July Meeting

Our regular meeting was held on June 18 and of course we had a lot of fun. We also had a new member join and two visitors! This month we began working on our basket band for the Garden of Delights in a Basket.

 Here is our wonderful Vice President of Programs, Georgette B., introducing the project. Helen I. has several of these baskets in her stash and is making them available for our members. The basket idea was to let our members try various techniques on small inexpensive projects so our band will also include several techniques. This month is a Bargello or Florentine stitch project.

 Georgette stitched up the first part as a model. Check out the instructions! As she is designing or adapting these projects for us, Georgette usually has to do each one twice - once to figure out how to make it work and once more to figure out how to write the instructions.

 She showed us her "waste cloth" for the project that she used to get the correct size. She talked about Florentine stitch and how with a change in the "step" the design can be altered.

 Georgette also brought in some materials from the Florentine study box available from Pacific Southwest Region. These are truly awesome resources for several techniques made up over the years and available to our local chapters. Go to http://psrega.org/study_boxes.htm for more information.

 And here are a few more items that we've made for our Garden! This spool pincushion was the chapter's gift to our members at the December 2011 meeting. A wool felt pincushion sits on a spool that we decorated with a simple cross stitch design.The cross stitch was attached just by using a tiny strip of iron-on adhesive. Very clever, Georgette!  The tassel was our chapter gift for December 2010.

Here is another item in our basket. Georgette adapted a design for a needle roll. Every item in our basket was to be not only a different technique but able to be finished without using a sewing machine. The top roll was stitched by our member Darlene V. and the bottom one stitched by Georgette. The front of each looks similar to the other. How about the backs?






This piece was finished by whip-stitching two rows of backstitching together. Darlene embellished her seam by adding more stitching and buttons. Georgette personalized her roll before she finished it.

From adding buttons and beads to changing out colors, Darlene has personalized a number of projects. See her spool pincushion on the back right? There is her tassel with extra beads on top. She also added red to her blackwork mint tin both in the stitching and on the trim. We look forward to seeing what new ideas Darlene comes up with for each project.



If you'd like to join us, please come to our next meeting to be held at 7:00 Wednesday August 15 at the US Bank building, 333 N. Euclid Avenue, Ontario, CA  91762.