The Embroiderers stitch in public and celebrate our fortieth anniversary

We had a good turnout of about ten stitchers, all bringing work in progress, to celebrate National Stitch in Public Day and our fortieth anniversary as a chapter. Our current work ranged from counted cross stitch to needlepoint, to crewel, to goldwork, in many designs.

Displayed on our work tables was a wonderful array of finished projects, ranging from hardanger, to freeform, to cross stitch, to embroidery on dyed silk, in addition to the two cabinets of work on display until the end of March.

Here Ginny, Carol, Tom and Cynthia discuss their work with visitors

You see some of the finished works on the table in front of Carol G. as she discusses our activities.

Eve Mandel, Director of Programs and Visitor Services of the Historical Society of Princeton, came by to meet us, with a view to some future cooperative ventures with the Historical Society in their new location.

Among the array of great work displayed was this hardanger cloth by Carol P., now in the collection of her daughter.

We had a great afternoon with a steady stream of interested visitors, many of them expert stitchers themselves, a great way to celebrate our fortieth anniversary as a chapter!

Princeton Embroiderers Bring in the New Year!

Princeton Chapter EGA celebrated the New Year with its first general meeting of the year, with a record membership turnout.

Today's program was Wool on Wool, a workshop and demonstration taught by Ginny H., who brought in many books of reference to share on this artform which dates back to colonial times, as well as materials and ideas galore. 

 Chapter founder Jane W is seen here at the extreme left with presenter Ginny H. and longtime member Polly W.

 Ginny's  own work is seen here, too.  

Ginny is endlessly generous to the chapter, donating her time expertise and materials today for an engrossing afternoon with a new approach for many of us to stitching.  Many thanks!
 

This year marks the 40th Anniversary of our chapter's founding, and starting next week and running to late February, we are presenting an exhibit of our stitched works.   And three of the original founders -- Helen H., Jane S., and Jermain A, were all present today and will be taking part in the celebrations.

 Jermain and Helen discussing the event, Jane seen earlier.


We decided today, too, to commission as part of our observation, a supply of edging tape, the kind stitchers use to secure the edges of canvas before they embark on a project, with words to celebrate the chapter inscribed on it.  

Email Liz A. in the next couple of days with your suggestion for the motto to be inscribed so that Carol P. can get the arrangements for creating the die under way next week. 

Here's a sneak peek at a few of the the items to be exhibited

Present today, but returning to its owner, is the recently completed pillow, worked by Carol G. and now in her daughter's collection.  We showed you this in progress, and promised a picture when completed

Other excitement:

On a date to be announced in mid February, member Lyna W.who is an authority on textiles, and with a great collection of antique quilts, including redwork quilts, as well as antique dolls, invites us to visit her and see her collection on one of the rare occasions when she has it all out to show.  Watch your email for more news on this great opportunity.

This was an action packed meeting!

Upcoming dates:  
Wed February 3, Board meeting 

Saturday, February 6, Stitch in Public Day, Saturday,  with reception, same location as 40th Anniversary Exhibit

Sunday February 7, program meeting, Redwork, by Lyna W.  She reminds us to bring a 6" hoop and needlework scissors to the meeting.  She will show examples of antique redwork from her extensive collection as well as teach a project.

Mid February, date TBA,  trip to Clinton NJ, antique quilt collection hosted by Lyna W.

Princeton EGA celebrates the holidays

This year's Holiday Party also fell on the first day of Hanukkah, so it spanned the holiday season, and was a great party as always.

Helen H. hosted us, and members brought greetings to distribute, food items for donation to a local foodbank, and great stitching (and knitting and weaving!) projects to talk about and share.  And Ginny gave out gift bags with raw material for the upcoming wool on wool January program to members.

Happy to see Kamala, who can only occasionally be with us, but welcome when she does, seen here on the left

Sally, our Secret Stitcher leader, in the middle here, discusses projects with Carol, a welcome guest and student of Jane's stitching classes, while I take a secret picture under the table of Margaret K's secret stitcher project which had not yet been presented to its recipient, Jane.

Jane S., the Stitch Doctor, and co founder of our chapter, has taught many members of our chapter over the years.  And she brings guests, including Amy, who stitched a tour de force of a work, about the firehouse at which her husband volunteers as a firefighter. 

