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Mouse TalesVol 3 - Issue 1 March 2004Contents
President's Message:Hello everyone in CyberStitchers, and those who receive this newsletter that are not CyberStitchers EGA members! Do you want to become a member? Just go to the www.cyberstitchers.org web site and click on the links provided and join us in our wonderful internet chapter. And speaking of the big BEE, or Big Educational Event, it is just getting started for all the members. We are offering 5 GCC classes per quarter, for a total of 15 classes this year. It is exciting for everyone who has signed up to participate. Silly me, I have picked three classes to participate in and they are all offered the same quarter! :-D I will be one busy stitcher as the deadlines for the classes approach. Hope everyone in the chapter decides to participate in the BEE. Just a reminder, there will be an election for Regional Representative at the May general meeting. Hope everyone shows up for that meeting. I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday this spring, whatever holiday you choose to celebrate. LoriBeth Etengoff, Acting Region RepAt our March meeting the Nominating Committee introduced their nominee
for Region Rep. Cynthia Welch, our previous region rep, regretably had
to step down from her position; we thank her for her time. Our new acting
rep is Sharon Hite. Sharon has prior experierince as the Region Rep for
the Dixie Chapter. As Lori Beth stated in her President's Message, we
will vote to make this official at our May. Education ReportGCC's: Beads & Comanche Stitch Anne divided up the 15 classes into 3 groups with 1 group of classes being offered each quarter in 2004, starting with the 2nd quarter 2004. The groupings are: 2nd quarter: Beads & Comanche, Beginning Drawn Thread, Casulguidi,
Options in Hardanger, White Queen; 113 of our members selected a class for their BEE benefit. That's about a 75% participation rate!! Any open spots in the BEE classes are available to our members as a paying student - i.e., you will pay the text fee and a combined fee for the course and postage. For paying students in the BEE classes, the combined course and postage fee is $15.50 for US members and $18.50 for members outside the US. This combination fee is the same for each class, regardless of the number of students in the class. Because it is a combined fee, there will be no price reduction in the combination fee for students who already have the text or for any other reasons. As an example, if you want to take Options in Hardanger as a (US) paying student, your final cost is $38.50 - $23 for the text, $15.50 for the combination fee. For the 2nd quarter, 2 classes are full - Beads & Comanche Stitch and White Queen; there are a few people on the waiting list for these classes. Beginning Drawn Thread, Casulguidi, and Options in Hardanger had openings, but check ASAP with Anne. Of the other classes, the only one that is approaching full is Grrcia - which did have 3 open spots. For those of you who selected a 2nd quarter BEE class, Anne will be sending out payment info shortly. In a nutshell, the payment deadline date will be the final deadline date; if your payment does not reach Anne by the deadline date, your spot in the class will be given to the next person on the waiting list. For the 2nd quarter classes the payment deadline is Friday, April 30, 2004. If you miss the payment deadline for your BEE class, you may select another BEE class, if it is not full. Anne will send out reminders up to the deadline date, but she'd like to keep the registration process moving forward as much as possible. Wow, isn't everyone excited about starting new classes! Petite Projects: SAM: Stitchalong: For our new members, at each meeting I select a small freebie project for our members to stitch and finish however they like. The members upload a picture of their completed project and we all vote on which finished project we prefer. The person receiving the most votes will receive a certificate. At the end of the year a certificate will also be awarded to the person who received the most votes throughout the year. Our next stitchalong project, due for the May meeting, is "Goodie Bag IV" from At River's End. It is found here: http://www.concentric.net/~Nyssa/goodie4.html . Please let me know if there is an interest in either project for a group stitchalong, stitchalong, or any other similar ideas you might have. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me. Anne L OutreachBookmarks: Lynn reports that Chapter President LoriBeth Etengoff and the Outreach Committee offer CyberStitchers members the opportunity to participate in the Bookmarks for Literacy project again in 2004. For those who are new to the chapter, our Bookmarks for Literacy outreach project works like this: Members stitch a bookmark. It is sent to the project coordinator, who then sends all bookmarks in a batch shipment to a literacy organization for distribution to its clients as a gift. Because our chapter has world-wide membership, a world-wide literacy organization was contacted in hope that they would accept our donation of stitched bookmarks. Unfortunately, that organization was not set up for this type of donation, so they referred us to local literacy organizations for a project such as ours. The Center for Literacy in the Philadelphia (Pa.) area was chosen to receive our bookmark