from the sun region of the embroiderers’ guild of america...

from The Sun Region of The Embroiderers’ Guild of America, Inc.

website: www.sunregionega.org

RD’s Letter

Hello to everyone in Sun Region, I hope that you are enjoying the weather in the Sunshine State. We’ve had a lot of sun but could use a few more rainy days. But as we all know, this is Florida, and it will change soon. In non-weather news, it’s been quiet in Sun Region over the holidays but things are about to begin happening again. A number of you have changed offices and I hope that you’ve all gotten your changes in to Adrienne Meyer for the roster. The region meeting is about a month away and I’m looking forward to seeing all of the region reps at that meet-ing. They should be coming back to your chapters with lots of information. Lynn Abbey and I have been working on a new way to deal with the region roster. Lynn will be unveiling it at the meeting and we’re hoping that it makes things easier for everyone in the months to come. Here’s a hint that should make you happy: you won’t have to input all of the roster changes into your personal computers any more. Yeah! I really like that and I hope that you do too. The slate of the Sun Region EC officers for the three years (2018-2020) will be announced. I will leave the posi-tion of RD at the fall meeting with mixed feelings. But, it is time for new blood and new ideas on the board. The region meeting is the weekend after the national board meeting. So all of the national news will be an-nounced at our board meeting. I am still busy working on the strategic planning committee for national. It has taken up a lot of my time but has certainly been interesting in many ways. I’m hoping that job is finished before I leave office! Many of you have registered for the region retreat in Mt Dora this spring. I would normally be in attendance but my husband is retiring from teaching at Rollins College. And, of course, they have set up the big party for the same Saturday night as the region retreat. I will still be teaching the class that morning but sadly will not be able to attend the rest of the retreat. I will miss it as I enjoy being with so many of you. And, even though I won’t be

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The mission of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America is to inspire a passion for the needle arts through education and the celebration of its heritage.

ARD’s report pages 2 - 3 Chapter reports pages 9 - 13 Chapters’ calendar pages 14 - 15 Clip ‘n’ Mail page 3 Committee reports pages 7 - 8

Of Special Interest page 6 RD’s letter pages 1 - 2 Sun Region board members page 4 Sun Region calendar page 4 Treasurer’s report page 5

Inside this Issue

The Sun News Mar/April/May 2017 page 2

ARD’s report Melody Bryan

Soon we’ll be “springing forward” into more “daylight time” I’m sure many of you are happy about that. Lots of stitchers prefer to stitch in natural sunlight. March is also the time we gather for the Spring board meet-ing. The location of our Spring board meeting – the Tampa Westshore Marriott sure looks like a sunny fun place to be. The dates of the meeting are Friday March 24 thru Sunday March 26th. Our room block has now closed. If you don’t have a room res-ervation and need one, you can try contacting the hotel and see if you can get a room. If you can’t – you can let me know and I’ll see if I can get an exception. The luncheon will be an entrée Caesar salad with chicken, coffee/tea or water, a dessert for $25. Please use the coupon on the next page to reserve your spot at the luncheon. Reser-vations for the luncheon must be in to me by March 15th. This appears to be a very lively area with lots of shopping and restaurants. There is a Starbucks inside the hotel along with a bistro which serves all day long with a full service restaurant as well. If you have never attended a Sun Region board meeting – I would encourage you to come and see how deci-sions are made that affect all of Sun Region and how you can make a contribution to these decisions by serving as a Committee Chair or a Sun Region rep. Self parking is free in this location and valet parking is available for $15 per day. Many thanks to Seagrape Chapter for hosting the luncheon and to Chain Stitchers for providing our evening pro-gram. The cost for the kit will be $10 pp paid in cash or check that evening. The program is for a beaded brace-let. For future planning, the Fall 2017 board meeting will be held in Orlando at the Castle Marriott on International Drive. Dates September 22-24 2017. Spring 2018 will be in Lake Mary at the Marriott the weekend of April 6 – 8, 2018. The hotel recently changed the date on us so this is the adjusted date. Please change your calendars to be sure you have the correct date for Lake Mary.

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there, I hope you have just as much fun as if I were! Next year’s event is a cruise and I hope to see many of you there. So, please look for all of the news from your region rep after next month’s board meeting. And, as always, if you have any questions, etc. you can always call or email me. And if there is anything you would like the board to discuss at the spring meeting, please let me know in advance so that I can get it on the agenda.

