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.

A Visit to Heirlooms

Like many of you,  I enjoy visiting needlework shops when traveling.  I was particularly excited to visit Sherelyn's shop, Heirlooms, in Napier, New Zealand.  It was just as wonderful as I thought it would be!   Here are a few photos to show you what I mean.

Above are several versions of  Mrs. Waddelow's Huswif.  The finished huswif was made by Sherelyn's daughter Melissa.

How clever is this?  Sherelyn turned the stitched pages of one of my little books into small cushions that she displays in a basket.

Elizabeth and Diane stopped by the shop the day before the class.  Here is a photo of them along with Sherelyn (on the far right) and me in front of Sherelyn's roses.  Elizabeth is holding her version of A Pair of Pin Cubes.  She stitched her version over two linen threads and made the design into a box instead of a pin cube.  How clever is that?  Diane is holding her A Fair Maiden's Etui.  You can see more photos of both of their projects in my last blog post.

And here are a few final photos before leaving Napier.

Sherelyn and her husband Keith

Sweet Lily

Several of you have asked about photos from New Zealand.  I have hundreds and will sort through them shortly so I can share a few with you.  (I promise not to subject you to all of them.)

Teaching in New Zealand

What a treat it was to have been asked by Sherelyn to teach a class sponsored by her shop, Heirlooms, in Napier, New Zealand. Sherelyn picked a wonderful class venue, Mission Winery.  How much fun it was for me to present Fruit of the Vine at a winery!

In my next blog post, I'll show photos of Heirlooms.  Today's blog post contains miscellaneous class photos.

Here we are headed off in the morning.

Almost there...

And here are some classroom photos.

Here are some views of the shop boutique and also some of the "show and tell".

Here are some of the class participants.  I'm sorry I missed getting  photos of everyone.

Don't let the seriousness in the previous photo fool you.  Below are the the same two ladies
right after I took the previous photo.

Here is Sherelyn loading up her car at the end of the day.

Thank you to everyone for a wonderful day,  but especially thank you to Sherelyn for inviting me to teach for you!

Where Does the Time Go?

I can't believe that it has been well over a week since my last blog post! I have been meaning all week to show you these photos, but time keeps escaping.

First are photos from Joan S. who lives in Minnesota.  Joan sent me these photos of her beautifully stitched and assembled Mrs. Waddelow's Huswif. It is so pretty in green!  Joan stitched her huswif on 32-count Platinum linen using Elizabethan Green silk thread from Gloriana Threads.  I love the thread and fabric choices  she made.

Joan wrote that she and her stitching friends have also stitched several other With My Needle projects--My Needle's Worke Box, Ackworth Friendship Book, and My Favorite Things Stitching Basket.  Joan and her friends like to get together and stitch the same project and then at an annual retreat assemble the project.  How much fun that must be!

Thanks, Joan, for your photos.  I'm tickled pink that you and your friends have chosen to work on so many of my projects.  Maybe next time, you'll include some photos of yourselves.

I also heard from my friend Jen H. who lives in the UK.  Her friend Cora made a Quaker Hornbook as a gift for her.  Notice how Cora include both of their initials ("C" and "J").    What a wonderful idea, Cora!

We had our first snowfall of the season earlier this week....just an inch but a hint of what is surely to come!

On the stitching front, I've been working on a new teaching project.  (I'm just in the design process--no stitching yet.)  In addition, I pulled out two old Joanne Harvey (The Examplarery) class projects, Katherine Jones and Lucy Adams.  I'm having lots of fun working on both of them and will show you some photos shortly.