture from Heaven and Earth Designs.
Ooh, what gorgeous threads! Ok– my most time consuming embroidery project is one that I haven’t started yet, but I’ve spent lots of time researching and drawing patterns for, as well as looking for fabric and embroidery floss: Eight 12-foot long bed curtains on a light-lavender-lilac silk background with bouquets of old fashioned garden roses, tulips, peonies, morning glories, mums, sweet peas, passion flowers, with ribbons and bows — all done with silk shading in very pale shades of lilac, lavender, blue, white/cream, yellow/gold. I don’t know how long it will take–I’m hoping not more than three years. Sabrina
I think the most time consuming project I’ve done was a large reproduction Dutch cross stitch sampler that had dozens of figures, each of which had several color changes and each had to be positioned individually. The border was a repetitive small floral motif that amazingly matched up after working my way all around. It was so rewarding when it was finally completed.
I once did a large needlepoint/embroidered picture, copying a postcard picture of a castle. From inception to frame, definitely the most time consuming project I’ve ever done.
The most time consuming embroidery project was a pale pink stumpwork rose with a bee – I still have the bee to complete as it is very tiny, very fiddly and very hard to see!!
My most in-depth project was a cross stitch Santa that measures about 14 x 20″. He’s holding a list and I managed to change the pattern to include our boys names, as well as their friends. Never have been able to afford to get it framed!
My most time consuming embroidery project happened back in the 70’s with my third year 4-H sewing project. The project was a simple dress with set-in sleeves and a collar facing. I really wanted my project to stand out, so with the guidance of my mother, I embroidered the neckline, each sleeve edge and each pocket before sewing the dress together. It took several weeks of stitching and restitching to finish the embroidery. I was so happy to be done! As it turns out, I won the grand prize for sewing at the county level and then won the runner-up sewing grand prize at the state level. While I have had projects that have taken longer, this project seemed to last forever as a child on summer vacation. However, this is also the project that started me on a lifelong love of needlework.
I’m working on a needlepoint panel of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries and feel like I’m in the black hole of stitching. I stitch and stitch and seem to not be making forward progress. I know that eventually I’ll break out and all the sudden it will seem like I’ve gotten a huge amount done in a short time but until then… oof. I continue to plod on.
I have to say that as I garner skills each of my embroidery projects becomes more more time consuming as I play and learn. I am experimenting with simple textures…some day I be as good as some of your readers and I plan to try crewel work along the way.
Thank you for your wonderful, educational and inspirational posts! I avidly follow and read your blog and appreciate all of the in Alia le information that you share!
I guess the most time consuming project I ever started (and finished I might add, not always the case) was a petite point pelican on 40 ct silk gauze. I suppose a lot had to do with making mistakes. It reminds of the pelicans down at the inlet. I am now doing a black work black swan to hang beside it, it also is down at the inlet.
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The most time consuming embroidery project I’ve ever worked on was a GCC from EGA entitled “Blackwork is fun”, and it was.
I don’t know about “time consuming”, but I have what I call my “20-year sampler”. It is the Williamsburg Alphabet of acrobatic men forming each letter. I started it when my girls were going to beginning swimming class (while sitting poolside). Then there was a long break in the action and I finished it 20 years later – spanning some pretty interesting years!! And then there are those Chatelaine massive mandalas! None of those are completed yet!!
The kneeler! Oh the kneeler! As you might guess my largest, most complicated project was a needlepoint kneeler for my church. There was a Texas wildflower border around the central design. For strength and durability, it was all basket weave. It was well painted BUT not stitch painted. Therein lay the complexity. Constant decisions about which color would best complete each flower. Did I mention that the wildflower border was dense with flowers?! This project was begun with great enthusiasm. Sadly, it became a labor of determination.
About 20yrs ago I started a self designed cross stitch which incorporated my home life from birth to marriage on a fruit orchard and grazing farm. At one stage it was packed away for about 15yrs and only came to light recently when we moved again for hopefully our last move, into retirement. Ahh, settle down and finish that cross stitch. I’ll need a good magnifying light as is on finer linen which I don’t cope with so well now!
Cheers, Kath, Australia.
The most time consuming embroidery project I have worked on was a Little Red Riding Hood piece. It was the first piece I both drew and embroidered.
I am working on T. Minnari’s Stars. Bought many years ago, and working on it inbetween other. Not happy w/color so it is a chore.
Designing patterns for 12 Days of Christmas, coloring them and embellishing them with embroidery floss and metallic threads.
hmmm
I worked on a quilt-inspired stitch sampler. Eight of the blocks were Milanese stitch. I had to redo each and every one of them. Didn’t repeat a mistake, just invented a new mistake! I had a brief sense of accomplishment on the last block – thought I’d finally gotten the stitch. Then I realized I had stitched the pattern correctly – IN THE WRONG BOX (;>)
8 for 8 – and who knows how much time I wasted frogging. Is “forever” a number?
I’m still relatively new to embroidery, so the most time consuming project I’ve worked on so far is a garden-inspired stitch sampler. It took me a while, but came out just lovely (and really helped improve my stitching)!
A wonderfull pair of Australian Kellie puppies in the washing basket at the clothes line. So many shades of brown. Dark to light. A wonderful cross stitch. I’m very proud of it. Merry Christmas to you Mary. Hope you keep well and enjoy the festivities. X
I started an ABC floral cross stitch sampler in 1995 and completed it in 2018 so that has taken me the longest time to complete although there were years where no cross stitches were added because I was also working on other projects like Margaret Light’s “Tree of Life” which took 4 years to complete. I find it is the joy of stitching rather than the completion date that is satisfying.
My most time consuming project is a (yet unfinished) embroidered flower basket quilt. I started the quilt because I remembered my grandmother working on this type of project. I remembered her spending much time and many trips picking out the best patterns. I remembered her talking with friends about what stitches or colors would be best. I remember her fretting over her work and humbly accepting. or rejecting praise. Every time I pick up the project, I think about her and do not really care how long this project is taking.
A Christmas stocking that I started at least 6 years ago and have been working on and off in between other projects.
I have two long running WIPs, both for my daughter someday. One is her name in embroidered illuminated hebrew letters with floss and seed beads. The other is a bear embroidered with floss and silk ribbon flowers. Maybe it will be finished before she decides to marry . I love hand died threads, yarns and fabric! These look so yummy!!
How embarrassing! Mainly because the project is still in a basket that I pull out at this time of year. I found this printed panel crèche at a fabric store years ago. Easy–cut, sew, stuff, finish with simple slip stitch. Hmm..well, I decided that such simplicity offered a wonderful opportunity to try some new embroidery stitches to embellish (tastefully) these easy pieces. As far as I can tell, there is no end. Not this year, maybe never. The positive spin is that it is a creative embroidery journal of calm and meditative stitching during Lent. 🙂
The longest I ever spent on a needlework piece (it was counted cross stitch) was a year. I am a fast stitcher, but I did this on linen over one thread. It is a picture of 2 amish sisters working on a quilt. It was a real challenge and I actually kept the piece after I had it framed. It is fairly large and hangs on my bedroom wall.
a Marty Bell cottage counted cross stitch
What beautiful threads!
Of all my stitching projects I think I have put the most hours into Teresa Wentzler’s Peacock Tapestry. I started it over 10 years ago, and then for various reasons it got put away. It is not done yet, but those hours deserve me to bring it to completion! Perhaps in 2019!
My family visited Chartres cathedral 25 years ago, and I saw “Rose Window” in Mary Hickmott’s magazine, “New Stitches” and I decided to stitch it to commemorate the visit. The instructions called for 14 count black Aida. Being innocent I decided to use 22 count black fabric. Black with tiny holes was something I had never tried before. Eighteen months later, I finished. A stitching friend suggested I put a “moon” light on my lap while I stitched and that may be the only reason I finished in a year and a half. It does look very nice in the front foyer, so I am happy I did it.
I rescued my grandmother’s embroidery project blanks 16 years ago and have slowly been making my way through them. Three years ago I began on a pair of peony pillowcases for my daughter and her husband as a wedding gift in 2015. One pillowcase is done, the other not yet begun. there is a runner all the way around the pillowcase and elaborate peony flowers in groups of four. Each group of four takes me about 40 hours of stitching to complete, there are also fussy smaller groups of flowers or single peonies. I plan on starting the second pillow case this winter.
a large Christmas sampler by a designer that has long since retired. it has cross stitch, hardanger, pulled thread work, satin stitch, thread painting, and more. I work on it every December for several years now and my children always want to see how far I have come this year. I should finish it next year.
The most consuming embroidery project is all of them! I’m very slow and get easily distracted by easy projects like counted cross stitch so the surface embroidery gets put aside. I’m currently trying to teach my daughter and I think that will be the longest project of all time!
Many of my projects have taken a long time because I put them away when something new catches my eye or because I want to change the pattern a bit but I do not know exactly how I want to change it. i just finished a canvas piece that I began 5 years ago. I put it away because I wanted to make a small change (turning a rectangle into a square) and I was unsure of the colors to use. When I uncovered it everything fell intoplace and it only took 2 weeks to finish!
Definitely baby samplers have been my most time consuming project followed by Assisi stitched tea towels x 6 for my cards group!
My most consuming project was and is a needlepoint picture of 5 of my dogs all have passed on it’s been on the go for 20 years off and on still quite a ways to go I have been Slowed down by lack of a good embroidery shop in my area that sells the wool I need. My favorite shop closed down a couple of years ago.
I have a few projects that have been worked on over a number of years but the project I have spent the most time working on would be an embroidered felted cushion. This is a piece of felted background which I felted in a workshop with Robyn Alexander at a Koala Convention back in 2016. It has a garden scene with many types of flowers, a rock wall, which will also have flowers and plants, trees in the mid-ground and some hills in the background with bushes. It has a glorious sun in the sky, along with some clouds and I am thinking of adding something else, either a flock of birds or maybe a plane (that just occurred to me – so you can see why it consumes so much of my time!)
