Throwback Thursday: First Embroidery

For several years now I’ve been under the impression that my Stitchaversary, or anniversary of when I started embroidering, was in November 2009. It was at that time that I really got into embroidering, and I even made embroidered gifts for everyone that year. But a recent snoop through my parents’ basement has proven otherwise! I found several embroidered pieces that I did when I was young…maybe between 11-13 years old (so between 1980-1983).

I’m known for not forgetting anything, I have a steel trap, if you will, for events that happened when I was growing up (ask me what I did in my 20s, and I have no idea…). But I have absolutely no recollection of making these pieces – how weird is that?! I remember the pink fabric, but I don’t remember making the little quilt.

It looks like the little squares of this fabric made the perfect guide for my stitches. I have to admit that they look pretty good.

I even took the time to sew two pieces of fabric together to finish this piece off.

I’m just not even sure what to say about this…Under HOME SWEET HOME, I listed out the names of the people in my family, including my dog Tease! And, since we’re Irish, I added a little shamrock to the top right. There’s even a seam all the way around to give this piece that finished look.

This is the backside. I was obviously not even concerned about what the back looked like, or even how I stretched the floss around the piece!

I found some “unfinished” pieces, too. These are rough pieces of fabric that were just cut. And, no, these are not the backsides of the pieces, this is the front finished product!

This one cracks me up! My dad worked at Byron Nuclear Power Plant when I made this, and I guess I was super proud of that!

It was a lot of fun to come across these “vintage” pieces that I created. I still can’t get over how I didn’t even now that I had created them, and it’s just going to have to be a mystery. It is pretty neat to see how far I’ve come in my talent at embroidering, though!