A Day with Kathy Rees

In September our Chapter also had the pleasure of a lecture and trunk show from Kathy Rees of Needle Delights.  Needle Delights was originally a needlework store in Gulf Breeze, Florida founded by Kathy's parents.   In 2004, when the shop was badly damaged by Hurricane Ivan, Kathy's parents retired and Kathy re-opened the shop in Pensacola the next year.  Kathy eventually closed the shop to devote her efforts to teaching and designing full time.   Kathy is one of the premier designers in the counted needlepoint world and we were very excited to have this opportunity to spend the day with her!

Kathy lectured on such topics as her own personal needlework history, color theory and where she draws her inspiration as well as behind the scenes information on what it's like to be a needlework designer and all that it entails.  Fascinating! 

We had a great turnout and several visitors.

Cathy also brought a trunk show with her and graciously allowed us to purchase from her.  

Kathy, thank you for a delightful day!  

View all the photos taken that day, to include more photos of Kathy's models, in our Flickr Album.

Along the St. Johns River

At the end of September, duClay hosted Lauren Sauer for Along the River James class.  This project was originally introduced at Williamsburg in 2012 and our Chapter was delighted to host Lauren for the weekend.  The class was held at the historic Bensel House at the generosity of the Lynch Family.  The Bensel House sits directly on the St. Johns River and was a wonderful location for our class!

Front Side of Along the River James - the border is where we began.

Back Side

Inside - what we didn't get a photo of the inside pockets themselves.

Lauren recharted this section for us to be specific to our location.  

There were two bonus/surprise projects - a scissor fob...

...and a delightful bargello covered match box.

The kit was full of delightful silks and overdyed cottons.

Our class favor from Melody was beeswax and some needles in a pouch made by our very own talented Henri.  So cute!

We had a full house and were delighted that Susan and Jill traveled from out of state to take the class with us!

Two of our Orlando members also made the trip!

Lauren freely shared all types of needlework tips and stories about her needlework journey and brought some projects she has been working on.  She shared her inspiration regarding the project we were working on along with her personal projects.  Great insight into the design process!

Lunch was catered by the delightful Brenda of Fancy J's Catering.  Always a treat!

The dessert table is always of particular interest!

Lauren also brought a trunk show of her class projects.  

Henri also made Lauren a thank you card from the Guild.  Not only did Henri make the card, the cover was hand painted by Henri - stunning!  Lauren was very touched by Henri's talent and the guild thank you gifts.

The weekend was a busy one and more photos can be found in our Flickr Album for this event.  Please do take a moment and look at the rest of the photos from our delightful weekend together sharing our love of needlework.

Special thanks to Melody for putting together such a delightful event and managing the sale table and to Loretta and Ted for hosting Lauren for the weekend!

Taste of Embellishment and Surface Embroidery

On August 1st, duClay Chapter was pleased to host Katie Puckett of KISS Wool Studios for another Taste Of workshop - A Taste of Embellishment and Surface Embroidery.  Since Katie is a renowned rug hooker, designer and wool dyer, the project presented was a pincushion made out of wool.

Katie brought two pincushions that she made for inspiration.

There was a choice between two colorways - Katie had prepped the pieces so we could go home with a finished project! 

Katie led us through the process step by step.  First was to page through the many books she brought for inspiration and ideas for stitches to use for surface embroidery.  

Then we got started!

Our members brought a wide variety of embellishments and shared with each other so the options really were limitless.

A couple of in progress photos.

Here are several of the finished projects - made in just a couple of hours.  You'll notice that many of them have pins in them.  The pins were made for us as favors from our very own Becky.  Thank you Becky!

Each pincushion is different and it's really fun to see the individuality of each pincushion.

We'd like to thank Katie and our members for a delightful day.  Of course, all of the photos taken today aren't included on this blog post.  You can see more in our Flickr Album.

Fred and Fiona!

Our Chapter was delighted to have JaneAnn Sleeman come in and teach a needlepoint class for us on the 11th.  Fred and Fiona is the name of the project - it's a delightful patriotic piece.  

If you've never taken a class from JaneAnn, you're certainly missing out.  She is full of ideas, tips and information about fibers.  It's always a delight to have her teach a class.  

 

Here is the unadorned canvas.  

There was a wide selection of fibers used - wool, silk and metallics along with some glittery ribbon.

JaneAnn is hands on and often demonstrates techniques.

Laying threads correctly can make a big impact on a project.  Many teachers assume you know the basics.  JaneAnn is really good about asking if anyone needs a demonstration and ensures the beginners have a good foundation.  

Lunch was catered by Brenda from the Flying J.  Even though there was only 6 or 7 of us she always brings a spread of food.   Since it's so hot, lunch was cold and it definitely hit the spot.

Brenda can never bring just one dessert. No one complains about that!

Melody presenting JaneAnn with a small token from the Chapter.

 

This beautifully and appropriately themed pop up card was made by Henri. Isn't it gorgeous?!

Here is JaneAnn's model of Fred and Fiona.  So cute!  Thank you all for a wonderful day!