Sampling the Snowfall by Denise Beusen

Sampling the Snowfall was offered as a class at NAN Assembly in 2005. It’s a lovely, peaceful design – so calming that even the class was a Zen-like experience.

When I arrived home with the partially finished project, I began to think about the snow of my youth in South Dakota. I realized that the design didn’t quite mesh with my memories.

First, there was no sparkle. Snow flakes formed at cold temperatures sparkle – in fact, new snow in the bitter cold is quite beautiful because of the play of light on it.

Second, snow resting on tree branches is smooth, not textured. The original design represented this with French knots worked in matte cotton. The result was that the trees looked like they were covered with blossoms, more like the flowering trees in Spring.

To achieve the visual effects I remembered from my youth, I added pale pink petite glass beads to one band, and replaced the French knots with Fuzzy Stuff worked in outline stitch.