lakemichigansamplerguild.org

Leslie Lewis introduced Amy Keaton who presented a short history of the guild. Amy explained how the guild got started. In February of 1998, an idea was born at Janine's workshop in Williamsburg. Amy Keaton lived in Florida at the time and had started a sampler guild there. She was in the process of moving back to Chicago. Elaine Hoagland had been bringing Joanne Harvey to Chicago each year to give a workshop for a small group of people. Amy and Elaine got together with Kathy Matthews and Kathy Bourne and began planning the creation of the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild. The bylaws were written in August and the guild was advertised in Ellen Chester's Newsletter. Susan Balsai contacted them via email and said she would like to participate. Amy was the first president, Kathy Matthews was the Vice President, Elaine was program chair, Kathy Borne was Treasurer and  Susan Balsai was Secretary. The first meeting was held in October of 1998 and membership soon grew to 180 people! Amy went on to point out how some of the traditions of the guild originated.. 

Kathy Bourne, the 2004 program chair give us a preview of next year's programs. There are many exciting activities planned. 

Next on the agenda was a report from the head of our nominating committee, Elaine Hoagland. Sue Hamer and Jane Stevens also participated in the committee. The nominees include Mary Draniczarek for membership, Jane Stevens for secretary and Amy Keaton and Susan Balsai will share the program chair position. No one had expressed interest in the newsletter position. Kathy Bourne suggested that we consider eliminating the printed newsletter and mailing a hardcopy of the online newsletter to those who do not have email. The guild would still continue doing several mailings including the member ship list, a membership renewal notice and an announcement of the next year's programs. We would save money by not mailing the newsletter to all guild members which could be used for programs instead. Leslie was going to review the bylaws and see if we need any changes to implement this. Please contact Leslie with your comments.

Click on any of the pictures below to see a larger image.

Then it was time for show and tell. Carol Schaal brought two schoolgirl samplers. The first was not signed or dated, but is circa 1860. The second is a French school girl sampler dated 1924. Both samplers were purchased at Portobello Road, an open market Carol visited during a trip to London.

Carol also told us about an exhibit she visited of a coronation gown belonging to Queen Elizabeth II. The gown was decorated with goldwork by the Royal School of Needlework. There was 3500 hours of work done on the gown. The flowers in the band around the skirt were from all of the countries in the Commonwealth. The exhibit was held at Buckingham Place in August. 

Marilyn Vanover showed us two of here projects. First was the Magaret Sampler from Indigo Rose stitched in silk on cream colored linen.

Next she showed us a "Spring Table Mat", a project in hardanger and overdyed floss by Lorrie Birmingham.

Last, but most important was the program. Kathy Joassin made up pin pillow kits for those who wished to participate. There were different colors of satin and different shaped pin pillows. Kathy had the kits put together in nice little boxes and had done a lot of the cutting and pre-stitching for us. She explained how to put the pillow together, how to stuff it and how to add the cording. She also had several books that showed the history and construction of pin pillows. Some of the members came close to finishing their pin pillows by the end of the meeting.  If you did not get a kit, there are a few extras. Please contact Kathy if you would like to purchase one of them. Thank you, Kathy, for all of your hard work in putting these kits together! We appreciate your effort!

Don't forget, next month we will have a very special guest: 
Sue Studebaker will present a two hour long 
slide lecture on Ohio samplers.

Please join us for this exciting and informative presentation!