I have just finished teaching five days at the EGA Seminar in Alexandria Virginia. It was geat fun and I had wonderful students who accomplished a lot. My four day class had 22 students including two who had never done counted needlepoint. Fuchsias bloomed on day three and four.
Some students went home with a few Fuchsias flowering, some went home with a lot flowering.
To book into one of my classes go onto to www.needleworktours.com.au.
Needlework Tours and Cruises are very professionally run and great fun to be involved with. During the Cruise there is plenty of space to ‘do your own thing’ or to spend time with other stitchers and guests on the Ship.
We share our love of stitching by having our classes on the ‘at sea’ days.
Wonderful stabilizers keep the ship clam if the sea becomes a bit choppy, which meant I could thoroughly enjoyed my time on the 2015 Cruise.
It is a great thrill that I have been invited to teach workshops in both of these States before I go to Virginia to teach at the EGA National Seminar, then complete the ITT in Florida.
There are a few spaces left in these classes, to book please go to the EGA web site, in the Events Tab, click on ITT workshops. – I would love to have you in one of these classes, there are a few spaces left.
Pumpkin Patch and Camellia Biscornu have a counted needlepoint background embellished with wonderful, flexible forgiving silk ribbon. No previous experience with silk ribbon is required.
Not Santa’s Beard uses a collection of ‘fun threads’.
Tucson Chapter of EGA: location for workshop Tucson
Subject: Pumpkin Patch
Dates: Monday 24th Oct and Tuesday 25th October 2016
St Paul Needleworkers Fridley Minnesota: location of workshop in Fridley
Subject Not Santa’s Beard
Date: Friday 28th October 2016
Subject: Camellia Biscornu
Date: Saturday 29th October and Sunday 30th October 2016
Happy Stitching Merrilyn
I do not know where the 1st month of the year went?
For us it has been very hot, so it was so easy to stitch away the days in a cool room watching Tennis or Cricket on TV.
My focus is on the wonderful trip I will have to the USA in October and November.
I will be teaching at the EGA National Seminar at Alexandra, Virginia and have been invited to join the International Teachers Tour. Your EGA Chapter has the opportunity to request me as a Tutor .
To see the full range of the subjects on offer go the EGA web site, then the drop down Events tab and click on International Teachers Tour.
This photo shares with you some of the pieces on offer.
From top going clockwise, Tudor Garden, Pumpkin Patch, Elodie (dolls blanket), Camellia Biscornu and Zinnia Box Pin Cushion which is featured in the current issue of Needlepoint Now. For the other four designs on offer visit the EGA web site.
An unsuccessful (USA Government issue) application for a temporary work visa to teach at ANG resulted in classes being conducted via webcam with wonderful ‘in class room’ help from Susan and Becky.
With my passport ‘back in my hand’ I was able to be a late registration as a delegate and student at EGA in San Antonio.
This quick trip to the US was wonderful, new acquaintances and friendships made also allowed me to add to my thread collection. New designs are formatting, some on canvas and some in my mind.
2015 has been full of many ups and down, the sudden death of my father, the joy of teaching on the Needlework Cruise, the stress of wondering if the temporary work visa would be granted in time for ANG, then the quick trip to EGA.
2016 is shaping up to be a full and rewarding year.
Workshops are planned for various Guilds in Tasmania, subject and dates still to be finalized.
October and November I will be returning to the USA teaching for EGA, at the Seminar 2-6th Nov and also taking an International Teachers Tour around the Seminar. When details are finalized they will be listed on the EGA and my web site.
I am delighted that I have been selected again to teach on the Australian based Needlework Cruise 2017, subjects and details will be share with you soon.
Camellias in silk ribbon adorn a small purse and Biscornu.
The background of needlepoint is repeated on both items. The small purse is stitched on 13 count canvas. The Biscornu (pincushion) is worked on 18 count interlocked canvas.
These two pieces are featured in the current issue of the ANG Needle Pointers Magazine USA.
Beads and Kreinik threads add sparkle to these two pieces.
The photo was taken with the late afternoon winter sun streaming thru the window. I am preparing to enjoy and evening out with friends, the Camellia purse will be used for the 1st time.
On the 1st of April I was in Freemantle Western Australia, onboard the Voyager of the Seas preparing for our Needlework Cruise.
We had six days of wonderful stitching. My students were amazing. I was very pleased with the amount of stitching they accomplished and the quality of their work.
Many friendships were made during this time. Cruising and stitching is a wonderful combination, especially when sailing on smooth seas.
For fourteen days we sailed along the long coast of Western Australia and into Asia, with the Cruise finishing in Singapore.
In mid March I had a wonderful weekend of teaching Needlepoint at All Threads in Brisbane The students stitched Fifi’s Fuchsias, my counted needlepoint design.
I also shared with them some of my other Fuchsia pieces.
I would now like to share with you a little of what I have been doing over the past few months, I hope this explains why my newsletters have been absent.
Over summer I wrote a children’s book about my two pet lambs, Molly and Polly.
This is a true story about my lambs. I have made it educational and informative for children of all ages.
I also put all the class instructions for the Needlework Cruise into a book.
Today I have started ordering threads and canvas for the kits that I will be teaching at American Needlepoint Guild USA Seminar at the end of September this year . ‘Splendor and Sparkle’ is one of my counted needlepoint projects I am teaching at the Seminar.