1st Place, Non-Professional Non-Original with Instruction

I was inspired to stitch this piece to honor my husband’s more than 24 years of military service in the U.S. Army. This patriotic design, painted by Liz Goodrick Dillon, reflects my husband’s deep love of country and is symbolic of the strength and courage found throughout our military. With the guidance of my instructor, Kathy Stolpin, I recreated the feathers of the eagle’s head as realistically as possible with a combination of wool/acrylic blend and silk fibers. I worked the eagle’s body with silk fibers in tent stitch with an overlay stitch suggesting feathers, to allow for an intricacy of shading. Further shading on the flag in the background, worked with silk, cotton, and metallic fibers in a variety of stitches, was important to convey a sense of dimension in the piece and add to the overall composition, while not overwhelming the bald eagle as the focal point.