I have worked steadily on the embroidery since 2016, picking it up when inspiration strikes It still isn’t complete, but it is getting there. Then I have to actually make it into a cushion!
I have Jenny McWhinney project that when I finish will probably lay claim to this title, but not yet.
It took me a while to complete a table runner where I joined together 4 squares of handwoven linen and embroidered a myriad of flowers and trees. I completed it with drawn thread embroidery……an explosion of color!
I am currently working on my most time consuming project. A piece commemorating the baptism of my Godson this year. It is a cross stitch I designed with just under 50 000 stitches, stitched on 28 count linen over a single thread.
The design has a fully stitched central medallion approximately 6.5 inches in diameter, which is taking far longer than I anticipated.
At this point I am simply hoping to have it completed by the time he does his first communion.
The longest time I took to complete a project was when I was just starting. I saw a completed piece in an embroiderer’s shop window, and knew at once – this is what I want to do! It is 50 x 40 cm, a copy of the famous Cluny Tapestry “The Sense of Hearing”, with another one which I will do later….. It is a counted cross stitch pattern – a wonderful thing to start embroidering on. Why did it take me so long to do? Well, I have a lot to learn, and I got involved in other things. My church had an art exhibition while I was about half-way through, so I entered it as a “work in progress”. It was amazing how much interest it brought – including people who had seen the originals in France. I did so long to see them when they came to Australia last year – maybe one day…
After that, I had to finish it. And that took another year. The framers did a wonderful job with it, using gold and a lovely ornate frame. It is still my biggest and highly satisfying work – even though I haven’t done counted cross-stitch for ages now. But I love the little animals that Mary is doing on her little button-size pieces. These are in the Cluny tapestries, along with lots of little flowers.
The most time consuming project is a frangipani quilt I am hand quilting for my daughter. It is a labour of much love.
A couple tee shirt fronts were modified to be included in a raffled quilt. My hometown was the theme. The tee pieces got covered with stitches to assure each business was known to be local. The quilt brought in over $400 for the local food-co-operative. I was grateful my pieces helped make this quilt.
I have been workkng on wendy williams around the garden wall hanging for 2 years. I have promissed myself that it will be completed end 2019
When I first saw Elizabeth Almond’s “Blackwork Journey” I thought that I would really like to have a go at it. I didn’t have that much experience in blackwork, (and I know that long, involved work is not really my cup of tea – I get bored very quickly) but decided it was worth it. Fortunately, E.A. only gave a month’s instalment at a time, and so over a year I plugged in and finally finished what I think is a lovely sampler of which I am very proud.
I spent just over 9 years (finishing 03/2018) stitching a large adaptation of a 1630 world map titled “Mappemomde” , from Anagram Diffusion. Stitching over 2
on 40ct linen it measures 28” x 19.5”.
My most time consuming embroidery project was a jacket with scenes of the last two operas of Wagner’s “The Ring of the Nibelungen”. The back of the jacket is made up of a scene from the third opera “Siegfried ” It shows the dragon who was previously the giant”Fafner” with the Ring. It is set in a forest. There is lots of gold thread and small beads. One side of the front shows the flames of the fire. The other side shows Brunnhilde on her horse riding into the fire.It took me about four years but I did not work on it all of the time. I had a lot of help from Jenny Mc Whinney in particular. I could not have done it without her. It received a lot of attention when I wore it in San Francisco .
I hand stitched tulips for a double bed quilt that I made. There were 36 blocks and each one had a tulip. Took me 2 years!
The most time-consuming project that I’ve ever worked on was a goldwork piece towards an RSN Diploma entitled My Musical Journey. I wanted to remind myself that I should get back to music in some form, having neglected it for so many years when life took over.
Butterfly lace mandala , it is time consuming because I have to convert the hand dyed threads because I am obsessed with washing my projects and because the threads are expensive and could not order them in my country.Although now I am afraid to wash my project because I read your article about bleeding metallic threads.
I usually find the preparation the most time consuming of a embroideryproject. When the prep is done and the embroidery has started, I don’t think in terms as time and time consuming. I just enjoy myself.
Longest project is a 17th century band sampler which I have been stitching on and off for a long while. Its fascinating working so many specialty stitches, its quite intriguing watching it grow!!
The most time consuming project I have worked on was a set of crewel birds for my Mom.
They were intense, but in the end, turned out beautiful.
The most time-consuming project I’ve ever been part of is definitely the Stamford Bridge Tapestry Project, which you were kind enough to feature on your website a little while ago. Around twenty of us have been working on it since September 2015, and we still have about a year’s work to go. It’s improved my skills, but also brought me some of the best friends I’ve ever made!
My surface embroidery projects have all been manageably sized! But I did a cross-stitch sampler of various alphabets that took me about three years to finish – now has pride of place in my living room!
When I first started embroidering, I decided to do a foot-long outline of a white owl on blue mottled cotton as a Christmas gift. As is my worst habit, I made it way too complicated for both my skill level and the time allotted for the project. I’ve still got it, and someday I might even finish it.
Quite a few years ago Victoria’s sampler came out with a series of charts for
The alphabet Which could be worked individually or as one big piece. I
Did it in two pieces and it took me years of off and on with other WIP, but is
Now done. I am now on a needlework piece of a coral reef taken from a
Charly Harper painting which is very large and I think my current progress
Indicates a similar journey.
The one that comes to mind is a large cross stitch on navy laguna. I worked on it for nearly 1 year. It was for a charity auction. It sold for $30. The auctioner called it a “cute Christmas print.”
An embroidered blanket featuring African animals- lion,cheetah, elephants,zebra & giraffe. That portion took 9 years and now there are the gazelle and Masai warriors to go………
My most time-consuming project was a cross stitch fractal I started, and probably will never finish. Lots of confetti stitches!
My most time consuming project is The Loara Standish Sampler by The Examplarery. I am still working on it as time and energy permit.
I have used Lorraine’s threads and they are wonderful. Would love to have more.
Gleneagle by Jean Hilton
My most time consuming needlework project was a crazy quilt that took me 9 years to complete. An old needlework piece made by my grandmother ( that she designed for my great grandmother was my inspiration. As the quilt grew, so did my family’s history. As it turned out, my quilt was an NQA winner for exceptional embellishment. The quilt was completed in 2008 and today I lecture and present it as part of a trunk show. Bits of family clothing, buttons and vintage jewelry adorn the quilt as well as every stitch technique that is connected with crazy quilting.
The most time consuming project in terms of hours I ever worked on was Teresa Wenztler’s Peacock Tapestry. I worked on it non stop for over a year almost non-stop to make sure it got finished and not become a UFO. The most time consuming project in terms of effort is my phase 1 Japanese embroidery piece. It’s such a demanding technique that I can only work on it one day a week as the day needs to be fully dedicated in order for me to be in the right frame of mind to stitch.
The most complicated piece I have done was a painted canvas called Winter Farm Fun. There was a lot of detail and allowed for many, mamy stitch choices. Took me over a year to do.
The project I worked on the longest was a Hardanger luncheon cloth I made for our daughter when she became engaged. It took about a year to complete.
The most time consuming project was a Shepherd’s Bush pattern Toy Gatherer. It is large and took me a summer of almost non stop stitching to finish it before Christmas.
It was a stamped Paragon kit from the 1970s. A Sampler type. At least 24 x 30 inches.
I sped to finish it before my marriage so that I could sign it with my maiden name. That way if the marriage didn’t last I still could save the sampler.
The most time-consuming embroidery for me so far has been as needle-painted badge done in opus anglicanum technique. Although it was only 8 centimeters in diameter, it took about 25 hours to complete. I learned a lot of patience during this project, particularly when underside-couching the gold threads for the background filling.
My longest project took exactly one year to make – I embroidered one of the Sajou letters in silk and gold for a friend’s daughter. I started the night she was born (before then they weren’t sure what they’d name her) and finished just in time for her first birthday.
Class project by June Moos which was a needlepoint vest and is not completed yet.
I worked on a quilt for 5 years. The background was black (hard to embroider and quilt on!) and the quilt was large (>90 inch square). It was hand quilted with lots of embroidery and beading. My friends would come to visit it every so often while it was being worked on or temporarily cast aside.
Gardners Alphabet – hand embroidery- 4 year project now complete!
Embroidered mostly during travel and vacation and I absolutely LOVE it! I feel a sense of pride whenever my gaze happens upon it!
Thanks!
Carol
Many years ago I had to design and complete an Assisi embroidery. I’m glad o say it’s finished, framed and on the wall.
I love making Christmas st
My passion is embroidery alto I was a quilter most of my days of early retirement. But as I grow older, I found that sitting down with a fabric picture outlined in pen or pencil made me want to fill it with color. A quilt group friend does wonderful Stumpwork and I will attempt to try that as I go along. I recently embroidered the four Angles that is a Crabapple Hill design. There is the four seasons represented and will be hung that way.
The most time consuming project I have tackled is a hardanger piece that involves a dozen or so different filling stitches. I chose the project because of the challenge it presented.
I am a newby so I haven’t ventured into too many projects. But so far, the most time consuming project I have undertaken is a Jacobean crewel sampler. Started it in July and with working consistently, I am still only about half way done!
I love stitching and giving Christmas stockings. Last Christmas I completed a Santa fisherman stocking for my husband that I started over 10 years ago. I still have a needlepoint poinsettia themed stocking that is not complete and was started 20 years ago. Sooner or later it will be finished. In between, I completed stockings for 4 grandchildren and a godchild.
I am still working on a time consuming original design: 8×12 inches, a still life. A conventional window view of mountains in the background. The foreground is a table with a large SciFi inspired plant with some stumpwork elements. The challenge – a limited palette of pinks, blues and purples with slight use of light yellow and white to help with shadows on the mountains. I got the ideas looking at Matisse and Hockney (but I wouldn’t blame what I came up with on them). So to me, this giveaway is very exciting!
