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.

Drumroll, please.

I finished my first embroidery project. Also, perhaps, my last, though I do own the Sublime Stitching chick’s latest book and enough materials to half-fill one of my Rubbermaids.

So we’ll see.

I’m happy with my final product — maybe I’ll show you the front sometime. I’m going to frame it for Annabelle as a Hanukkah gift (so I’ll have to do at least one more for Sophie, who’s requested something in purple). The front’s not so bad — if you squint. It looks a lot like the pattern. Some friends and I took a fun class last week at Frances.

But here’s the thing. It was a pattern. Mine looks just like everyone else’s, only not as good. If I do more of this, I plan to branch out — that’s the cool thing about Sublime Stitching. There’s room to play.

Meantime, I kind of enjoy the final results of the back of my first project, which might be the biggest mess ever, in the history of embroidery.

I’m so proud.