Something Old, Something New, Times Two

      We've been having way, way too much of this lately.

             Thankfully Dean, my snow removal guy, shows up after every storm to clear my paths and driveway. Bless you Dean!
         
          I worked on two old projects since my last stitching post. First up, Butternut Tavern by Stacy Nash. I'm not happy with the Lexington Green used in the alphabet. It just melts into the pear linen. I think I should remove the Lexington Green and sub another GAST that will show up a bit better on the linen. What do you think?

Butternut Tavern - Stacy Nash Primitives

           I've also spent some time with Manifesto. It's going to be gorgeous when completed... but it's definitely going to take a very long time to reach the finish line. The sky... I've spent several nights filling in that sky. The sun was a lot of fun to stitch.

Manifesto - The Scarlet Letter

          Now for the Something New. I've mentioned before that I'm currently enrolled in an on-line class, Cabinet of Curiosities, and we are studying, in-depth, 17th Century stitching techniques. The satin stitch is used often in embroidering the motifs. I thought it would be helpful to learn more about the shading technique or needlepainting technique to make my satin stitched motifs more lifelike. 
       I receive Mary Corbett's e-newsletter and was excited when she told us that a needlepainting class was going to be offered. I waited patiently for the registration day to arrive and quickly got my registration in for the course.
       This is the project for the on-line course which is being taught by Margaret Cobleigh.

     Here is my progress on my strawberry piece. Not bad for a newbie to this needlepainting technique. Margaret is a fantastic teacher and very responsive to our questions and in giving tips to help us improve our surface embroidery stitching.

          I have to thank my friend Michelle, Cozy Egg, for my second Something New. She's a big, big fan of Tula Pink. I've always been drawn to reproduction Civil War era quilting fabrics and the more muted colorways. But... something about Tula Pink was calling to me... and calling very persistently.
          Look what I ordered and started this past week.

          Margaret, Days of a Sampler Lover, and I are doing a Quilt Along. Of course she'll be way ahead of me, but she'll be there to encourage me to keep on making those hexies. This is my first venture into English paper piecing. So another 'newbie' project for me.
          I'm hoping this is the jumpstart I need to get back into quilt making again. It's been way too long since I've worked on a quilt.

           I'll close today with more photos of our snowy corner of Iowa. I hope you're all keeping warm and out the path of the numerous storms that our sweeping our country.