I stitched Mary Hurst by the Scarlet Letter. It took me over a year and I did finish it, but it was a challenge because it was the first time I did counted thread with many different specialty stitches such as detached buttonhole, queen stitch, etc. Completing her definitely boosted my confidence.
I started a large angel cross-stitch and have taken my time to finish it – which means it is in the UFO pile! I am glad you reminded me about it – I will have to keep stitching!! Your emails inspire me to try so many techniques: thank you!
The most challenging project for me so far is a block of the month queen size quilt. Every block is hand embroidered. I’m on the last & biggest, a cottage scene for the centre. From Fairies in my Garden.
I have a WIP that I started 0years ago. lol I have not worked on it since 1989.
The longest project was a sampler accomplished as a young teen. It measures 11 x 14.
Dear
My project of embroidery slower was a eco bag and the embroidery in this bag was a Tree called
pink Ipê, native the forest in my Country.
Thanks
Maria Eustáquia
I have been working on an arts & crafts era pinecone pillow for over a year.
I stitched four companion pieces from The Drawn Thread. They are Prairie Garden, Cloister Garden, Alpine Garden and Cottage Garden. I worked them on even weave linen with a single strand of floss. I learned lots of new stitches that can be stitched in counted embroidery. Each piece is framed separately and they hang side by side on my bedroom wall.
I’m afraid I haven’t put a single stitch in my most time consuming project yet! I’m making a Bayeux tapestry style wall hanging depicting a favorite book of scripture. I’ve been sketching for years now and have worked up a few small sections as test pieces. I’m hoping this is the year to finally get started, but ten feet of decent linen is a major expense for me.
For me it’s a full-coverage cross stitch that was intended as a gift…that never made it to the party. Not a daunting piece, small even, but the enthusiasm just isn’t there for it. So it lingers lol. I guiltily add a few stitches here and there but at this rate its gonna take 20 years. I’ll knock it out eventually. Or so I keep saying.
My most consuming piece of embroidery is a wonderful piece of jacobian work which I started when I retired from teaching in 2005, however owing to moving across the Atlantic a few times because of my husbands job, and being sidetracked by quilting and knitting for various family members I have not completed it yet.
A hardanger “Welcome” project and it turned out great. If I recall correctly, it took me approximately 4 months to complete and the finished project was worth the wait!
I am embroidering a piece of toile that I got from a friend, I’ve been working on it on and off for months with no end in sight.
I haven’t begun the project yet. But I hope to start the Thistle Threads Casket project soon.
Well, I think it would have to be my attempt to embroider a 7.5 yard sari. I have not completed it yet. I have probably spent at least 100 hours embroidering it. The ground was orange, and the design was a simple floral vine with a yellow flower and dark green foliage. Technically, a sari is supposed to be adorned along both long edges with a narrow border, along with a 1-3 foot (by about 45″) region at one end. I completed part of the large region, and about half of one edge of the border. I got tired of the repetition after a while and gave that project a break. Maybe I’ll pick it up again — for some reason, I like working on that one in the springtime.
I made a wool appliqué quilt of a peacock and flowers and embroidered the heck out of it. It was my own design, and I played with many different colors and stitches.
Definitely my current project “Stitch” Heart Sampler by Crabapple Hill has/is my most complex embroidery project. It is also the one I have learned the most from. I have learned how to embroider many new stitches.
The twelve days of Christmas project has been time consuming for me. I am a beginner at embroidery so I study and practice each stitch. Learning alot and having a great time
In my first year or so of marriage my sister-in-law gifted me with a stamped cross stitch kit with lots of flowers and a nice motto.
It was quite large, probably 15″ x 18″. I was so excited that I went out and purchased a free standing scroll frame. Anyone remember Lee Wards? We had one in our area and it was my favorite toy store. I decided that when I wasn’t stitching it would make a lovely display in my living room where I did my hand work. I started it with gusto. Then it fizzled. I didn’t like the alignment of the x-es as printed on the cloth. I tried and tried to even them out (I had become enamored of counted cross stitch) but to no avail. If I didn’t cover the markings they would show. If I did cover the markings it looked like I hadn’t taken any care with my work. So, it remained a display until I moved and it ended up in the basement, uncovered. When I moved again there was no saving it. I often wish that I had sketched it out on graph paper to reproduce it in counted form. One of life’s lessons.
My longest work in progress is a cross stitched picture of three wolf heads as a gift for my father. I’ve been working on it for over twenty years. The color scheme of grays and browns make it hard to work on for any length of time since I like lots of color!
The one needlework project I remember taking the most time was a crib sized quilt silk ribbon kit. I spent weeks and weeks stitching all those flowers and leaves and adding the appliqued teddy bears and bunnies in expectation of our new grandson. Thankfully I got some wonderful pictures of the crib quilt before it was lost in a flood a few years after it was gifted.
A group of us started the Piecemakers crazy quilt calendar project at the beginning of 2001. I still have October, December, and January in the works!
The most time consuming project is hard to select as I’ve had several over the years and now I can’t remember how long they took me. The one I’m working through now is Jackie du Plessis Behold Thy Beauty (bag, smalls, and tray). I’ve only finished the embroidery on the smalls and I’ve started the bag. It’s lots and lots of very tiny stitches. However, the thread colors are beautiful and joyous so even though it will take me a long while and I don’t work on it all the time, I thoroughly enjoy the process.
My biggest project was a William Morris design which I bought in kit form just before I had a hysterectomy. I thought the lay up would be enough time to finish it.
20 years later my mum, who is no longer with us, finished it for me. It’s now the cover on a piano stool so giving me lasting memories of mum.
The most time consuming embroidery project I’ve ever worked on was a long runner in Hungarian embroidery. I was taught by my Grandmother that the front and the back had to look the same, no knots, so I was meticulous about the embroidery and earned a gold star and my Grandmother’s approval!
The most time consuming project for me is a Crazy Quilt vest. It is going on 3 yrs. since I started it, 2 series of embellishment classes,,, and by the sheer nature of Crazy Quilting I keep seeing more areas that ‘look empty’ and more stitch ideas I want to incorporate. Som day soon I am going to have to just STOP and construct it and wear it!!
The most time consuming project is a sampler of the Desiderata poem! I’m still working on the last band years and years later. I take it out and then put it away… take it out and then put it away…. 😉
My most time consuming project is a Crazy Quilt vest. It is going on 3 years of stitching and a couple series of embellishment classes. By the very nature of “Crazy Quilting” I keep finding areas that need a “little something” or a new idea I “have to” add ~ ~ ~ some time (soon I hope) I need to STOP -construct the vest – and wear it !!
The most time-consuming project I’ve worked on (and am working on) is The Peony by Sue Hawkins. This was partly lack of experience in some parts and causing myself complications in others. It will be beautiful when finished.
I’m a fairly new embroiderer and I don’t get much time to embroider so all my projects take a while. Most time consuming so far is working on Christmas stockings for my family.
A cross-stitched picture of a dancer with a violin, I started it on the 15th birthday of my youngest daughter, 7 years ago, the deadline is her graduation from the university, that is three years from now
Home Sweet Home, by Carolyn Pearce. I must have stitched everything at least twice before I got it right!
I have recently finished a 4 panel Baltimore quilt with borders that I embroidered using one strand of a wide variety of silk threads. This is one project of which I am extremely proud as I designed my own blocks and borders. It took me two and a half years to complete.
My most time consuming project is a smoked & embroidered Christening gown. Begun for my eldest daughters christening, tweeked and added to for my next daughters christening, and recently again revisited for my grand daughters christening. Each wearers name, date of birth, and christening date added to the hemline. 29 years and counting. 🙂
When I read about the contest and the embroidery item that has most consumed my time it is hands down a crazy quilt. I have been working on this quilt for 11 years now. I keep changing my mind on what I want to do. The more I have done the more interesting designs are brought to my attention. For 2019 I would like to complete one crazy quilt. Wish me luck.
Kay Patrick
An EGA project titled Silk Ribbon Pond. If I hadn’t broken my foot and been in a boot, I may not have finished it.
It took me about 300 hours to stitch traditional Orthodox Christian icon. I guess that some of my cross stitched works took more time, but it was long ago and I do not remember.
I have worked on several of the Lavendar and Lace designs by Marilyn Leavett Inblum. They are all equally intense and time consuming. I still need to finish the Dream Catcher one — that spider web design is proving difficult to do — but I shall persevere. Have finished the Fairy Godmother and the accompanying, mostly pink younger godmother and a couple of the angels.
It is difficult to say what project has been the most time consuming. I have many projects on the go at once and some languish for a very long time (sometimes years).
I tend not to pay much attention to how many hours I spend stitching, but if I had to guess I suspect it is an afghan I stitched for one of my Mother in Law’s significant birthdays. By the end I realised that it would have been wise to have given more consideration, when I designed it, to how interesting it would be to stitch. She loved it though, and that’s what counts.
I am working on my version of Hazel Blomkamp’s “Roger the Rhino” I have had to learn techniques as I go. I started him early this year and was lucky enough to have the guidence and support of Hazel Everett (gold worker and embroiderer extraordinaire) Hazel died suddenly in September and the many hours spent on “Roger” keep her close and ease the sense of loss
My most time consuming embroidery project was my jacket for my wedding. It was Chantilly lace and I beaded the motifs.
Those are yummy threads! My most time-consuming embroidery project is a sage green linen scarf I started several years ago. I’m embroidering leaves, seed heads, and other plant motifs in burgundy and white wool thread. I have about 1/8 of it (maybe a little more) finished. It’s one of those projects that you can apply the 15-minute rule to, but I do have other embroidery projects that are in the queue before it, so it’s a bit neglected.