Kathy Singleton

Sun Region Director


If your chapter has not hosted a luncheon or sponsored a program for the board members, please consider vol-unteering for Spring 2018 meeting in Lake Mary. You don’t have to hostess and provide a program unless you want to do so.

Clip & Mail

March 25, 2017 Sun Region Meeting - 11:30 a.m. Luncheon Reservations

Tampa Marriott Westshore

Name _________________________________ Email ______________________________ Chapter _________________________________ Phone: _______________________________ Are you the chapter rep? ___ Yes ___ No

Dietary restrictions: ___________________________________________________________________ Mail your reservation and check for $25.00 (payable to Sun Region EGA) to be received by March 10, 2017 to: Melody Bryan, ARD 567 Fatio Ln Orange Park, FL 32073 Circle one:

Y N I will be participating in the Saturday evening program hosted by Chain Stitchers chapter

Please note: the charge for this program is $10 per person


Executive Committee

Region Director Kathy Singleton [email protected]

Assistant Region Director Melody Bryan [email protected]

Secretary Cheri Hammer [email protected]

Treasurer Lynn Abbey [email protected]

Committee Chairs

Bylaws Margo Pope [email protected]

Education Deby Talley [email protected]

Finance Lynn Abbey [email protected]

Historian Karan Quintero [email protected]

Newsletter Linda Anne Buehler [email protected]

Nominating Karan Quintero, [email protected] Betsy Harris and Claire Nardone

Outreach JoyceAnne Stevens [email protected]

Parliamentarian Margaret Kinsey [email protected]

Roster Adrienne Meyer [email protected]

Social Media Coordinator Karan Quintero [email protected]

Ways & Means - [email protected]

Website Lynn Abbey [email protected]

2017 Event Chair Claire Nardone [email protected]

2018 Event Chair Lee Ferguson [email protected]

Sun Region Officers and Committee Chairs

2017 Sun Region Calendar March 15 spring Sun Region meeting luncheon deadline

March 24 - 26 Spring Sun Region Meeting Tampa Marriott Westshore

Aug 16 - 20 EGA National Seminar “Blue Ridge Rendezvous” Asheville, NC

Sept 1 next Sun News deadline

The Sun News is published quarterly - March, June, September and December

Region officers, committee chairs and chapter representatives are reminded that the deadlines for submissions are: March 1, June 1, September 1 and December 1. Thanks to all of you who send your articles for insertion in this newsletter in a timely manner. Remember, this newsletter is entirely dependent on you for content.


Treasurer's Report: Activity Period: 12/1/2016 - 2/28/2017

Checking MoneyMkt

Opening Balance (MM opening 11/30/2016) 11,232.88 57,103.39

Income

02 Dues 0.00 0.00

03 Interest 0.00 7.10

Money Market Savings Trans. 0.00 0.00

Transfer from Reserves 0.00 0.00

TOTAL INCOME 0.00 7.10

Expense

21 Educ Event 5,229.55 0.00

29 Officers' Travel 359.40 0.00

TOTAL EXPENSE 5,588.95 0.00

SEPARATE ACCOUNTS

2017 Retreat (net) 6,367.24

2018 Cruise (net) 0.00

Ways & Means (net) 160.01

Reg. Meeting Luncheons (net) 200.00

TOTAL SEPARATE ACCOUNTS 6,727.25

TOTAL 12,371.18 57,110.49

OPEN ITEMS

Receivables 0.00 0.00

Payables 400.00 0.00

TOTAL OPEN ITEMS -400.00 0.00

TOTAL (W/O OPEN ITEMS) 12,771.18 57,110.49

CLOSING BALANCES (Regions Bank Account Statements: MM as of 12/31/16; checking as of 2/28/17) 12,771.18 57,110.49


Of Special Interest

Kathy Singleton took Renate Maile-Moskowitz's classes on wet felting at the Alexandria seminar. This is one of

the pieces she made. On a whim, she submitted it to the Florida state Fair. The photos (below) are the result.

