By PATRICK O'NEILL
When Christin Danchi started a store-bought cross stitch pattern of a European streetscape she was a freshman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Now 35 years old, Danchi managed to cash in on her effort many years later when she won two awards for her finished work at The North Carolina State Fair.
"This one took me like 12 years to complete," Danchi said. After finishing the cross stitch project in January, Danchi decided to enter the piece in the Fair's "First-Time Entry" category.
She ended up with the Blue Ribbon in the "Threaded Needlecraft" category, and she also won The Cardinal Chapter of the Embroiderer's Guild of America Award for first-time entries by “Judges Choice," earning $50 in prize money.
Danchi said she probably paid less than $50 for the winning pattern, so she broke better-than even on her initial investment. "I had my eye on it for many years before I bought it," she said of the pattern.
Danchi said she usually worked on her winning piece during the holidays in November and December, and she would take it with her when she was traveling.
"It tends to be something I do when I have some down time, to keep my hands busy when life slows down a little bit," she said. "I can distinctly remember when I started it, on a trip I took to Michigan in 2009. It's a bittersweet memory because it was for my grandmother's funeral."
Danchi said it was her grandmother, Barbara Carroll, who helped her learn how to cross stitch during Carroll's visit to North Carolina when Danchi was 11 years old.
"She worked with me on the first cross stitch I ever did," Danchi said.
Danchi is a multi-dimensional person to say the least. She earned her undergraduate degree in music from UNC and her masters in music from Carnegie Mellon University, both in "violin performance." She is associate director of development at Durham's Emily Krzyzewski Center, a nonprofit educational organization that implements programs designed to build on the academic, career and leadership potential of students who are traditionally underrepresented in higher education, Danchi said.
Danchi has three siblings, Andrea, Michael and Elizabeth, all of whom are violinists. Danchi refers to herself as a "classically trained, freelance violinist who also enjoys a good fiddle tune. Music is an incredibly important part of my life and who I am."
Two years ago, Danchi, who is single, and her sister Andrea bought and renovated a house together in Garner, spending 15 months on the project. "We moved into the place in August of 2020," she said. "We have the absolute best neighbors and have loved living in Garner."
Growing up in Wake County, Danchi said she has been "coming to the state fair every year for almost my entire life.
"My siblings and I used to enter the youth arts and craft competitions as children. As we got older and life got busier, we stopped participating in the competitions, but every year we would still enjoy looking at all of the entries and winners. I don't do all the arts and crafts that I did when I was a kid, but I realized that my cross-stitch project was something I could enter as an adult.
"I've been slowly working on it for the past several years with the goal of entering it in the fair. I completed it this year and it was finally ready to enter in the 2021 fair."
Borrowing from this year's State Fair theme, Danchi said of her Blue Ribbon effort: "You might say it was 'worth the wait' to finally be able to enter it after 12 years of work!
"One of my favorite aspects of the N.C. State Fair is that we still recognize and celebrate the incredible skill and time that goes into creating a unique piece of art, whether that's culinary art, visual art, needlepoint, or another medium. Every piece is a labor of love and one-of-a-kind, whether it wins a ribbon or not. And I love being a small part of that celebration.
Danchi already has her next cross stitch project underway. It's a Route 66 scene that includes an old pickup truck, a general store and a motorcycle. Danchi said she plans to add a few "animals" to "add some life" to the scene. It will be her first cross stitch effort where she deviates from the pattern. She says she's excited to see how the experiment works out.
Be sure to look for Danchi's next blue ribbon winner at the 2034 N.C. State Fair!
Editor's Note: If you would like to see Danchi perform, she and some friends will be doing a Halloween show at Revival 1869 in Clayton, October 29.