She customized the design to reflect the actual firehouse, and backed the stitching with actual firehose. Years in the making, it was wonderful to see this work completed.  

You see Amy second from the left in this pic with husband, then reading across, two guests, then Sharon our weaver, then Karen and Ginny. Foreground Cynthia C., long time and excellent stitcher,  and back view, sorry, of Marylin, former president of the chapter.


Evie S. did a great show and tell, inviting the stitchers to talk about their work, and send it around the room for closer viewing. 

She showed the group the Chinese Club project, which Ginny has designed and created for outreach to a local high school club at which several of our members assist in stitching skills.  They are very happy to have Florence L. along, too, since she's a left handed stitcher and can advise students with a dominant left hand.

Here's Jane in the background on the left, as Evie shows Jane's mermaid work, which has to be seen to be really appreciated, amazing stitching skills.

Karen, seated, is visiting with Carol G, and Helen, is on the right, making sure all is running well!

Helen is current Chapter President with Liz A., and founder, along with Jane,  of this chapter which will be 40 years old next year.

Tom sported a wonderfully festive vest!  

his Santa tree skirt you've seen in here before is currently in action at his home, where this weekend he and partner took part in the neighborhood open house, and 500 people went through admiring the decorations.

Tayra B. brought in these four stockings, one for each daughter, and is in the process of making two more, for the parents! 

Sharon, our weaving member, brought in several scarves, in materials ranging from silk to wool to linen to rayon.  

You have to handle these scarves to understand them better as artworks, since they respond and drape to your touch.

A great time for all of us, and our guests. Happy Holidays, everyone, and looking forward to a great New Year.

Party reminders and stitching in need of a home

For updates and reminders on the  Princeton Chapter EGA Holiday Party, upcoming Sunday, December 6 at 6 p.m. Windrows, see your current email, members.

In there we also have notes on the programs for January and February.  

Sunday, January 3rd, 1-4 p.m.,  is stitching in wool on wool, led by Ginny, and participants need to bring regular stitching supplies.  Ginny has a lot of materials and ideas to distribute at the meeting.

The February meeting, Sunday February 7th, 1-4, will be a presentation, lecture and workshop by our textile expert member, Lyna Wiggins, on redwork in quilts and in stitching.

Meanwhile, Liz M has presented to the chapter, and now to the stash, a couple of lovely needlepointed works in need of a good home with a stitcher who would like to complete them.  See them here
 

This one is a detail only of the work, probably a piano bench pillow, long and narrow, very beautiful design, well worth some tlc.


Carol G. has finished the stitching of a beautiful piece, destined for her daughter's home, and here's just a detail of it.  Note it's from a favorite designer.

When it's made up into a pillow, there will be another pic for you. 

See you on Sunday, and for those members who can't make it there, see you at stitch-in.

The Princeton Embroiderers at work!

The November meeting entailed a long and informative general business meeting. Members,  check email for  decisions about dates for the upcoming trip to New York, to the St. John the Divine Textile Conservation Laboratory, and  any updates on the Holiday Party scheduled for the first Sunday in December.  Also Sally C needs to hear directly from you if you want to continue in the Secret Stitcher program so she can send out paperwork in November.  

We also covered future planned programs of the chapter, ranging in 2016 from wool stitching to shashiko to redwork to Brazilian embroidery.  Some members will also be going to the exhibit of Kaffe Fassett quilting work at the Michener Museum in Doylestown, Pa.  

Several members plan to attend the EGA National Seminar in November 2016, in Alexandria Va. Cynthia C., who has attended similar events, gave us a report on her experience and choices and recommendations, and strongly encouraged attendance.

As part of her Outreach report, Ginny showed us this

  
 the shashiko embroidery she produced, to teach to the students in the Chinese Club, at a local high school. Several chapter members were on hand to assist recently at the first meeting of the season, as more than twenty students embarked for the first time on this type of stitching.  Florence L, a left hander, and skilled stitcher,  was on hand to work with the several left handed students who need to employ a different approach from the right handed stitcher.

Each student will produce one of these units -- Ginny created the fabric framing, which students will stitch to their finished work -- and the group will create a lengthwise series of pieces including Chinese symbols, and Year of the Monkey images, as well as this geometric shape, to culminate in a display at the February Chinese New Year celebrations.

