The Exemplary 2025
3rd Place, Professional Adaptation

As we began discussing the Challenge in 2025, I stumbled upon a photo on my phone. It displayed a shirt featuring a heart design along with the slogan, “Real women love hockey; smart women love the Detroit Red Wings.” I instantly fell in love with it and felt inspired to create my Ruby Challenge piece for NAN. I went to the shop and selected a wide variety of red threads and beads—more than I actually needed. For the stitching, I aimed for the heart to showcase a range of stitches, along with some sparkle and texture. However, after starting, I realized that each section needed to be outlined first, so I had to begin again. What a difference that made!