Spending Time with the Bay Area Sampler Guild

Last weekend I had the great pleasure of teaching two classes, Fruit of the Vine Sampler Huswif and A Lady's Worke Box, for members of the Bay Area Sampler Guild  in the San Francisco area.



Unfortunately, I didn't get very many photos of Saturday's class, Fruit of the Vine Sampler Huswif.  However, here is one of Sarah, Sharon, Muriel, and Gauri hard at work on their needlerolls.



Here is a peek over Ria's shoulder of her progress.





 Here is Liz showing off what she accomplished on Saturday, but I took the photo during Sunday's class.

A fair number of photos were taken Sunday at the class for A Lady's Worke Box, and I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the sampler guild members.

The next photo was near the beginning of the class.  In the background are sisters Lupe and Blanche, whom I first met several years ago when I taught for the Valley Quail EGA, which is also located in the San Francisco area.  Margaret and Kate are in the foreground.

 Here are some more photos also shot during the class on Sunday.  Unfortunately, I neglected to get any close-up photos of the beautiful stitching and wonderful progress they made in class on their Jacob's Ladder needlebooks.

Here are Kim, Pam, Laurie, Eilene, Gauri, and Muriel.

Here are Laurie, Eilene, and Gauri in the foreground, and I'm in the background with Ria.

Here I am with Liz, Annette, Kate, and Margaret.

....and then, all too soon, it was time to go our separate ways.  Here I am with Laurie, Sarah, Gauri, Sharon, and Margaret as we were packing up to go home.  The table is still cluttered with the mock-ups I used for demonstrating the assembly process for A Lady's Worke Box.



One of the highlights for me was seeing the completed With My Needle projects the gals brought for me to see in person.  I know there was at least one more project not shown in this photo.

Below are some close-ups.

First is Annette's beautiful sewing pouch.  The design, Flowers for My Friends, is one that I created a few years ago to help out victims of the Italian earthquakes that did so much devastation.

This is an inside view of Annette's Bunnies in the Garden.  Isn't that cute fabric she chose to make her carrot scissors sheath?

I neglected to get an outside view but found this one on an earlier blog post.

Annette had told me that she has lots of internet stitching buddies, but none are local.  She was delighted when I told her about the Bay Area Sampler Guild in San Francisco.  She is now their newest member and took her first-ever classes over the weekend.  I think she's now hooked.  She's already making plans to attend their next meeting.  Annette gave me one of her beautful sewing pouches.  It is so wonderful--beautiful fabrics and a zipper so none of my needlework goodies will fall out.  I also like the fact that the pouch is relatively stiff, which will protect my charts from getting bent.  Thank you very much, Annette!

Here is Quaker Needlework Treasures I believe stitched by Sharon. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Next are photos showing the outside and the inside of  Floral Needleroll. The chart package has charts and directions for two different needlerolls.  This is the version that is mainly stitched over two linen threads.  I can't remember if this one was stitched my Sharon or Shirley, so ladies please help me out.



And last, but not least, are Shirley's and Sharon's A Needleworker's Sampler Huswif.  Both ladies took this class a few years ago when I taught for the Valley Quail EGA.  Shirley hasn't decided if she will frame her piece or make it into a huswif like Sharon did with hers.  Sharon's needlebook is also shown in the photo.

It certainly was nice being with such a gifted group of needleworkers, seeing old friends (some of us go back to when we attended Sampler Gathering years ago in Plymouth, Massachusetts), and meeting others for the first time.  Hopefully our paths will cross again in the not-too-distant future.

After the class, I went up to beautiful Sonoma for a few days.  Look at the beautiful flooring in the hallway of the lovely inn where I stayed....how fitting for my having just taught Fruit of the Vine with its wonderful grapevine border!