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!  

The Guild Looks back at the Armory Red and White Quilt show and forward to October and Goldwork

Several exciting topics to bring to you today.  

Yesterday at stitch-in Ginny showed us the magnificent catalog raisonne which she just received in the mail yesterday, of a Red and White Quilt Show some of our members went in to see at the Armory.  To be exact:

Red and White Quilts: Infinite Variety: Presented by The American Folk Art Museum

by Elizabeth Warren and Maggi Gordon

The venue, the Armory, alone tells you this was a huge event, hundreds of red and white quilts, spanning three centuries, the collection of one woman, wanting to have them seen and enjoyed.  The American Folk Art Museum was also involved, and the catalog, the book you see pictured below, is itself an artwork. 

Here are: the cover giving you the exact title, a sample of pages, and at the bottom the view of the exhibit itself as shown in the book. Ginny and Karen G. both have copies, and maybe they will bring them in for us to see again.


And today, Mary Corbet gives us a post about Dorset buttons, a few of which many of you have seen in progress at stitch ins in the last few months, as Liz created them for use in a bigger artwork. To see some wonderful examples Mary's showing us, as well as ideas on how to not only make but use them, go here

And looking ahead:  our October program meeting, Sunday October 4,  on goldwork will be led, by Carol P, with assistance from Liz A.  Carol will be be using the kits you received at the holiday party in those little silk purses, the Thai silk and gold thread. Liz has also been working on a small goldwork motif for people wanting to stitch something in goldwork in addition to Carol's introductory design, and will present that to you too.  

Please be sure and bring any materials you had from our Mendham goldwork adventure, particularly the piece of velvet (you'll see why you need the velvet when Liz shows you her ideas).  Okay if you don't have them, we'll supply.  Look for an email from Carol soon (she's still in Thailand) with more information.  The date, again, is Sunday October 4, 1-4. 

Meantime, next Wednesday, September 30th, is our Board Meeting, 7-9 pm. at stitch in.  The first Tuesday daytime stitch in will be two days after the general meeting, on October 6, 1-3.
 

The Guild Parties On!

Today was the annual Festival of the Arts at the Plainsboro Public Library, and our chapter was represented by stitchers, their work, work in progress, books on embroidery, and flyers about our activities.  

Tayra brought her family, and started the afternoon with a bit of crewelwork with her daughter, after setting out Christmas stockings and wonderful stitched 3D pictures, and Evie brought in some marvelous work in a variety of stitching and forms.  Many admirers of Tayra and Evie's work over the afternoon.

I brought examples of goldwork, and needlepoint, and schwarm whitework.  Sorry, the location in front of windows made pix almost impossible!  great for other purposes,though.

Ruth was there, signing certificates of completion for young stitchers who had taken part in our summer stitching classes and came back with their completed work to show us.  

Many interested stoppers by and potential EGA members, too.  Anyway, it was a busy day, and that's why there are few pictures of us in stitching action, since once the people started arriving there was no time for pix!  We were demonstrating and explaining and generally being busy with the people, so bear with the lack of stitching visuals.  I took a couple before the people started arriving.

And I did a lot  that I can share both with the library and with you, of all the other activities of the day.  As usual, great weather, we're usually very lucky there, and happy people taking part in art forms they never thought they'd try. 

Setting up outside are the Chinese brush painters explaining to Library Director Carol what they are planning

And Art Lee, with his found objects ready to demo and assist with Sustainable Art from Found Objects! later it went like this

Those sections of bamboo in the background? they became wind chimes in the hands of handy festival goers  and the Twirling and Baton Tossing was in full swing all day

Nelly demonstrated Wet Felting to a happy group

 
 And young mandala makers worked with Julia

While nearby, mehndi painting went on

 and Alison again taught knotted jewelry making to a crowd

 
 And two young men took charge of the big loom for community weavings

 
The Chinese painters got under way, making bookmarks with your name in Chinese characters, and showing other forms of brush painting

And the little guys played happily with the giant Legos

 
The blockbuster of the Festival

 
Tatiana's Butterfly Installation, hundreds of butterflies created in the summer program by her young students, and her own creations, too, fluttered in the wind on the big windows, a huge success from both sides of the glass!

