The Divine Ms. Scoular

Last week my friend Joyce and I took a road trip to Bloomington, Minnesota, near the Twin Cities to attend the EGA Heartland Regional Seminar hosted by the St. Paul Needleworkers chapter.  We were able to take only one 2-day class, so we chose the blackwork class being taught by Marion Scoular--and we're glad we did.

About a month ago, we received our 28-count Lugana fabric in the mail, with the outline of the design already drawn on (thanks for that, Marion!).  All we were asked to do was damp press the fabric (if we so desired), mount it on our frame of choice, and bring our own threads and colors to stitch with.  She assured us in her accompanying note that we wouldn't be bored in her class (I certainly wasn't), that we would get hooked on blackwork (as most of you know, I already was), and that every student's piece would be quite different from all the others.  I was a little skeptical about that last claim.  I thought that everyone's would be a different color, of course, but that we would just copy what she had stitched.

When the class started, we were given a wide variety of blackwork patterns from which to choose.  Here are some models that Marion brought with her.  As you can see, each is really different from the others--there was a fourth piece that had just every other section stitched, but I didn't get a good photo of it.  She didn't tell us which specific blackwork patterns she used, these are merely for inspiration.

We are doing the Dresden design that you see on top and on the lower right.  The piece on the lower right has half the sections shaded dark to light from the center outward, and the other sections are shaded the opposite.  I'm not going to get quite that fancy with mine.

Here is my start.  I'm planning to stitch only every other section, using a red and blue color scheme, and the Lugana really is white.  Marion gave us some clever blackwork patterns that are actually letters, if you look hard enough.  Starting with the section in the southwest corner, the pattern will spell C H I C A G O.  Can you see the first four letters?  The stitched sections will be shaded and outlined, but only after we get all the base patterns stitched, per Marion's instructions.  I made my task a little bit more challenging because all of her patterns have suggestions for shading, except for the "letter" patterns, so I'm on my own with that.  Chicago's flag is blue, white and red--I may depict it in the middle in some way.  No one in the class is doing anything like this piece, probably for good reason, so she was right about each piece being totally different, too.

Here is the Divine Ms. Scoular her very self.

She is a graduate of the 

Royal School of Needlework,

but is surprisingly relaxed about reversibility,

what types of stitches to use on the outline,

mixing double running, back stitch 

or a combination thereof within each section,

and even knots on the back of your work!

She teaches other techniques,

such as hardanger and hemstitching, too.

If you ever have an opportunity

to take a class from her, go for it!

That's all for now.

Thanks for visiting!

Flowers from my Needle

Hey Blog Buddies,

How is your May going?  I hope you had a good weekend and enjoyed the spring weather.  Or the fall weather, if you're farther south!

I attended a workshop on Saturday hosted by my EGA chapter and taught by Nancy Buhl, who designs canvaswork pieces under the name From Nancy's Needle.  She is a wonderful teacher, and I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop. 

The piece in the photo above was taught, called Flowers from my Needle.

I chose a slightly more autumnal colorway.

 

There was a very nice turnout--we had over 40 stitchers.

 

There were over 40 fabulous gift baskets, too.

In addition, everyone got a door prize.

 

Here is where I'm at with my piece.

It is a simple, small piece that I don't have to think about very much.

There are no laid threads.  I love it!

I wouldn't have needed to go to a workshop to figure this piece out,

but don't tell anyone.

I would love to just keep on working on this piece until it's finished,

but sadly it will have to join a throng of other pieces

on "the back burner."

The pile on that burner is getting dangerously high.

For the past few days, I've been working on

(gasp!)

a cross stitch piece.

It's one of the Prairie Schooler Christmas Strawberries.

I hope to get this one finished today

so that I can get all three of my stitched strawberry pieces

to the finisher, who I hope to see this evening.

I'd better get cracking.

That's it for now.

Thanks for visiting!

The First Saturday in February ...

...is Stitch-in-Public Day according to the EGA (Embroidery Guild of America or, as I like to refer to it, the Mothership).  Our local chapter will be having a Stitch-in-Public event at the St. John (IN) Public Library from 10am to 4pm on Saturday, February 2nd.  If you're in the vicinity, please do stop by and stitch with us!

