Tuesday, December 16, 2014

The Queen City Sampler Guild 2014 Christmas Party

On Saturday I attended The Queen City Sampler Guild annual Christmas party. This is my local guild, and their party is always a fun time with lots of socializing, show-and-tell, an (optional) ornament exchange, lunch, and lots of door prizes.

Here are a few photos of the ornament exchange tree.






This year there was a Quaker challenge: stitch something Quaker during the year. I didn't participate because I have already stitched lots of Quaker samplers and other Quaker-inspired projects. In fact, there are already seven Quaker samplers (five Ackworth reproductions and two others) hanging in our bedroom. There are six more Quaker samplers hanging in my office (With My Needle models) and nine three-dimensional Quaker projects (sewing cases, boxes, books ,etc.) in a glass-front bookcase.

I thought you might enjoy seeing photos of some of the Quaker show-and-tell projects that were on display at the party.





In the photo above on the right, you can get a glimpse of An Emblem of Love (one of my designs) stitched by Sue H. I hope to soon get a better photo of her sampler so I can share her lovely work with you.

Charts for both multi-color and single-color versions of the design are included in the chart package. Sue B. stitched An Emblem of Love in two shades of blue and put the finished stitched piece in a Whitman candy tin.


Lynn K. stitched my Quaker Pattern Book for the guild Quaker challenge. She personalized the book cover with the year, our guild's initials, and also the words  "Quaker Challenge".


There were only a few non-Quaker projects on display.

Lynn K. also brought two of my other projects she had stitched. She told me that this was her With My Needle year. Here are her Strawberries So Fair and her Mrs. Waddelow's Huswif.



Earlier in the year I showed you two other With My Needle projects (A Lady's Worke Box and A Work'd Pocketbook) Lynn had completed. This year she also stitched Family Ties as a gift for her son and daughter-in-law. She didn't have the project with her on Saturday because she has already given it to them.

Last year I taught A Lady's Worke Box for my guild, and I was thrilled to see five completed ones on Saturday.


Here are some close-ups. First is Susan W.'s box.


Next is Ann M.'s box.


And here is Sue B.'s box.


This is Janis R.'s box. (I'm sorry that the photo of Janis' box is so blurry.)


And last is Diane L.'s box. (Janis and Diane are sisters.) Diane likes to make lots of changes to designs, and this project was no exception. Diane changed the color of the house from blue to yellow, and added a verse to the linen panel on the inside box lid.


It was so much fun to see the five boxes side by side!!

You may remember that several months ago I finished the Snooty Parrots sampler. Jana B. also stitched this sampler. Here is a photo of our two samplers side-by-side. I stitched mine on 36-count linen, and Jana used 40-count on hers. We both made some changes to the original design.


I co-founded the Queen City Sampler Guild in 1995, and January will mark our 20th anniversary. Many of us will be stitching a special five-part mystery sampler in commemoration. The sampler was designed by Theresa Baird, Heart's Ease Examplar Workes. We hope to have many completed ones on display at next year's Christmas party.

10 comments:

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

Oh my...what gorgeousness on the tree and displayed on the tables! Be still my heart! I'd love to belong to such a prestigious group of stitching ladies! Gorgeous work to one and all!
Merry Christmas Ellen!
:)

Karen said...

Thank you for all the wonderful photos! Looks like a really fun group.

woolwoman said...

wow what beautiful stitched pieces on display Ellen - quite a prolific group - we had quite a display for duClay too. Hopefully it will be on our blog soon. Glad you had a fun day - Mel

Carin said...

What a beautiful pieces !!!

Margaret said...

What a treat to see so many beautiful stitched pieces! I'm so envious of your sampler guild. I wish I lived close enough to attend and be a member. There are no good cross stitch guilds in this area, sadly.

Marilyn said...

All great works of art, the designing and finishing.
Thanks for sharing the pics Ellen.
Marilyn

Judy said...

Thank you so much for sharing the lovely pieces. I so enjoy seeing other's work.
Some of our guild members are working on The Worke Box from 2013 class we took, it is fun seeing them come to life. Sadly, I haven't done much on mine, but it is on this years list for sure.
I love the idea of putting the ornaments on the tree.
Judy

The Inspired Stitcher said...

I would have to say that was probably one of the best parties I've attended since joining the guild. I'm sill in awe of all the Quaker participation. It was so much fun to see them all together. As always I enjoyed my nice visit with you.

Melissa said...

Thanks for sharing the photos. Such a lot of great stitching!

Jackie's Stitches said...

It looks like your guild had a fabulous year! I loved seeing all five of A Lady's Worke Box together. I've put a few stitches in mine this week. So delightful!