In September 2005 I was shopping at Hobby Lobby with my aunt Lou, Maggie, & Breezy. Auntie found a cross-stitch pattern of the USA in a clearance section. I didn’t see the pattern until after we left the store, and when I did see it, I felt like it would be the perfect project for me to work on.

So we turned around and went back into the building, walked straight back to the area Lou had found her’s. We searched and searched, but it seemed like we were just wasting our time, there just wasn’t another pattern like it in sight.

At this point, you can probably imagine the distress I was feeling. Suddenly, one of my companions exclaimed, “I found it!” I was completely over-joyed. I took it up to the register, checked out, and headed home with a long and exciting project ahead of me.

Later that week I bought the material, and the embroidery floss I didn’t already have. Right away I began to cross-stitch, starting in Minnesota. I’m not quite sure why I started there, probably because it has such a pretty shape. After I did all the state outlines, I continued on to do the water, icons, state names, and their capitals.

On April 15, 2006 I finished the last stitch. I spent a little over 350 hours working on this. Later that year, when the 4-H fair rolled around I entered it, and from there it went to the state fair, and did quite well.

In the bottom right corner I embroidered my name and the date of completion.

It now hangs on our living room wall. The frame is 36″ x 24″.

Here are a couple photos of the work in progress and the finished product.

*As you can tell, Alaska and Hawaii are very out of proportion, I just followed the pattern on those, so please excuse that*

Categories: Handmade | The Home