National Craft Month: Cross stichers Alyssa and Victoria Nichols

Mother-daughter duo Alyssa and Victoria Nichols share a passion for cross stitch. 

Victoria, the mother, started stitching in high school. Browsing the local Walmart craft aisle, under the glow of fluorescent lighting, she saw her first cross stitch kit. She’s not sure what attracted her to the craft. She stumbled through her first attempts, teaching herself as she went, but she saw the potential in the craft. With practice and research, she improved and began tackling harder and harder projects. 

Daughter Alyssa grew up watching her mother cross stitch. Always the artistic type with a wonderful eye for color, she asked to try cross stitch. Excited to share the craft with her daughter, Victoria bought her a stamped kit to learn. 

At the start of 2021, designer Peppermint Purple began a New Year “stitch-along”. Victoria and Alyssa decided to tackle the project together. The pattern was a cross stitch style known as blackwork, essentially using lines to make geometrical patterns. Each week a small block of the pattern was released and week by week they’d create the artwork.

“So Alyssa and I started this project together, each of us making our own. She had never attempted this type of stitching before, had never worked from a pattern before, and had never had to think about color selection. She quickly picked up on it. Everything about her project was her own choice – colors, how to split each block from a single color into two colors, the stitching, the mat/frame colors, and even the mat shape,” said Victoria. 

How to Get Started

When you’re starting to learn, both cross stitch and blackwork look daunting. Victoria’s recommendation? Because cross stitch isn’t as common as knitting and crocheting, turning online to find a community on social media is a great way to get started. There are Facebook groups that are warm and welcoming and a growing number of Flosstube channels (YouTube channels focusing on cross stitch) that cover every topic under the sun. There are also free simple patterns available online. As you learn, you can find different methods, fabrics and styles that work for you. For Victoria, part of the beauty of cross stitch is that it doesn’t have set rules you have to follow. 

Favorites and Award-Winning Art

Over the years Victoria has created many pieces she loved. As a surprise Christmas Gift, Victoria created a cross stitch of her mother-in-law’s Scottish clan tartan. She loved the piece and her reaction made all the time and effort worth it. 

Another project Victoria loves is her blue-ribbon winning cross stitch of Mt. Fuji. It means a lot to her personally because her father spent five years in Okinawa with the US Marine Corps and loved Japan. She started the project at the end of 2020 intending to give it to him as a Christmas gift. Then tragedy struck and he passed away suddenly in September of 2021 without ever knowing she was working on the piece. For a month, Victoria couldn’t work on the project. When she finally picked it back up, it was her therapy and she had a goal to finish in time for Kentucky State Fair entries. Then it won a blue ribbon.

Both Victoria and Alyssa won ribbons for their blackwork project, Alyssa earned second place in the Juniors category and Victoria got fourth place in general entries. 

Family Craft Time

Victoria’s three daughters grew up watching her cross stitch. She often asked their opinions on colors, involving them in the process from an early age. As they got older, they decided to learn. 

“The youngest two love having stitchy time with me. We sit together in the living room, work on our projects for a little while together and listen to music, and chat about whatever comes up. It has become a nice way to share some time as a family,” said Victoria. 

In their family of five, three cross stitch or do blackwork. Last year her youngest, who just turned seven, entered the Kentucky State Fair for the first time. Even though her husband doesn’t stitch, he’s picked up on the lingo and knows a lot about fabrics, flosses and designers, evening dying floss and fabric for his wife and daughters to use. 

“We are a crafting family, so we cannot wait to get the 2023 premium book and start planning what we want to enter for this year’s fair,” said Victoria. 

The 2023 Kentucky State Fair is August 17-27 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville KY. Kentucky State Fair entries will open in early May and information will be available on https://kystatefair.org/participate/compete/. 

 

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