Needle Case

Design: Blackwork Egg by Kell Smurthwaite
Materials: 14-count ecru aida; DMC 111 variegated floss; white felt; white satin ribbon

I’m hosting a stitching swap over at Cross Stitch Forum which has me rather eggs-cited. We’re all stitching an egg to set dimensions, everyone has free reign over the design and the finish of the pieces. All the stitching has to be finished in time to send so that they will arrive for Easter (which is 4th April this year) and of the twenty participants, five of us have a nice, big “DONE” next to our names. It’s lovely to see the pictures trickling in and seeing how everyone has stitched their own eggs.

I designed my own blackwork egg and stitched it in DMC 111 variegated floss, which is a lovely gold-to-brown toned thread. The intention was to make it look a bit like a golden egg without having to use metallic gold floss as I hate using the stuff (it’s a bit of a faff, it frays and I always end up with my stitching looking a total mess). For my finish, I settled on a needle book, so I stitched the exchange details on the piece for the back and sewed two flaps of felt onto each of the inside pieces. Then I whip-stitched everything together, adding a piece of ribbon at the open edges so that it can be tied closed. I’m quite pleased with the finished piece and can hardly wait to see the rest of the eggs all stitched and ready to eggs-change!