If you’ve perused the hand embroidery projects here on Needle ‘n Thread, or even noticed the design and color scheme of the website, you might have noticed that I have a thing for the color red.

So it’s no wonder that, when Lacy Suzette sent me these photos of her recent, gorgeous embroidery project, I was over the moon with excitement. It’s adorable! It’s charming. It’s amazing!

And it’s red!

Susan’s project recently won First Place and Judge’s Choice in her EGA chapter’s challenge, “Who Moved my Cheese?”

Susan explained that one day, she had lunch at the West Point Market in Akron, OH, after attending the Stan Hywet Stitchery Showcase. The Showcase is hosted during even-numbered years by the Stan Hywet Needlework Guild, to help raise funds for restoration projects at the Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens.

While at the West Point Market, she saw their lovely cheese boxes – large round wooden boxes with lids, perfect for… well, covering with embroidery, of course!

Susan’s EGA guild’s challenge, titled “Who Moved my Cheese?” after the book by the same title, centered around the cheese boxes.

So here you have a cheese box, remade into a box to house treasured embroidery tools and accessories. Brilliant idea, that!

The exterior fabric on Susan’s embroidered box is an Irish linen striped towel that she found at an antique shop.

The little redwork vignettes embroidered on the linen towel are from Mrs. Archibald Christie’s book, Samplers & Stitches.

For the lid, Susan used a 32 count garnet-colored linen from Wichelt, lined with red linen batiste. She used a Sajou alphabet (#484) for the letter and a collection of vintage buttons to decorate it.

You can find Sajou alphabet 484 online here, if you’d like to take a look at it. Susan’s embellishment of the letter is positively inspired!

Here, you can see Susan’s box next to her friend Sheri’s box, resting on the original cheese boxes at the West Point Market.

Sheri’s box, which was awarded a blue ribbon, is adorned with needlepoint vignettes of her pets, including a fabulous cockatiel perched on a real branch attached to the side. It’s darling, and jam-packed with personality!

So there’s your dose of inspiration for today. Both boxes make me happy through-and-through to look upon them. I hope they do the same to you!

And what have you been working on lately? Feel free to tell us below! I’m always thrilled silly to see your embroidery projects, too – if you’d like to submit photos of your embroidery masterpieces, feel free to drop me a line!