May Meeting

Here's what is happening at Delaware Valley Historic Sampler Guild.  I wasn't able to attend the May Meeting but thanks to our wonderful secretary, Lynn D., she brought us all up to date with the newsletter.

If you were lucky enough to attend the meeting, I understand Patty Yergey of Samplers Revisited was a great guest speaker.   She showed slides and gave a talk on the evolution of her design career and the antique samplers she has charted.  Patty brought some of her antique samplers and reproductions samplers. Of course there were patterns for sale and from what I understand many were purchased.

(if you were there and can share the names of any of these, please let me know)

It is time for elections and a Nominating Committee has been formed.     Ann Skeans, Marnie Brodoway, and Stacy Stinson were named to the committee to nominate a new President, Program Chairs, and Secretary.  If you are interested in volunteering for one of these positions please contact them.

Something to look forward to....upcoming Chessie and Me Classes   Linda Lautenschlager will be teaching 2 classes this fall.  Scheduled for November 15 and 16.  Please see our "Classes" tab above for pictures, more information and registration forms. 

Something of interest - like many other designers have,  Chessie and Me is doing a Chessie’s Heirloom Club.  For more information on that please see her blog:

http://chessieandme.blogspot.com/2014/04/chessies-heirlooms-club.html

Our Annual Guild Contribution for 2013 will go to the Lewes Historical Society.   The Lewes Historical Society is working to get an estimate of costs to conserve one of the Mrs. Bowers samplers.

June Meeting       Katie Franetovich will be teaching us how to do the lacis portion of our Stitch A Long.  If you want to work it on a doodle cloth you must satin stitch around a block that consists of threads in a multiple of 4 plus 2 additional threads.  Bring sharp scissors because we will be cutting threads.

July Meeting        This will be our Stash Relocation Sale and Stitch In.

August Meeting   Stitch In

We are sorry to announce that Rita S. is moving to San Antonio Texas.  We are sure she will be very happy but we will miss seeing her wonderful projects and her smiling face!  Please keep in touch Rita!

UFO Challenge   Don’t forget to bring in your UFOs as you finish them!  This challenge continues to the end of the year.

Added Feature   Check out the "cross stitch calculator" link at the top of the sidebar on the right......calculate the amount of fabric you need for any given design.  Enter your stitch count, fabric count, over one or two, etc. and it does the work for you.  There are similar APs for your Smart Phone and iPhones.   Love it!

OCMD Retreat

Here's a teaser of what we do when we go on The Lankford Hotel/Salty Yarns Semi-Annual Retreat......

Not much stitching to be shown because I want to share some of the other things we enjoy when we stay at the Lankford.

Our shopping bags lined up like dutiful little soldiers just waiting
for us to drop in a must have goodie during the weekend.

A favorite stitching spot for one and all.

Refreshments

These are the "left-overs" from our Friday night Wine and Hors d'oeuvres
that Sara and Mary put back out on Saturday night.

There are other refreshments to be had.

Some of us were ~forced~ to go to the Captain's Galley for lunch/dinner.

Crab bisque!    Not a drop left.   Yummo!

Two seconds after this shot - these feet retreated from the cold, cold Atlantic Ocean.

Heading back to the rocking chairs for more stitching time.

Saturday night, Sara taught us to Arm Knit.   We were all very attentive and amazed at the 30-minutes start to finish scarf.  Sara has an eye for combining colors and textures.  How cool was this!

Several knitters went into Salty Yarns for yarn the next morning.

Kite Festival Weekend

Salt Caramels, Dark Chocolate Mint Truffles and other goodies to be had.

The wonderful Ocean City Boardwalk.   What a great place to
take your daily walk.

All this and there was some stitching too.

Wonder what fabulous piece Kathy R. is working on.

Francine and Carol chat it up.

Evelyn G. is deep in concentration.

If you haven't joined us before, you need to really consider making the trip next fall.   It is a great time with fellow stitchers, the price is reasonable, the venue is fabulous, the fellowship is great, the welcome we receive is beyond compare.  All combine to make this a rejuvenating retreat.  One trip and you will be hooked.

April Meeting

We are so fortunate at DVHSG to be surrounded by talented, knowledgable, prolific stitchers.   This is not just my opinion, apparently the judges at Woodlawn think so too.   Our own Stacy B. won the Judge's Choice ribbon for her beautiful blackwork piece.  

