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Mouse Tales

Vol 10 - Issue 4               December 2011 (released January 2012)

Contents

President's Message

Happy New Year!

With the holiday season behind us and the new year ahead, I wonder if anyone has made stitching resolutions or goals this year. Some may have resolved to work on those UFO's, some of you may have decided to start a new project. Whatever your plans are, may it at least have something to do with stitching. My resolution is simple, to find more time to do what I love.......... stitch. I have decided that I am not going to resolve to finish my UFO's first, of which I have many, but I will promise myself to spend some time on them. If there is a project that is a must-have to add to my stash, I will add it to my stash. Stitching is what eases my mind, relieves some of my stresses and gives me so much enjoyment. There are times when I need the companionship of other stitchers and yet there are times when I need that alone time to stitch and free my mind. What does your stitching do for you?

As your new President of CyberStitchers, I have also made a resolution to myself and to you......... to try to give you the best of what CyberStitchers has to offer. Over the next several months, I hope you will see that the board is doing just that. Giving you the best we have.

May your new year be a year full of stitching!

Kathie Morrison
President, Cyberstitchers

Back to Contents

Chapter, Region, and National News

CHAPTER:

First, as newsletter editor, let me apologize for the lateness of this newsletter. As some of you may know, I had some major computer issues thanks to the rudeness of a computer virus. I am usually extremely cautious about strange emails and such, but even the most careful of us get burned eventually. All should be well now and we will get back on track with the March, June, September, December newsletter schedule with the March newsletter.

For our new members, we have built in links to websites mentioned, and to emailing people you may need to contract. If you see a link mentioned and the letters are blue, click on that link and you will be taken there. You will note that I don't put folks' actual emails in the newsletter. If you click on their name in blue, you will be able to email them. If you have a problem, let me know!

I also encourage members to share - if you found a great needlework book, took a great class with a great teacher, have some neat stitching tips to share - let me know so I can include it in the newsletter. Also, if there are some interesting needlework related events in your area, let me know so that I may add them onto the calendar. With the size of our membership, and the area we cover, chances are if there is something happening near you, some of our chapter may be interested in attending.

Thanks for your patience with this issue being late!
Sue Sherburne

President's Challenge:

For the past couple of months I've been thinking of just what I could offer our members as a Challenge for 2012. One area that I feel we are lacking in as a chapter is the area of Outreach. So I knew two months ago that I wanted it to do with stitching something for charity. I find it interesting the recent posts about Outreach because obviously some of you have been thinking about it too.

So here is my Challenge to all of you this year:

The President's Challenge for 2012 is to encourage our members to stitch bookmarks and/or ornaments for charity. With each stitched bookmark/ornament the member's name will be entered into a drawing for a $50 Visa Gift Card. I will draw the stitcher's name at the conclusion of the November 2012 meeting. A member can stitch as many bookmarks/ornaments that they want and they will get one chance for each item stitched. The only criteria is it must be mailed to the appropriate Project Coordinator and the coordinator will then let me know who has submitted items and how many. Depending on how many items are submitted throughout the year, will determine when the items are given to the charity decided by the chapter. For instance, if we have 20 bookmarks come July, we may decide to give them to the charity at that time.

At each meeting throughout the year we will recognize those members who have submitted bookmarks and/or ornaments. Those members will also receive a certificate recognizing their monthly contribution to our Outreach program.

I hope many of you choose to participate. Outreach and stitching for charity should always be in the forefront of our minds. Let's see how generous our CyberStitchers chapter can be!

Happy Stitching!

Kathie Morrison
President, Cyberstitchers

Payments to the Chapter:

With all payments that you make to the chapter, for dues or pins or classes - whatever purpose, PLEASE include your name and EGA # on the memo line for checks, or in the Notes section for PayPal. With our large membership it will make life a LOT easier on any of our volunteers that need to handle payments.

Dues:

Two years ago, National moved everyone's annual renewal to the same date (May 31). This is the date all chapters must have their member lists and
dues submitted to National. So let this message serve as your 'early warning system' that the annual renewal is coming in just a few short weeks - IT IS NOT TIME TO START PAYING YOUR DUES YET. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR DUES PAYMENTS AT THIS TIME.This will begin with the March general membership meeting.

Dues amounts are the same as last year. Keep in mind - this is only for CyberStitchers dues. If you're a plural member, please check with your other
chapter(s) to find out what their due date is.

