2022 Lakeshore Exhibition

Two weeks ago we had our exhibition. This normally occurs every two years, but due to COVID it's been 3 years since our last one. The guild turned 50 last year and since it's a big milestone we didn't want to miss, we decided to do a 50+1 celebration.

Our guild members went all out with advertisements this year. We made the front page of the Montreal Gazette with a full page article in color. You can read the article online here.

We even made it on the local city tv news. My sister came and helped out filming short clips for us as I was busy doing demos.

(click post to see the video below)

Here I am demoing chipwork on the Contrast Color Wheel. I had loads of fun chatting with all the visitors. I even brought my Astrolabe. I'll have to make sure it's framed for the next exhibition.

I submitted a few pieces to the show. I realized as I was going through my finished pieces how many need to be "finished". I'll have to work on that. Still, I'm happy with what I put in.

None of my pieces won anything, but when you see the best in show you'll understand. The quality of stitching this year was amazing!

I have so many media files to get through. I have a video I took of the entire exhibition that needs to be edited and uploaded. I'll share a link once it's ready so you can see the full show.

Short Update and Surprise Win

So I did no stitching this weekend on account of being busy with the Lakeshore guild's exhibition. I was there Saturday and Sunday. Saturday to help out l'Atelier de Pénélope with the setup and customers, and Sunday I was volunteering with the guild as a "guard". The day was very long so by the time I got home I was too tired to do anything.

The guild holds exhibitions every two years. When I initially joined they asked if I wanted to submit something but I decided not to. Instead, I went to see it just to get an idea of what members submit so I would know for next time. I remember my dad saying I should have put in my Peacock Tapestry to the exhibit. Good thing I didn't because I wouldn't have gotten THIRD place in the Best in Show category =D

Here I am accepting my prize from our guild president June Berry.

The voting was open to both members and the public. First and second place went to long time members Paula and Rita. Paula's piece was the huge Elizabeth Almond Save the Stitches blackwork piece and Rita's was one called Insomnia set in a wooden tray, which took the second place for best in show AND first place for best original piece.

As a prize, we each received this beautiful oak ORT box (click on the post to see the video below). The pieces were made by Denise Tremblay a member of the guild. They were purchased by long time member Erma Scrimgeour (who sadly passed away this year) to donate to the guild for the Best in Show prizes.

I've been eyeing the one that Nancy, my Japanese embroidery friend, has and thinking: One day I will get me one of those. It's so much more satisfying to receive it as a prize for all the hard work I put into my peacock :)

I took pictures of my pieces as well as my favorites. I also took a walk-through video of the exhibit, I just need to do the editing before I can share it. So watch out for that soon.

WIPocalypse 2016 – June

This month's theme is: Do you find yourself more productive with stitching in summer or winter? I've answered this question before. I'm still more productive in winter than summer, however I'm finding that since we've fixed up our backyard, I've been spending more time outside stitching.

No update on Bramble and the Rose.

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Ink Circles - The Bramble and the Rose

Still hidden away poor dragons.

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Teresa Wentzler - Tracery Dragons

Nothing to see here either :P

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Satin Stitches - Donna's Fantasy Lace

I did most of my stitching on Fandango. Since it's nice and sunny outside, it's the ideal time to work on some whitework. I've been plugging away at the satin stitch border which you can see at the top. I'm thinking I should finish up all the satin stitching before I move onto the border. I'll leave the squares to the end.

I also worked on Sfilati Fantasia, finishing all the filling stitches except for one. That last one is going to bother me. I had a hard time following the teachers instructions both on paper and in person.

Nicolet

I'm interrupting the posts of my Paris trip to talk about another trip entirely. Every year a few ladies from the Lakeshore guild go to Nicolet to attend La Journée des dentellières which is organized by l'Association des dentellières du quebec (The Quebec Association of lace-makers).

I've heard about this event from guild members before. There are usually vendors from all over Quebec who come to sell not just for bobbin lace-making but also for embroiderers. There are also demonstrations as well as people just sitting and stitching or working on their bobbin lace. When the weather is really nice they all sit outside in the park across from the center and you can walk around and chat or just sit and work. So with all that, I obviously really wanted to go and so we went on Saturday June 11. Nicolet is a two hour drive from Montreal and an hour out of Quebec City.

Unfortunately the weather was really bad that day, so we spent it inside all day, but the building itself is really gorgeous on the inside. Look at this ceiling:

There was a room with some of the works done by l'Association des dentellières du quebec and I took a few pictures of my favorites.

The event itself is great for stash enhancement, but I'm not the type to buy threads and fabrics unless it's for a specific project so I really didn't buy much. I did concentrate on the books that were being offered and collecting vendor business cards for the future.

I bought two books (I really need to control myself, I'm running out of space). The first is Nature by Marie-Thérèse Saint-Aubin. I've always loved this French designer and my biggest regret is not buying her books when they were available. Sadly a lot of her books are now out of print, so I quickly snagged this one. The second is Traditional Japanese Embroidery. This book was published by Search Press of which I already have a number of their RSN books and it's great because it's spiral bound and you can lay it open flat. Concerning books at this event, prices were WAY out of line with what is available on the internet even when you factor in shipping. I've even noticed quite a few vendors with the same books and each had a different price. So I'm going to be very careful when buying from these vendors.

I also scored a Tanja Berlin full kit called Flight of a Butterfly and looking at the price online (not to mention shipping) it was a major score. To round it all up I got the cutest little bobbins. Although I don't think bobbin lace would ever be added as one of my hobbies, I would still love to learn the technique.