EGA Outreach at its best! and many thanks to the stitchers who came out and took part and helped us put our best foot forward. And to Donna S, of the Library,  who every year pulls all these moving parts into one whole and successful day.

Late Summer and the summer stitching goes on

The summer has seen a lot of stitching at our Guild chapter, and last evening's stitch-in yielded some beauties.

Here's Polly W.'s current needlepoint

And Debi's current baby gift, her young relatives are well cared for

Ginny is creating a calendar series of antique doll images, to be assembled as a wallhanging

Carol P., getting to the completion of a stocking to go to a grandchild for his first Christmas, here explaining a tricky technical point.

Margaret here seen at work on a magnificent goldwork fleur de lis, you really have to see this one in person.



And Tom is getting to the end of his tree skirt series of nine Santas, all historic, all different, all stitched in crewelwork with touches of gold.  Here he is with a Santa in progress on the hoop

Here's the general idea of how the tree skirt will work, with the Santa panels alternating with fabric inserts

And here are some of the Santas 

The September meeting date, with Liz Moroney teaching Temari Balls, is still being finalized, so look for an email from Helen H. confirming the date, once the instructor has had her chance to weigh in!

September Board is still scheduled for Wednesday September 2 at 7 p.m.  And the first Tuesday of the month daytime stitch in will take place Tuesday September 1 at 1 p.m.

The Princeton Embroiderers in Full Swing for the Summer, Home and Away

Stitch-in goes on, every Wednesday evening throughout the year, including high summer.  Here's  new prospective member, Tom, an accomplished stitcher and designer of his own work, at his first meeting

 This Santa figure is part of a large tree skirt, with a number of different versions of the Santa figure, each in its own panel.

and here's the new stitching that Sue T. has embarked on, for which she was discussing color selections with other members, at our most recent stitch-in.

And our outreach is at its peak, with the middle of the summer program, designed and presented by Ruth L. and Ginny H. for the children in the Plainsboro Public Library summer program.  

Ruth has led this for many years, always with a full registration and a waiting list, every summer. Some participants come year after year, and proudly bring their completed work from previous years to show us.

Four sessions, one per week,  of stitching on this year's theme of Local Color, brought in the theme of the local farm, the now defunct Walker Gordon, with the famous cows and the milking rotolactor, once the major employer of our small town.  

Here's the famous cow, a worldclass milker, who has  her own gravestone, marked You'll Do, Buttercup! on local land, as shown in their design, celebrating local color in the cultural sense!  She had a different stage name, once she became a beloved icon.
 

Ginny is a superb teacher, and here she is explaining to an engrossed group how color works, how to select your thread colors and harmonize your design.  

Helen H. one of the founders of our chapter, was there to assist in the teaching, too, patiently helping participants progress through their design decisions.  

 

A lot of learning in this seemingly simple artwork, from math to color relationships, to local history.

Ruth's daughter brought in a diorama to remind the group of the farming origins of our town.  Here's Ruth showing the setup.

And Nicoleta, a library professional who is also an accomplished stitcher, volunteers her time, too, each year to this program.  

Here we persuaded her to pose with one of her own small works, to show the level of expertise, and generosity in sharing, we're making available, free of charge, to our community, as Princeton EGA outreach in partnership with Plainsboro Public Library. 

Our next general meeting is the first Sunday in September, when Liz M. will teach the art of Temari Balls.  Meanwhile, there will be a daytime stitch-in the first Tuesday of August, 1-3 p.m. as well as the regular Wednesday evening stitch-ins.   Prospective members are warmly invited to check in with us, and join us at any of these events.Come as a guest, and decide if you'd like to join.