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Book of Ink Circles (BoINK) and My Stitching Album Stitch Group We'll be holding a monthly stitch group for those who are working on the Book of Ink Circles from Ink Circles and My Stitching Album from Jeannette Douglas Designs. Stitch Group will be the second Tuesday evening from 6pm-8pm and the second Saturday from 11am-1pm. You don't need to sign-up but it's always good to let us know if you plan to come so we have enough chairs set up. Bring your project and have some fun stitching with others working on these pieces.

Sampler Design Lecture Tricia Wilson Nguyen Friday, April 17th 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm $45 Tricia Wilson Nguyen will give half of her very popular "Designing Samplers" class as this lecture. The lecture demystifies the design process by first classifying samplers into a set of general graphic styles which can be used as templates for new works.  She then outlines a series of design principles from balance, placement of motifs, whimsy and color to allow the listener to decode each sampler they encounter.  During the lecture examples of good and bad design are shown to help illustrate the principals.  Finally, a series of case studies are visited. These are pieces she has designed showing the steps and missteps along the process.  As one previous student put it - "you threw out the color wheel and gave us a REAL recipe to use!" Note from Cathe - I took this class from Tricia at A Sampler Gathering years ago and loved it. It opened my eyes as to why I like certain sampler styles and I have started work on my own sampler design (still on the drawing board but no less fun to work on occasionally). If you like samplers at all, you'll really enjoy this class.

The Plimoth Jacket - A Paradise in Silk and Gold Tricia Wilson Nguyen Saturday, April 18th 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm $35 Currently Dr. Tricia Wilson Nguyen is leading a challenging reproduction project for Plimoth Planation, a living history museum interpreting the 1627 settlement in Massachusetts.  The project is charged with fabricating a 1620's era embroidered English woman's waistcoat.  Embellished with coiling stems of gold and silk flowers, the waistcoat has provided a unique opportunity to research and manufacture threads which have disappeared from our lexicon as well as provide light on the professional workshop that produced the objects.  Tricia's talk will go through the process used to reproduce the waistcoat from deducing the embroidery pattern from the existing jacket, producing the metallic lace for the edgings, reproducing the gold wrapped threads, figuring out the stitches and progression used on each motif and a host of other fascinating topics.  The lecture will be peppered with copious photos from research on the existing historic jackets.  She has been able to closely examine six of the extant embroideries, providing a unique close look at how masters and apprentices worked together to fabricate the pieces.  Tricia will be bringing the companion coif and forehead cloth which are in process to show as well as video of the silk lining weaving and spangle making. You can read more about the project on the popular blog at http://www.thistle-threads.com/blog

Temari Time Second Sunday of each month 1:30 -3:30 pm $10/session Once a month you can come, work on your Temari ball and get Sherry's help with your project. Whether you want help starting a new ball, selecting colors or help with a ball you're working on, this workshop is a great way to find time to for some wrapping fun. If you are a beginner and want to learn how to start a ball from scratch you need to sign up for our Temari I class. Temari Time is for those who've already worked on at least one ball and are looking for help with current projects.

Education Is Important! It's our goal to provide continuing education for all levels of needleworkers. While we may not provide classes for every technique out there, we do try to have classes in our four basic areas (cross-stitch, counted-thread, embroidery and needlepoint) either as technique classes or as project classes. We have a monthly beginning clinic for cross-stitch and needlepoint that is good for those new to the technique wanting a short project or those wanting a quick refresher. If you are interested in a particular area, and it's not on our current class schedule just give us a call and let us know what type of class you're interested in. If we have enough students to schedule a class we'll get in touch and arrange a time. We continue to schedule specialty classes regularly so be sure to check out the current schedule for those classes. If you have suggestions for classes, please let us know. While we can't accommodate all requests, we can certainly consider them for future classes.

Private Lessons For both adults and children, we offer private instruction in several types of needlework. Topics generally include needlepoint, cross-stitch, embroidery, basic silk ribbon embroidery, hardanger, pulled-thread and crewel work. Call the shop to let us know what instruction you are seeking and if we can help, we'll arrange a time. The cost is $35 per hour (no supplies are provided, although you may certainly bring your own project or purchase supplies at the shop). If you want to set up a private lesson for more than one person the fee is $35/hour per person if you are working on different projects. For a group rate on a single project each additional person is $20/hour. You may schedule multiple hours, either in one session or across more than one session. If you wish, you may also schedule a regular class for a group (e.g. beginning needlepoint) contact the shop for more details.

Payment & Cancellation Policy Be sure to review our Payment & Cancellation Policy for classes before signing up for a class.

Last updated March 26, 2009
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