A cute story I heard from the vendors, there are bobbins called fuseaux de marrié as well as fuseau de fiançailles. The first has two rings and the second one. It was a way to distinguish married lace-makers from those that were engaged or single. The bobbins were usually made by their husbands, or by their fiancés to show they are interested in marriage. I could only find a picture of the fuseau de fiançailles which can be found here. The tradition comes from d'Auvergne.

While eating lunch we met a lady who stitches envelopes for posting. She does this with family members and other stitchers and they are the cutest thing I've ever seen. She numbers each one and have made over 200!

That's it for today, tomorrow I will be back with more of my Paris trip :)

June TUSAL

My TUSAL is filled with white thread as usual :) I also made sure to collect the threads I cut from Seminar so it's all there.

I spent the weekend stitching on my piece from Fiore's class and made great progress. I have one tear drop left to stitch and then a whole lot of blanket stitches.

I also spent the weekend taking pictures of all my Paris stash. I should be getting my Seminar stash tonight (including Fandango which I've missed), so hopefully I can start sharing posts of my trip very soon :)

WIPocalypse 2016 – May

This month's theme is: What were you stitching this time last year and have you finished it? (via Jo) About this time last year, I was working on finishing up some of my smaller class projects from the Creative Festival. But I also worked on this Crewel piece which I later find out is not really Crewel at all since I wasn't stitching with wool thread. As you can see I did finish it :) It was my first attempt at transferring and stitching a pattern. Now that I see this again, I think I should frame this in a hoop. I wonder where it is...

By the time this gets posted I will be in Toronto attending the EAC Seminar. This also means that I didn't really progress on any of my WIPs. I promise it won't be like this when I come back :|

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Ink Circles - The Bramble and the Rose

Still hidden away poor dragons.

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Teresa Wentzler - Tracery Dragons

Nothing to see here either :P

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Satin Stitches - Donna's Fantasy Lace

I haven't touched Fandango either, but since this is my class project for Seminar you can definitely bet that there will be progress on it. I just won't be able to share it until I get back at the end of May. I did take a better picture thought, last month's was really bad.

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The two WIPs I added last month saw a lot of progress. I not only finished this mat, I managed to stitch a second one identical to it. I just have to figure out how to cleanly finish the edges of this really (frustratingly) thick fabric.

Sardinian Knot Stitch Mug Mat - Jeanine Robertson

I also attended the second part of my Italian drawn thread class. This project received the bulk of my attention as I had homework to complete.

Sfilati Fantasia - Fiore Fonda

Sfilati Fantasia with Fiore Fonda

I briefly showed this project here, but now I've attended both classes and I can share more pictures :)

This class was offered by the Lakeshore Creative Stitchery Guild and was a two day class thought by an "outside teacher" Fiore Fonda.

In the first class we started with a single tear drop and learned one drawn thread pattern. We left with homework: Stitch all the buttonholes on the tear drops before the next class. And so I stitched...

... and stitched...

...until all those tear drops were done. Very tedious, but by the end of it, my blanket stitches have never looked better =D Including the curved parts, which are really hard to stitch nicely. I even finished the filling for the first drop before our class and started on the outline of the flower.

The second part of the class, we went over different drawn thread fillings. The fillings themselves are not much different from regular drawn thread or Schwalm. The stitches and the way they are combined together are slightly different but the basics are the same. I learned some new tips for cutting and removing thread. Select the center most thread and cut it. Remove it from the back and cut it as close to possible to the edges from the back. If it says to cut 5 and leave 4, do it once vertically and then do it again horizontally, i.e. don't do all the verticals first or vice versa. This creates a cross-road and makes counting easier, preventing mistakes.

We spent a lot of the class time cutting fabric thread, which cut into our stitching time (I'm thinking maybe this should have been part of our homework, but the fabric does become fragile once you cut into it). So except for two tear drops, they are all partially started. Once I get back from my trip, this is going to become my stitching-outside-in-the-sun project, so hopefully, I'll get those tear drops finished and I can share what they look like by end of summer :)

Another thing we did a lot of is talk (of course), I have more books to look out for which I will share here:

• Pulled Thread Embroidery by Moyra McNeill
• Mastering the Art of Pulled Thread Embroidery by Ilse Altherr

P.S. 4 days left before I leave for Seminar and then PARIS =D

WIPocalypse 2016 – April

This month's theme is: What do you listen to while stitching? (via Jo) I don't listen to music or audio books while stitching. I usually stitch at my desk with a frame on one side of my desk and computer screen on the other end. Netflix is pretty much always on. If I'm not re-watching my favorite shows, I'm watching a documentary. I've watched so many at this point on a huge variety of subjects: biographies, environment, guns, education, dance, music,... I've even watched the ones about alcohol even though I don't drink, it's my way of educating myself so that I can hold a conversation with co-workers who do drink (I know how champagne is made =D). But my favorite are the ones on food. I do occasionally find that all stitching has stopped and I'm watching the screen, but that's okay. I'm resting my eyes ;)

This month I did put in some time on Bramble and the Rose. In fact I reached my little goal of finishing one page (page 3). So that's one thing I can cross off. Extra points if I can finish page 2 and 5 :)

Ink Circles - The Bramble and the Rose

Still hidden away poor dragons.

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Teresa Wentzler - Tracery Dragons

Yeah, I thought about taking this out, but then nothing happened.

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Satin Stitches - Donna's Fantasy Lace

Pre-work on Fandango has gone as far as it will until I go to Seminar. It's not a very good picture, sorry. It's hard to capture white on white.

I've also added two more projects to my WIP list. Both are projects I'm taking as a class with my EAC guilds. One is a Sardinian Knot stitch class with VT and the other is an Italian Drawn Thread class with LCSG.

Sardinian Knot Stitch Mug Mat - Jeanine Robertson

Sfilati Fantasia - Fiore Fonda