Stacy B.'s winning rendition of a blackwork design from a Just Cross Stitch pattern.

Stacy B. is not the only winner.  Stacy S., Pat L., Pat Y. and others brought back ribbons.  

Stacy S.'s winning finish of a Sherry Jones piece... 

Pat L. had a beautiful Japanese Embroidery piece (I hope to get a photograph of it to add.)

Another Woodlawn submission

Close up of the oh so pretty top band.

Some of our members completed beauties.....

We all have a soft spot for the Maryland Sampler created by our our Theresa Baird of Heart's Ease Examplar Workes

Heart's Ease Examplar Workes - "The Maryland Sampler"

This is just so big that I can't even get it in with three photos.

 A close up look at the beautiful border and the fabulous tree.

Not only did we have members bring back ribbons from Woodlawn, several scored ribbons from the Rehoboth Historical Society Show.
       Jean T. received two 1st places and an honorable mention ribbon
       Carolyn N. received a 2nd and a 3rd place ribbon
       Stacy S. received a 2nd place ribbon
       Ann S. received a 3rd place ribbon

Just some of the 'regular' completed works of our very talented members.   This was completed by Ann S.  Ann shared the story of her journey across country and to stitching this piece.  She added the personal verse dedicated to her grandson and their trip.  What a family heirloom she has created.

Rosewood Manor - "....and a forest grew"

What a talented group we are!  

After all the show and tell and bragging rights, then, we had our meeting.   Carrie D. lead us in a lively discussion about all those unfinished projects we have.  Why do we start things and not finish them?   What do we buy a chart we can't wait to start only to squirrel it away for years and then find we are not interested?  Why do we find something shiny and new we want to stitch and put down a WIP to start it?   Sometimes it is a mistake made and lost interest.    A chart may be lost.  A fellow stitcher may tempt us with a new purchase and we stray from our UFO.  Our tastes change.  A particular difficult section may come up we don't enjoy.  Sometimes new fibers are needed and a project is parked while waiting for the necessary floss.  The discussion let us know that there is similar thread with all of us.   None of us is unique with the tons of supplies, flosses, patterns, started, unfinished and even forgotten projects.  We are all cut from the same cloth.  

Upcoming - 

Retreat
Our semi-annual retreat will be April 25th - April 27th at the Lankford Hotel in Ocean City, Maryland.   Please let Stacy S. know if you plan to attend.

May
Pat Yerger of Samplers Revisited will be at our May Meeting.  

June 
Katie F. will be teaching us the lacis portion of our Stitch A Long.  If you are not working on the SAL you can still participate.  Just bring a piece of linen that has an even number of threads outlined by a four sided stitch to secure the threads.

FACEBOOK
We are looking into launching a Facebook page for DVHSG.   Watch for more information.

Watch your newsletter 

We will have Chessie & Me teaching in November.    There will be two different classes.  

November 15th will be a piece created just for DVHSG.   

There will be pre-stitching required.   

Class cost - $75.00

November 16th will be the "Unfinished Sampler"

Class cost - $100.00

Signup will be by August 9th.   Ghost stitchers will be permitted

 at an additional fee.More information will follow.

***   Members - for each monthly posting, please let me know who   ***

 ***   I might have missed or listed incorrectly.  Also, please email   *** 

 ***   names of designers and projects so I can include in the   *** 

***   caption to each photo.    It is hard to capture all the   *** 

  ***   information while trying not to disrupt our meetings.   ***   

***   Thank you   ***  

March Meeting

March  Catherine Jordan was our guest speaker.  She brought samples of her needlework maps and she shared how she researches and designs the maps.  Catherine’s map kits are available for purchase at her website:  http://www.catherinesdesigns.net/map-kits.html

Katie Franetovich brought her two antique maps to share with us.

Sylvia DuRoss shared an article in Early American Life Magazine on Westtown Needlework Globes.  There will be a book on Needlework maps by Judith Tyner released at the end of 2014.

Brandywine EGA have scheduled a class with Catherine Jordan on how to design your own map on May 3 and 4^th at Cokesbury.  DVHSG members are invited to attend.  For information email: egabrandywine@gmail.com   

Following the regular meeting, Catherine taught the "Believe" needlebook to those who had signed up in advance.  

Some of Catherine's needlework maps...

