January 2018 Meeting

Due to the cancellation off ur December Meeting our Holiday Exchange was postponed to the January Meeting.   The January Meeting was held at the Hockessin Library.   Because we were in the Library, we could not have our usual potluck luncheon.   Nonetheless, we were about to meet and have our exchanges with many thanks to the Library for allowing us to meet in their facility.   We will be back at Cokesbury in February.   

At our meeting we took time for a big THANK YOU to Susan D.  who served as our president for the past three years. We are all grateful for the wonderful job she did and we are appreciative of her willingness to volunteer for the position. We also welcomed Mary Rita Miller as our new president.

2018 Stitch-a-long

For those who took the Lauren Sauer Class in September, we will be working on her band sampler as a Stitch-a-long.  If you are participating, we are working on bands 1 to 8 this month.  The dividing bands are included in this count.  Thank you to Marnie B. for (trying) to keep us on track  with this project. 

If you didn’t take the class, please consider selecting a sampler from your stash to work on throughout this year. It will be fun to see everyone’s progress. Wouldn't it be fun to have close to 100 completed band samplers by the end of the year?

Conservation Fund

This year we donated $1,000 each to the following organizations to assist in sampler conservation.  

• The Gloucester County Historical Society (for 3 NJ samplers); 
• Winterthur (to support their symposium in the fall); and
• The Bergen County Historical Society (for 2 woolwork pieces). 

If you know an organization that is interested in applying for a grant, applications are accepted up till August.  (see our Conservation Fund tab above)

Email Account  

We have been having off and on issues with our Yahoo email account. Members are not receiving reminders and newsletters. Although people are included on the distribution lists, the emails don't always get delivered and we do not get any notification from Yahoo that delivery has failed.  Reminders are sent on the Sunday before meetings and newsletters are typically sent within one to two days after meetings.   If you are concerned that you are not getting either our emails or if you know someone who is not receiving our emails, please reach out to me at my home email (carthew99@comcast.net).   Thank you for your patience as we work through this hiccup!  

Upcoming Meetings - 

• February: Patty Yergey of Samplers Revisited will be giving a presentation. She will debut the Priscilla Talley 1839 sampler and will be bringing charts that will be for sale ($25). She will also debut the Lydia Wharton 1821 sampler and the chart will be available for members for $15.  These sales are in advance of Nashville. In addition, she will have some other charts of new and previous releases for sale. She requests cash or check only—no credit cards. Sounds like fun! The Priscilla Tally sampler is the cover photo for the new book by Gloria Seamen Allen that will be on sale at the Biggs Museum in the spring.
• Also at the February meeting, Patrick will also lead us in the Broken Needle Ceremony again this year, so bring any needles that need to be retired!
• March: Niky Farrauto of NikysCreations will present an Italian Flower Pot Needleroll.  During our regularly scheduled meeting she will give a presentation.   The project class will be in the afternoon.  For those participating in the class, Stacy distributed the  kits for the pre-work.
• April: We will have a presentation from a sampler collector and we will learn about how she researches and collects samplers.
• May: Deborah Merrick-Wilson will be with us to teach a class on English Precious Metal Embroidery. She will talk about goldwork and its history in the morning and teach a class in the afternoon. The project is a simple leaf and would be appropriate for both beginners to goldwork and as well as more advanced stitchers.
• June: TBD
• July : Pat Young will give a presentation on angels for Christmas in July. We would also love to have members bring in their examples of stitched angels!
• August: Our annual stash relocation event!

Annual Holiday Exchange

We had our holiday exchange—everyone that participated brought beautiful things. We are a talented group and it definitely showed.   I was not at the meeting and I may have some of the pieces in the Show and Tell Section instead of the Exchange Section.  :-( 

What a talented and generous group of stitchers.



Show and Tell

Stitched by Patti H. 

Stitched by Carolyn N. 

Stitched by Patrick B.

Stitched by Jean T.

Lessons in Abecedarian from With Thy Needle and Thread/Brenda Gervais

Stitched by Caryl C.

Stitch Everyday Drum from Hands On Designs

SamSarah Design finished as a drum also by Caryl C.

And lastly from Caryl C., this patriotic small from Mani di Donna

 Stitched by Ellen P.

Also by Ellen P.

Handiwork of Jane G.

Also stitched by Jane G.

Pioneer School Girl, Betsy Morgan Class, Stitched by  - ..............

 Seashore stitching by Stacy S.

 Thank you Caryl for your immediate turn around of the notes and for posting all the photos on our Facebook page.