Most time consuming was the needlepoint kneeler cushion for The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer.
The most time consuming and colorful needlework project I have worked on is the Ribbon Embroidery and Stumpwork picture by Di van Niekerk. I have one half panel and the lilac border to finish and the picture will be ready to be framed.
Thank you
Beautiful. Colors of spring and summer have almost been forgotten, as I’ve been in the late fall (every shade of brown) and now winter (every shade of frozen).
The most time consuming embroidery project I have ever worked on was a Sampler that I designed in memory of my dad after he died in 1995. I started it in 1996 but had to put it on hold for a few years as the memories were too raw, but I did finally finished it and gave it to my mum to display in her home.
My biggest needlework project followed a time-honoured tradition of embroidery as thrift. I wanted William Morris curtains but a) couldn’t afford them and b) didn’t like the material available (especially given the eye-watering price per metre). Solution? Embroider a panel to be attached to each of 6 pairs of plain curtains… and of course I’m not yet finished but at least I had the brains to make each pair similar but different, similar colour pallet but different designs, to keep me interested.
I embroidered sleeves for a Folkwear pattern – they were my first big embroidery project, so they took quite a while although the actual pattern was quite simple. It looks like the shirt pattern has been discontinued and I don’t recall the name – it was a very simple smock with raglan sleeves and a huge gathered neckline and I used purl cotton.
Gosh, most time consuming would probably be a Sharon Cohen piece. First detached buttonhole, first needlelace, largest cutwork to date. It took me several years in rotation. I’m going to tackle another one of her pieces someday, and the Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly Y2K piece. The one with the real pearls on it. I have everything for it in the stash!
On the other hand, I have a piece from 2000 that is still a WiP because I get bored with it and put it away a lot. Dutch Beauty by Permin. Huge, limited palette, all plain cross-stitch. Boring….. (That one’s been on my blog recently if you want to take a look.)
The most time consuming project I’ve ever done is probably my first one, which is still unfinished. My grandmother gave me a lovely linen pillowcase with a blue embroidery pattern on it for Christmas one year when I was maybe 10 years old, and a few skeins of thread. I stitched over the entire pattern (just guessing at how to do it really), and then to continue my stitching fun I decided to embroider a long church motto over the remaining cover of the pillow, in a poorly executed attempt at satin stitch – which was more of a whip stitch than anything, ha ha. Needless to say, I worked on it off and on for a few years in my youth, long enough that the motto even changed, so I had to alter my design. It’s still sitting in a box in my craft room, waiting to be finished.
Hi Mary,
What a beautiful selection of threads! My most intensive piece of embroidery was one done on black. I thought I would never get it done, but it is completed and framed. Thank you for your wonderful holiday give-aways!
I do quite a lot of time consuming projects, I like to challenge myself.
I have two on the go at the moment – ‘Home Sweet Home’ by Carolyn Pearce,
and the other is ‘Pertinacity’ by Hazel Blomcamp
If I had to pick one, it would have to be ‘Pertinacity’
a real challenge but it will be well worth it once it’s finished.
Hi, Mary,
In 1993 I joined the Vancouver Embroiderer’s Guild. I plunged right into an advanced class in stumpwork in spite of only ever having done some surface embroidery and crosstitch. I loved learning the techniques and several difficult stitches but part way through I had to put it aside where it lay for the next ten years. Then, after moving here, I became one of the founding members of the Texada Island Needlework Guild. I found my stash and hidden there was my partially completed stumpwork. A group of us were going to seminar the following year so I pulled it out determined to get it finished in time to enter it in the exhibition of work. It took another five months, but I finished it. I’d like to say it won a prize (it didn’t) but what is really most important to me is, it is finished and I love it. It hangs where I can see it daily and reminds me never to fear a challenge.
My son asked and picked out a pattern on line a few years ago. It was done on 18 count Aida 15×15 inch called My Pot Leaf in the Sun. There were 3 columns of thread colors (8,5×11 sheet) with 1 or 2 of a color here and there. After 3/4 of it was done…months and months later…I drew a box and put the title, and date, so I didn’t have to stitch every single box there!!! He loves it. His friends think it is a painting until he gets them to look closely. It isn’t my favorite but he likes it.
Grovenore from the Okanagan Valley in BC, Canada
LOVE Lorraine’s threads! The longest time I ever spent on a project was my very first crazy quilt project. It was a jacket inspired by one I saw in a magazine. It took me 7 years to stitch. Eventually it went on to win a first prize at a quilt show and then took first prize at the Calgary Stampede along with Best of Show. It was the first time I ever entered anything at the Calgary Stampede and it was a big thrill to win Best of Show for its category! Needless to say, I am still crazy quilting and I use Lorraine’s threads quite often. Would love the opportunity to win more!
I’m still working on a freeform embroidery project from six months ago. I’m pretty new to embroidery and I haven’t completed many projects but this one I keep changing my mind about.
I just love to use these threads in my crazy quilting projects – so cheerful!
I finished a beautiful counted cross stitch design with a magic wind blowing, dragons and countryside. I’m not sure how long it took, it just seemed to take forever.
I once did a large crewel piece, a kit from the Victorian and Albert Museum, with a wide variety of stitches. It was a challenge, but totally enjoyable.
These are so pretty! I’m currently in the midst of the most (accidentally) complicated project I’ve attempted. I bought a Purl Soho Four Seasons kit thinking the trees were small, but they turned out to be almost 12 inches tall and there are four of them in the kit. I’ve pretty much been working on tree bark in backstitch for two months and I’m not even through the first one yet.
I can easily answer this question. It is an uncompleted project that I purchased in Saratoga Springs years ago when one of the large conferences that held the cross stitch convention in the “spa city” and that was so close to where I lived. Among my bounty I bought a piece designed by Maureen Appleton of The Hearts Content which if you have stitched for a while you will at least, have admired some of her pieces. This piece is entitled “After Sorrow comes Joy” and she wrote that she had designed this piece during a difficult time she experienced but had come through the journey and designed this piece. Sometime later, I went through one of the worst periods of my life and I started this piece which was my first foray into smalls on 40ct silk guaze. I believe the only reason I have not completed this piece is the true joy that I felt when this piece of my life did end. It is a beautiful design and I almost forgot I had it until you asked this question. I am very motivated to finish it now, once again!
Thank you Mary and Lorraine at Colour Complements for such a lovely giveaway.
My most time consuming embroidery project to date has been an Elizabethan style panel. The needlelace stumpwork was challenging but fun. Unfortunately the panel has been waiting for 12 months while I get the crochet hook folder it will decorate completed 🙂
My most time consuming embroidery project was a stumpwork floral wreath. It has blueberries, a ladybug, currant berries, flowers and leaves. Almost everything is stitched detatched over wire, then the elements sewn to the satin base fabric to create each item. Took forever but is one of the most enjoyable things I’ve worked on.
Floral Bellpull by Teresa Wentzler – many colors, many blended colors, no blocks of a single color but the final results were definitely worth it!
A Christmas Wallhanging, cross stitch, it is the hardest project i have ever done. So many colors, I have been
working on it 2 years. I keep putting it aside because it is so frustrating.
Bitter sweet memories….
On a trip back home to Canada my husband picked out a pattern for a large crossstitch cover for a foot stool, about 43 years ago. During the on suing years I worked on it but mostly forgot about it.
My husband of 46 years passed away this last summer.
I recently found the canvas again, not completed but remember the laughter we shared, for the reasons I gave , for not completing project over the decades.
I think Gay AnnRoger’s Queen Elizabeth is my most time consuming project – and it is finished.
Wow my longest running project is still not completed. It is a crewel embroidery throw that I started oh my probably 40 years ago.
it is a floral motif as an inside type border, on a an off white wool. It is burried in a closet and really should be completed it is so pretty. Kiddos and life took over and time has traveled on.
Years ago, I bought a large kit with a hummingbird and fucia. I started it before I took any embroidery classes. So that part is a bit of mess : )
The most long-term project I’ve worked on was also when I discovered needlenthread.com! I wanted to make crazy-quilt style pillow cover—pieced, but not actually quilted and with tons of embroidery. It’s a good thing I decided to make it for a small pillow, lol, as this was my first real foray into embroidery. It took months, but that was okay because I discovered that I love embroidering.
I am a beginner, so I don’t have any really large projects that would obviously take more time. My project was just one block for a quilt that was being given to a beloved pastor and his family that was being reassigned to another church. Each family or person was requested to make a block for the quilt that represented them. The block could be embroidered or appliqued or pieced. It had to include your name. We were given a 9-inch white square. I struggled with getting the design drawn to fit within the finished area and yet look the way I wanted. I had drawn a music staff with notes, a violin and a Bible verse with reference. The stitching didn’t take as long as deciding on the design, but I had to make several versions to get it just like I wanted it. I still have the two blocks I stitched but chose not to use.
My most time consuming project is a table cloth. I start and stop all yhe time because I get distracted by other projects. I just got done with blocks for a baby quilt I am making for my baby, in October I finished the baby quilt for my sister in law. Both now need to be pieced and quilted. Now I can get back to the table cloth. I hope to have it done by this time next year.
I have done a few time consuming pieces but two in particular come to mind
One was a beautiful heirloom piece for my best friend when she got married a number of years ago. It was a gorgeous cross-stitch pattern of a bride, done on a soft vintage green 32 ct linen, done over 1 thread
About half way through I thought to myself “what were you thinking when you started this?” as it contained at least 12-15 shades of “white” thread and the lower part of the dress was edged with over 400 VERY tiny pearl beads. But I pushed on and by the time I finished it (approximately 200 hours later) it had become part of me and I had a hard time giving it up.
The second one was a very large blackwork piece approximately 15 x 30 inches that consisted of 131 individual and unique diaper patterns, plus metallic threads and beads. That one took me 260 hrs but I loved every single minute of it
The most time consuming project I have been working on (and off) is a thread painting of a mom fox and her two babies taking a snuggly nap. I started it last year in October, and it is only three quarters done. Maybe next year… Merry Christmas Mary!
