Thursday, February 17, 2011

Oh boy! New projects!

Now, looking at my life, what exactly do I REALLY REALLY need?  Truth be told, more needlework projects are probably NOT at the top of the list.

But what the heck!  They're (marginally) cheaper than therapy. . . and less hazardous to the health than drinking or smoking.  And there are so many fabulous projects out there.

Temptation is all around me, and yes, I have succumbed again. . . most recently to two fabulous 17th century inspired creations by Tricia Nguyen. . .both taught at Williamsburg earlier this month. 

Day 1 of two days of classes was spent drooling over a raft of newly made threads including silk gimps, crimped gold, and silk covered perle perles. . .all materials for a jaunty lion surrounded by a cartouch-like outline.  Here's the picture of the finished lion.  Isn't he cute? 


Day 2 was a 17th century goldwork class.  Here's Tricia's version of the design, but in class we concentrated on trying out some new stitches. . . with Tricia suggesting we choose our favorites for our own actual piece. . . .so it will probably be a good while before I'm ready to tackle more than a doodle cloth for this piece.


This class does dovetail nicely with the on-line Gold Master Class.  So my plan here is to jump back into the Master Class. . . perhaps even organizing my doodle stitching so I have stitched samples of the various stitches right at hand for when I eventually start in on THIS goldwork piece. 

It will be quite a challenge. . .but provide nice insight into the extraordinary amount of work that went into some of the historical pieces. 

4 comments:

  1. I would have loved to do these classes. I've seen them on a couple of blogs that I follow so, not only would I have got to play with wonderful threads, I could have actually met a few people I've met online :-)

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  2. I'm enjoying the online classes, but it would be great to have a class with Tricia really there!

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  3. You know http://lifeneedleworkandeverything.blogspot.com/
    has done the same two classes? She's blogging about her lion - she's chosen to do a detached buttonhole face.

    You are both SO lucky!

    I really look forward to seeing more of your work on these :-)

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  4. Ladies, You are all SOOOO right about how much fun Tricia's classes are. But for you it REALLY would be a long commute! :-) I met Margaret (lifenedleworkandeverything) stitching on the Plimoth jacket, and she was also in the Mermaid class last year. Clearly, she is a more organized and quicker stitcher than I. . . her lion is on its way to done, and her mermaid is long finished (scroll back on her blog to see photos!). She does fabulous work!

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