Please keep in mind, your dues amount does NOT include anything related to postage for anyone outside the US. If you currently have to pay extra for postage fees, you will still pay that amount, along with your regular dues amount. Please start planning now for renewal by the end of April. There
will be lots to do as we approach the due date for EGA, and we need your help to ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

THANK YOU in advance for your help!! :-)

Dues for the 2012-2013 EGA year are as follows:
Primary members of CyberStitchers: $50
Plural members of CS (with the primary chapter being within TVR): $10
Plural members of CS (with the primary chapter being outside TVR): $13
Life Member: $13 (this covers Regional and Chapter dues, as your dues to
National are paid forever)
Payment deadline: April 30th, 2012

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me at
membership@cyberstitchers.org and I will be happy to answer them for you!
Thank you, everyone!

Kelly Jackson
.

Chapter Pins:

Cyberstitchers is lucky to have our own Chapter Pin! You can see a picture of what this pin looks like in the files section of this yahoo group. Just go to the file section and look for "cyberstitchers pin". They really are a fun to wear especially when you are attending the National and Regional EGA Seminars.

These pins are $7.00 and that includes the postage regardless of where we are mailing.

If you are interested, you can pay via paypal at www.paypal.com or www.paypal.ca for our Canadian members. The payee is cyberstitchers@excite.com. Just be sure to identify "Chapter Pin" somewhere in the payment information. You can also send a check to me, payable to Cyberstitchers, just email me for my mailing address. Regardless, of how you purchase one, please email me (click on my name below) and give me YOUR mailing address and that you are wanting to purchase a chapter pin. As soon as I see payment, I will get your pin out to you.

Your Chapter Pin volunteer,
Kathie Morrison

Special Interest Groups:

SIGs are Special Interest Groups and we have a lot of them and more coming all the time. Here are the ones we have at present that you are welcome to join. PLEASE LEAVE YOUR NAME WHEN YOU ASK TO JOIN as it is easier for all of us to check your membership that way.
Searching on email addresses is not always possible and frequently frustrating and often gets members rejected for no reason except "not found in database."

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chat4CyberStitchers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cs-brag_book
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CS-Inspirations-SAL/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CS_beading/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CS_BobbinLace/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CS_DesignForum/ (for designers only)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CS_Hardanger/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CS_History_And_Ethnic_Embroidery/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CS_Ornament_A_Month_SAL/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CS-Stitch-a-Month/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cs_ufos/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CSgaragesale/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CSPetiteProjects/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cyberstitchers_Own_Projects/

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. If I don't have the answer, someone else here probably will. These groups are only as exciting as the members who join them make them. If you don't participate, then you won't enjoy much of the experience. We learn by doing and teaching so ask the questions and do the projects or just collect them for a rainy day when you run out of things to do and we will all have fuller lives.

Karen
SIGs Chair

Sunshine Committee:

Important request! We need members to go to the Members files in the cyberstitchers-ega group and either create or update their profile in the membership directory for the sunshine committee.

REGION:

Region News:

Since the last meeting, the only new region news has been the publication of the Seminar Brochure for Share-a-Stitch XXXII in Kingsport, TN this summer. I uploaded the file to the SAS folder in the group. If you are having trouble locating it, I can always send you another link or email the file to you directly.

I will be working as the Hospitality Chair on behalf of CyberStitchers for the seminar...which includes handling all volunteers. So if you are coming and would like to volunteer, just let me know. Also, this year is the first that our region has offered a "non-participant" option, where folks who are not able to take a class can pay for banquet, favors, a name tag and brochure. This has been done at the national level for many years, but it is new for our region. :-)

Rissa

NATIONAL:

EGA National Headquarters:

The EGA National office has been moved to the following address:
EGA HEADQUARTERS, 1355 Bardstown Road Suite 157, Louisville, KY   40204

News from EGA National by Susan Hacker Nelson :

A special thank you to Cindy Valentine, her donated project "Autumn Splendor" was the best selling Designers Across America Projects to date with over 800 copies sold!

Fiber Forum Spring Retreat
Register Now!

You are invited to join us for the Fiber Forum Retreat at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN, April 15-18, 2012. Registration is open to all EGA members and also those outside EGA from now until February 1.

Our teacher will be felting artist Geri Forkner. She will focus our workshop on "Felted Surfaces for Embroiderers'" and guide us as we create a number of textured surfaces that will be the perfect base for embellishment.
You can download the information brochure on the Fiber Forum page of the website at www.egausa.org/html/fiber_forum.html.

H.Q. is Seeking Historical Materials

Long before there was Needle Arts there was The Bulletin Report of the Embroiderers Guild American Branch. Bulletins 1 through 11 are not part of our historical archive and we are seeking copies to complete our collection. Should you have documents, circa 1958-63, please contact Lorie Welker.