Neapolitan Chapter hosts ITT class The Neapolitan chapter is participating in the ITT. We are having Jane Nicholas come to teach California Poppy and Bumble Bee. Jane will be coming to Naples directly from the national seminar. Sign up has begun within the chapter but we do have openings for non-chapter members. Class dates are August 23-24, 2017. Fee is $88.00. This includes the kit. A real bargain for an international teacher.

This small circular design is an ideal introduction to stumpwork embroidery. Worked on a background of ivo-ry satin, this project features a bright yellow Californian Poppy, Eschscholzia californica, with detached petals, a tightly-curled raised flower bud, a padded seed case, and leaves in surface embroidery, and an Early Bumble-Bee, with detached gauzy wings and red-tipped abdo-men worked in Turkey knots. The finished embroidery may be framed or inserted into the base of a small glass paper-weight.

Send your check made out to Neapolitan EGA to Betty Baechle. Email me and I’ll send you my address and hold a spot for you - [email protected].


Committee Information

May 16th-18th, 1993 brought Sun Region members down to Ft. Lauderdale to once again feel the fun and ex-citement of our high school years by attending the “Let’s Go To The Hop” seminar. The Plantation Society of Needle Artists hosted this event at the Westin Hotel, in Cypress Creek. The committee was chaired by Melinda Themm-Bunker (Plantation), her assistant Sandy Stranahan (LeMoyne), Faculty Joy Hyams & Carol Warburton (Biscayne), brochure Jonalene Gutwein (Indian River), Reg-istrar Bobbie Parks (Gulfview), treasurer Peggy Martin (Plantation), Notebook Marcia Barrere (Central Florida), exhibit Bette Fogarty (Coral Springs), Facilities Melinda Themm-Bunker (Plantation), Bookstore Swain Dancho, Claudia Burkett (Okefenokee), boutique Ginny Matheo (Cross Stitchers Three), Angels Phyllis Danielson (Sarasota), goody bags Jean Strup (Plantation), and nametags Alethea Walker (Treasure Chest). Did you no-tice four of the ten chapters represented are now defunct!!....wow!! The scheduling of events was very tight. The Sun Region meeting was held on Friday along with the Angel meeting, the exhibit, Meet the Teacher Showcase before the opening banquet and chapters were able to hold a display and sale of chapter fund raisers before and after the banquet. Of course the boutique and bookstore were open and ready for business. Classes were held Monday and Tuesday from 8:30-4pm with a one hour and 15 minute lunch break. I certainly hope members were wearing comfortable shoes!! Members were invited to participate in a nametag contest using the seminar theme, “Let’s Go To The Hop” or a 50’s theme. Participants also wore their original name tag submissions with the winner (unknown) announced at the Monday luncheon (no mention of what the reward was). Our files had three luncheon tokens made by the Sea Grape Chapter members (sewn black fabric record coaster, a lace on blue felt “Hop” coaster and a cross stitched needle book). One hundred and three members were divided into nine classes taught by 1) Bette Elovitz, Silk Embroidery-$45, 2) Margaret Kinsey, Silk & Metal Threads-$36, 3) Stephanie Murphy, Needlepoint-$40.50, 4) Francye Far-ley, Embroidery & Needleweaving-$35, 5) Lydia Hoopes, Crewel Embroidery-$30, 6) Jane Nichols, Needlepoint in the Round-$25, 7) Elsa Parrish, Dimensional Needlework-$32, 8) Deanna Powell, Surface Embroidery & Pulled Thread-$45 and 9) Ulla Baroness von Schoeler, Pulled Work-$22. No additional financial information was found in our files regarding any registration or hotel fees. I still have my Silk Embroidery piece ¾ done…..I think after 24 years I should really finish it don’t you think……LOL

HISTORIAN - Karan Quintero

EDUCATION - Deby Talley, chair

We have done our first taping using the Phillips grant money and it is in the process of being edited. We are planning on taping at least three more by this summer and then we will see how much money is left and see how many more we can do. We had to draw a new name for the Region Retreat scholarship winner. Jane Hart is our new first time attendee winner. Remember if your chapter is doing a class or GCC and you want to be considered for reimbursement you must advertise on the region webpage for at least 60 days unless you have 20 people signed up.


