President’s Message
I’m so happy that so many members have renewed their membership for 2013-14. Our membership is holding steady in the mid-20s.
Game On! That’s the theme for the 2014 San Diego County Fair. We’re looking forward to another four weeks or so of stitching demonstrations in the Home & Hobby Display area, indoors, out of the hot summer sun.
Jean L. and I went up to the fairgrounds a week ago, after all the entries were delivered, to choose the winner of the Muchas Manos de San Diego sponsored award in embroidery. When you go to the fair, be sure to look for the absolutely gorgeous pillow done in crazy-quilt embroidery techniques, embellished with beaded blossoms and large silk ribbon flowers, along with many other types of stitches. I’d almost classify it as a masterpiece.
The stitchers’ names were still concealed when the choice was made, so we did not know in advance that the winner is Mary Kay H., who is actually a member of our chapter! Part of the prize is a year’s membership to the chapter, so congratulations to Mary Kay. What a lot of highly skilled work went into your project!
We did recognize a couple of the items that had been entered, because they had been shown as UFOs in our chapter meetings! I have mixed feelings to report that this year’s first and second place winners in the Hardanger embroidery category were not won by the same person who won both first and second place last year (me). That means, at least, that the Hardanger category should continue to be offered for the next few years.
As reported last month, at the May 20 chapter meeting Margi T. brought along the Muchas Manos de San Diego banner that had been stored in a past-president’s home for many years. The date in an upper corner was 1979. It was a large rectangular banner, approximately four feet wide, a patchwork quilt of 12-inch embroidered squares of the members’ hands. There were so many that several were even sewn onto the back of the banner.
A few photos are included here, of the chapter emblem (below), and (on page 3) some of the hands that really stood out to me, like the hand with the perfectly shaped red satin-stitched fingernails and three-stone ring. Margi plans to display this banner at the guilds’ booth in the San Diego County Fair this year.
The project at this month’s meeting is a Petite Project entitled Hardanger wreath. If you haven’t already signed up, I will have additional squares of fabric (white, off-white, light blue, dark green), and lengths of size 5 pearl cotton and size 4 Kreinik metallic braid, available for the materials cost of only $3.00. It’s an easy project with some details that are not particularly standard Hardanger, at least in my experience. The finished project can easily be made into a little cushion, biscornu, ornament, or whatever you wish!
Our Gary Clarke Workshop Committee will be finalizing the cost soon, and filling up our roster. We’re hoping to see as many as possible on November 8 for the Black Cockatoo, and November 9 and 10 for the Tulle and Organza Fantail.
Hope you can all make it to the June 17 meeting! In the meantime, Happy Stitching!
Gini