With My Needle

What a nice day I've had! This morning I went to one of the Queen City Sampler Guild's monthly stitch-ins. I hadn't been to one in quite some time, so it was especially nice to see my stitching friends.  Our attendance was down today--there were only 11 of us there.  Regardless we had a great time and were able to catch up on things.

I asked my friends if I could take some photos to share with you, and they kindly obliged.  Thank you.

Here are Judy L. and Karen M. just settling in for the morning.  Judy is our current guild president.

I wish I had thought to take a photo of their projects. Judy is working Mermaid's Grotto, a teaching project from Tricia Nguygen of Thistle Threads. Wow--what a magnificent project!!! You can see photos of some completed grottoes here. I can't remember what Karen was stitching, but I bet it is a reproduction sampler.

Next are Edith B., Pat A., and Martha D.  I can't believe that I didn't take photos of their work either. 

Edith usually works on very intricate reproduction samplers and had just started a new one from Essamplaire. For "show and tell" she brought in an beautiful sampler in an incredible frame that her husband had carved. I had never seen anything like it--WOW!! WOW!! I was so blown away that I didn't even think to ask her if I could take a photograph of her piece.

For "show and tell" Pat brought in her completed Petit Sampling Etui that I designed along with some friends.  Here is Pat's box closed.

Here is the panel I designed.



Pat chose a very pretty light blue dupioni silk for her lining.  She decided not to use gussets on her etui and also came up with a different way to hold the sides in place.  Pat told me it was her husband who suggested attaching snaps to the ribbons.

Now look at Pat's etui fully open!! She made some changes to the inside also.

What a beautiful job, Pat!! 

I also neglected to take a photo of Martha's work.  She was stitching a beautiful stumpwork lion piece designed by Tricia Nguygen.  What a masterpiece!

Next are Sue B. and Carol H.  Sue was working on Fruit of the Vine Sampler Huswif.  She took the class from me in Sarasota earlier this year.  Carol is just beginning to start on the Frances Burwell sampler that was reproduced by Joanne Harvey of The Examplarery.  Carol told me that she fell in love with this sampler when she saw the original in Williamsburg.

For "show and tell" Sue and Janis (whose photo I neglected to take) brought in their completed A Woman’s Garden Band Sampler.  Catherine Theron designed this beautiful sampler to celebrate our guild's 15th anniversary.  Both Sue and Janis made a few changes to the original design and also chose other verses than what Catherine had on her model.

Ladies, thank you for indulging me with some photos.  I'm only sorry that I didn't get photos of all of you and your beautiful work--truly inspiring!!

And what did I stitch on this morning?  Ann Rayner from Threads Through Time.  I'm sorry this photo isn't better....the colors are really very pretty, and the sampler would look better if I had pressed my linen before taking the photo.

I hope you too have some special stitching "buddies" with whom you can share your passion!