Chapters are invited to submit information regarding any events happening in your future. Please be sure to pro-vide a photo, a description, a date(s), location if known, costs, and a contact’s email for questions and locations for mailing fees involved. Thanks to Jenna, Lynn and myself we have been able to post some interesting items which we hope you have enjoyed. Please feel free to contact any of us and we will be more than happy to add submitted items you would like to share with all our region and Facebook friends.

2017 Retreat - “A Lakeside Retreat”

April 21, 22 & 23 will bring us a delightful escape to the beautiful Lakeside Inn in the town of Mount Dora, located just northwest of Orlando, to the Sun Region event of 2017 - ”A Lakeside Retreat.”

SOCIAL MEDIA - Karan Quintero, chair

ROSTER - Adrienne Meyer, chair

The February update to the Sun Region Roster has been sent to each Sun Region chapter. If you would like a digital copy, please contact one of your chapter's officers or me ([email protected]).

OUTREACH - JoyceAnne Stevens, chair

Outreach is an important part of EGA. It is an opportunity for us to connect with other embroiderers who are not aware of stitching organizations. It is an opportunity for us to acquaint or reacquaint people with embroidery, people who are either unaware that embroidery exists or who believe it is something no longer practiced. We do that through classes, exhibits, stitch in public days. We also connect with people by doing things for them as EGA members. Chapters in Sun Region collect toiletries, food, and other items for various charitable groups. Chapters in Sun Region stitch for others thru the Kissing Pillow and Habitat for Humanity programs, churches, hospitals, and more. We can be very proud of the outreach we do in Sun Region and look forward to another good year in 2017.

NOMINATING - Karan Quintero, chair

Several months ago I put out a call to all Region Chapter Presidents and Region Reps to address their mem-bers regarding service as the Asst. Region Director. As of this posting, I heard from two chapters stating that no one had come forward to inquire or fill this position. No response was heard from any of the remaining chapters. Per our region bylaws I will present the slate as it is to attendees at the region meeting. The Nominating Committee would like to thank all those who helped us in our candidate search and look for-ward to seeing everyone at our March meeting.

mailto:[email protected]


BISCAYNE Shelley Iman-Loch

Biscayne Chapter is going to have a three-month project for April, May and June. Martha Milnes will be teaching us the Rose Pocket Pendant. July and August is our summer vacation. We will start up again in September, but have not scheduled any programs yet. We will be starting the More Than a Rose GCC in late spring and run it through the summer. Janet Edgar is the leader for this and will be organizing all of the registration and paperwork in the next few months. After the Rose GCC is completed plans are to start the Isabella Towel GCC.

CANOPY OAKS Rebecca Lockenbach

It is Springtime in Tallahassee. The Canopy Oaks Chapter started the new year with the second session of the two part smocking program lead by Rebecca Lockenbach. On the first Saturday In February we participated in the Stitch-in-Public at the Northside Library and then had our regular meeting on the second Saturday, and en-joyed sharing projects completed and in progress, and had a delightful time stitching. On March 11th Lucy Pat-rick and Jennifer Bailey will present a program on Felt Work. On April 8th we will have guest speaker, Anita Fer-tig, a member of the North Florida Chapter of the Pomegranate Guild of Judaica Needlework, who will teach us Basic Crochet. This introduction will culminate in our May 12th meeting where Pam Doffek will instruct us in Ro-manian Lace. We will also break bread together as we have our end of Spring potluck lunch. We have a group of working on the Meadow Medley GCC and anticipate completing it in July. We are also look-ing forward to the duties at hand which include updating our chapter bylaws as required by both Sun Region and EGA, and planning for the upcoming year. We are looking forward to October 14th class titled My’Lady’s Fan taught by Jane Ellen Balzweit. Once we have the details for this class, we will contact Sun Region Chapters so interested individuals can also sign up for the class. So check your emails and the Sun Region website for up-dates on this opportunity. Chapter meetings are held from 10 a.m. to Noon on the 2nd Saturday of the month at St. Peter’s Anglican Church. We continue to reach out to attract new members.

CENTRAL FLORIDA Deby Talley

We celebrated our holiday luncheon in December with the installation of our new board. We were also able to celebrate Audrey Francini’s 100th birthday at our lunch-eon. She is still going strong and still teaching. We had a nice surprise in February - our own Costume Jack, Jack Smith, was in town and gave us a talk on his planned exhibition on the clothing of Marie Antoinette and how it tied into the revolutionary times. The chapter is looking forward to a hands on Sashiko embroidery class in March, then in April Debbie Bowers from Needle Orts will be our guest to talk about new threads. We will end our year in May with a potluck luncheon and a chance to dye linen with Susan from Black Cauldron Dyeworks. We will also have a table at the St. Johns River festival.

