Pieces of Eight
How an Almost Undiscovered Design inspired a Movement(Be sure to visit our Special Tribute page to Gayle Bicknell) About The Bermuda Guild of Stitchery When Joyce Lukomsky, founding editor of needlepoint now, first considered starting the magazine, she went to see Gayle Bicknell at her home. Joyce elucidates, "She [Gayle] told me that she had some projects I could use. I took all of them but while I was sitting I saw this wonderful thing on the wall. It was 'Pieces of Eight.' I asked her for that one and she said, 'Sure, but I stitched that just for fun and didn't keep a record of the materials or stitches used.' We brought it back to the office and began doing detective work. The crew at Fireside Stitchery helped us to identify the threads and we all worked on the stitches. We didn't get everything exactly right, but we had so much fun. "Pieces of Eight' first appeared on the cover of the September/October 1999 issue of needlepoint now and the final installment ran in the July/August 2000 issue. At that time we knew that we had an exceptional project and we issued this invitation:
Pieces of Eight
By Gayle BicknellCALLING ALL STITCHERS OF PIECES OF EIGHT!
What exciting work you are doing! It thrills us to travel around the country and see so many fabulous innovations of this project. You have used different color canvas, stitching threads and many other creative ideas. We thought how great it would be to share your creations with other stitchers. We plan to feature a 'Gallery of Pieces of Eight Projects' in the July/August 2001 issue. Send us photos of your project by April 15, 2001. Include your name, address and tell us what you did.'Joyce continues, "Little did we realize that an avalanche would follow!" A virtual tidal wave of submissions of their renditions of "Pieces of Eight" arrived from stitchers from all over the U.S., Canada, Europe and even Bermuda. Joyce continues, "Literally hundreds of pictures were submitted and, to have shown them all, would have required devoting an entire issue of the magazine just to them. As it was, four additional pages were added to the magazine to accommodate the entries chosen. We plan to show other submissions in the magazine from time to time and many will also be posted on the magazine website."
Collage of "Pieces of Eight" Designs
submitted to needlepoint now
from the back cover of the July/August IssueThe introduction to the Gallery of images displayed in the magazine's July/August issue states, "Pieces of Eight - just the sound of these words conjures up exciting images in our heads...images of old coins, Spanish Galleons, a brave new world, marauding pirates, romance on the high seas." Stitchers used Gayle's "Pieces of Eight" design as a springboard to access their own creativity and ingenuity - exactly what Gayle envisioned.
Below are the variations on "Pieces of Eight" stitched by the members of the Bermuda Guild of Stitchery, which we present as a special tribute to the design's creator, Gayle Bicknell.
Pieces of Eight
Designed by Gayle Bicknell
Stitched by Members of the Bermuda Guild of StitcheryKathy Faries, past President of the Bermuda Guild, tells how the Pieces of Eight project evolved, "It was actually at one of our monthly stitch-ins that we were discussing how wonderful the magazine, needlepoint now, was and Barbara Cuoco commented that she would love to do the 'Pieces of Eight' project. Everyone agreed. Ten members signed up for it. We ordered the threads and the rest is history. The fact that needlepoint now was going to feature the different interpretations that each stitcher came up with, spurred most of us on to finish by the deadline. The piece itself lends itself to creativity, to use your own personal choice of colors, threads, and designs. It was a joy to stitch!!!" Each of the stitchers interpreted the design differently, resulting in incredibly diverse and personalized variations.
Barbara Cuoco rearranged most of the octagons, embellishing many with beads in her colorful rendition. She then filled in the small diamonds with a gold design. Shina Lyons used blue canvas and also rearranged some octagons. Sue Simmons changed many of the colors suggested and used different threads as well in some areas. She also eliminated 2 of the octagons and repeated the designs from 2 others she especially liked. Wilma Frith used pink canvas, rearranged the octagons, and created some new designs for her octagons. Gail Rego used green canvas and decided she wanted to fill in the background of each octagon. She also added stitching in the diamonds adding a very finished look to the piece. Judy Khoo, stitched her Pieces of Eight on green canvas and designed some of her own octagons using different threads. Kathy Faries used blue canvas instead and switched the order of the octagons. She employed some different threads than those suggested substituting ones in stronger color tones.
Note: Four Guild members, Barbara Cuoco, Kathy Faries, Shina Lyons and Sue Simmons, completed their projects by the deadline and their pieces were displayed in the July/August issue of needlepoint now. Members, Judy Khoo, Gail Rego and Wilma Frith, finished their pieces subsequently. The Caron Collection extends congratulations to them all and would like to thank the members of the Bermuda Guild of Stitchery for sharing some of their history, group activities and projects with us, to be included to this special tribute to Gayle Bicknell.
For more information about needlepoint now contact the magazine at
P.O. Box 729
Prince George, VA 23875
phone: (804) 732- 9140
fax: (804) 732- 5601
e mail: editorial2@needlepointnow.com
website: http://www.needlepointnow.com
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Sponsored by Creative Arts and Textiles Show - Part IZweigart Fabrics for Needlepoint Crazy Quilting - It is Much, Much More than You May Think
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unleash your design potential by Lois CaronCOPYRIGHT NOTICE: No part of this feature story nor the included designs can be reproduced or distributed in any form (including electronic) or used as a teaching tool without the prior written permission of the CARON Collection Ltd. or the featured designers or contributors.
