One of the main objectives of the EGA is education, expanding the stitching horizons of its members. This goal is met in a number of ways:
- National and Regonal Seminars
- Independant Correspondence Courses (ICCs)
- Group Correspondence Courses (GCCs)
ICCs are one-on-one with an instructor and, therefore, a bit costly. GCCs are usually done in groups within the face-to-face chapters with a few each year offered via internet through "Needle Arts" the EGA quarterly magazine or online via the website. They are a bit less costly as there is one group fee that is split among the members doing the GCC and the cost of the text. I did a few online from the magazine and website before joining the Cyberstitchers. I started 'Crewel Confidence', by Judy Jeroy, and 'Excalibu'r, by Sandy Rodgers, but haven't finished them as yet.
One of them that I finished is Winterspring, by Judith D. Glick. 'Winterspring' was my first exposure to Hardanger. Hardanger is composed of kloster blocks of stitches surrounding areas of cut and fill work. The fill work is a type of needleweaving. This was a realitively easy beginner piece and a nice introduction to the technique. I enjoyed the whole project. We made a scissors case, a scissors fob, a thimble case, and a needlecase all decorated with the lovely stitching.
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Since joining Cyberstitchers, I have done or am in the process of doing many more. I have finished and turned in:
| Stained Glass Window Pillow | 17th Century English Sampler |
| Options in Hardanger, Option 1 | Options in Hardanger, Option 2 |
| Options in Hardanger, Option 3 | More Options in Hardanger |
| Crewel Choices | Beginning Drawn Thread |
'Stained Glass Window Pillow', by Mary Long, is based on a Frank Lloyd Wright window. It is a needlwpoint sampler in that it is stitched on a stiff canvas rather than a softer fabric like cotton, linen, or silk. I got a nice evaluation with some hints for improvement (which is the object of turning it in for evaluation) and it is now in my "stitching complete, now needs final finishing" pile. I am a bit unhappy with one of the stitched sections, the instructor agreed with my unhappiness and thought that my plan of frogging (unstitching) it and redoing it with only one strand of thread. That will be done before it is turned into a pillow.
'17th Century English Sample'r, by Ilse Altheer, is a beautiful sampler based on, you guessed it, a 17th century English piece. I did it on linen using Rajmahal Art Silks, a silk and rayon blend thread. I love the look of the threads, but will not use them again in a large piece. Using them for accent threads or on very small pieces is ok. They are difficult to work with, they are slippery, kink easily, keep slipping out of the needle, and ravel easily. They need to be dampened and stretched before use to straighten them out. I had to put a very small knot in the working end of the threads to keep them in the needle. Trying to lie them side by side was an exercise in futility. Ilse gave me a wonderful evaluation, and the final piece made it all worthwhile...but never again. I do needlework for relaxation and stress relief, I don't need it to cause any stress other than that caused by learning a new technique or stitch. If I isn't fun, I don't want to do it. The only thing that kept me going was the beauty of the piece, and my stubborn headedness that I wouldn't let the thread beat me.
'Options in Hardanger', by Dale Sokolow, offered three different versions of the piece. She also encouraged coming up with your own version, or just doing the 17 fill work patterns as a stitch notebook as those are the object of the course. I have a reasonable selections of linen in my stash. I took several of them to my Local Needlework Shops (LNS) to pick out threads that would work with 1-3 of them. The first match I found was for, what I consider, an ugly green linen. The Caron Watercolor and Waterlilies thread that jumped off the thread wall and threw itself at the linen made it my favorite piece once it was stitched. The next thread worked with a tomato red piece. A third choice was a pastel blue and lilac that perfectly matched an overdyed linen in those exact shades. With three thread and linen combination, I made all three options! I had to. The red called to me first, so that is where I started. Unfortunately, I miscounted one set of kloster blocks and didn't catch it until the piece as almost finished. You can't really tell, but I can and I am sure that Dale can also. I also cut one thread too many in one of the fill blocks, oops. The green piece was worked next. I like it best of the three, but...when I cut it from the from the main piece of fabric after stitching it, I cut a little too close to the stitches on one of the corners and the stitches started coming out forcing me to tack them down. Another mistake that can't be seen by anyone that isn't looking at it closely, so it doesn't go in. The third time was the charm. The pastel blue and lilac worked up beautifully with no mistakes that I cna find. I finished it a couple of days before the published deadline for mailing. The next day it was announced that the class got an extension and it didn't need to be sent in for another three months!
I also did two GCCs on beading that can be seen on my beading pages: 'Fun With Beads and Peyote Stitch' and 'Beads and Comanche Stitch'
Next up is Tiramisu by Dakota Rodgers. It is based on 17th century Italian blackwork. I have done a little blackwork before, on the sleeves and yoke of an Italian Renaissance shirt for my husband. There was a bit of it on the 17th Century English Sampler, as well. I am sure that this will be a fun but tedious piece to work. I am the group's coordinator.
After it comes Fantasy Remembered by Luan Callery. It is a stumpwork piece. Stumpwork has 3d effects and I am really looking forward to working on it. I have all the supplies except for the wire needed for the 3d. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the textbook! After this is done, who knows where I'll go. There are a few courses on the website that I am looking at, but I'll just have to see what the chapter comes up with for next year.
I got roped into doing Crewel Choices, also by Judy Jeroy. It is a beautiful piece and I will be coordinating it. It should be starting early in the second quarter of 2007. We have determined the courses to be offered by CyberStiters for 2007. My main course with be More Options in Hardanger by Dale Sokolow, I will be coordinator for it as well and it should start sometime during the second quarter of 2007. I also picked up Beginning Drawn Thread Work, also starting in the second quarter. Looks like a busy quarter! Third quarter will start Finishing With Flair which I hope will help be decide how to do the final finishing on some of my pieces.