CHAIN STITCHERS Deby Talley

After a busy fall and a holiday dinner at the Lakeside Inn in Mt. Dora, January brought the installation of officers. We also learned how to make a folded scissor fob. February was a broken needle ceremony. In March we are looking forward to making a Dorsett button. April will bring Ukrainian white work and we will finish the year in May with our chapter anniversary party potluck dinner.

Chapter Reports


duCLAY JoyceAnne Stevens

duClay Chapter is looking forward to another wonderful year of learning, stitching, and fun. Our very popular “finishing challenge” is off and running with many optimistic participants. We have 2 SAL groups again this year. The canvaswork stitchers chose to continue their work on the ITT project, “Tudor Garden” by Merrilyn Heazle-wood. The group is not limited to ITT participants. Anyone is welcome to join in and can choose to work on any design by Merrilyn. The linen stitchers chose Brenda Keyes as their designer, again letting each participant work on a Brenda Keyes’ design of their choice. We welcomed Linda Dean from Canopy Oaks to our February meeting for a very informative lecture on crewel embroidery. Linda brought piec-es she had stitched, many from her work towards her Master Craftsman in Crewel. Linda taught a small crewel project to introduce our mem-bers to several basic stitches and the use of crewel yarn. The project was a glass case when finished. As you are reading this, we are learning to make a basket at our March meeting, taught by several of our members who make baskets. Looking ahead, the canvas stitchers will be enjoying another class with Janeann Sleeman in April. At our May meeting we will have a finishing class for a Chessie & Me book box. Members chose their designs and have been working on them for several months to be ready for the actual finishing of the boxes. June will see us stitching all day in Fernandina Beach for our annual all day stitch-in. Kathy Rees will be teaching a canvas work piece July 15 & 16. Catherine Theron will be teaching two 1-day classes on September 16 & 17. For more information about our activities and many photos, see our blog page. http://duclayega.blogspot.com/ We are also on Facebook–look for “duClay Chapter of the Embroiderers Guild of America”

GULFVIEW Connie Amadeo

Our monthly meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month from September to May. We also have stitch-ins on the third Wednesday and fourth Monday. At our Jan. meeting, some of our members learned to make pine needle baskets taught by Judy Demeglio, while others worked on a beaded ornament taught by Don-na Christie. In February, a very interesting and informative video was shown highlighting many of the items stored in the National archives at Headquarters. During Feb. Margaret Kinsey held a pilot class in Silk and Metal Threads: Tulips and Butterfly. All present enjoyed the class. March is the Chapters 35 th anniversary. We will be celebrating at a luncheon at Trios. After the luncheon, a small beaded project will be taught by Donna Christie. A GCC is being offered in Oct.: Temari " Shades of Pink".

INDIAN RIVER Christine Kampmeyer

The Indian River Chapter (IRC) is out of the cold and into the heat of stitching as we begin to celebrate our 40th anniversary. In January the membership had it's annual "Silent Auction". It was hard to keep track of what items I had bid on. Left overs were brought back as "Encore" at the February business meeting for donations only. IRC has 2 Satellite night groups (Sews N Sews and Night Stitchers) that meet 2 times each month in private homes. Each member is stitching on their own project. There are members doing Cross Stitch, Hardanger, Blackwork, Stumpwork and Canvas work and all at the same time sharing stitches, ideas, and stories, having FUN doing what stitchers enjoy most. Beads!,Inspiration, the GCC, and the Sampler Sleuths continue to meeting regulary as well. The month of February, the IRC had 2 exhibits in local libraries.(one at Patrick Air Force Base.) Our membership supplied the "Artwork". W e consider this as part of our Outreach to the community. See what we do and come join us!


