Mary Beale: How long have you been stitching?  Who taught you to stitch?

Marcia McCord: " Since I was 5. My mother gave us a stamped cross stitch project to make for my grandmother, who was very stern and an excellent needleworker. We found the project years later, never sent to my grandmother. It must have been too dreadful! I finally taught myself how to embroider and crochet when I was a teenager. Then at last, in 1990, I had lots of spare hours and wandered into a craft store with counted cross stitch patterns and thought, "I could do that!" So I did. Thank goodness I had the opportunity to take classes because my first efforts were nearly as awful as grandmother's project! "

Mary Beale: Do you mainly cross-stitch or needlepoint?

Marcia McCord: "Cross stitch. I like the feel and smell of linen and floss."

Mary Beale:  Do you stitch mainly for yourself or others?

Marcia McCord: "While I am stitching, the stitching is for me! Then I give most of it away. I've learned over time that I need to make things for myself."

Marcia McCord: "A large sampler with many different stitches and beads. I kept it and it hangs in my living room."

Mary Beale: Which Mary Beale design have you stitched?  Have you stitched more than one?

Marcia McCord: "Several stockings, Wild Animals sampler, He That Keepeth Thee Will Not Slumber, etc."

Mary Beale: Do you have a favorite? Why?

Marcia McCord: "I love my husband's Christmas stocking because the shepherd looks a little like him and I added our little Welsh Corgi, Rusty, to the stocking. Rusty always followed a step behind John and was obsessed with tennis balls, so I put him in his customary position and added a tennis ball. Rusty is gone now, so the stocking is very special to both of us. "

Mary Beale: What do you collect?

Marcia McCord: "Antique samplers and quilts mostly now."