donations in 2004 (http://www.centerforliteracy.org). This 36-year old community-based, non-profit organization serves over 4,000 people in two large counties, both children and adults. Their client/student base encompasses both those who are English-speaking and those for whom English is their second language. In a telephone conversation, the executive director told me that their students/clients originate in just about every country of the world. The Center for Literacy tutors/teaches not only reading, but also writing and mathematics. Many uses will be found for our hand-stitched bookmarks within their varied programs -- graduation gifts, progress awards and the like. The Center will enthusiastically accept our bookmark donations at any time of the year; they are quite happy that we want to donate to their organization in 2004. While the Committee, of course, welcomes bookmarks of ANY design and technique, we also have a little surprise: You will find a folder titled "Bookmark Patterns" within the cyberstitchers_ega Yahoo! Group Files area, containing patterns designed by chapter members; more original patterns will be added next week. Though some of these charts have color suggestions, we are encouraging chapter members to pick their own colors, fabric, embellishments, etc. You are hereby challenged to pick a pattern, let your creativity flow, and have fun stitching your own variation on one of these patterns. When you're done stitching, post a photo/scan of your finished bookmark so that we can all be inspired by your unique creative touch. Feeling inspired? We invite all chapter members to contribute an original chart for this bookmark pattern collection for this project. Contact any committee member for more information. Lynn has volunteered to be the Bookmarks for Literacy project coordinator for 2004. When you have your bookmark finished, please send an e-mail to Lynn to receive the mailing address. A reminder: there is NO deadline. Your bookmark will be gratefully accepted at ANY time during the year. Thank you for your participation, and we're looking forward to seeing your beautiful handiwork! Christmas Ornaments: Chapter members are invited to stitch an ornament (in any technique; Christmas- or winter-themed) for this Outreach project. Once stitched, ornaments will be sent to the chapter project coordinator (name and address to be announced in the near future). The coordinator will then ship it, along with other ornaments, to the Attic Needlework store in Mesa, Arizona (http://www.atticneedlework.com). During their sixth annual silent auction scheduled for late November, your ornament will help raise money for research grants and awareness programs by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Sloan-Kettering Hospital, New York. Last year, $6,770 was raised at this event. A second project is in a similar format, but to a different charity: Ornament Donation to Combat Diabetes. Members' donated ornaments will be shipped to The Busy Needle store in Rogers, Arkansas. Each year this shop sells handmade ornaments and donates the proceeds to the American Diabetes Association. In 2003 -- their Fourth Annual Diabetes Ornament Tree -- they raised $1,390.64. See http://www.thebusyneedle.com for more info on the shop; click on "Ornament Tree" for the project. I have been corresponding with both stores, and they are VERY enthusiastic about having our members participate this year! The chapter's Ornament SAL group has already embraced an ornament donation project. This group started out simply looking to set up a stitch along group. It developed into this outreach program. The group is fun; they share each ornament that is finished with photos, encourage those who have less stitching time, and share pattern suggestions, and chat a bit too. Folks interested in stitching ornaments should join the CS_Ornament_A_Month_SAL group. I would like to stress that these Outreach projects are open to ALL chapter members for their participation. We hope that you will agree that these are worthy charities, and that you'll start stitching away! We'd LOVE it if each member could stitch one ornament for an Outreach project. Your ornament will then be donated to the charity of your choice. More details will be posted in the near future as to where to send your completed ornaments. Lynn B My Favorite Needlework ShopThere is a shop in Connecticut that one has to think of as a superstore for needlework. The Thistle, in Glastonbury, is a huge shop which is just perfect for anyone's stash enhancement, whether you prefer canvas or linen, painted canvas or counting. If you can visit in person, allow yourself a few hours just to take everything in . The Thistle doesn't lack for much. They have a very complete selection of fibers from silks to threads for Brazilian embroidery to overdyeds to metallics. If you don't see it, ask. This was the first store where I saw the Gumnut line of threads from Australia, and I had fun looking them over. Do you want fabrics? Oodles of linens in every color of the rainbow and thread count. Aida as well. A canvas person? If you want a painted canvas or if you prefer a charted pattern to follow - they have a huge selection. As for patterns and books? There are tons of patterns for everyone's taste from counted cross stitch to hardanger. Naturally there are all kinds of stitching accessories. One neat item is stretcher bars