Also on Saturday February 4,2017, 5 groups of ladies did their “Stitching in Public” at 5 locations around the Melbourne /Palm Bay area. Adrienne Meyer, shown in photo at right, stitched at a Starbucks location (ed). All of us have old worn needles. They have done all that we as stitchers have pushed them to do and at the February meeting of the IRC we had the Japa-nese Traditional Broken Needle Ceremony (HariKuyo) for our trusted and most valuable tools. After the ceremony our 1st membership project of the 40th year -- a pin/needle keep using Rhodes and Buttonhole stitches was presented and mostly finished. As March approaches the interest will increase with Catherine Jordan's upcom-ing presentation with a Powerpoint Program on needlework maps on March 20, 2017, followed on March 21-22, with her special workshop called "Florida Nee-dlework Map". All the partisipants are looking forward to this class with this art-ist and designer. April comes with another treat as a band sampler/name badge. The designers will be some of our own talented members. Many of our members are looking forward to the Sun Retreat in Mt.Dora, FL in April 21-24. The month of May brings us to the celebration of our 40th year. Two of our orginal members are still with us and we are encouraging them to put on paper what they remember of the early days. We have all the albums to re-mind us of certain events but some of us want to know some of the secrets of our longevity

NEAPOLITAN Karen Rockenbach

Our season is flying by so fast! We meet the 3rd Wednesday of the month so we have two more regular meet-ings before our snowbirds head north. Our March 15th meeting will feature a slide show about the Washington National Cathedral by Kathleen Smith. Kathleen is a Sun Region member and a former docent at the Cathedral. Our April meeting will be our anuual spring luncheon to be held this year at McCormick and Schmick’s in Naples. Some of our members are participating in a Joan Thomassson pilot class in March. We are very excited that our chapter was chosen to have International Touring Teacher, Jane Nicholas. She will be in Naples August 23rd and 24th teaching “California Poppy and Bumble-Bee”. We will be donating 128 Habitat for Humanity samplers this year. Our samplers are donated between November and March. Our members are busy stitching these samplers all year long. We will be meeting each month starting in May at our stitch-ins. We look forward to Oc-tober when our regular meeting start. Members are encouraged to start stitching boutique items and entries for our biennial show in February, 2018. More information will follow on our show.

SAND DOLLAR Kathie Dougherty

Our March meeting will feature a local eye doctor who will speak to us on the care of our eyes and help us avoid eye strain. The education program - an encore presentation - will be a Blackwork Bookmark. Several new mem-bers requested we repeat this. We will continue to encourage Show and Tell by entering members who partici-pate in a drawing for a free membership. The drawing will be part of our April meeting. April is our annual Spring Luncheon and the theme will be Easter Bonnets. We will decorate a bonnet or any headgear and participate in a competition for Prettiest, Most Unusual and People's Choice. As part of the festivi-ties members can contribute their “Creative Challenge” projects. In January, members drew from 2 baskets. Basket 1 had an embroidery skill and basket 2 had an item to place the skill on. The finished works will be part of a silent auction. We also have been working on a Round Robin sampler for an opportunity drawing. It's going to be a busy, fun day. The May meeting is our last formal meeting until next September. We will present the finished bell pulls that we have worked on this year. One of our members has volunteered to teach us the bullion stitch for a final educa-tion program. The GCC project “More Than a Rose” will continue throughout the spring and into summer. It is a very pretty project and members are learning a lot together.


SAND DUNES Pam Burke

The Sand Dunes Chapter has some fun things planned for the coming months. We will finally be teaching the hotly anticipated (and twice delayed) bargello ball in March. In April we will be trying to catch-up on another pro-ject that had to be rescheduled, Sweetheart Tree’s Lavender fob. We will also be teaching a chapter nametag, as requested by many of our newest members. We have had to juggle our schedule several times this year and the changes continue through March and April, though I am very happy to report that the April reschedule is due to so many of our members coming down to Mt Dora for the Sun Region retreat! Our stitching year will wrap up with a luncheon on June 3rd at which time we will have award a free membership to one of our chapter mem-bers. All year, our members put their name in a box for each finished project that they show at a Chapter event or publish in our Newsletter. At our end of year luncheon, one name is drawn and that person wins a free mem-bership, a hotly coveted prize indeed. Our Chapter does many things besides have meetings. On President’s day several of us made our annual trip to our closest LNS, the Needle Bug in Montgomery, AL. Even though it is a 3 hour drive each way, we always have a wonderful trip and, of course, spend lots of money! On April 1st, many of our members will gather to be stitch-ing “fools” together during a stitch-in at the Hammock Bay Clubhouse in Freeport. This will be our third all day stitching event and it is always loads of fun. Then at the end of April we plan to participate in “Saturday in the Park” a, a local craft festival where we will be showcasing our needlework and trying to drum up some new mem-bers.

