This year, I decided to try something new and enter the Needlepoint/Cross Stitch competition. It gave me a new craft to try and learn. I'm pretty new to cross-stitching, and in retrospect I had NO IDEA how long it would actually take me to complete my submission. I have never worked so hard on something that ended up looking so simple. I've estimated that I have spent at least 60 hours and made more than 10,000 stitches in this project. But in the end, I was pretty happy with how things turned out, all things considered.
I present to you, my Cross Stitch sampler entry for the San Diego County Fair 2011 Needlepoint and Sewing competitive exhibit!
This cross-stitch sampler is a tribute to the old school Atari video games that I played as a kid. The three that are featured here are Pac-Man, Centipede, and Space Invaders. I played these games endlessly on my Atari 5200 game system, and had so much fun with them. Video games have since become such an elaborate and sophisticated experience-- sometimes I just yearn for the simplicity of an 8-bit video game with a joystick and one button! These games may seem old school, they never go out of style.
When I turned my entry in, the older ladies volunteering at the Fair gave my project an odd look. That's right ladies, this isn't a traditional sampler with pretty flowers, animals, houses, and alphabets. It's not traditional by any means. If the judges' reactions to my piece is anything remotely close to the reactions of the ladies that took in my entry, then chances are I have zero chance of winning anything. BUT, I know that some child of the 80's will stumble upon this during the fair, as they hang out in the Home and Hobby exhibit to enjoy the air conditioning in the exhibit hall. And when they see this they'll give it an approving nod in agreement, and that's all I'm really looking to get out of this. :)
