Ladies, I am really excited to embark on this New Year as president of the Muchas Manos de San Diego chapter! And the rest of the board is also rarin’ to go.
This year and month marks the ten year anniversary of my first visit to open stitching into the former Community Room in the Clairemont Square Shopping Center. I became a member of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America at the next regular meeting. I’ve had so much fun and learned so much that it doesn’t seem that long ago.
Becoming an avid Hardanger stitcher has been the biggest change for me as a stitcher since joining the guild. At last year’s San Diego County Fair my entries swept the Hardanger category – OK, my two bell pulls were the only two entries in that category. (To paraphrase another president, “We’re going to have to fix that.”) I’m actually planning to teach a small Hardanger project this year. Watch the newsletter for more information.
This past Christmas my mom and I visited a family friend who is of Norwegian descent. One of her friends is native Norwegian, who came to the U.S. in her late teens. I was able to speak with that friend and asked her if she’s ever done hardanger embroidery. She told me she had never tried it, because she didn’t like the idea of cutting her fabric. Sounds like what I used to say!
I actually finished Nordic Needle’s 2012 Hardanger Club project on Christmas morning. And then I realized I was drinking my coffee from a mug that said Uff Da, the Norwegian rough equivalent of “Oy vey.” (Or as I also sometimes say, “Ding-dangety!”) I’d done enough reverse stitching on that Hardanger project to make Uff Da an appropriate comment! We all had a lot of giggles about that. Here’s a picture of the Uff Da mug with a portion of the completed project.
We have a lot of exciting plans and opportunities coming up in 2013, and I’d love to have all of you involved and having a lot of fun. Happy Stitching!
Gini
- February 18: This meeting is going to be fun as we all share our “First or Worst” projects in embroidery. Come and bring a project to share with friends that was your first embroidery project or one that, once started just never came together, AKA your worst embroidery project.
- March 18: Liesel-Schwalm course with Heather.
- April 15: Hardanger Emery Cushion.