SANDHILL CRANE Jenna McClooney

Our ambitious program committee has planned activities for chapter meetings through June of 2018. To inspire and mentor our members who are new to embroidery and our “experts” who would like a refresher, we are reviv-ing the “Stitch of the Month” program where a different stitch is presented each meeting. The monthly chapter education programs are led by members and some projects span multiple months. Hoping to provide interesting projects for all members, we frequently include more than one activity at each meeting. We are planning to offer two GCCs in 2017. Although our stitched samplers for Habitat for Humanity for 2017 in Citrus County were projected at 20, the final count will depend on participants obtaining their loan and contributing sufficient sweat equity. We continue to support HFH in Hernando County with approximately one dedication per year. We continue to donate needed items to The Child Advocacy Center of Hernando County. We are very excited about partnering with the Sarasota chapter to present Tanja Berlin in two needle painting workshops for late February and early March of 2018. The venues will be Sarasota and Weeki Watchee. Details will be available later in 2017. We received approval from EGA national for our updated bylaws in February. Currently we are reviewing our policies and procedures with a projected May chapter adoption vote.

SARASOTA Clemmie Rounds

In March, we will have the Dorset button class and a lecture on the history of Dorset buttons. We are still working on the bylaws which are almost ready for review. We are continuing to collect goods for the homeless and are in search of more outreach programs. We are looking forward to starting a GCC in May.

SEA GRAPE Betty Baechle

We had two things added to our regular meetings that had not been mentioned previously. One turned out to be a fund raiser for our chapter and one is something that our knitters are doing in addition to the chemotherapy caps. One of our members is moving to smaller accommodations. She graciously donated numerous kits. Some of them had been nearly completed and some were wishful thinking. This turned into a fund raising event for the chapter. Those that wanted to participate were asked to donate $20.00 per kit. They were then given a number. When their number was called they then were able to get a kit. The caveat was they had one year to complete the project and bring it to show and tell or send a photo. Some got their first choice and some were over achiev-


ers and bought more then one. All left happy. One of our seasonal members from Canada gave a heartfelt talk about a special endeavor she has undertaken. Her name is Betty Kingsnorth. In memory of her grandson she makes knitted hats for stillborn and preemie ba-bies. She has developed the knitted pattern for these smallest angels. She has shared this pattern with our mem-bers and we plan on making them and donating them to one of our local hospitals. In addition to hats she has created a pattern for christening gowns so they could be used for burial gowns. The material used for these gowns are from ivory colored bridal gowns. She removes the embellishments from the bridal gowns before mak-ing the baby gowns. These embellishments are reused on the baby gowns once they are made. Parents arrive at the hospital expecting to bring their baby home and are not prepared if they can not. These gifts to the hospital help the parents in their time of need. Several hats and gowns were donated to a local hospital. The hospital was thrilled to receive them. Moving on to our March meeting. We will be talking about framing. A professional framer will give a presentation followed by a discussion. April will be our closet sale. Somehow our closets space is never big enough to hold our treasures. Time to clear out and of course then add more. We all hope that the Biscornu Cherry Blossom should be stitched by May so that we can get a lessons on putting it together. It makes more sense if you have the project in hand to finish rather than taking lots of notes.

SUWANEE STITCHERS Patrice Boyes

Spring has come early to North-Central Florida, and as we enjoy the new blooms and say farewell to our winter migratory birds, including the graceful Sandhill Cranes, the Suwannee Stitchers look forward to participating in the annual Quilt Festival in Trenton, Florida in early March. The Chapter will have a booth of hand-stitched items for sale, and will be “stitching in public” to spread the word about needle arts and recruit new members to EGA. Many of the Chapter members continue progress on our first-ever Group Corre-spondence Course – Isabella, an Italian drawn-thread project. Plans are to con-tinue meeting immediately following each monthly Chapter meeting for instruction on the next portion of the instruction booklet (See photo of Lynn Parkes’ Isabella project in progress). The Chapter’s new Programs Chair, Lynn Parkes, will lecture at the March meet-ing on the proper ways to store thread. In April, the chapter will feature part one of a program on a thread-pulling technique, the “peahole hem” stitch, with helpful hints to lessen the stress! In May, the chapter will finish the second part of the “peahole hem” stitch program with hands-on practice of the actual stitch. “Late breaking news”:

