I started this piece back in March 2019 - you can read all the background in that first post here.
I made a fair amount of progress and I took it show the designer, Yvette Stanton, at the QuiltNSW Sydney Quilt Show in June 2019.
Unfortunately I haven't done any more on it since then and I now know why. I studied Yvette's beautiful example on her stand at the quilt show, and saw that her version of the block I was currently stitching is quite different to mine. Yvette had used the laying tool and separated each of the strands in the silk thread to get a very different result.
There was no way I was going to unpick all I'd done on that block, so I told myself I was fine with my version. But perhaps I wasn't! That's probably why I stopped working on it.
Anyway, time has passed, and I've accepted that Yvette is the designer, author and teacher, so her work has to be perfect. I'm just a mere student and if I'm happy with my version, it will be fine.
So, I'm going to be a rebel and start a new block tonight. Using new colours is always exciting, and getting back to the wool threads will avoid thinking about the silk threads. I do love this Norwegian pattern darning type of stitching, but you do have to be 100% accurate because errors show up really easily.
I know that people in other parts of Europe have different names for this technique, but I'm calling it Smoyg because I trust Yvette's research and I'm working from her book.
Now it's time for the Peacock Party. What have you been up to this week? Are you on an end of year finishing binge like I am? Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.