Dear Stitchers,

I hope you all have been having a great summer, although I must admit that all this heat makes it difficult for me to stitch. So shopping seems to be the order of the day and I have added considerably to my stash.

Obviously I now need to sort out some stitching items for our auction in September and hope you are doing the same. The auctions are always great fun and the addition to our treasury is welcome. These funds will help us sponsor our next visiting teacher.

The Barbara Rakosnik workshop was well attended and the stitchers were making good progress when I visited on Saturday. Barbara seems like a delightful lady and her designs are really charming. We'll be looking forward to seeing these completed samplers in our "show and share".

It hardly seems possible that this is the end of August and that we will be starting a new season in September. I am looking forward to serving as your president and hope we have many good times and stitch fantastic embroideries.

Happy stitching,

Jean

Calendar of Events

February 2004 - Needle Art Exhibit There will be an open exhibit for the month of February 2004 at the Baldwinsville Library. This is an excellent opportunity to display our work and share our love of needlework and a great chance to gain new members.- Kathy Fonda

We now have all our new library books waiting to be taken home and enjoyed. We all should have a list with all of the books. Please take advantage of all of these wonderful books. If there is a book located at the opposite meeting place that you would like, please let me know and someone can get it for you.

The region is still looking for someone to head up the regional seminar in 2004. If anyone is interested, please let me know. If no one comes forward, the seminar may not happen.

Deadline for the next issue, which covers December 2002 through February 2003, is November 22rd.

New Members:

Yvonne Klein

Lynn A. Pinard

The following memberships are due for renewal before September 30, 2002:

• Arthur Boccaccio
• Rita-Ellen DiRubbo
• Mary Hickox
• Jane Howard (Plural $16)
• Susan Kaplan
• Lorraine LeVine
• Louise Meloling
• Joan Murphy
• Dixie Nohara
• Nancy Schad
• Sue Sears
• Carol Werbeck
• Ann Woodroe

Dues should be paid to the Joan Murphy at the evening meeting, Nancy Hough at the day meeting, or by mail using the form at the end of the newsletter. Please note that late payment may result in missing an issue of Needlearts and the newsletter!

The following have renewed membership:

• Florence A. Bell
• Joyce Droege
• Julie Hall
• Della Pierson
• Jill Sarkodie-Mensah
• Jill C. Zoll

The following did NOT renew membership:

• Maureen Cooke
• Judy Kilpatrick
• Beth Manion
• Athena Oram (plural)
• Philomena Van Hal-Janssens

Barbara Rakosnick workshop:

Twenty-four members enjoyed two days with Barbara Rakosnik and her Perfectly Peony sampler. Everyone had a good time and learned a lot. Remember that these workshops are supported by the education fund and make them more affordable. It is not too early to be thinking about teachers you might like to see at a future workshop. Many thanks to all those who helped to make the workshop a success.

Summer Evenings:

Thanks go to Jane Tanner for the July program on Swedish weaving and to Judy Cain for the August program on blackwork. Both projects were fun, informative and quick to complete. They may have set a record for the most projects completed by the next meeting.

September Stash Reduction/Enhancement Opportunity

As requested by several members, an auction will be held at both day and evening meetings. This is your golden opportunity to clear your stashes of unwanted and no longer needed items so that you can make room for more. Bring all contributions to the September meetings. Proceeds go to the education fund.

2003 Program

The program committee is meeting on Saturday, September 21 at 10:00 at the Liverpool Christian Church to develop the program for 2003. If you would like to participate, please notify Dixie Nohara. We need volunteers from both day and evening meetings, so please consider joining us. We also need ideas for programs that you would like to have and suggestions for presenters. If there is anything you would like to teach please let us know. Bring ideas, etc. with you to the September meetings so that the committee will be able to plan interesting programs for the coming year.

Hello gentle stitchers...It is that time to do some beading again. October's Program will be Peyote Stitch beaded containers. We will be using empty film canisters (provided by me) and covering them with beads. This little container can be used as a place to keep your needles, pins or more beads! What you will need to get:

• a spool/bobbin of bead thread.....any size, but I like to use D-size Nymo thread
• a beading needle
• seed beads....the kind of tube you find in Walmart for $1.76...any color or mixture of colors.
• scissors
• any magnification you need to use when working with beads

This is a very easy project to do and won't require a lot of thinking.

For the November meeting, I will be teaching Bargello. You will need to bring a piece of 14 or 18 mesh canvas, 8" by 8" with edges taped and preferably on stretcher strips. You should also bring 9 fibers. They may be all of one family or contrasting colors. If you are going to use fibers that have to be laid, you will definitely need a laying tool. This will be a fun piece so be imaginative and/or daring with your choice of fibers and colors. One or two metallics is a suggestion. Please bring your usual stitching supplies.

If you would like to send your piece into the teacher for evaluation, please have your piece ready to be picked up for shipment at the October EGA meeting. You will have to have all bands completed if you wish to receive a Certificate of Completion. It does not have to be completed to be evaluated. If you wish to have the center of this design evaluated, please complete all stitching in this area. If you wish to have your picot edging evaluated, please include a 4" square of Jobelan or linen with all sides stitched with the picot edging.

A label should be basted to your work. Please include your name, address, primary chapter and any other information you wish, such as your level of experience in this technique.

Include a business size envelope (#10) with your name, if you desire a private evaluation.

