Now if only I could record Gale saying aaaaaw with the same tone that she uses.  🙂

Look at this zebra!  How can you not love him?

A cute little tail, fluffy mane and look at his ears.  Aaaaaaw

He’s just so darn loveable.

It’s truly an amazing piece and a joy to stitch.

Gale Washington is the designer and was our delightful instructor as we piloted the class for her.  Her instructions are comprehensive and well diagrammed.

She explained everything clearly so that we could create our own zebras on the African veldt.

Gale is gracious and supplied zebra tails in the class kit but also showed us how to make our own.

Each part of the design is more addictive than the next.  Once you get started its really hard to put it down.  I have a lot complete already on mine.  Definitely a piece I will finish!

Gale is a wealth of knowledge about the history of Florentine Work and Pattern Darning.  As you start stitching the ground, patterns appear and sub-patterns appear.  The play and flow of color brings the piece to life.  Did I mention you can’t put it down once you start?

I’ve known Gale for a couple of years and one of the things that fascinates me about the way her mind works is how she approaches a new design.  She immerses herself in the process with wonderful process stitch sets that I love looking at.  You can see how the colors of the ground changed and morphed from the original concepts below to the palette we used in the end.

If you would like to stitch your own zebra you can!  Check out the EGA seminar classes in Louisville in 2013.  Gale is teaching the zebra there.

She’ll be back at the shop teaching for us too.  We just need to select dates and the perfect project.  Watch the Visiting Teacher page for details.