Bylaws - Margo Pope, chair The Sun Region bylaws review is moving forward with 11 of the 14 chapters having turned in their bylaws. I expect the other four chapters to submit shortly. It is my hope that all will have been reviewed and approved by EGA by early summer. The deadline for ap-proval is December but we don't want to wait that long. Many thanks to all who have responded so far. According to Kathy Singleton, Sun region chair, "This review is the occasion for regions and chapters to review their existing bylaws and update them to conform to current needs, correct old typos, and include any missing mandatory language. The process is to submit the bylaws and proposed changes to Ms. Autry for review and preliminary approval; then, a vote by the chapter; then final approval by Ms. Autry and Rebecca Wardlaw, Director of Bylaws." Those chapters who have not yet done so are asked to send them to me, at [email protected] for preliminary review. I will then forward them to Ms. Autry. Please send the bylaws in electronic form. The templates and suggestions are found in the Members Only section of EGA's website under Document Downloads.


Sun Region Chapters’ Events Calendar

March 1 Sandhill Crane - meeting, Hardanger Scissor Case with Carol Riddler 2 Sand Dollar - General meeting 3 Biscayne - General meeting 4 duClay - Meeting 8 Gulfview - Meeting 9 Sea Grape - Day and night meetings 11 Canopy Oaks - Program meeting duClay - Stitch-in Suwanee Stitchers - Program meeting 12 Sand Dunes - Program meeting 14 Sand Dollar - Stitch-in at New Smyrna Beach Library 15 Neapolitan - General meeting Gulfview - Stitch-in 16 Sand Dollar - Stitch-in at Port Orange Library 23 Sea Grape - Day and night meetings 25 Sea Grape - Stitching at Edison Estate 26 Gulfview - Stitch-in Sand Dunes - Stitch-in 27 Sarasota - Meeting, Dorset button class

April 1 duClay - Meeting Sand Dunes - All-day Stitch In 5 Sandhill Crane - meeting, Hardanger Scissor Case with Carol Riddler 6 Sand Dollar - General meeting 7 Biscayne - General meeting 8 Canopy Oaks - Program meeting duClay - Stitch-in duClay - canvas class with Janeann Sleeman Suwanee Stitchers - Program meeting 9 Sand Dunes - Program meeting 11 Sand Dollar - Stitch-in at New Smyrna Beach Library 12 Gulfview - Meeting 13 Sea Grape - Day and night meetings 19 Neapolitan - Annual Spring luncheon Gulfview - Stitch-in 20 Sand Dollar - Stitch-in at Port Orange Library 22 Sea Grape - Stitching at Edison Estate 23 Gulfview - Stitch-in Sand Dunes - Stitch-in 27 Sea Grape - Day and night meetings

May 3 Sandhill Crane - meeting, Felt Heart with Melanie Scharch 4 Sand Dollar - General meeting 5 Biscayne - General meeting 6 duClay - Meeting 9 Sand Dollar - Stitch-in at New Smyrna Beach Library 10 Gulfview - Meeting 11 Sea Grape - Day and night meetings


Chapters’ Events (cont.)

May 12 Canopy Oaks - Program meeting and spring potluck lunch 13 duClay - Stitch-in Suwanee Stitchers - Program meeting 15 Neapolitan - General Meeting 17 Gulfview - Stitch-in 18 Sand Dollar - Stitch-in at Port Orange Library 22 Gulfview - Stitch-in 25 Sea Grape - Day and night meetings 27 Sea Grape - Stitching at Edison Estate

** please verify all dates by checking with the chapters; for times, locations and/or to contact the particular chapter, see the Chapters section of the Sun Region website www.sunregionega.org Editor’s note: If you don’t see your chapter’s dates/events here, it’s because they were not submitted to me (or not readily obtainable by me from the material I received). Chapter Reps are reminded to submit events/dates along with their articles!

from the sun region of the embroiderers’ guild of america...

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