Artist name: The late Richard (Dick) Boyd
Location: Mt. Lebanon, Washington Square resident since 2018
Art form: Counted cross stitch
Collection: this collection consists of landscape designs and flowers which were adapted for counted cross stitch. They were taken from old postcards and pictures which are in the public domain.
How did he get into designing: I (Sally) began cross stitching in the 70’s and loved doing it. Dick asked me why I was doing other designers work and I replied that I had no idea how to design.. He, being artistic, took up the challenge and began designing.
Why should residents see it: Counted cross stitch is making a comeback today. It is one of the most popular types of embroidery today. For me I find it fun and rewarding to start with a blank piece of fabric and using a graph and embroidery floss, create a lovely design.
Other places it can be found: Our designs were produced for sale in leaflet form and found in cross stitch shops for years. A few are available from me for purchase by emailing Sally at sallym.boyd73@gmail.com.
Boyd Designs Counted Cross Stitch
We began designing in 1979. Our focus at the time was antique Santa’s adapted from old post cards dated circa 1900. Most of the Santa’s were robed in green, blue, purple, pink, brown and white. These presented a different focus on the traditional red Santa’s with which most of us were familiar.
After a few years of designing, Dick, the designer, decided to focus on a more difficult and complicated area of design. This provided a relaxing and challenging activity apart from his work as a manager at U.S. Steel here in Pittsburgh.
This began the designing and sales of landscape scenes as we have shown here. These are also adapted from antique postcards mostly dated in the early 1900’s. We used DMC floss and several of them are still available to purchase via the graph to produce them yourself.
After Dick’s death in 2020, our family still enjoys remember the times that we watched the designs develop and sold all over the world. We feel that they are truly wonderful masterpieces to be enjoyed for years. We hope you enjoy them.