Emery Pin Cushion Mini Project

• A new membership list for 2003 has been published. If you weren’t at the meeting to pick up your copy, it will be mailed to you. We have about 100 members. As new members join, updates to the list will be included in our newsletters.
• When you join the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild, you will now receive an official membership card. Make sure to bring it along when you go to your favorite needlework shop, because you may be eligible for a discount. You’ll be hearing more about this in the future.
• Newsletters will be mailed quarterly. Remaining issues for this year will be arriving in your mailbox in April, July and October.
• Please note the name of the workshop you are registering for in the memo field on your check. This will help our treasurer keep track of which workshops you have paid for.
• A maximum cost will be published for each workshop based on the minimum number of attendees (which is 10). If more people sign up for the workshop, the cost will go down, but it will never exceed the maximum cost. Many members have requested this to help them plan which workshops they can attend throughout the year.
• The maximum cost for the April workshop “From Bands, Stitches, and Motifs into Samplers: A Sampler Design Notebook Workshop” by Linda Driskell is $110.00.
• The maximum cost for the July blackwork and goldwork workshop “Tudor Rose” presented by Lynn Skinner will be $110.
• The maximum cost for the June workshop Elegant Sewing Accessories in Stumpwork presented by Marsha Papay-Gomola will be $150.00
• The second Marsha Papay-Gomola workshop “Autumn Still Life” has been cancelled. Instead on Sunday, June 6th, we will have a 2003 Project Stitch-In and Marsha will present a trunk show.
• Deposits for workshops are due at sign up. The balance must be paid on or before the day of the workshop.

Next on our meeting agenda, Kathy Joassin provided some hints for those who are working on the 2003 project. If you are stitching with silk, dampen the threads right before you stitch. You can use a moist sponge and run the thread between the sponge and your finger tip or you can dip your fingers in a cup of water and then run the thread between your fingers. This is especially helpful when you are stitching with two stands of silk because the stands will stay together. Kathy says this helps to reduce “frifiness”.(Kathy’s descriptive term for fraying thread).

Kathy encouraged participants to think about stitching the flowers as slips. She advised that way if you don’t like the result, you can easily start the flower over. She will have samples of this technique at the next meeting.

Kathy Bourne is busy planning our 2004 programs. She gave us a preview of the exciting schedule that she is working on including some hints about the designers she is considering. If you want to hear more, come to our April meeting and learn all about it!