Plan Ahead for Stitch in Public Day 2012!
February 4, 2012

As part of EGA efforts to "foster the art of embroidery and a passion for needlework", the first Saturday in February has been designated EGA's Stitch in Public day to coincide with National Embroidery Month. We encourage each and every chapter to participate on February 4. A poster and flyer are available on the EGA website for chapters to use in advertising their event.

A report on your chapter's activity should be completed and sent to Janice Meyers, EGA Outreach Chair. A copy should also be provided to your Region outreach chair.

While it is suggested that your stitch-in date be February 4, it is not required to be held on that day. If your chapter is planning to Stitch in Public on a different day, please let Janice know about your plans.

Back to Contents

Education Report

I would like to wish each of you a Happy New Year! I am honored and excited to have been selected to be the Chair of the Education Committee. Stitching and education are two of my passions. I have been stitching in some form or other for over 50 years and I have been directly involved in education delivery for over 20 years.

My first task as chair was to form the Education Committee. It is my pleasure to introduce the other members of your education committee. They are:
- Meg Welch (formerly Schaffer)
- Cindy Steinhoff
- Ellen Sedlak
- Ellen Hartman
- Julie Baumler

All the members but Meg are new on the committee. I consider myself fortunate to have Meg on the committee as she has historical knowledge of our educational activities as well as firsthand knowledge of our new chapter web site. This will be extremely important in helping us determine how to use the web site in support of our chapter's educational activities.

A key part of EGA's mission is to provide an "active program of education and study" This is done in a variety of ways one of which is Group Correspondence Courses or GCCs. During 2011 our chapter registered six GCCs with over 60 participants. The first four were registered in April as part of our 2011 Big Education Event (BEE) and I believe these were all completed by year end. These were:
- Blue Heaven: Temari II
- Mark & Paint on Canvas and Fabric
- Cutwork, Shadow Work, and Trapunto Basics
- Liesel-Schwalm
The last two were retiring GCCs (Morning Glories and Crewel Choices) that members expressed an interest in taking and were registered in late December. While these GCCs are registered and the instructors have been notified the classes have not yet started.

Because of a number of unfortunate events the remaining six GCCs for our 2011 BEE were never registered. We have collected the payments for and completed the paperwork for three of these that should have been registered in the third quarter of 2011. As soon as the required audit of our financial records is completed we will submit these three courses for registration. They are:
- Star Studded Samplings
- Dresden Kitty
- Chinese Checkers

We have not yet invoiced the last three BEE classes which were scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2011. These are:
- Cleopatra's Cat (13 seats left)
- Swedish Naversom (9 seats left)
- Roses (10 seats left)
We will be sending an invoice to those who have signed up for these GCCs before the end of January. Since we have not invoiced these classes nor completed the paperwork if you did not sign up for a BEE class in 2011 you are welcome to sign up for one of these three during our January chapter meeting. The class size is limited to 20 plus the coordinator so it will be first come first serve.

A new GCC, Spring Splendor, was announced last year after our BEE courses were determined and a group of members asked to take it. It was never invoiced or registered and for this I apologize. Since it can be selected as a BEE course instead of running it a fee based GCC we have decided it would be in the best interest of the chapter members for them to select it as their 2012 BEE when I open the BEE polls if it is still a project you wish to do.

BEE voting for the 2012 BEE opened during the January meeting and the polls will be open until February 1, 2012.

The Education Committee will continue to bring you petite projects at each meeting. If you complete one we would love you to share that with the rest of us by posting a picture in the Petite Projects Photo area or in the Petite Projects album on our Cyberstitchers Chat group.

One of the education programs the Education Committee is reintroducing to our chapter is the Stitch of the Month. While this can be done a number of different ways right now you can join our chapter's Stitch-A Month Yahoo Group where we already have 4 years worth of stitches available to our members. Please see the section on SAM below.

Respectfully submitted,
Sylvia Perez-Hardy, Chair
Meg Welch
Cindy Steinhoff
Ellen Sedlak
Ellen Hartman
Julie Baumler

Other sources for CCs:

Don't forget, there are CC's available to us inexpensively via Needle Arts magazine or online at the EGA website. Needle Arts through February is "Assisi" and "Lady Larkspur Necklace". The online choices through February are "Cutwork, Shadow Work and Trapunto" and "Embroidery with Mixed Media". Go to the EGA website under Education to find out more: http://egausa.org/html/correspondence_courses.html

CyberStitcher's Own Projects

Still up in the files is Jeanine's Punto Gigliuccio Veritcale (Peahole Hemstitch executed vertically) as well as Bette Kelley's Slinge Croatian Cutwork design. These can be found at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cyberstitchers_Own_Projects/files/

Remember that this pieces are copyrighted. You may not share your downloaded file with anyone else!

