Fiber Arts Friday: Cross-Stitch with Brenda Black

The first Friday of every month is Fiber Arts Friday! Join me as we expand our horizons beyond crochet to focus on other interesting fiber and needle arts. Enjoy the beautiful projects and learn something new along the way. Today's featured needle art is cross-stitch. "Cross-stitch is a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches in a tiled, raster-like pattern are used to form a picture."

Brenda Black is a wonderful person and a good friend of mine. I was lucky enough to meet her in my Sunday fiber group, the Rainy Sunday Knitters. Brenda is talented in many different ways, but the craft I've seen her practice most often is cross-stitch. Her work is amazing and I'm pleased as punch to have her here with us today to share her cross-stitching.

About Brenda
I grew up by Sea-Tac airport, have 4 siblings and 7 nieces and nephews. I teach high school and am an Athletic Trainer. That means I work the athletes after school, helping them with their injuries.

How long have you been cross stitching? How did you get started?
24 years. I'd been doing needlepoint and became an aunt.  There weren't many needlepoint baby projects, so I started cross-stitching for baby gifts for the nieces and nephews.

What advice do you have for folks who are interested in cross-stitch?
I was able to teach myself, but I wish the Internet would have been around as a resource. The main thing is to start simple and keep trying.

Here is some of Brenda's work...

If you're interested in cross-stitch you can find kits and supplies in most large craft stores. You can even make up your own designs using graph paper or digital tools. For more information on cross-stitch, visit the National Needle Arts Association website. Thank you for sharing your projects with us today, Brenda!