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!



A Weekend of Stitches!

I spent last weekend in LaPorte, Indiana teaching at House of Stitches' Weekend of Stitches.  What a great time I had with this wonderful group of women!

The drive to LaPorte on Friday was beautiful as the leaves are beginning to change here in the Midwest.  Even rain did not detract from the wonderful fall colors.

My first stop after getting to LaPorte was at House of Stitches.

I'm sorry I only thought to take a few photos inside this wonderful shop.  Linda, the shop owner, has been in business for 25 years!  Wow!  She certainly must be doing something right!  If she doesn't have it in stock, she'll get it for you, so check out her shop in person or on-line.

Here is a photo of Linda, who is always smiling.  This photo wasn't taken at the shop but at the end of the retreat on Sunday afternoon.  And look, she is still smiling for ear-to-ear!

I neglected to take any photos of the many models and charts she has available, but I did take these of her wall of fabric and her fibers (well, at least some of her fibers--there were too many to get even in two photos.)  Linda has to use a ladder to get to the top couple of rows of fibers and fabric! 

After a quick dinner, it was time to meet the retreat stitchers at the hotel.  They were from Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and even one from Alabama.  That evening I showed them the class model as well as other models I had brought.  Unfortunately, neither I nor any of them thought to take photos. 

We began the class the next morning.  We spent the day working on the back of the Jacob's ladder-style needlebook, which is part of the A Lady's Worke Box project.

Here are some photos from day 1.  As you can see, our room had lots of both natural and artificial light.

One of the ladies, Sharon H., brought in some of her completed With My Needle projects for me to see.  She was so sweet to let me photograph both the pieces and her. 



Sharon and her Quaker Turtles



Here are some more photos of Sharon's beautiful work.



Quaker Turtles, Floral Needleroll, Crown and Needle Etui, and Acorn Sampler Sewing Case



I wish I had thought to take a photo of the inside of Sharon's Acorn Sampler Sewing Case.  She chose such a pretty lining fabric.

view of the inside of Floral Needleroll



Quaker Turtles



Sharon, as you can see, is a very talented needleworker.  Her friends call her the Queen of Smalls. Like Linda, Sharon is always smiling.   I don't think she'll mind if I tell you that next month she will celebrate her 75th birthday!  Wishing you an early 75th birthday, Sharon!

And here are some photos of day 2 of the class.  Look at how much progress the ladies made on the back of their needlebooks!



Janet and her work



Terry's work



Gwen's work


In all my classes I demonstrate the assembly process with mock-ups.  In this particular class, the attendees were able to also make their own needlebook mock-up to take home.  (They used glue on their mock-ups, but will be stitching the ribbons down on their actual needlebooks to create the Jacob's ladder binding.)

And last but not least, we finished the day by looking at images of beautiful antique work boxes and their contents.  It was truly a feast for the eyes!

Here I am with Penny and Terry after we had packed up and were ready to go home.  In the bag in front of Terry is a parting gift from Linda.  (I got one too!)  I'll try to remember to take a photo of mine tomorrow along with two other gifts I received from class students.


Thanks everyone for a great "weekend of stitches".  Also thank you to those who sent me photos to use here.

And a very special thank you to Linda for hosting such a wonderful weekend!  I'm honored and thrilled to be returning next fall to teach two more classes!

Floral Needleroll by Adana

Adana from Illinois sent me photos of her Floral Needleroll that she completed several years ago. Adana chose her own lovely colors, plus she added a twisted cord edging and closure. Isn't Adana's version beautiful with its cheerful colors? Look at the ribbon rose she put on the tip of the needleroll.

case closed

case outside, unfolded

Floral Needlerolls was one of my earliest projects. The title is plural because the product package includes directions for two versions.

The smaller version was stitched entirely over one linen thread and is approximately the same size as the antique that inspired this project. It was stitched using a combination of 32-count Dirty linen and Platinum linen from Zweigart, Inc.

The larger version was stitched using a combination of 32-count Olive Green linen and Light Sand linen also from Zweigart, Inc. This version is wider than the other one and was stitched over two threads except for the writing on the pincushion and on the needlepage.

There are two different color versions. Both were stitched using Sampler Threads from The Gentle Art were used. DMC color substitutions are provided.

These needlerolls were inspired by an antique which was probably Shaker. The antique has a badly worn bronzed leather exterior. On the interior are a wool needlepage and a leather pincushion.

photo of the antique that inspired the project, plus the outside view of

my larger needleroll and the inside view of my smaller needleroll