A cross stitch of the world map. It was an 8×10 and it had taken me almost 2 years to finish. It still hangs in our living room after 10 years.
The most time consuming project for me is a large Mountmellick tablecloth. Started in 2014…and still going! I’ve completed all the embroidery and learned a lot, including new stitches; how tough the fabric and thread is; how to use a cut piece of rubber glove to pull the thread through the fabric, etc.!. I just have to finish the knitted fringe for it. I keep getting it wrong. Grrr. I also said that when this piece is finished, it will mean my son will find a lovely girl to marry…and it can be part of their engagement present. So, its my fault he hasn’t found anyone yet! Merry Christmas everyone. Liz in Sunny Perth, Western Australia.
so far my most time consuming project would be a dimensions xst kit, that took me over 6 months of hours of daily stitching, it has a light house in the back ground,against a sunset, and the foreground is waves breaking on a rocky shore, loads of colours made more complicated by the number of blended colours in the sky and water. But it is my pride and joy and one of the few pieces I have kept for myself, most of my finished stitching is given away….. but I do have several Theresa Wentzler kits waiting for me to be brave enough to start them 🙂
My most time consuming embroidery project has been a shawl with intricate design in multiple colours and stitches. Some of the stitches have multiple colours in it. It is not yet completed. I fell in love with the design and jumped in at the deep end. It began 2 years ago and Mary I don’t see the completion anywhere round the corneer. But, I will finish it.
Many years ago I did a cross-stitch that took about a year. More recently I’ve been doing projects of my own design. They are more about the process and less about the time or getting it done.
The most time consuming embroidery project I have worked on to date is an aerial view of our favourite garden in Wimbledon. I started design on it a little over a year ago, and I would say at this stage it is about 25% complete. A long way to go, but it will be a great memento of our time in London.
10 years ago, no 11 – I bought a kit of a wolf in cross stitch. It’s one of the kits that have several types of cross stitch (1/4, 1/2, 3/4) and outlining. But the hardest part is the threads. There a lot of shading, do quite often 2 or 3 stitches of ‘2 strands blue + 1 strand fawn colour in the needle’ then a new thread combo. I have completed one full quarter and about half the second quarter. But the bits that are finished look stunning. Did I mention the size? 17 inches square!
It would be a cross stitch that I did for my sister and her husband: Butternut Road’s Spirit Dancer stitched on linen. It took me about 9 months, stitching every day and some days were 6 or 7 hours! The pattern is of an American indian lady seated, with a dreamcatcher and an oval scene behind her. There are ceramic pots on the ground beside her. She is in a long white dress with some sort of cape/ shawl around her shoulders. There are a lot of folds in the garments and, subsequently, a lot of shading, but the thing I will always remember, is that it took 6 full skeins of white alone to stitch the dress, using two strands of floss. There is also a lot of beading using glass beads and treasures, and Super Suede for the fringing on the dress and shawl.
I stitched this in the 1990’s and imported the linen and all the embellishments from the USA as I had trouble finding them in Australia at the time. I think I must have written 10 or 12 letters to shops around Australia (had no internet then) and finally gave up. Was very pleased with myself when Gillian and Garry unwrapped it.
A lovely counted cross stitch sampler of the town square and surrounding buildings in Williamsburg, Virginia has taken the most psychic energy over the past 27 years and still counting. It convinced me that free form embroudery was much more my thing, for which I am grateful. However I am still determined that I shall live long enough to finish it. I hope.
A piece I spent quite a bit of time stitching was a reproduction sampler. In addition to all the rows of alphabet and words, the embroidered scene at the bottom was very small and intricate. I do however enjoy stitching very fine detailed work.
Goodmorning Mary,
I am working on a project for more then 2 years and not finish yet 50 %.
I am using silk threads for a piece with flowers on a silk fabric background. It’s a project what i some times forget.
Greetings, trea
The most time consuming project I have worked on was probably a Paula Vaughn cross stitch years ago. I have recently gotten back into embroidery (which I learned 40 years ago) so I am starting easy with a Drop Cloth Sampler and LOVE it. Trying to build my stash to begin doing even more. I have fallen in love with embroidery all over again. It’s wonderful! Thanks for the opportunity to win.
My most time consuming project was a counted cross-stitch scene of a coral reef with tropical fish, which I completed for my sister’s 50th birthday. It was on a navy blue background and was embellished with other stitches too. I badly underestimated the amount of time it was going to take but I did manage to finish in time. It was worth it to see her reaction though – she loved it!
Most time-consuming project – well, longest-running anyway – a map of the US, bordered in the 50 states’ state flowers. All flowers done in various embroidery stitches with embroidery floss. Map us done, all lettering is done, and about 25 of the state flowers are done. I bought it from BH&G magazine in 1969 or 1970 and I work on it every so often.
I stitched a beautiful spot sampler designed by Martina Dey, a German designer. The piece was stitched using Gloriana thread and was named “Patricia.” I renamed the piece “Cherry Tart” for the name of the threat color used. The project took over two years to complete and used a half hank of Gloriana silk thread.
I developed an intricate wedding sampler from multiple patterns that is approximately 16×24. I have worked on it for 35+ years. The initial work was done in the first few years. As I continued to learn about threads & techniques I continued to tweak the sampler. It has been resting for a few years so it is time to stop & have it professionally framed.
I have a few very complicated time-consum8ng projects but the one on my mind right now is Village Alphabet on 32ct over one!! Am on letter T finally
Years ago I stitched a copy of an old painting in Petite Point. It took almost a year to complete and was only done that quickly as I stitched six to eight hours a night! As I am a night owl the late nights weren’t a problem but the early mornings with the kids were a bit brutal after a while. I have no conception of time when fully engrossed in a project. I do enjoy looking at this piece on my living room wall.
My most time-consuming project was Teresa Wentzler’s The Castle, which was one of the first cross-stitch projects I ever undertook and which was quite above my skill level at the time. I struggled with not only the sheer size but one of first forays into linen fabric, blended threads and fractional stitches. I put it aside for a few years until I discovered the old Usenet group RCTN (rec.crafts.textiles.needlework) where I found a number of people who were also working on it. And then someone said they were adding blending filament for some sparkle. At the time, I’d never heard of such a thing but it sounded magical. I pulled the project out and got going on it once again, but progress remained slow. All told, that piece was 8 or 9 years in the stitching – and it was another 5 or 6 before I got it framed, but it now holds a place of pride on my wall and certainly helped raise my skill level and confidence to try much more advanced techniques!
I spent all of 2017 from 1/8/2017 to 11/14/2017 cross stitching 3 old world St. Nickolas Christmas stockings that my daughter had requested. There were over 200 colors in each stocking stitched over 2 threads on 32 count Belfast linen. I then spent a week sewing the stockings with velvet backing and silk lining and trimming with gold cord. Daughter did receive them 2 weeks before Christmas.
I am currently doing a block of the month that I started working on in January of this year. It is all hand appliqué and then embellished with quite a few different stitches. In order to be ready for the upcoming months kit, I must work on it constantly and usually finish it up just before receiving the next one. This is my second one I have done this way and although I have completed the first one which took me a year to complete, I still need to Quilt the finished top.
A sheet and pillow case set, embroidered with hanging baskets of geraniums… unfortunately still not finished!
Right now I am embroidering a woollen Christmas tree, with all sorts of stitches…lots work, but I am enjoying it !,
My most time consuming work was done when I was 11. I embroidered the Serenity Prayer in cross stitch surrounded by a crewel border. It was the first piece I ever made and I had to learn the stitches and practice before I could complete it. My father helped me construct and stain the frame and my mom helped me frame it for Christmas.
It hung in my grandmother’s house for many years and now hangs in mine where I see it every day. The love and enjoyment of the accomplishment still warms me today.
My most time consuming project has to be a Christmas stocking I made for my daughter.
I made an appliqued floral patterned quilt for my first attempt! THEN–I decided to embroider textured lines on the flowers and add a simple tatted edging ( which I made during jury duty!) around each block. Naturally I made many changes to flower shapes. Just couldn’t resist ! Simple hand quilting followed. This has been an experiment to cherish (as well as delving into colors & threads galore!) I learned that stitching is a wonderful way to meditate.
I have 2 Amish cross stitch pictures that I spent about 8 yrs to complete! If I remember correctly, I worked the first one right along – but I NEVER thought I would finish the 2nd one!
Perfect time to comment on involved and lengthy needlework: they were both Christmas projects! I stitched for several years each on an afghan with 20 Christmas designs and a tree skirt with 5 large Santas around it. I normally work on something until I finish it, but these were so involved that I could not stick to it straight through. I love them both, and they are displayed each holiday season.
Many years ago I stitched and actually completed a 30 x 35 inch trame project of four horses running past bushes and brush. The background is a very dark brown, the horses are tan tones, and the brush adds pops of yellow, orange and green. Looking at it now I cannot believe I finished it as I now favor small projects of 12 inches or less!
My long standing project is making some curtains with Aida fabric and embroidering them along the hemline.
A work in progress still! It’s a rescued crazy quilt made years ago by a wonderful lady who loved sports and life. She was a Milliner by trade and lived a long, happy plife. When she died st age 98, this UFO was put in the trash. I asked if I could rescue it to finished and was given a “go for it” response. Lucky me. I’ve had to replace many of the silk pieces (I sought out old silk ties for this). Now I’m working on the embroidery. It’s a slow process and I’ve learned a lot about restoration! I’m not sure if it’s taking me so long because it’s been a challenge or if nostalgically I just don’t want it to end. Sigh!
