2nd Place, Non-Professional Non-Original Without Instruction

Some years ago, Gail Sirna’s brand new Michigan map was sitting on the desk while I was in her red cardinal class. It was gorgeous but I didn’t need a map of Michigan! It was Sally Wagner who adapted the idea into a map of Minnesota. Over the years, she has generously shared her working strategies several times with our local guilds. The idea always resonated well with me but I couldn’t resolve issues, such as deciding on the perfect color scheme or how to transfer our 87 counties onto a grid. Finally, I decided to quit making excuses and start stitching. I went with the mathematical theory that it only takes four colors to make any map. I picked four color families loosely based on Gail Sirna’s colors; I found a four-color map of Minnesota and followed its layout. Next, I counted and charted Sally Wagner’s stitched map of Minnesota, starting with making the rectangular counties along our southern border twelve threads high. As I stitched, I decided to use mostly diagonal or oblique stitches that cover two, three, or four threads. The finished map feels like a true representation of Minnesota.