2nd Place, Professional Non-Original with Instruction

Our ANG Chapter was planning its annual summer event, and we invited Valerie McAleenan, a newer local teach to be our instructor. She suggested the smaller center section of her larger design, Lapis Gold, as a possibility. It had been a long time since our group had done a geometric, so this seemed like an appealing idea. She renamed the smaller piece Evergreens in the Moonlight.

The center motif –the “Moon”—was appliquéd silver kid surrounded with long stitches that appear to hold it in place, although, if truth be known, the leather is held in place with tiny sewing stitches. The “Evergreens” are a stitch devised by Jean Hilton and there are some silver paillettes attached between them. From there on, we couched it in Japanese silver, easily done using the canvas as a guide, and then more rococo stitches than I have ever done—or want to do again. But the effect is wonderful. We finished off with a large complex triangle-shaped stitch that covers a lot of territory fairly readily, and called the piece complete.

Geometrics are always a challenge for me; I am more comfortable with free form embroidery, but this piece was enjoyable and gave us a pleasing result.