Really, I’ve never been one to pick up a needle — even to sew on a button. I have a dim (in more ways than one) memory of Home Ec in 8th grade.

But I’m really digging this embroidery thing. There is something primal about tucking a stitch onto a line — particularly when that line was created by my kid. (I started with Annabelle; onto Sophie’s artwork next.)

And so — drumroll please — today I offer the front of something I’ve made. (Pardon the poor ironing job; I tried, but haven’t ironed since high school so that’s a little rough, too.) It’s not fancy, the stitches are primitive and uneven, definitely from the “my kid could do that” (and frankly, mine could probably do it better) category. But it’s an original: Annabelle’s drawing of our dear friend Abbie.

The magnificent Abigail Rose, age 14 but wise and kind beyond her years, deserves her own blog post — and I intend to write that soon — but for today I’ll just show you what Annabelle and I made, a late Christmas present for Trish, Abbie’s mom.

I got the idea from Jenny Hart’s latest book — she shows off a self-portrait she made from a drawing done by a young relative. But stitched portraits are all the rage right now, beyond that, even in my own little world. My friend Cindy Dach did an amazing one for a cover story in New Times last year, and if you haven’t seen Angela Ellsworth’s stitched portraits, you must. Breathtaking.

Let’s just say I won’t be quitting my day job to follow in these women’s footsteps. But I’m having fun, which can be a remarkable accomplishment in this world. You know?

I still kinda like the backs, too.