Thanks to our designers who have been bringing us wonderful stitching projects!

Meg in Moldova

Petite Project:

This month's petite project is Blues in the Night by Nina Soltwedel. It's a pretty charted canvas project. The PDF is in the Petite Projects group.
All members are welcome to join this group!

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CSPetiteProjects/files/Current%20Petite%20Project/Blues_night.pdf

Meg in Moldova

SAM:

Whether you have been a member for years or just joined our Stitch-A-Month Group, welcome. Stitch-a-Month is a systematic curriculum in counted thread needlework developed by the Vintage EGA group and purchased by the Cyberstitchers Chapter for its members. It begins with the basics and advances to intricate stitches. Stitches are studied in family groups so you can take fundamental skills and apply them to complex stitches built on the same foundation. You will need Adobe Acrobat reader on your computer to open the files for viewing or printing. If you need to download Adobe Acrobat you can do so by going to http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html and following the download buttons and directions.

At this time there is not an index for the the available stitches. Once our meeting is over the education committee will put an index together for your reference. At this time you can view the stitches by going to the files area of the group and opening one of the folders that are labeled either Files for SAM Year 1, Files for SAM Year 2, Files for SAM Year 3, or Files for SAM Year 4. There are 12 files in each folder. While I referenced this as a resource for you to use to learn new stitches independently, if you have questions please post them and we will try to help clarify any of the stitches.

As we move forward I hope to feature at least one stitch per month either from these files or from other sources the committee identifies. If there are specific stitches you would like to learn please post your choices here and we will respond with some instruction on the stitch.

Thank you for your interest in this group and in learning new stitches. If you are not a member of the CS-Stitch-A-Month group but would like to be, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CS-Stitch-a-Month and ask to join the group.Once you are added to the group the lessons can be accessed in the files area. We will make sure to moderate the group and answer questions as they arise.

Sylvia Perez-Hardy
Chair, Education Committee

BAM:

BAM is Bead-a-Month and grew out of a SAM, Stitch-a-Month, program we purchased for several years. Our own Rissa picked up with BAM when SAM ran out of new files. All diagrams are maintained in the CS-Stitch-A-Month yahoogroup. Look in the Files section in the Folder labeled "Files for BAM". If you are not a member of the CS-Stitch-A-Month group but would like to be, send an email to:

CS-Stitch-a-Month-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Back to Contents

Outreach Projects

And welcome to any newer members! Here is an overview of the chapter's current community outreach projects. Let us know if you have any questions.

Bookmarks for Literacy: a member has a contact at her local library, which has a reading program for children. They use our donated stitched
bookmarks as awards for the children. If you'd like to stitch child-appropriate bookmarks for this project, let us know. Again,any stitching technique. This is an ongoing project.

Soldier Kissing Pillows: They are little pillows with a simple cross stitched design on the front (a red heart, with "I love you" inside, and two stars), stitched on 14 count Aida fabric. They are designed to be used as a keepsake for the children and loved ones left behind by the soldiers departing for service overseas. The soldier will kiss the pillow and give one to each of his or her loved ones to hold onto until he or she returns from war. We hope the pillows will be a comfort during the lonely times both for the family and for the soldier. Our chapter members stitch them, and send to an outreach committee member who has contacts within the military for distribution of the finished pillows to soldiers. If you would like to stitch a pillow or two or more, you can find the pattern here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberstitchers_ega/files/KISSING%20PILLOWS%20pattern/
This will be an ongoing project, for as long as necessary.

Ornament Auction for Breat Cancer Research: For the past few years, chapter members have stitched Christmas- or Winter-themed ornaments, and sent them to our chapter project coordinator, Karen, who then takes them to the Attic Needlework shop in Mesa, Arizona (www.atticneedlework.com). Each year the shop holds a silent auction in November for the ornaments made by us and by their customers with all proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation , a major breast cancer research fund. This has been a very successful endeavor raising a lot of money over the last few years. Let's start stitching for Auction 2012! As the autumn approaches we will set a deadline to send ornaments to Karen. Let's make a goal for each of us to send one ornament this year!

