Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well, it's official.  Christmas is almost here.  We had our party at The Tavern in New Wilmington, PA on the 12th.  The weather was good, the food was yummy, the companionship was delightful, the games were fun, and we all had a nice time. 

We had a brief meeting after our meal and before the games began.  Our next project Toccata 3 will begin in January.  The patterns will be passed out to those who signed up (contact Marsha if you didn't sign up and still want to participate) and we will discuss the type of fabric that can be used.  Since there is pulled work in this piece, aida is not a good choice for this project.  Linen, hardanger fabric or any kind of evenweave is best.  I believe Sue will be bringing fabric samples to help us decide which type of fabric will work best for each stitcher.  I strongly suggest everyone bring a scrap piece of fabric to practice the pulled thread stitches.

We will have a month to gather our supplies for this project.  In the middle of our piece is a cross stitched alphabet.  This may be stitched before our February meeting if you wish.  It's not a large area and can be easily done before we begin the squares.  This is a beautiful piece and should be a fun learning experience for all of us.  I, for one, am really looking forward to it.

If you are unfamiliar with pulled thread, click on the link below for some basic reading about this beautiful technique:
http://www.needlework-tips-and-techniques.com/pulled-thread-embroidery.html

Our next meeting will be Monday, January 18th at 7 pm.  See you then!




Thursday, October 29, 2009

November meeting and October update

Business first: Our next meeting will be Monday, November 16th. Everyone that wants to have their GCC Oksana's Sampler critiqued must bring it to the meeting. Marsha will be mailing them out that week. Remember to include your name, chapter name and EGA member number on a tag and attach it to your sampler.

We will continue the HandBlessings piece from October at this meeting. Anyone needing help with it or who just want to finish it bring it for stitching. Anyone finished with it (and I know there are some) be sure to bring it so we can all see the finished products.

Joyce did a good job teaching the HandBlessings piece and I think everyone enjoyed her class. This is an excellent choice for beginners and for any stitcher needing a break from a complicated project. It was stitchers choice for threads and canvas and we had some lovely combinations. Of course, I forgot to get my camera out -- duh (ladies, please remind me next meeting to take some pics). If memory serves me correctly, there were a couple Christmas-y colors, a Spring-y one and an Autumn-y one and possibly others BUT since I forgot to take pics .... and my memory isn't always the greatest .....

I'll just close this with a holiday greeting from my favorite friendly ghouls:

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Upcoming Classes for 2010 ....

Greetings to all you stitching people out there!

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Marcy and, for now at least, I will be posting information about the Keystone Chapter's upcoming events, eye candy, gossip and whatever else may seem blog-worthy.

It's hard to believe that we are talking about 2010 already but it will be here before we know it. Right now, I am busy stitching gifts for Christmas plus a couple ornaments I decided to do yesterday for my 2 nephews for Halloween (I best be hustling, don't ya think?). Anyway, after all the holiday excitement settles down and the dreary month of February descends, I always like to begin the new year stitching something for myself.

Luckily, beginning with the new year, Keystone will be offering an extended class (probably 3 or 4 months long) of Toccata 3 by The Drawn Thread. The instructors for this lovely piece will be Joyce and myself. The choices of fabric and thread colors will be left to the individual stitchers. Of course, we all love seeing the different color combinations. Joyce has already picked hers but I'm still thinking -- so many choices, it's difficult to make a decision.

A second class offering for 2010 is a pattern by Handblessings called Butterfly Garden Needlepoint Quilt. This cute little quilt is stitched on canvas and again, stitcher's choice for thread colors. It's an easy stitch, good for beginners and will make a lovely little ornament or small box top or whatever. Marcy, that's me, will be teaching this one. I have already done it and had a wonderful time playing with thread colors.

In addition, more classes are in the planning (there is talk of Christmas stockings for July) but I will leave them for another time.

Happy Stitching!

Monday, September 28, 2009

October Meeting

Our next meeting will be 7 pm on October 19th. After the meeting, our class will be a small, beginner canvas piece by HandBlessings called Autumn Whispers Needlepoint Quilt. Click on the link to see a picture of the piece: http://handblessings.com/cgi-bin/alpha.pl

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Stitching Classes

Here are a few of the recent classes from meetings in 2008 and 2009:



This cute little stumpwork bird was taught to members in 2008.







The Shamrock was taught in 2009 so we would be prepared for St. Patty's.







And this last photo is our current EGA Group Correspondence Course.

Under Construction ...

This is the newly constructed blog of the Embroidery Guild Of America's Keystone Chapter. Hopefully, I will get a handle on this blogging stuff in the near future but until then ......

WELCOME!


We are a small but lively group that meets monthly at the
Third Presbyterian Church
1315 E. Washington Street
New Castle, PA 16101