I have a mandala-like elephant I’ve been working on for 2 years – it is beautiful, and the pattern is very intricate. I’ve been experimenting with variegated threads, and I keep questioning my choices. I should just finish it and start another if I don’t love it, but it can be disheartening. 🙂
My friend told me about an embroidery kit she had from the 1970’s, and lamented that she had not even started it. Sight unseen, I offered to complete it for her. She pulled out this HUGE woodland animal piece. It took me two years to complete….
Started a cross stitched bedspread in 1963 and stitched for several years. Then had babies, got busy with life and finally hand quilted it over a years time in 2004. 41 years and finished!!
My four 12×12 blocks made in Judith Baker Montano’s class 5 years ago. I’m still embellishing with beads on my stitches hopefully heading to the finish line! It’s a wonderful combination of color and embellishment placement.
Vintage Tin, a Crabapple Hill pattern started 5 years ago and only third done.
Oooh, Thread!!! I’m working on a Hazel Blomkamp design right now. It’s both large and intricate, so I’m pretty sure it’s the most ambitious thing I’ve ever worked on.
I am a beginner embroiderer so I have downloaded so many stitches and instructions and have spent hours of pleasure teaching myself. Since I’ve started using Lorraine’s thread I inspire to start and complete a project soon. I have enough samplers! LOL.
I think it is a tie between two alphabets that I designed and cross stitched. One was for my housemate’s nephew and it had thick block letters surrounded by characters from the Angry Birds game (he was 7 and he chose the theme). I designed and sewed it all. I think it took 6 months to a year.
The other was a year long project for my nephew. It was another alphabet but this time I designed a tiny animal for each letter. I started to mess around with the design before he was born and it was a 1st birthday present. the motifs were small but included a lot of half and quarter stitches so took a while.
Wow! That’s all I can say after reading people’s comments. There are so many talented and productive people. It is truly inspiring to read about people’s projects. My longest project to date is a hardanger piece that I did. It is pretty large and has beads but it doesn’t seem to compare to what this group has done. Good for everyone.
The project recently that took several months to complete was a thread-painting bust of my sweet girl Sadie, a American Eskimo Dog.
I am currently working on a 3 foot round rug that is on 18 count canvas. Lots of color changes as it is a floral. It is the time consuming by far, even more that the 8 Christmas stockings that I have done.
A wonderful Christmas present. I love working with color complements! These yarns add so much creativity to any pitcher’s work.
I started a crewel work piece in approximately 1976, when I was fourteen years old. While visiting my parents home2 years ago, and 11 or 12 moves later, I came across the piece. I have worked on it on and off over he last couple of years and may finish it before Christmas this year. I’ll make a pillow and give it to one of my adult kids!
The most time-consuming embroidery project I have ever worked on is a cross stitch project worked over 2 threads on 25 count Lugana. It is large, 22 1/2 X 14 1/2, with full cross, half cross and back stitches as well as bead work. The thing that makes it so time consuming and difficult is that it has just under 100 thread changes. Most are blended needles of two threads, sometimes with a metallic or another cotton floss for 3 threads in the needle; rarely am I stitching with just one color in the needle. The piece is titled “Peacock Tapestry” designed by Teresa Wentzler. If I ever get it finished, it will be stunning.
My biggest – and as yet unfinished – project has to be a gorgeous gold work phoenix from EAC seminar about 10 years ago.
The most time consuming project I worked on (and finished) was a sampler from Emie Bishop – it combined numerous types of embroidery, was worked on fine linen, and I worked on this off and on for years. I would get discouraged by a very complicated embroidery method and set the piece aside. Finally, when I managed to get it done (in 2010) I stitched the year into the pattern, just as a reminder to myself that “I had actually done it!”. To honour this beautiful piece of needlework, I had it framed with Museum quality glass, archival mattes, etc. and it is truly a piece of art.
Most time consuming embroidery project …
Another thought provoking question Mary. On one of our trips to France my husband and I went to see the Bayeux Tapestry. This was my special request but he is a history buff so we both enjoyed that experience.
Well, dear hubby bought me a kit from the gift shop, a 43” x 24” reproduction of one of the Bayeux panels. The design is printed on linen and it came with three colours of wool yarn – red, gold and green. It is a tedious piece to work on, the colours are not inspiring and the Bayeux stitch takes a long time to complete a small area. This project comes out of the sewing bag once a year. I work on it until I am sick of the thing. Back into the bag for another year. Eventually it will get done, thank you dear hubby.
To be truthful I have to admit I haven’t been working on it all these years, but I’d have to say my most time-consuming needlework project was started about 45 years ago! I became interested in crewel work in the heyday of late 60s/early 70s decorative stitching. I completed some beginner kits and started a more involved kit depicting a tree, squirrel, etc in a Jacobean style. The kit was set aside for college and other creative endeavors, only to resurface when unpacking some long forgotten needlework items a year or so ago. I have more exacting standards now, but my daughter has encouraged me to pick it up and finish! So it is now #2 on my list of stitching WIP that need to be finished.
The longest project I’ve worked on is Majestical Mermaid Series Sampler by Donna Smyth.
I’m trying to do a card for my son’s wedding next year. It will have some Goldwork, Stumpwork and surface work, with loads of ‘meaning’ to each element. Now I’ve put it into words, I’m more scared than ever!
It seemed like a good idea at the time: a custom-designed counted work from a photo of my father-in-law’s unique home. Part of the home was an octagonal lighthouse. It was weathered cedar, which meant LOTS of grays and many partial stitches. Quite the challenge! Years later, the project is still languishing in a project bag. Maybe I’ll find it again and use my updated technology lighting to finish it!
The most time consuming embroidery project on which I have worked is a hardanger embroidery table cover on 28 count linen. There was much to cover and every bit of the fabric had stitches (or so it seemed at the time).
The most time-consuming piece I’ve worked on has been a DMC chart for counted cross stitch, “Moonlight and Roses”. It is done on 16 ct. dark navy blue aida. It has dozens of colors, worked in DMC floss, DMC acrylic thread and DMC Flower thread (yes, this is an OLD project!). To work on it, I have to have three sets of thread color palettes, a large magnifier and back-lighting. It has been in the “works” for more than 15 years. I take it up and stitch for a while, then throw it into my stash again as other projects come along. Someday soon I hope to finish…!
The lengthiest project i did was one called Odyessy and i started it in october 1998. I put the last beads on it in 2017. Now it is waiting to be laced and framed. I did stitch on it once a year for a weekend retreat and then for the following week. It was a loved friend and now i have another piece i am wanting to start but not certain i have 20 years to stitch it in.
Still uncompleted. A translation of a black and white theater program into a color cross-stitch piece. (Requested by my husband and foolishly agreed to.) Each square has to be graphed, the colors considered, discussed with the recipient, stitched, reconsidered…
I once started a flower pattern for cross stitch to frame, but then I started a night job and never finished it. It had a lot of different stitches in it and I couldn’t get back to it. Now I don’t have it to finish.
Probably the most time consuming is a jacket wool jacket I’m making for my granddaughter.
I like to make items that have a use so I decided to make a cover for my I pad that can also be used for holding a note book. I wanted to enter it into show and tell for the Brazilian Embroidery seminar I was planning to go to.
For the embroidery design I wanted to do a fairy that is holding a baby dragon. I have a porcelain doll that I wanted to use for it. I emailed the maker of the doll and received permission to translate it into embroidery for my personal use only. The problem was that the doll is hanging and I needed her to sit on something. I searched the internet and found a pic of an interesting mushroom.
Combining the mushroom and doll I drew a pic for my pattern. The hardest was choosing what stitches would need to make it look right. It took me almost a year but I did finish it on time and won third place.
And no it’s not finished! A year ago I took a class at SNAD (San Francisco School of Needlework and Design) on Crewel Embroidery. It was a beautiful Talliaferro Design.
It inspired me so that I designed a headboard. I spend a year working out the threads, with much help from Andie at Renaissance Dyeing. I practiced my leaves. I selected my background fabric. So a year has gone by and I don’t like it.
It looks like a rehash of every other Jacobean Crewel. It didn’t say anything new. So I went back to SNAD and had a personal meeting with Ellice, one of the founders of the school and a very talented human being!
I brought with me everything I had done, my color choices, my yarn, and explained my problem. I also brought with me what I thought would be a new and modern crewel design. I had dyed some indigo hemp for the background.
For a couple of hours, Ellice and I went over my designs, my thread choices and possible stitches. My new design is like floating bubbles among waving grasses. The grasses are the result of complex shibori dyeing. Ellice recommended that I go beyond just typical crewel fillings. She taught me how to pad some of the bubbles, add unexpected stitches, and we spent some time talking about space, symmetry.
I feel confident that I can go forward now. This is the longest design stage I have ever done. After I get these holidays over with, (really holiday for who? extra cooking, extra cleaning, extra decorating, extra extra extra)….I’m going to mock up the entire design on paper to scale. Then I’ll do a new shibori background, transfer my design, and whew, begin again!
Sometimes it feels like it takes forever to put needle to fabric.
Oh, and the giveaway thread? I’m going to use it for a guild project.
One of the Crewel Wirk Company firescreen projects is currently taking a long time to stitch. Also a wool applique project by Kerry Green that is heavily embellished with hand embroidery in threads with varying textures and stitches is also in my work basket and has really stretched my embroidery knowledge base.
Thanks for this Mary, I love your blog.
The most time consuming project I ever worked on was an entry to a competition run in 1993 by DMC. The title was “Great Britain” I divided the fabric into four spaces, one for each country of the kingdom. I put a crown in the center and populated the spaces with iconic features of each of the countries. The rules stipulated that the piece could be no bigger than a certain size….so I made mine the biggest it could be and still stick with the rules. It was massively colorful….used too many colors. I had to design all the features myself with colored pencils and graph paper. I did not win the prize. Got a highly commended or something like that. Mine was far bigger and more colorful than the winner’s. Simple is better I discovered. It took me 9 months start to finish. working on it every day. Still have it of course…it’s lots of fun to look at.
