Hearts and Flowers Cyberclass

There is nothing that is as much fun as starting a new project.  The anticipation of seeing a project develop is really enjoyable.  My new project is an American Needlepoint Guild Cyberclass called "Hearts and Flowers". 

I apologize for the fuzziness of the picture.  I thought I could link to the ANG information about the class.  Wrong.  They have deleted the information from their website (at least I couldn't find a whisper of a mention).   I, of course, left all my class information at the shop since that's where I'm doing my stitching and I can't be trusted to remember to bring things back.  So, I'll add an edit to this entry to give proper credit to Carol who is the designer and teacher. 

There's a lot of basketweave stitching that forms the backdrop for surface embellishments.  And a gazillion Smyrna crosses that add additional texture. 

The shinyness of the Fyrewerks Soft Sheen prevents the details of the Sprat's stitches from showing  in this photograph.  The stitches look gorgeous in person, if I may not so humbly comment. Nordic Gold is the fiber used in the smyrna crosses forming the hearts.  Elegance is the fiber used in the dark green smyrna crosses.  It is equivalent to perle 8.

I have been pleasantly surprised at the coverage of 3-ply of DMC floss in the basketweave, even in the darker green used in some places.  Striping and laying the fibers contributed to this good coverage.

I can see that I must concentrate better when doing the darker basketweave as some canvas threads are peeking through. 

Now to see how far I can progress this week. 

Edit:  Anne asked about the background color.  I copied the project photograph from the cyberclass's Yahoo site and the greens appear very minty.  They are actually the 367, 368, 320, 319, 890 family.