Christmas in the Heartland - Updated 3/9/22

March 9, 2022--Won 3rd Place Ribbon in the Whitework category at Woodlawn's 59th Annual Needlework Exhibition in Alexandria, VA.  So pleased.

July 3, 2020--Picked up this project from Michaels Arts & Crafts frame shop today.  Love how it came out--simple yet elegant.  Even though it's a Christmas piece, I'm going to have it hanging in my guest room all year round.

Christmas in the Heartland Framed

May 28, 2020--Fini!  As much of a challenge as this piece was for me, I enjoyed every step of the way.  The very last section contained a hardanger stitch called Greek Cross adjoining Divided Wrapped Bars.  Cindy Valentine's instructions were very clear, but I took a peak at some YouTube videos on how this stitch is executed just for clarification.  Easy peasy!  Lastly, I found one more error and have noted it below in my Notes to the Instructions.

Christmas in the Heartland Completed

Note:  At first I thought the small bird on the lower right side was a chicken.  Heartland = Chicken.

Nope, while stitching it, I realized it's supposed to be a quail because of the piece on top of its head.  Can you see it?

May 26, 2020--Back in 2012, I enrolled in an ANG Workshop by Mail project called Christmas in the Heartland designed by Cindy Valentine.   Because this project has many hardanger type stitches, I put off working on this piece until I was able to take a hardanger class of some sort which I did at Hardanger University in February, 2019.  Glad I did wait--was able to cut the fabric for the first section in full confidence.  Cindy's instructions for doing the hardanger stitches are wonderful and I especially liked her chart giving the path for stitching the needlewoven bars and dove's eyes.  Perfect.

I do wish, however, that I copied the class emails and notes back in 2012, especially those that may have discussed errors in the instructions.  I found a few errors myself and have noted them below in case anyone else has this project in their "to be stitched" stash.  I also made an error in what type of silver Kreinik to use.  The instructions called for "HL", High Lustre silver #4 Kreinik and I'm using regular silver from my stash.  I now can see that the HL Kreinik would have made a much greater impact.  This project is stitched on 25 count Laguna linen and has been a challenge to work on.  Lots of froggin' going on.  The most difficult stitch for me to get right was the Queen's Stitch.  I must have restarted that stitch 4 times.  Aaarrrgh!

All in all, though, I am very much enjoying this project.  There's another band of hardanger cutwork coming up and I'm sure I'll get through that easily enough.   Below is a photo of my progress to date.  I took 2 photos, one with white fabric underneath the linen, another with a silvery color.  I like the silver fabric best--you don't see the threads on the back of the linen carried from one section to another.

Christmas in the Heartland Through Band O

Notes to the Instructions:

• A Kloster stitch is missing on Band B in the lower right section.  The missing stitch is shown  on Page A Master Chart, Page B Detail of Master Chart Top and on Page 5 Detail of Band B.
• The Queen Stitches Detail on Page 19 show the angles of the center stitches going in a different direction than those on the Master Chart Page A and on the Detail of Master Chart Center Page C.  I used the Master Chart to determine the angles.
• The color Kreinik for the Ray stitches on Diagram O Page 21 for the blue colorway should be silver, not gold as printed.
• Band R on page 22 refers to placing beads in this section.  The instructions made no reference to where those beads were to go.