Happy New Year — Oh Wait Where Did January Go?

Well hello 2014 – oh my, where did January go? Your already passing us by and we are probably all wondering where you are going in such a hurry. Slow down a bit, we want time to stitch!

For those of you who are just checking out the Tudor Rose Sampler Guild Blog for the first time, we are a sampler guild located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Our guild’s focus is learning about, stitching, conserving and passing on knowledge of samplers, whether they be antique or modern, American or from other far reaches of the world. We meet the first Tuesday of every month at 7:00 p.m. If you would like to join us, please use the contact form.

During our January 2014, we revisited projects of old and showed that we can all reach our goals when we put our minds to it. In essence, we performed MAGIC (or a better way to put it, we fulfilled our My Annual Good Intentions Contracts). Every year, members take a moment or two and go through their stashes to find projects where they need a little push to bring that piece to the front of their basket. In 2013, we had 23 members who submitted 104 projects they hoped to complete and of those listed, 60 projects were completed. What great accomplishments! There is still time to submit your MAGIC to Marie at our February meeting.

We covered may other items during our January meeting. However, one of the biggies goes towards our main goal as a guild. The members discussed and approved a donation to the Chester County Historical Society. Our donation will go towards the proper preservation of numerous antique samplers in their collection.

Now on to Show and Tell:

Marie notes she took this as a class through Country Sampler of Spring Green, Wisconsin.

These are just a few, she stitched 20 of these cuties!

These guys are really little – just 2 inch squares!

These lovely pieces were birthday gifts from one of our out-of-state members, Gloria M., to Kim L.

This piece was stitched on Lakeside Linen’s 52/60 count linen with Gloriana’s Tudor Silks. It is just exquisite!

In the next few months, we have the following items on our calendar:

During our upcoming February 4, 2014 meeting, we will learn drawn thread technique’s in conjunction with our 2013 Tudor Rose Sampler SAL from Darlene O’Steen’s book, The Proper Stitch.

We will receive our 2014 SAL Project, Catherine Theron’s Travel-Sized Quaker Sewing Roll, at our March 4, 2014 meeting. We will also receive stitching suggestions and a schedule so we can plan to finish by our September meeting, when we will focus on the finishing for the sewing roll. Thank you, Catherine for this wonderful opportunity. Isn’t it lovely?

Make plans to attend our April 1, 2014 meeting to learn finger-loop braiding and other techniques for making decorative cords from a variety of thread types.

We also have an upcoming workshop with Linda Lautenschlager of Chessie & Me. Linda is designing two projects just for Tudor Rose. Keep your calendar clear to attend this workshop the weekend of May 3 and 4, 2014. Additional details will be posted in an upcoming blog post. Please keep in mind that you must be a member to attend this workshop.

All my scattering moments are taken up with my needle.

Ellen Birdseye Wheaton, 1851