Outreach for One: We also realize that some members may prefer to participate in stitching-related community outreach projects as individuals. To that end, the chapter has a created a list of "Outreach for One" projects. The list is not all-inclusive, and we encourage chapter members to add to the list as they discover other projects -- in fact, the list is now member-maintained. You can find the list within this yahoo group in the Files section or at
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberstitchers_ega/files/OUTREACH%20FOR%20ONE/
If you do participate in any outreach projects as an individual, we ask that you do mention your membership in CyberStitchers Chapter EGA when you send your stitched donation. Also, we have members in countries other than the USA; if you know of any projects outside the USA, feel free to let us know about them! Let me or any chapter officer know if there's any group project which you think might be appropriate for our large, far-flung chapter membership.

Two requests:
1. If you did stitch/knit/crochet/whatever for any of these projects in 2011, could you please either send me an e-mail to lynnburshtin@snip.net or post a message in our Chat4CyberStitchers yahoo group -- tell us what you did and an approximate number of hours you participated in 2011 (just make a back-of-the-envelope round number guessimate).
2. For the present and future, would you please let me know when you stitch/knit/crochet/whatever for any of these projects? Again, a back-of-the-envelope round number guessimate of how many hours would be fine.

The reason for asking: we'd like to compile this information for when I report on our outreach activities to our Region and National.

Have a great (stitching) week!
Lynn Burshtin, Chair
Outreach Committee
CyberStitchers Chapter, EGA
(also sometimes known as "Lynn from southern NJ")

Back to Contents

Of Interest

Wear Red Day:

Friday, February 3rd has been designated by the American Heart Association as their annual WEAR RED DAY, in observance of their education efforts for women's heart health. For more information, see: http://www.goredforwomen.org and http://www.goredforwomen.org/wearredday/

How does this tie in to stitching? Well, here's the vague connection <grin>: you may be aware that EGA National supports the American Heart Association through donations of a portion of purchases of their annual heart needlework project. See heart projects in the EGA website's store here:
http://www.egausa.org/html/shop_books_videos.html and http://www.egausa.org/html/shop_projects.html .

Please consider wearing red on February 3rd in support of AHA's Wear Red Day.

Harikuyou:

February 8 in Japan is the day Japanese needleworkers celebrate the Festival of Broken Needles. Hari (pronounced 'Ha - ree') means needle, and Kuyou (pronounced 'Coo-yoh' with the yoh sound a bit drawn out) is a Buddhist memorial service. The Japanese follow both Buddhist and Shinto beliefs. From Shintoism comes the belief that even inanimate objects have a spirit. If we just throw something away, we dishonor the service that that item has given us. A couple in Japan who are friends of mine recently had his wife put a photo of a pair of his worn out sneakers on Facebook, and thank those sneakers for the good service they have given to him.

In keeping with this tradition, on February 8 needleworkers in Japan honor the needles that have broken or bent throughout the previous year. The needles are taken to both Buddhist and Shinto temples and pushed into slabs of tofu. This is a soft resting place for the needles after their hard work. It also prevents the sharp points from doing any harm. Prayers are offered to show respect and to give thanks. It is also hoped that the energy from the needle will pass into the needleworkers and improve their skills. The tofu is then taken to a sacred final resting place. In some places it is wrapped in paper and sent floating down the river. The largest of the memorials are held at Shojuin Temple and Shinganji Temple, both in Tokyo, and at Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.

After reading my friend's Facebook post, I emailed back and said, "Oh, this is like Harikuyou." The husband emailed back, yes, they know this festival. Wouldn't you know, after reading that email I happened to pick up the new issue of Needlepoint Now that had just arrived in the mail. The Letter from the Editor from Elizabeth was all about Harikuyou! Knowing my friends in Japan, I appreciate the way respect is shown for all things - even down to the things in everyday life that make our lives what they are. To all my broken and bent needles, "Thank you for the honor of your service!"

Back to Contents

Calendar:

CyberStitchers Meetings:

January 12-17, 2012:

General meeting of CyberStitchers from 9PM (ET) Thursday, January 12 through 9PM (ET) Tuesday, January 17.

February 9-14, 2012:

Board meeting of CyberStitchers from 9PM (ET) Thursday, February 9 through 9PM (ET) Tuesday, February 14.

March 8-13, 2012:

General meeting of CyberStitchers from 9PM (ET) Thursday, March 8 through 9PM (ET) Tuesday, March 13.

April 12-17, 2012:

Board meeting of CyberStitchers from 9PM (ET) Thursday, April 12 through 9PM (ET) Tuesday, April 17.

Regional and National:

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