Pat chose Zweigart Tapestry blue as her canvas and decided to stitch in whites and silvers. As the piece progressed, she realized that pulling the lavendar/purple from Kreinik #309 would give added life to the design, so she added touches of this color in both threads and beads.

Although the patterns were predetermined by Jean, color selection was strictly up to the student, with her excellent guidance. They would have been free to change any patterns, but Pat doesn’t believe anyone in the pilot group did so.

As a pilot group they "trouble shoot" for the teacher, and when the piece was taken off the stretcher bars and tension was relaxed, they discovered a problem with the method of bead attachment, which caused rippling and buckling. As it had already been made into the stocking, by the creative finishing talents of Dot Reed, the problem was more difficult to solve and had to be done from the surface of the finished piece.

This piece was stitched between mid-August and mid-October…a real "crash course," but was a fun and challenging design...one of the more beautiful and satisfying pieces Pat has ever done.

Although this is a very complex piece with many interlocking patterns, each pattern in itself is not difficult. It is all counted from charts. Many of the individual elements are adaptable to other uses. In fact, the horizontal design just above and to the right of the heel became a Christmas ornament which hangs vertically complete with cord and tassel.