Sharon G. class, Day Two

As I mentioned, in the second day of class, we all started stitching on our canvases. (If you're just tuning in, I'm doing Sharon's Tuscan Spring.)

I spent most of my time working the first lavender bush (yes, those are lavender bushes in the foreground!) with knots. Sharon calls them "sloppy french knots", but I prefer Carole Lake's description of "sloppy wrapped knots", since a true french knot only has 1 or two wraps, depending on whose definition you use! These sloppy knots have anywhere from 2 to 8 wraps. Most of mine had 3-5 wraps on them. I used a variety of solid and overdyed lavender threads, blending various combinations of two strands in the needle.

When I got tired of making knots, I moved on to the foreground hillside. I used a stitch that's a combination of burden stitch and double brick stitch. Essentially, a double brick stitch (over two threads) is used to couch a length of thread along the row. I used one strand of overdyed floss in green and brown. After I got a few rows in, I decided this thread has too much green in it, so it looks like I'm overlaying a green screen on top of the painted canvas. I'm going to rip this part out and replace it with another color. Sharon suggested Gloriana's Pecan.

It was getting late when I discovered I was wasting my time on the hillside, so I just started the cream-colored tent stitches around the windows of the house.

Sharon also reviewed the Mindy canvas with me. It made me feel a little less clueless when she really had to think about the canvas before sitting down with me! She provided a number of great ideas, and I wrote them all down for the eventual stitching of this canvas.