And back at the EGA chapter meeting, everyone had plenty of projects on hand.  Today, members worked on current stitching, and some learned how to create ornaments from the goldwork  doves they started at last month's meeting under the guidance of Carol P. and the goldwork hedgehog designed by Liz A., and very successfully executed by several members.

 Here's Tayra's triumphantly finished hedgehog, her first foray into goldwork.  She plans on framing this work. And she went on to create a goldwork dove today, which will become a tree ornament

 Cynthia C. showed us this canvas piece in progress

  
And Lyna is adding to the extensive perforated paper collection she has created of tree ornaments, these additional images
 

Tayra, a skilled worker on canvas is making -- and creating -- this gift for a young relative whose hockey interest shows here.  There will be silver blades on those boots soon

Looking ahead:

December Board meeting Wednesday December 2  

Holiday Party Sunday December  6, please be in touch with Helen H. or Debi R. with your check and menu choice (see recent emails on this).  Also if you bring guests, please submit their menu choices (salmon, OR chicken OR prime rib) when you send in your check. 

St. John the Divine, carpools and dates to be announced via email.

Meanwhile, a Happy Thanksgiving to us all, and to our faithful readers!

Princeton EGA has a blockbuster October General Meeting

Our program for October was a goldwork session, led by Carol P. and Liz A., with two main motifs: a dove presented and taught by Carol, and a hedgehog, designed and taught by Liz, both on Thai silk provided by Carol, and intended to be ornaments, hung for the holiday season.

There was a great turnout, and six members did the dove, six did the hedgehog, very symmetrical!  the dove involved couching with Jap thread, the hedgehog needed couching, with the addition of working with purl thread, brought from India by a friend of Liz for our use.  Everyone plunged in bravely and it was a great afternoon.

Here's the how-to for the hedgehog, which Liz created, to show how to proceed. The red color on the lower piece is nearer the actual rl color of the silk.  Some members also worked on a beautiful blue-green piece.

Finished hedgehog here, with couched face, curving irregularly,  to give an idea of character and personality, stitched black eye and pink nose.

And here you see the drawn motifs under the work,  the cutout motif pinned to the silk, then on the right the drawn outline, and in the hoop the hedgehog in progress.  The hoop you see is a four inch one, to give you an idea of the size of the motif.  The doves came in choice of sizes, also fitting within a four inch hoop.

 Members were able to create their own outline, using the hedgehog cutout,  then adding in, freehand,  the curve to form the face.  This is an intermediate step to creating your own design. 

On the left you see the sueded fabric used for cutting the purl thread onto, and for easily lifting it off onto the needle.  This saves a lot of flying purls, since it's a tightly curled spring in form, and will vanish as you cut it unless you cut right over this kind of surface where it clings.  Velvet works great for this, too. 

A reminder: cut your purls into short pieces, a quarter inch or less,  slide one onto your threaded needle, then using both hands, gently stretch it slightly, before proceeding to stitch it on as if it's a bead.  The thread goes back into the fabric at the place it came out, causing the purl to create a hoop shape.  Another stitch locks it in place before you do the next purl piece.  Just do this until your hedgehog has a full coat of curls!

A future Princeton EGA blogpost will bring you pictures of finished doves and hedgehogs, at least that's the plan.

We also had a Show and Tell, with two terrific works from Cynthia C., who shows here a Shaker box, with the addition of her work on the lid, which she attached using magnets on the inside, very inventive idea. 

And there's a detail, so you don't miss just how skilled this work is.

 She also brought us a marvelous piece of fine needlepoint, many ideas and stitches and color decisions in this piece

Tom's finished Santa tree skirt is here, 

and a detail showing some, guess what, goldwork.  

This whole large work is a real tour de force of stitching.

And then there was what we might call Tom's Great Shopping Find -- two very fine pieces of goldwork, bought for a song at an antiques fleamarket. 

Tom, having embarked recently on goldwork, realized just what he was looking at, and snapped them up.  Karen G. commented, when we saw them, it was just as well the rest of the group weren't there, otherwise there might have been a brisk competition for ownership of these pieces!

And in the category of This is Such a Great Idea, why Didn't I Think of it, presented by Lyna, is the organizer, a three ring binder with zip closing, which she populated with ziploc freezer bags each containing project materials.  

She punched holes in the bottoms of the bags, leaving the ziploc tops available to open easily, reinforced the punched holes with tape, and created a great idea which several members plan to steal asap!