The most time-consuming piece I recently completed was Hazel Blomkamp’s “Masterpiece”, but I loved the variety of stitches used.
My most time consuming project was a deacon’s bench cushion cover in blue and white needlepoint that I backed with blue velvet and gave to my mother. It was the first time I had ever used a graphed pattern ( 3 of Maggie Lane’s Blue Willow patterns) and surrounded by a rice stitch background.
My oldest unfinished project and one I intend to complete in 2019 is Lavender and Lace Ice Angel. I have left the beads to the end but oh, the skirt ….. stitched in white Marlitt rayon floss and it is huge. It is definitely a labour of love. I haven’t touched it in several years but 21 years is just too long to have a WIP. According to my notes I started this beautiful piece January 1998. Each time I did work on it, it was for several weeks. But new designs, classes for new designs (the owner of my LNS is a world class needlework designer and teacher, mainly canvaswork) and LIFE made me put the entire scroll frame into a old white pillowcase and put it aside …. “just for now” you understand! January 2019 I start again, this time to completion.
Hi. Love the tree patterns I bought! The longest has to be a needlepoint called “Depart pour la chasse” which is 100cm x 135cm. And no, it is not completed in spite of starting in 1975!
The biggest embroidery project I have worked on is a Sue spargo wool quilt with lots of embroidery and applique.
I love love all threads. This would be a great collection to add to my stash.
The most time consuming project for me was a double window valance in crewel wool and silk. An artist took elements from an oriental headboard, symbols from an oriental rug plus the colors in the rug, bed spread and headboard to create a flowing oriental design with Chinese symbol, cherry blossoms and a pagoda. This project took over 500 hours to complete….and I loved every stitch!
Carolyn
I started a portrait of my cat, Sophie, in June, 2018, and, not done yet! I had to put it down for a while, and have to pull out some errant whiskers that need to be redone!
The most time consuming project I have ever done was a pillow for my Grandmother. She loved Roses so I did a counted cross stitch pillow with about 10 shades of pink thread all just one shade off of each other on Navy material. I did get it done and after she passed I was given the pillow. Now when I look at it I think of how happy she was to receive it.
Every project I have started to embroider has been frustrating for me. I just don’t think my stitches are correct. I was just introduced to your website and tutorials and I am SO EXCITED. I know I can do this now – it was just a matter of good instruction!!! Thank you.
The longest project I have ever worked on took me three years to complete. It was a mail order sampler pattern done on burlap with crewel wool. The finished size is 66″ x 48″. It was my first attempt at crewel work. I didn’t know anything about transferring a design to fabric, so I traced the pattern on tissue paper and pined it to the fabric. I embroidered over the tissue paper and then removed all the little bits of tissue paper after completing each element. When I finally finished it, my father made a stretcher frame for it and helped me stretch the finished piece over the frame. It now hangs in my living room.
The most time consuming project I stitched was a design by Trish Burr called “Mauve and White Rose Spray”. It took so long for two reasons. The first was we were moving at the time. We were moving van loads from one house to the other house 6 hours away. It took us 6 months to move and I brought my stitching project back and forth each time and tried to find energy to work on it. The second reason it took so long was because I altered the design a bit. I added a whole bunch of bullion knots and small flowers to it. I wasn’t very experienced at bullions and so learning to do them well and getting them done took a lot of extra time- I wanted them to look nice! The extra little flowers were simple but added more work as well. I finished the project months after we moved but was really pleased with the outcome and it is hanging in our new home!
The longest embroidery project was a peanuts Christmas piece done entirely in long short stitch.
The most time-consuming project I ever worked on was, a series of three botanical prints – a tulip, rose and lily all in shades of pink that I love. They were in counted cross stitch and the designs came for Cross Stitch and Country Crafts if I remember the magazine’s name correctly. I paid big bucks to have them framed and have been in a place of honor in my home for years. The most amazing thing was I did them while in nursing school, that I was going to as a married mother of two! Don’t ask me where I got the time other than maybe summer vacation.
I loved Coloured Complement threads. She does a beautiful job. They look as great online as they do in person.
It took me a year and a half of almost daily stitching to complete a cross stitch Christmas stocking for my grandson. It was fun when I started it, but after 7-8 months, it became tedious! But nearing completion was exciting again. And now I misss working on it!
I believe it was the red work little red riding hood that was the center part of a childs quilt. I swear that thing grew every time I picked it up to work on & wondered if it would ever get finished before she turned 20. It was & turned out to be a beautiful little quilted blanket that she still has today.
I attempted to create a sampler of stiches used in embroidery. I completed the embroidery but the sampler border.
Thank you,
KatieP
The most time consuming project I’ve worked on was a beaded Christmas tree skirt. It has been several years now and is still not done. My Mom is working on it now and will pass it back as she gets bored with it.
I have worked up a couple of biscornu in cross stitch, as well as a small oval toolbox (with customized stiching designs: my red house amongst the woods, and on the other side several backyard birds, a band of acorns and leaves around the side.) that have taken a surprisingly long time for me to complete and work up into finished pieces; I didn’t keep track of actual hours involved, but am keenly aware that items of this nature can never be priced to reflect what actually went into them! That is why they become gifts or heirlooms:)
YIKES! “The Bunny Run-Around” by Teresa Layman is an exquisite all French and Colonial knots embroidery project about 4 1/4” in diameter. The finished rug has approximately 1,100 knots per square inch when worked in single-strand Colonial knot and approximately 2,000 knots per square inch when worked in single-strand French knot. That translates to about 3 to 6 hours per square inch of stitching time.
I am about half way finished with this project and if it wasn’t for all the wonderful compliments I get on this piece, I would have lost patience and the project would now be in my UFO (Un-Finished Objects) file. God bless the winter season for catching up on stitching !
Most of my projects seem to take forever because I have many going at one time. I should make it one of my New Year’s resolutions to correct that habit.
The most complicated project was my SECOND ever attempt to embroider. It was a three-block set of designs; bird, butterfly, and birdhouses. It included crazy-patch, sequins, seed beads, crystals, ribbons, and threads galore. FUN, FUN, FUN! I learned so many stitches. And the embroidery addiction began.
My most time consuming project was a very large piece, approximately 20 x 40. It was a Japanese scene — three ladies, in full custom clothing, each very intricately designed and holding on to parasols, each with its own design. The ladies are on a hilltop overlooking the ocean, but below them is a valley of flowers, vines and then the ocean mist. It was beautiful and I had this fabulous idea to do some parts in beads. It’s been “years”, but I pull it out and work on it every once in a while. It will be beautiful when finished and it’s quite heavy!
Probably the longest was a lovely counted cross stitch I did for my dad. It has a father, a little girl on her tippy toes reaching up to him along with a touching verse. It hangs on his wall still , I completed it over 25 years ago. He is now 80, one day it will be on my wall and will always remind me of what a wonderful father he his.
Over 40 years ago, I made two approx. 2 feet by 3 feet needlepoints, filling each hole in the canvas with two stitches, cross-stitch-like. Except for bed size quilts, which are also time consuming, I don’t think I ever made anything with so much work in it (and so much thread!) since then.
My most time consuming project has been EGA’s GCC “More Than A Rose.” Not only have I not worked silver and gold metal threads before but I have done little with silk. All these new fibers I feel I must handle so carefully and then also learn Elizabethan stitches too. And learn on my own. Well , it will not be turned into the teacher for a critique – I have certainly exceeded my time limit!
An authentic Moravian woman’s folk costume is the most time consuming project undertaken. Every piece, the chemise, skirt, apron, blouse, sash, vest, shawl, scarf and even petticoats are all intricately and highly embellished in colorful and beautiful embroidary and lace techniques. Since it is handed down several generations, mothers to daughters, each generation has embelishes it with their best and finest with thought to harmony and authenticity, adding to its value. Reparing the worn, or when absolutely necessary, replacing in the same spirit, the original. It is a work of love, and a connecton to the past, present and future.
Many many years ago I saw somebody cross stitching in their work break and was fascinated so I went out the following day band bought a kit but in my excitement bought a large picture of three horses heads and some chickens, which, at the time, was really way above my abilities, but I fell in love with the horses. I picked it up and put it down many times over the years, and it grew slowly, very slowly. Then I had a serious riding accident and spent months recovering during which the cross stitch picture became my companion to keep me occupied and I lost myself in it for hours which in turn helped the days and weeks go by. I finished it 21 years after I started it and it is now framed and hangs on the wall in our house so I’m guessing it was the longest it’s ever taken me to do and probably also the most time consuming! Oh and I recovered from my accident, but was unable to continue riding which is when I started to do much more embroidery in all its forms.
I’ve just started the RSN certificate so is first piece of crewel work is likely to be the most time consuming project as I learn how to do the design etc, one month in and no stitching yet! But still loving the whole process
I have been working on the cross stitch pattern “The First Angel of Light” designed by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum of Lavender and Lace. It’s the largest cross stitch design I have ever undertaken, worked over two threads of linen, and I’ve been working on it off and on since the 1990’s. Lately I’ve actually been thinking up a strategy on how to complete it, so this confession is a good motivator. (It would have been easier to completed before my eyes got old. Now I need lots of light and magnification.)
I found a new embroidery kit at Salvation Army of a small French style sewing box with every thing needed enclosed. I was so excited since embroidery was on my bucket list after retirement. Along with crochet, quilting and refurbishing vintage sewing machines.
That was more than two years ago. I dream about finishing this project and wish that I had found your website before I started the project. Now I will pull out the mess I made.
Wish I read your blog First, then look for other embroidery projects that are for beginners.
Thanks for this forum.
