When offered this position, he insisted on one condition - that the primary focus in developing the curriculum be on education. For want of a better title, Tony refers to himself as the Headmaster. He has developed a series of notebook classes entitled Stitching Adventures in which he guides each student on a Stitch Journey, Color Excursion and Thread Travel, in turn. Last year, Tony designed and taught a series of monthly projects using a band sampler format, each highlighting a pertinent holiday theme. In order to initiate a more extensive and challenging project, Tony designed a Sampler Quilt on Canvas project, Stars for a New Millennium, which spans the entire year.
Stitchers work on one block each month using overdyed threads from four distinct color families.
Tony's goal as a teacher is to familiarize stitchers with color interaction and guide them in creating balance between colors, threads, stitches and textures. When complete, Tony intends to publish the project as a commercial design, which will include many of the different color, thread and stitch combinations used. Additionally, Tony has his own column in the publication needlepoint now , entitled Adventures in Embellishment . Look for it in your next issue of needlepoint now.