Our chapter will also have a hearts-and-Valentine-themed exhibit at the library during the month of February.  My modest contribution is my latest finish...

This is Lizzie*Kate's A Bit of February.

Started on 1/21/13, Finished on 1/24/13.

Stitched on 28-count Light Mocha linen

with the called-for DMC threads (mostly).

That's it for today.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

If you're interested, go to my giveaway post and leave a comment.

Have a stitchy weekend and

thanks for visiting!

Stitching in Public

Hey Blog Buddies,

Today was our Stitch-in-Public event at the Munster Public Library, and everyone had a grand time.  It wasn't exactly like Walmart at 4:00 a.m. on Black Friday 10:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, but we did have five adults and two kids come by to see what it was all about and stitch with us.   Don't get us wrong, we love to teach adults how to stitch, but we were especially happy to see the kids since they are the future of needleart.  I've got lots of photos, so will let them do the talking.  (The color is weird on a lot of them, but you'll get the gist.)

We were able to use the library's display case

for some of the Guild's education projects.

We had some preassembled needle books,

and freebie alphabets and other designs.

Here's the start of a cute acorn design

on the right.

This design was originally intended for punchneedle,

but this lady wanted to try surface embroidery.

Whatever floats your boat is our thinking.

Here are two 8-year-old girls

(and their moms' arms on the left)

busy at work cross-stitching.

The girl standing on the right is Sophie,

granddaughter of our member Karen J.

She is an accomplished little stitcher

(she's almost 10 years old)

and is giving the younger girls a helping hand.

The room busy at work.

Since not all of us were needed to teach,

we brought stuff to stitch, to-wit:

Sue's hardanger ornament from an old magazine.

Karen J's Cedar Hill bunny.

Chris' La-D-Da sampler.

Renee's start on Mary Wigham.

Janet's Chickadee Hollow ornament.

Karen U's Carriage House Samplings design.

Lynn - L*K's Christmas Rules.

Barb had started "I found my glasses,

now maybe I can see my keys."

I brought along Uptown Stitcher,

but didn't make tons of progress

and you've seen her already.

And (as of the time that I left)

who was the only one who had finished her project?

Sophie!!

She had such a good time that she said

she wants to come back next year!

Hope your weekend is equally fun-filled.

Thanks for visiting!

Pop Quiz

Hey Blog Buddies,

First of all, thank you for all your kind comments.  I appreciate them more than you know.

Now, for the pop quiz.  Have you ever done it in public?  At a baseball game?  In a park or on the beach?  On a bus or train?  I've done it in parks (but not the beach--too sandy), libraries, trains, cafeterias and on my desk at work (but only during lunch hour!) and county fairs.  I'm sure many of you have done it in a doctor's waiting room.  Sure, you may get some strange looks, but then there are some curious people who will come up to you and ask what you're doing and ask if they can do it with you.  And it's always more fun to stitch with a buddy.  Yes, stitching!  What did you think I meant?

As many of you may already know, this Saturday, February 4, is Stitch-in-Public Day here in the United States.  The Mothership (Embroidery Guild of America) is sponsoring this event.  When I told DH what I would be doing this Saturday, he was genuinely puzzled and asked what the point of it was.  So I explained:  (1) to get people interested in stitching; (2) to teach people to stitch who are so inclined; and (3) to promote our guild.

Here is the flyer.

As you can see it's from 10am to 4pm

at the Munster Public Library,

8701 Calumet,

Munster, Indiana.

If you're in the area,

bring a project, come on down,

and do it in public with us!

No sign-up or registration required.

We're a fun group and

we won't twist your arm to join the guild, I promise!

Here is what I've started this week:

Kinda looks like a goal post, doesn't it?

But it's my first attempt at

Ukrainian drawn thread embroidery.

The vertical sides are satin stitch,

the top row is hem stitch,

and the next row is Roman stitch.

That's all I've done so far.

Hope what you're doing today is fun.

Thanks for visiting.

