Well, as I mentioned, we planned on Orna coming to teach her Peacocks at the shop and then due to a few scheduling issues we changed our minds.

Everyone still got their peacock kits but instead of spending 2 days following charts we played with color.  This was hands-down one of the most fun classes ever.

I borrowed the picture above from Orna’s blog, I don’t think she will mind. Do you?

Orna assigned each of us a photo.  We were told to look at it and pick a small group of threads representing the photo.

Here’s my challenge.  Yes, it has pink in it but it’s all very muted and so not me.

We reviewed each photo and the threads chosen to determine what colors were missing.

 

Then we hit the shop again to pull more threads to fill in what was missing.

So, here’s my stash.  Now what.  Well, Orna graciously debuted a design that will be unveiled at the Philadelphia ANG seminar.  We used our colors and planned and plotted where they should go on that design.  At this point there was much grumbling.  We were all out of our comfort zones.  Kay had bright colors, I had these pastel sherbet looking colors.  Everyone was in flux.

Orna demonstrated the perfect technique for making a French Knot.  Totally different than my tried and true one wrap and the size of the needle controls the size of the knot system.  It comes complete with sound effects 🙂  I need to experiment with this new system.  I think they both have their place.

We studied a skein of overdyed thread, organizing the color flow to get the most of the skein. If you actually do this, and you start each and every jessica or scotch stitch or whatever with a thread, threaded from the same end of the length they will all have identical colorflow.  Pretty darn cool, yes?

Orna helped focus us and get us all on track.   I have the first quarter of mine stitched.  Here’s where I landed.  We all got a good laugh out of the fact that I still managed to get orange and fuchsia into a pastel piece.  But they were needed, right?

I also sneaked in a few swarovski crystals. 🙂

 

We started with a few rules.  Use a Neon Rays or an overdye for the Rhodes Stitch and then it just became a game of what do I want to put where.  It really was the most fun ever.  I will finish this piece, need to finish the Pears first but that’s another post.

All in all it was a great exercise.  Next time you are at a loss for a color combo, check out your favorite magazines and find a photo that excites you. Use that as your starting point.

Orna signed our autograph board in the way only Orna can. Multiple colors and languages!

 

Orna will be back to teach again!  When, you tell me.  This Fall, next Fall.  I know you would enjoy this color class so maybe we will do it again, or maybe we’ll do something completely different.  That’s the fun of Orna she has a million and two ideas.

Thanks for coming to play, Orna. You are one in a million.

And if you can’t wait for me to bring Orna back, consider taking her Philadelphia skyline class at the ANG national seminar this Fall.  That’s sure to be a great class.