Third Place

This set is a design by Diane Clements. I first saw it offered at a national seminar a few years ago and loved the concept of a box with “smalls”. The colors and design elements on all the pieces just make me smile when I look at them. As workshop chair for my local EGA chapter, I was able to bring Diane to my chapter to teach it as a two-day workshop in 2013.

What is it about small stitched items? In many cases, they certainly don’t take less time to stitch than a larger piece and there is a good degree of fussy finishing involved. Thank goodness I have a very good friend who is a needlework finisher. She takes my stitching to another whole level with her expert eye and hands putting sewing boxes, scissors cases, pin keeps, needle books, and fobs together.

The stylized writing in the verse is a bit hard to read, so I have included it here.
Autumn
doth her jewels display
in colors rich and bold,
hail the moment’s splendor
too soon gray winter comes.

I made one thread change in the design, but otherwise it is stitched as called for in the instructions. Diane worked her gold braid border on the box lid with DMC Or Clair 282z. This is a three-ply thread that has a serious mind of its own and wants to unwind with each stitch. I chose to use, instead, Kreinik #4 Braid 002J. It is a slightly brighter gold, but much easier to control when working a braid stitch, which can be a difficult stitch to control for size and shape without fighting with the thread as well.