She was intimidated by the feeling that the threads would only hide the beauty of the canvas. In the Spring of 1998 she took one of her favorite classes with Susan Portra, called "Bring Your Canvas to Life", at Vanessa's Needlepoint shop in San Mateo, California.

Susan has a gift of seeing the canvas's inner beauty without weighting it down with threads. What helped to achieve the final look was studying the canvas and understanding the fields of depth perception that Liz painted and always keeping that in mind as threads were selected.

Diane scoured the entire San Francisco Bay Area and purchased every white, beige, and light blue thread known to man, and could probably stitch this canvas another three times with the results. At the time Burmilama #12 light blue was the closest match to Liz's blue, and Diane found it a wonderful thread to work with as well.

One of the other things that she found essential in working the piece was to have a photocopy of the original canvas with her at all times. Thus, as she attempted to create a shadow or the feeling of a muscle with a thread she could refer back to the original canvas. As she became more obsessed, she referred to National Geographic and other magazines and books to see photographs of these animals. One of the things that she discovered was that the polar bear is not white!

This stocking, per Susan's advice, is 70% long and short, long and short, long and short... stitch after stitch after stitch. And that's the way Diane felt after two years of long and short. In her defense, though, her custom framing business keeps her from doing as much stitching as she would like.

The seal was another animal that was difficult to stitch because she had in her mind that she wanted it to appear wet. The only thread she felt that achieved this look was Needle Necessities' Empress Silk Overdyed. The color range that she needed was not available so she took a chance and dyed her own.

Santa's coat gave Diane some problems as well. Susan Hulme came to the rescue with the Nobuko stitch. Diane wanted a stitch that allowed her to give direction and flow to the garment. With that knowledge in hand and her trusty Burmilana #12 she could vary the number of threads and colors to create the movement.

The stocking has made a lot of airline miles in the two years that it took to complete, mostly to and from Cape Cod to visit Diane's mother and father. The stocking would not look quite the way it does were it not for the inspiration given by her dad. He was an amateur artist and if he'd have followed that lead in his professional life Diane knows that he would have accomplished much artistically. She can remember many evenings on Cape Cod studying the animals together. He would advise her on whether or not she had captured the animal's spirit. When the stocking won awards at Atlanta he was the first person that Diane called. She's glad to share this honor with him. He passed away on November 18th of this year, which has left a huge hole in Diane's heart. His spirit will remain with her, with the stocking, and with all the people who were blessed to have known such a wonderful man.

The Gathering was to be exhibited at The Exclamation Point in Saratoga, California on January 20th for a trunk show with Tapestry Tent Designs. The Exclamation Point is where Diane learned to stitch, and she believes it to be one of the best needlepoint shops in the country. If you have never been to the shop make it a "must do" when visiting Northern California.

The irony in having Diane's piece on the Internet is that she is probably one of the few people in Silicon Valley who is not on the "Net". Now, with the help of her husband and son, Diane is ready to give it a try.