A Very Stitchy Weekend

Hey Blog Buddies,

Yesterday was Indiana State Day.  "What the heck is that?" many of you may be wondering.  Once a year, the various chapters of the Embroidery Guild of America (the Mothership)  in each state get together for a workshop, lunch, prizes and various other stitchy festivities.  So yesterday, the ladies of the Indianapolis chapter were the hosts for Indiana State Day.  You don't have to be a resident of the state to participate (which I'm not), or even a member of one of the state's chapters (which I happen to be), just a member of the Mothership.

My festivities started on Friday when Averyclaire and I began our Indiana road trip/shop hop.  Our first stop was Persnickety Stitchers in Zionsville, IN.  What a great little shop!  It sells supplies for both canvaswork and linen, and it's well worth a visit if you're anywhere in the area.  Zionsville is also a very pleasant artsy-craftsy little town, so we had lunch there with Linda, another member of our Guild who we ran into (where else?) at Persnickety Stitchers. 

My Haul from Persnickety Stitchers

The top photo shows two charts from The Prairie Schooler.

Bottom photo is a canvaswork piece

from Needle Delights Originals.

Our next stop was Needle Fever which is more of a counted-cross-stitch-type place.  They have tons of merchandise (many items of which actually seemed to know me by name--but I somehow managed to restrain myself).  This is another recommended stop if you're in Indianapolis.  Our last stop before the hotel was Quilts Plus, on the same street as Needle Fever and not too far down.  This shop was another winner, and I recommend it if you're into quilty stuff.  After we got to the hotel for a short rest after our journey, we went to the stitch-in hosted by the Indianapolis Guild.

Saturday morning bright and early at 9:00am (8:00am Illinois time) the workshop started.  It was a class in stumpwork ("dimensional stitching") taught by Marsha Papay Gomola.  I can't say enough good things about Marsha:  her instructions are clear and informative, and she's funny and very encouraging to all her students.  Our project was a little cardinal, the state bird of Indiana.  (What a coincidence:  it's also the state bird of Illinois!)

Here is the stitched example that Marsha brought which illustrates how to get the dimension in the cardinal.  First you tack three pieces of felt onto the design, one on top of the other and each one slightly bigger than the last.  Then you stitch the design on top of the felt, being careful not to pull the stitches too tightly, which would mash the felt down.  The stitch we used on the cardinal was the long-and-short stitch.

The following are some examples of Marsha's beautiful work:

After everyone got a good start on their bird, it was time for lunch.

Eight gals from our Guild attended State Day. 

Karol, Linda, Renee and Joyce were at one table.

Sue, her mom Jackie, Karen and I were at another table.

Why did we split up?  Well, I try to avoid complaining on this blog, but I'm going to do it now.  All of the people with "special diets" (vegetarians, gluten intolerance, carb intolerance) were segregated from the general population (and their friends) and had to sit at this one table.  It was in the far corner of the room.  The Special-Diet Ghetto.  I've never run into this policy before (probably the brainchild of someone on the hotel's management team).  I felt a little like some sort of freakazoid.  If my other "weirdo" friends hadn't been at the table with me, I would have rebelled, and it wouldn't have been pretty.  Just sayin.'  I should add here that everyone at lunch got a door prize, courtesy of the Indianapolis Guild, and we all got cute little goodie bags made by the members of the Indianapolis Guild, filled with stitchy stuff, to-wit:

Clockwise, from top left:

Mill Hill Autumn Harvest ornament (door prize)

Goodie Bag with needle

Stitch markers

Scissor fob

Paper ort container

Pinkeep to match goodie bag

Embroidery floss

After lunch, we had time to go back to the classroom and stitch and get more tips from Marsha about finishing our piece, etc.  Many of the workshop participants brought completed projects for show and tell.  Below is the eye candy.

Here is what our Guild brought...

If you have stuck with me this far,

you may be wondering

"When is this post going to end?"

or

"How did Southpaw's cardinal turn out?"

(I prefer to believe the latter.)

So here is my progress on the cardinal, my newest WIP.

I've lost count of how many I have now....

Averyclaire was the only one from our Guild

who finished the whole bird (minus beak).

I didn't get a photo.

I know, it's not a race.

Hope you're doing fun things this weekend.

Thanks for visiting!