NGM Monogram Friendship Booklet

A members-only project for the Needlework Guild of Minnesota (NGM) — a small friendship booklet designed as a guild keepsake to commemorate the NGM centennial (1922–2022), the chart distributed only to members. Stitched as a long horizontal panel in three sections that fold and bind together as a booklet.

Reading the panels left-to-right:

• Left panel — a backstitched silhouette of the state of Minnesota with a small banner across it reading “Needlework Guild of MN”: the guild logo / wordmark.
• Centre panel — a large illuminated serif “M” monogram decorated with holly leaves and red berries, the letter form picked out in green and gold and the holly trim in cherry red.
• Right panel — a stitcher’s signature block with my name, the centennial anniversary mark, and the dates 1922–2022 stitched underneath. Each member personalises this panel with her own name when working the chart, so every finished booklet is a one-off.

Threads are Classic Colorworks overdyes throughout — a tight four-colour palette built around the holly-and-gold motif of the centre panel:

• Cherry Cobbler — the deep red of the holly berries and the script in the right panel.
• Finely Gold — the gold serif edges of the monogram and the small dot border framing each panel.
• Hickory Sticks — the brown linework on the Minnesota silhouette and the panel borders.
• Jolly Holly — the green holly leaves and the inner stems of the monogram.

Stitched on 32ct natural linen so the unstitched ground reads as the cream paper of an actual booklet page behind the line work.

A long stretch of off-and-on stitching — started April 14, 2022 (around the time the centennial project launched) and finished April 24, 2024, almost exactly two years to the day later.