Dearest Muriel,

I am writing to let you know what a wonderful experience the Mid Eastern Region Seminar at Chautauqua was. As you know, I was the recipient of the Muriel Row scholarship. Thank you for allowing the CNY Chapter to offer this scholarship.

At the National Seminar in Massachusetts, I first saw the Wizard by Dorothy Lesher on display when I was visiting my mother and Debbie Bender during their midweek break. Since then I have longed to stitch the Wizard. When Dixie called to tell me that my name had been selected, I was so excited I could only think of how great the Wizard would be to stitch. All I could do was to wait until the seminar would begin.

Wednesday afternoon I met Jill Sarkodie-Mensah and we traveled to Chautauqua Institute. What a beautiful place to have a seminar. We arrived at dinner time and were greeted by Bobbi Yonai and other both new and familiar faces. One of the new faces was my roommate for the first half of the seminar, Mary Jane. Mary Jane is from Ohio and happened to also be taking the Wizard class.

Thursday morning we got up early and made our way to class where we all prepared our canvas by sponge painting the background. After lunch we began stitching. We numbered 20 stitchers in our class and many of us were from the Central NY Chapter. Those stitching near me included Jill, Bobbie & Eleanor. It was great to have so much stitching talent and experience near by. Needless to say, we had a great time. At the end of the day, my roommate Mary Jane and I attended a lecture about the history of The Chautauqua Institute. This was very informative and the gentleman had some good stories about famous people who had lectured there. These included Susan B. Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt, several presidents including President Clinton & his wife. The Institute has been and continues to be a center for learning about the arts as well as religion, politics & personal growth.

Friday offered a new day of stitching where once again we learned new stitches, new ways to handle silk and a bit about color too. At the end of the day I met up with my mom, Fran O'Donnell to take a walking tour of the grounds.

The walking tour was fabulous. A resident of the community walked a group of us around for nearly two hours. She told us about how the homes had originally been tents pitched on platforms and eventually developed into more permanent structures. Many were built by wealthy or influential people of our history. Almost all have been beautifully maintained and what a treat for me having an interest in architecture. Although it was cold that evening, and about twice as long as anyone expected. It was worth every minute.

Saturday begins our third day of stitching and do we have some "electric needles" in our class. Many of the ladies look like they could easily finish the project in a very short amount of time.

A few other happenings were taking place during the seminar. The boutique, for instance, offered some new patterns and many fibers to obtain for that special project or just because your stash wouldn't be complete without a skein of this or a chart of that. The exhibit was wonderful. I think about 20 - 25 pieces were entered. We were allowed just one vote each. I had such a hard time selecting just one. Each time I looked at the items I noticed something new or some element that I had overlooked before. We have so very many talented people in our midst. The added bonus was a chair massage. I thought this was a fabulous treat and wished I could have found time to get several treatments. For the paper bag auction, I purchased several tickets because there were so many great items up for auction. I was very, very lucky as were several of our members. The Central NY Chapter cleaned house.

The dinner Banquet was a sit down dinner of Beef Wellington. All the meals were very good, especially given that there were so many to cook for three times a day. Oh. I almost forgot to mention, at each dinner all the attendees received a stitched favor. Several chapters in the region stitched laying tool holders, pin holders, scissor fobs and mug rugs. These were in addition to the individually stitched name tags we received.

The last day of seminar and I just didn't want it to end. The day was bright, sunny and warm. The Wizard was really taking shape and it wouldn't really be long before he is finished as long as I can find some time. The great part about seminar is that you don't have to stop to be the family taxi driver, cook or cleaning lady. You can just stitch. I wished my classmates and friends, old and new all the best and headed for home with my mom.

I can't thank you enough. Thank you, also, to all the people that made generous donations and voted for me so that my name was selected and thus I was able to participate. This has definitely been a great experience. I encourage everyone to attend next year.

Fondly,

Danielle Gerard

The next Board meeting of this 2002-2003 meeting year will be held on Saturday, Octoberl 19th at 10:00 a.m. at the Liverpool Christian Church. Elected officials and all committee chairs are members of the Board of Directors, and your attendance is important. Members of the chapter are , of course , welcome to attend.

OR Mini Carry All Set (includes all of the above) $9.00

Tote Bags with machine embroidered CNY EGA Logo $20

All items will be available at both Day and Evening Meetings. Checks are acceptable and should be made out to CNY EGA. Cash(check) and carry sales only!

These items would make great stocking stuffers. The bookmark is also a magnifier and has rulings on it. Great for little boys or girls.The tape measure is fiberglass, so one inch won't grow to two! It also has one of those click and reals right back in gizmo's. Great for your purse, or his tackle box. Kid's always love measuring things. The letter opener works very well as a letter opener (Judy Cain keeps coming back for more of these) and they can be used on airplanes to quickly cut your threads.

What about taking the mini carry all, adding a cute mini project, or just a piece of cloth and some thread for doodling and give it as a present to your granddaughter, your niece, or a friend who's shown some interest, along with a promise to spend some time teaching them. This would be a present for both of you!

Lastly remember, profits go into our education fund?so we can have more teachers to get us hooked on more stitching things so we can spend more money supporting our stitching habits!

And you'll probably need another tote bag to carry it all in!

                                            PAYMENT FORM

To:     Nancy Hough


From:                               



                              

________      $35 for membership renewal

________     $ 5 each for chapter pins

________     $ Other ____________________________________         (Please indicate)

________     $ Other  ___________________________________         (Please indicate)


________     $ Total enclosed (Make check payable to CNY EGA.)