Hilton Head needlepoint group sews up region's history

The Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn officially has the Lowcountry in stitches.

At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the Hilton Head Island chapter of the American Needlepoint Guild will present a tapestry of regional images to the museum for permanent display.

Seventeen women who are part of the group, which meets once a month at TidePointe, have been working on the needlepoint canvas since 2005. Chapter president Barbara Lynch said the 3-by-3-foot project took more than 1,000 hours and 219,024 stitches to complete.

"It's just a composite of all the different things that make up our region," said Lynch, describing squares that include a depiction of a shrimp boat, egret, loggerhead turtle, sweetgrass basket and lighthouse, among other Lowcountry icons, flora and fauna.

"It's beautiful. We have some very talented stitchers in our guild who really put forth all of the things they've learned," she said. "It's pretty time-consuming, so it was nice that so many women volunteered to stitch on it. We're excited for our friends and neighbors to see what we've done."