Egyptian Flower

Nashville, Tennessee, 2005. We will reach a current date at some point.

This piece is called Egyptian Flower and was designed by Toni McKelley, who taught is as a class which I attended at the American Needlepoint Guild Seminar in Nashville.

I chose this class for a number of reasons. Obviously I liked the design, but there were stitching techniques I wanted to learn and threads I had heard of but never used. It has a number of interesting design elements, many which would have worked on their own, but when brought together they make a brilliant overall design. (I happen to know that this is coveted by at least one of my brothers. I may let him have it.) I love the interplay of the solid colours behind the variegated central cross and the vibrancy of the outer cross. (On second thoughts maybe I'll just keep it on my wall a bit longer.)

I decided that I would not stitch any background to Egyptian Flower. Instead, I placed a reflective glossy white sheet of heavy paper behind it to reflect the grid of the canvas. The final framed size is 20" square and it took me 72 hours to stitch.

The dark line near the bottom of the flower is NOT part of the design. It's just my poor photography skills.

Nashville. What can I say? The hotel was humungous, the rooms were larger than our apartment and the covered gardens were stunningly colourful. There were shoportunities and a chance to do some sightseeing.

We did not go the The Grand Ol Opry, nor did we go on a wheel-boat ride. We did go to The Hermitage where I spent a pleasant half hour with one of the docents discussing the military merits not of Andrew Jackson, but of Marshall Ney. What's the link? Both were cavalry men, and General Jackson kept a portrait of Marshall Ney on his wall. I also learned a bit about Andrew Jackson too!
Our other big tour was to Franklin. We visited Carnton, the house that stars in "The Widow of the South" and spent a quiet time of reflection in the cool quiet of the cemetery. After that it was a walk across parts of the battlefield to the town where we got lost in a quilting emporium for at least an hour. It might have been longer, but we had to catch our ride back to Nashville.