Chapter members–click here to access the full newsletter. You will be directed to our private Yahoo group and you will need to sign in.
President’s Message • UFO Challenge • Other News
Where to begin…
Let me start by thanking many members for their efforts to keep our chapter functioning. First, you are reading this because our long-distance member, Shelly, volunteered to get our newsletter back up and running as a way of communicating with all our members. We’ll do our best to have it in your in-box a week before our meeting.
Angelina has just completed the renewal process for the year, now that EGA has switched to having everyone renew at the same time. Our membership has shrunk by a third and we are really hoping that some of the changes that are happening will attract the attention of those non-renewing members, and they will return to our stitching fold.
The San Diego County Fair is up and running (“Taste the Fun”, June 11 to July 5). We have Cassie and Margi to thank for coming up with a new look and a more interactive booth for all the stitching guilds. Margi still has the unenviable task of keeping the calendar for who is manning the booth and tracking down people to stitch and share with folks what fun it is to be in a guild. This year the handout at the fair has an invitation to new people to come to a meeting and get a stitching gift. We’ll be looking to have members help anyone who comes to a meeting with these beginning projects. The projects were already tried at the May craft fair as “make-it and take-its”, with success.
Angelina and I got to view all of the beautifully stitched items that were in competition for our Muchas Manos ribbon at the fair. Jean LK again expertly stitched our logo, over one, on the center of the ribbon. We awarded the ribbon, which includes a year’s membership to EGA and our chapter, to an incredible piece of Brazilian embroidery, using the loose definition of sampler as “a piece with many different stitches”. The winner is Mary Kay from El Cajon and we hope we can entice her to share some of her secrets for flawless bullion stitches executed with rayon threads.
Lastly, I would like to thank Karen K for her service to Muchas Manos, most recently as president of our chapter, for the last year and a half. She has decided to resign her position for personal reasons and we are looking forward to supporting her in her quest to carve out just a bit of stitching time in her busy life.
Take a look at the rest to the newsletter for the things that are happening in our chapter and think about what changes you would like to see and how we can move toward a more vibrant, active chapter. Hope to see you at the next meeting with lots of ideas!
Heather
It’s not too late to join the UFO (Un-Finished Object) challenge for 2010. For an investment of $5.00, you pledge to complete your chosen project before the November meeting, where we hope to have a huge display of all the prolific work of our stitchers. Finish the project and you get your $5.00 back. (Angelina has already gotten one of her projects completed and her money back for that project). If your project is still not completed by the November 15, 2010 meeting, you’ve made a donation to the chapter. So far we have pledges for 19 items.
The UFO Contract can be found in the file section of our Yahoo group. Just print one out for each item, attach $5.00, and give it to Heather at the meeting.
If this seems like more than you want to do, we are still celebrating each and every piece of finished stitchery at the meetings. Please bring whatever you finish so everyone can see you wonderful handiwork. We love to oooh and ahhh over finished goodies.
- Outreach Update: Soldier Kissing Pillows. The EGA message board has been active with requests for large numbers of Soldier Kissing Pillows. Muchas Manos members have been stitching away quietly and we have over 75 pillows that are ready to answer the call. We’ll send what we have completed before the next meeting and start building our treasured stash of pillows again in preparation of the next request. These pillows have become very popular with service members and their families, and word is spreading faster than we all can stitch. Consider picking up a couple of kits to stitch in an evening.
- Please join us for the chapter meeting on Monday, July 19. This will be held at the Livewell Center, 4425 Bannock Ave., San Diego, CA. There will be open stitching from 5 to 7 pm and the chapter meeting from 7 to 9 pm. The program is Japanese Sashiko Embroidery taught by Laura B.