I’ve been working on a pair of cross stitch pillow cases for at least nine years? I pick it up, but quickly lose interest when I visit websites like Needle’n Thread! Lol
I would absolutely love these threads. My longest stitching project (needlepoint) took about 5 months not once but twice.I stitched and completed Gay Ann Roger’s two queens, Eleanor of Aquitaine took about 5 months and also Elizabeth which took at least 5 months, as well. Both of them were stitched on 24 ct. Presently, I’m working
on Victoria.
The most time consuming project I ever worked on was Tony Mineri’s “Stars”. I took a year long class at my LNS. I did finish it by the end of the class. It was a great project and I learned many new stitches along the way!
Over 30 years ago I finished two park bench cross stitch projects from a set of three published in a magazine. I finished the third one recently. Now I need to get them all framed and hung together.
The most time consuming project that I’ve ever worked on is a canvas-work piece designed by a friend of mine. It incorporated numerous specialty stitches and types of threads/fibers as well as embellishments and beading. It’s a complicated counted work piece so I need to be extremely precise to ensure it’s done correctly. I’ve worked on it over several years (on and off) and hope to complete it soon.
The most time consuming project I have worked on was my first quilt. It spanned about 10 years and saw me through some of high school, college and the beginning of my career. Some years I made no progress and other years it seemed it was a daily project. Because it spanned so many years the finished quilt is also a demonstration of the growth of my skills and the expansion of my stitch selection (largely because of your blog!) over those years.
Several of my large needlepoint projects have taken well over a year to complete. My latest one, Why Fit In by Zecca took me 14 months. In addition to many, many complex, layered stitches, it also used over 2000 beads! Fun!
My most time consuming embroidery project (so far) would have to be my version of Sue Spargo’s Bird Dance, begun in January, 2013, as part of Sue’s BOM and finished in September, 2018.
My problem is that I seem to be incapable of simply following a pattern. My version of Bird Dance (named “Panic at the Disco – Who Let the Cats Out?”) ended up with many fabric substitutions from the packaged kits, extra embellishment of beads and stitches in each block, additional sashing to prevent the birds from pecking each other, embroidered (disco) cages around each bird and a fluffy yarn vine with over 120 berries, each embellished differently, in a border wide enough to accommodate two curious cats, each reaching for the closest bird.
I’m currently working on Sue’s Folk Tails (only two years into it, so far) and the hand dyed variegated embroidery threads from Colour Complements would be a fantastic way to personalize my version, which, of course, already has departures from Sue’s pattern. (I just can’t help myself.)
I love bright colors and variegated threads that include colors from both ends of the color spectrum in the same skein. Colour Complements’ threads are my ideal embroidery inspiration.
I took a year long crazy quilting class a couple of years ago where each month we worked on a different block, each seasonally themed. I think I’ve finished one block so far but I love the project and Lorraine’s threads are great for Crazy Quilting.
Mary, Most time consuming project that I’ve completed may be Teresa Wentzler’s ‘The Castle’, years ago. Elapsed time was about a year. Lots of quarter stitchers and blended colors, including Kreinik blending filaments.
I don’t usually track hours, so this is my best guess.
Yes, threads are a good way to a stitcher’s heart, and Lorraine creates lovely ones. Thanks to you both for another wonderful giveaway.
The most time consuming embroidery project I ever undertook and completed was a perpetual calendar. Each month was a circular piece with a flower to embroider representing the month. There was a cross stitch border around the whole piece and each number for the date was done in satin stitch. Each single piece of fabric was blanket stitched and then a velcro piece was sewn on. Yikes! It seemed to take forever, but my two children really enjoyed changing the month and dates!
My most time-consuming project was a Benedicte Reveilhac embroidery pattern of a wildflower meadow with butterflies, bees, caterpillars, and grasshoppers. Most of the pattern required one thread and very intricate stitches. I had to use a magnifying glass for most of it. It’s so pretty though, and I’m so glad I stuck with it. Now I have to figure out how to frame it!
Right now I’m working on a trinket box from the Thistle Thread Cabinet of Curiosities class. The silk thread has taken a long time to learn (I kept snagging it) and I’ve had to redo the gimp rabbit once because it looked awful! One day I’ll do the entire casket project.
Thank you for the lovely giveaways! Sharon
I bought on sale at Hobby Lobby a stamped pillow case. It was an all design for cross stitch of an Native American design. It is a huge design and I only do a little each week. It might take me awhile.
Not so much in terms of months but intensively: I wanted to finish a canvas work project from the English magazine “Stitch” : it was a 3D piece called something like “Juliette’s balcony”, and I wanted it done for my daughter’s birthday. Fingers, eyes, back and elbow were all really sore, meals were a bit scratchy, house was a mess and laundry a bit neglected, but I got it done! Then comes the problem of wondering and worrying about what to dive into next!
Thank you for the opportunity to win Color Complements new threads, I’ve never tried them before and they look positively delicious. The most complicated design I’ve ever worked on is a Jacobean design that I drew up to make a head board for my bed, it’s on navy blue fabric and uses as many stitches as possible as well as many different threads. It’s not finished yet, I’m enjoying the process. Kind regards Mandy xx
Thank you so much for hosting these wonderful give – aways!
I think my most time consuming embroidery project is a picture of a fruit basket done in crewel embroidery, which a friend gave me to help me learn how to do crewel. It’s slow progress, but it has been such a fun way to learn.
Merry Christmas!
I have this Schwalm project. It’s partway between an very large doily and a very small table topper. I’ve been working on it for several years and have not yet finished the outlines. I’ll get there. I get interrupted by life and other projects. Someone, naming no names, keeps begging me to start things like samplers from Victoria Sampler and courses from EAC.
I haven’t finished it yet but I’m working on a wholecloth heirloom quilt that is embroidered. It’s for a full size bed. The whole quilt top is hand embroidered. The design is Jacobean – I designed it after researching through a lot of books and the Internet Archives. It took me a bit over a year to get the design like I wanted. I’ve been transferring the design in sections as I work on it. I love doing surface embroidery like this. This is one of the projects that requires the stitching breaks like you wrote about, Mary! I’m taking this month off to work up some small gifts for friends. I’ve learned so much following your blog. I don’t think I would have tackled a project this big and involved if I hadn’t learned so much from you. The encouragement you give us to take on a challenge and breathe, take the time and take a break every now and then has also been a huge help!
I once did a Whitework sampler of a size large enough to fill a large tray. It took a while but I love it!
The longest project I’ve worked on is a crazy quilt for my SIL. It is all hexagons and a sampler of all kinds of needlework. Most of the ground fabric is silk, but I have some linen and some damask from a set of napkins my mother left me. Some of the hexies are crazy quilt blocks with antique lace, beads, and embroidery. My favorite is the feather stitch that winds through some of the patches. I have emboidered 3 hexies with the initials of each of my SIL’s family. I’ve been working on it for 3 years – I had to take a year off for cornea transplants. And I have some way to go. But it is a work of love and I am enjoying it no matter how long it takes.
As to time consuming projects, I try after Christmas holiday stitched gifts are sent, to give a new glance at my many unfinished WIPs in counted cross stitch, Hardanger & stumpwork. I see if there’s a special occasion in the upcoming new year that will propel me as a deadline to finish for a gift what has been set aside as a non-priority over the years. Most recent accomplishment was the 2013 mixed media Romanian lace crochet elements to canvas of a Partridge & Pear Tree that echoes bright colors & patterns of my Acapulco china. I’d finished a wonderful silk ribbon/stumpwork Partridge & the Pear Tree October seminar project within a month of that 2018 class so was willing to look once again at the old frustrating project, focused and finished with two weeks of concentrated stitching. Maybe I won’t quite give it away this December.
My most time consuming project was a sampler called “Bless this House” by Catherine Theron. It is a beautiful counted piece on linen with a strawberry vine border with 24 strawberries and about 25 queen stitches in each! The grass is encroaching gobelin stitch. It has a lovely variety of stitches but took about 2 years off and on to complete.
The most time consuming needlework project I’ve worked on is probably the cross-stitch of Norman Rockwell’s “Stockbridge at Christmas.” I stitched it over one on 20-count linen and the stitched area measures 5″ by 22.” It is double-matted and framed and hangs in my living room year-round, not just at Christmas!
I think that the most time-consuming project I’ve ever tackled was a wall hanging involving a bee hive, bees, flower gardens, and a scripture. It was fun to work on and rewarding to complete for a gift.
Thank you for this fun give-away and your wonderful website!
The hardest, most time consuming thing I ever embroidered was a kit that I fell in love with. Having only ever done my own embroidery designs, I really had no idea how hard it would be to follow someone else’s process through a piece of embroidery. Much as I loved the look of the finished piece, I never did finish the kit. It was just too tedious to do it someone else’s way. I hope that doesn’t sound boastful! Not my intention.
Thanks for hosting this giveaway. I’ve been using Lorraine’s threads for a while now and love them. So I can anticipate how wonderful this would be to win.
Best
Jess
St. Marys, Canada.
Is it bad that I have a number of long term projects, finished and in progress? Maybe I just like challenges. They all seem to be large projects. I have 2 different Shepherd’s Bush pieces that took several years to complete. Fair Philomel is a really pretty band sampler with lots of specialty stitches and I worked on it for several years. Emmanuel’s Song was started then languished for a number of years before it finally was stitched. I think the piece that most needs to be completed is Most Noble Pursuit, a compilation by several cross stitch designers that consists of 10 different blocks. I started and dated it in 2007 and so far, I’ve finished 3 blocks, roughly 1 block every 4 years!
I just completed a needlepoint Christmas stocking that took over a year.
Dear Mary,
A workbasket and set of needlework items that go in it (needle book, pin cushion etc) ………..it is still not stitched. I hope I manage it in this lifetime!
Thank you.
Louisa
I only work on small items that take a few days or maximum a week, otherwise I would never finish anything.
Fairy stumpwork is my long time progress project. When I think I’m almost done there is another area I noticed that I missed it can add more embellishments.