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!