(More photos to be added - Blogger is being pesky tonight!)

Membership List   A revised membership list was circulated with the most recent newsletter.  Cell phone numbers have been added to the member list.   Please review your information and  email the guild at dvhsg@yahoo.com with any corrections.

Chessie and Me Class   Linda Lautenschlager will be teaching 2 classes November 15 and 16.  One will be a pre-stitch designed for our guild that will include painting a box and the other will be based on an unfinished antique sampler.  Linda supplies various motifs and teaches how to complete it and make it your own sampler.

UFO Challenge   Don’t forget to bring in your UFOs as you finish them!  This continues to the end of the year.

March

Winterthur will be having an exhibit of The Costumes of Downton Abbey opening March 1, 2014 and continuing until January 4, 2015.     http://www.winterthur.org/downtonabbey?src=home-triptych-left

Woodlawn Awards   Congratulations to guild members who won ribbons!  Stacey Brown won Best in Show, Caryl Carthew won a third place ribbon in Traditional Sampler, Pat Lerch won a second and a third place ribbon in Traditional Sampler as well as a second place ribbon in Japanese Embroidery, Jean Toy won a second place ribbon in Traditional Sampler and a first place in Multi-stitch Sampler, Pat Young received a third place ribbon in both pulled work and cross stitch, and Stacy Stinson won two honorable mention ribbons in the miniature category.  Well done!  Here is a listing of all the entries: http://www.woodlawnpopeleighey.org/events  The exhibit runs until the end of March.  

   

Delaware Sampler Symposium will be March 21, 22, and 23.  There are many different classes and tours.  Saturday’s program of speakers is a free event but you must register to attend.  http://www.biggsmuseum.org/programs/samplersymposium/samplersymposium.html

M. Finkel and Daughter will be having a reception in conjunction with the Delaware Symposium on March 23 from 1 to 4 pm.  Everyone is welcome.

April
Carrie David will be leading a discussion entitled “WIPs, BAPS, and UFOs:  Why do I keep starting these things, how do I get them finished, and do I even want to”  We will be talking about what draws us to ambitious projects, why we stop working on projects, and how do we get motivated to finish up.  Bring in your biggest piece or oldest UFO if you want to share (confess!)  Or bring in a piece that you are stuck on for some reason.  Carrie is sure we can all come up with some ideas to help you get unstuck.  Finally, please bring with you the thing that makes stitching easier/more pleasant, or even possible for you.

Catherine Theron kits  The needleroll kits that were pre-ordered are expected to be available at the April meeting.

Spring Retreat   The retreat will be April 25 to 27 at the Lankford Hotel in Ocean City MD.  This is a 'members only' retreat.  You are welcome to arrive any time after 10 AM and can stay as late as you want on Sunday.  Friday night there will be a wine and appetizers welcome reception, and a continental breakfast is included on Saturday and Sunday.  The price is $130 and single rooms are $10 more per night.  Registration forms were provided at the meeting and can be completed and forwarded to Stacy Stinson at 13 Stearrett Drive, Newark DE 19702.  Stacy will be handling all the arrangements. (I will scan and link the registration form here in the next couple of days/please check back.)

Plimoth Plantation Weekend of Samplers will be April 26 and 27. 

http://www.plimoth.org/calendar#/?i=2

The Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts is having an exhibit of contemporary samplers stitched by the Lehigh Valley EGA chapter through April 27.

http://historicbethlehem.org/collections/exhibits/stitched-together

May 
Patty Yergey from Samplers Revisited will be talking about charting antique samplers.

Penn Dry Goods Market will be held May 16 & 17, 2014 at the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Museum in Pennsburg PA.  This event features antiques and lectures and classes by Textile Historians.  Margriet Hogue will be teaching the Abigail Mears Sampler.  Registration is open at the following link:

http://www.schwenkfelder.com/Penn-Market/registration.htm 

June 
Katie Franetovich will be teaching us the lacis portion of our Stitch A Long.  If you are not working on the SAL you can still participate.  Just bring a piece of linen that has an even number of threads outlined by a four sided stitch to secure the threads.

July
Stash Sale and Stitch In.

Morven Museum  is having an exhibit of New Jersey samplers.    The exhibit will run from October 3, 2014 to March 29, 2015 and there will be a catalog available.

http://morven.org 

Thank you to our wonderful Secretary Lynn D. who forwarded me all the details of the meeting as well as the lovely pictures of the works of Catherine Jordan.   Please email me any corrections.