that are extra thin so that if you have a small item such as a 5x5 inch piece, the profile of the frame is less likely to get in your way. Best of all, the shop is a full frame shop, and they have framing classes.. You can help yourself to a wall full of ready made frames if you are looking for a standard size. Boxes, candlescreens, and other manner of wood products are also availble. The folks in the shop are very nice, and ready to help. They also have a nice selection of classes available inhouse. If the Thistle is too far to visit in person, never fear, an email to them at ThisNeedle@aol.com is all you need. Tell them what you would like, they will put your order together, and send it to you. Check out their website at members.aol.com/ThisNeedle. Freebie WebsitesWe all found our way to the Kreinik site for our last stitch-a-long, www.kreinik.com/HTML/freebies/kreinik_freebies.html. Looking through I saw a couple of designs for that last minute Easter egg - "Pastel Easter Eggs"and "Easter Egg Ornament" by Janelle Giese. Looking ahead to Mother's Day, Tricia Wilson Nguyan's "Mother is Love" would be a special Mother's Day gift. If you need a bit of Spring, look at "Enchanted Green Garden" by Julia Lucas or "Spring Wreath" by Ursula Michael. Nice freebies can also be found at the Caron website. Go to www.caron-net.com and look for the magazine freebies. These are patterns that were featured in various magazines. There are all types of techniques; something for everyone. I must say I enjoyed stitching Tony Minieri's "Persian Tile". I did it in the January colors, gee, last year or the year before? It is a quick stitch on canvas. For the ornament SAL, there are some cute bargello stochkings. A real treat is "Pieces of Eight" by Gayle Bicknell that was featured in Needlepoint Now. Stitching GoodiesBook Review: Dee in New Zealand reports: "I don't actually have a copy yet, but Jane Nicholas's new book is out in the US now. It is called The Stumpwork, Goldwork and Surface Embroidery Collection of Beetles, and is absolutely fabulous (my F2F Guild here in NZ has a copy). "One amusing thing about this book: I was in my LNS in Nelson earlier this week and asked if they had the book. The owner of the shop took out her keys and said they had one copy - it was in the glass cabinet in the middle of the shop along with the crystal figures and expensive gold needles! Of course, at NZ$89.95 they didn't want all and sundry handling it. "You lucky ladies in the US can get it from Barnes & Noble for US$23 and from Amazon for $20! Guess what my sister has on hand for me in Arizona waiting for my visit." I have to add to Dee's comments that I saw some of Jane's pieces at the National Seminar in Rye in October. Wow! Also, Jane was one of only two teachers who had their classes fill up immediately, and she taught three separate pieces! Needlework Tools: Jeri shares: "I did come across a product recently which is marketed more for quilters than stitchers, called 'fingergloves' (http://www.fingergloves.com ). I have some arthritis in my thumbs, and sometimes have a hard time holding onto the needle (especially with canvas work, heavier threads, etc), and these latex fingers really do work wonderfully at easing the pain. Obviously, anyone with a latex allergy wouldn't be able to use them, but they are certainly a lot better than rubber fingers with band aids stuck on the inside to get a snug fit (my former solution!)" A Beading Suggestion: Jeri also shared this great idea for beading on fabrics: "I always loved beads, but hated not having as much control over them as I wanted--no matter how tightly I pulled, they went their own ways! I found some online sources which advised using a diagonal cross stitch through the bead, and I tried it. Since the instructions didn't specify which hole to enter first for the 2nd leg of the cross (each bead has 2!), I tried both. To my delight, I could get the bead hole to align either horizontally or vertically, depending upon how I did the 2nd stitch! Two stitches at a 90 degree angle to each other through a bead held it very firmly, even for large pebble beads, and I was hopelessly hooked! But sometimes one needs to have the holes align diagonally--which is possible if an upright cross is used instead. As with the diagonal cross, the manner in which the 2nd stitch is done will determine the axis, either pointing northeast or northwest, and the bead will have a nice snug attachment with none of the dreaded 'wobbles!' Oddly enough, whenever I hear people talk about using whole cross stitches (diagonal) to attach beads, they keep complaining that the holes will only go in one direction, which seems to be the common belief. When I attach bugle beads, I do actually used 'crossed' stitches to make them more stable, but obviously they don't lie at 90 degree angles! One of the best parts of attaching beads by this method is that one can use a single beading thread, since it is passing through twice, and actually get a stronger attachment than a single pass through with a double thread. Yes, I am addicted to it!" Calendar:9PM April 15- 9PM April 20, 2004 Board Meeting of CyberStitchers. 9 PM May 13 - 9PM May 18, 2004 Regular monthly meeting of CyberStitchers Chapter. June 17-19, 2004 Share-a-Stitch XXIV - Tennesee Valley Region's annual seminar October 23-29, 2004 EGA National Seminar 2004
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