Lets see...exciting news...what could it be?I finished all four of the silk leaves on the Trevelyon's Cap project. To everyone who gave me encouragement and kind words, thank you! It went far more quickly than I thought it would at the end and they do look really pretty.The colors do glow, even in the artificial light at the end of the day. (It's still dark here when I get home from school.) In the sunlight they will be really fabulous - I can't wait!The center veins that are unfinished will be stitched with gold passing thread couched down in either green or gold silk. I still have to decide which. Next up will be the little strawberries. Those will be a deep red, of course, done in padded satin stitch and then I'll work a laid trellis over the top again with very fine gold passing thread.However, this is not the exciting news. (It's exciting for me, but not that exciting, right?)Here's the first bit of exciting news: I'll be starting the RSN Goldwork Certificate Course at the RSN Rugby in April! This time I've decided to spread the course out over a longer time as I'm not as familiar with the techniques in gold work as I was in crewel work. Trying to learn and implement new techniques in a two week period to a high standard isn't something that sounds like fun - more like something stressful.Here is an excerpt from the RSN Course Brief:AIM To produce an embroidery which demonstrates technical competence in basicGoldwork. Your own design will be worked on cotton velvet or silk dupion, usingthe threads provided and including the techniques specified in the brief."TECHNIQUESYou must include the following:

•  An area of brick stitched Japanese thread over felt padding.
•  An area with a combination of couched threads over felt padding.
•  Some Pearl Purl outlines
•  An area of solid chip work, over felt padding inside a Pearl Purl outline
•  Smooth Purl cutwork over soft string padding. (Bright Check cutwork can also be used, but cutwork must include Smooth purl.)

I am so looking forward to this course! Gold work is so beautiful and I've done some, but I've limited myself to the simpler techniques. Learning how to do some of the more complex ones will be interesting and, I'm sure, challenging.Of course, I'll be writing about my experiences both this spring, when I start the course, and this summer when I'm finishing the course. If you're interested in reading about my experiences during the Crewelwork Course last summer, you can read all of the posts if you go to the top of the home page, click on Embroidery Travel and then on RSN Crewelwork Course.So was that the exciting news? Well, yes, part of it.But the really exciting news is that The Unbroken Thread will be featuring a series of personal interviews with some of our favorite needlework designers over the course of 2012. You'll be able to read about what inspires them, how they choose color and stitches, what they love about embroidery and loads of other things. In addition to all that great insight, they will be sharing photos of their work spaces for us to drool over.First up is one of my teachers (although only for an afternoon!) Tracy Franklin. For those of you who've visited her workspace, you already know how fabulous it is. I especially love her work in gold and silk; it's fantastic. Look for the interview with Tracy Franklin at the beginning of February!