February 2014 Meeting

Another info filled meeting:

Exhibits and other info

• Pilgrim Hall, Massachusetts 
• Deerborn Hall, Massachusetts 
• Finkels - Open House, March 23rd
• (Sorry - I don't have complete details on all of these but I am sure an internet search can provide more info if you are interested.)
• Downtown Abbey, Costume Exhibit, March 2014 through mid-January 2015, Winterthur Museum, Delaware
• Morven Museum, New Jersey, fall 2014
• Delaware Symposium, March 2014, Dover DE  (See our January Meeting post for more details.)
• Rehoboth Beach needlework show,  spring 2014, Rehoboth, DE.  Stacy S. will deliver any items you wish to enter.   Please contact her before the end of February to make arrangements.
• Swan Sampler Guild - Lauren Sauer is holding a sampler stitching project through the Swam Sampler Guild.   The deadline to sign up is March 1st.   Absentee stitchers are OK.
• Woodlawn - 51st Annual Needlework Exhibit at Woodlawn, Mt. Vernon, Virginia will run the month of March.   DVHSG sent 24 pieces for display!  Thank you to Pat L. and Pat Y. for delivering our treasures.   Pat Y. told the representatives at Woodlawn about our Scissors Block challenge and they were interested in our displaying all our finishes as a group.   Something to keep in mind.  (See our January Meeting post for more info.)
• Catherine Theron Needle Roll Kit - TODAY's (2/8/14) meeting was the last day to sign up.  

Contribution Committee

Members are the Contributions Committee will meet before our next regular meeting.   They are reviewing suggestions and investigating worthy recipients for our annual donation for sampler preservation.  

Programming

• March - Catherine Jordan will be make a presentation on sampler maps during our regular monthly meeting.   After the regular meeting, there will be a members only class with Catherine.   (Sign-ups are closed for this class.)
• April - Carrie D. will lead a panel discussion on WIP's, BAP's and UFO's.   We can all identify with this topic!   Carrie gave us a brief overview of the discussion:   What draws up to stitch a piece; What are our abandonment issues; Why do we loose interest in a particular piece; How to re-kindle the interest in a piece; Sharing what stitching tools or tricks used to make stitching easier.   Hopefully we will be some good tips and motivation.
• Year - Long UFO Challenge - bring in your 2014 finishes to receive a point for each completion of a UFO.   Three $25 gift certificates will be awarded at the end of the challenge.
• May - Patty Yergey of Samplers Revisited will discuss antique samplers and how she got started in charted these treasures from the past.
• June - White Work Band Sampler - Katie will teach the final step (the initial) in the white work sampler stitch along.   Even if you didn't join in the stitch along, you will be able to learn the technique.   More info on supplies needed for the June meeting will follow.
• Summer - one summer month will be a Stitch-in and the other will be the Annual Stash Exchange.
• November - GUILD MEMBERS ONLY - Chessie & Me is designing a guild exclusive piece and will teach on a Saturday and a Sunday class.    More details will be provided in the next couple of months.  There will be pre-stitching.  Ghost stitchers will be allowed but there will be an additional fee.

Now for some photos.  

Show 'n Tell

Rita S. shared her Christmas afghan she stitched.  Each block was a different fabulously stitched tree.  Tons of embellishments.

 Ann S. stitched a tribute in Rosewood Manor's Trees by changing the verse to wording special to her son.   *Sorry Ann - I intended to get a much better pix before we left for the day.  :-(

Our own Theresa Baird gave us a sneak peak of the sampler she is designing for a Georgia Sampler Guild.  She always chooses the prettiest of colors.  Her motifs will include the state flower, dogwood, azaleas, the magnolia and a special verse.  We are so pleased she is one of us and so please for her success!  See Theresa's blog.  Theresa is also designing a sampler for the San Francisco Bay area guild and a sampler for the Swam Sampler Guild in 2015.  In the future, she will be leading an internet forum as a stitch along for some of her designs.   Follow her blog for details.

Members enjoyed the creativity of the Scissors Block challenge.   Please *Click Here*  to see a post dedicated to this challenge.

From Pat L. - Autumn Splendor, and EGA project (from her other guild)

Until next month, keep your stitches plentiful, your tension even and your frogging limited!