Pilot stitchers wanted!

Teachers need help to test drive their instructions before presenting them to a wider audience. I’d love to have your help with a couple of classes before they go on the road.

I team up with Kurdy Biggs (Threedles) to pilot two classes each. This will be our third year to offer new classes in a casual atmosphere at our Canvas Countess Pilot Retreat. Click here for info on our 2026 retreat

We have a lovely venue at the Hilton Garden Inn Uptown Albuquerque, and we’d love for you to join us!

So here’s a bit about the two classes I’m piloting, Golden Majesty and Concerto.

Golden Majesty features a mountain scape with a crystal lake, wildflower meadow, lush forest, and a mountain range, set against a rising sun in a blue sky. This project is for intermediate stitchers, but stitchers of all levels welcome to help refine my instructions. I used Caron Collection Watercolours and Waterlilies, ThreadworX #8 Pearl,Radiance metallics, and NPI Silks. The design is an 8″ circle, and features Milanese, Byzantine, Hungarian ground, diagonal Scotch, balloon satin stitch, oblong rice stitch, oblong Smyrna, ray, offset oblong cross, Hungarian, reverse triple diagonal brick, diagonal cashmere, diagonal mosaic, Bargello, French knots, and coiled couching – that’s a lot to pack into such a small area!

If concerto looks familiar, it should! This is a companion to Angles, one of the first counted canvas pieces I taught. Concerto, however, features different stitches, so lots to learn in this striking design. Like Angles, I used a grayscale color way with red accents, and it’s about the same size, 10″ x 10″, on pewter 18 ct. mono deluxe canvas. For this project I used several Rainbow Gallery threads including Neon Rays, Neon Rays+, Silk Lame’ Braid, Silk Lame’ Plus, Silk Lame’ Petite and Panache, DMC #8 pearl cottons and flosses, and Kreinik #4, #8, and #12 braids.

Learn to stitch a Kitty’s Double Fan Doubled, herringbone squares, mistake stitch, walnetos, Amadeus, Chilly Hollow, Jessicas in several shapes and sizes, sprat’s heads, waffles, reverse waffles, waffle stars, teardrop crescents, layered crescents, infinity crescents, giant diagonal brick, double brick, Milanese, Brighton, several varieties of couching, reversed laced wheels, giant Scotch, woven stitch, cross stitch, Victorian step, T-stitch, Alicia’s lace and other small patterns – I’m exhausted just writing this! But it was so much fun to stitch, and I know you’ll enjoy it too.

Visit our Canvas Countess website, to see all the details and registration information. And consider joining us for a fun time stitching!