The coif visits Agecroft Hall

A lovely group of ladies from Historic St. Mary's City in Maryland came down yesterday to visit Agecroft Hall and see their embroidery collection. They work as interpreters and costumers for HSMC and wanted to exchange expertise with Agecroft staff. Catherine, Diana, and I met them at Agecroft Hall and brought along the coif, the handkerchief, that Jean Connelly has been working on, and the sweet bag Catherine made. We had a lovely tour, saw the freshly cleaned and repaired tapestry going up, and then had a behind the scenes look at the collections. Some of the embroidery was already out, in preparation for an embroidery and textile exhibit to coincide with the October MAR meeting here in Richmond. And there are plans for more to be on display by then. It was great and I was able to get a picture of the group from Maryland, with Libby and Richard (l) from Agecroft Hall, and Catherine (3rd from left). The two youngest members of the group interpret the life of children at HSMC and brought their lovely pockets to show us. It was great to see two young people so enthusiastic about embroidery and history. If there had been time, I would have loved to have them work on the coif!

June - New officers for Gentle Pursuits

Officers for the Gentle Pursuits chapter of EGA are elected every 2 years. So every two years we have a nice pot luck supper and hold a ceremony. The years in between are silent auctions with a dessert table.

So here are our officers for 2011-2013. Catherine Jordan will stay on as President. Program Co-Chairs are Merry Susan Shreck, Holly Rison, and Cynthia Cogswell. Sharon Spradlin-Barrett is now treasurer. And Diana Paisley will be our Recording Secretary. Members in most of the other Board positions have agreed to continue - you will be able to see the complete list in the next issue of the Gilded Thread.

Mary Ann (l) led the induction ceremony. With (l-r) Catherine, Holly, Merry Susan, Diana, and Nancy Yates standing in for Sharon.

There is one Board member who will be moving out of town. Terry Haugh has been our wonderful Ta-Da Table presenter for the last 6 years, since the start of our chapter! Her enthusiasm for every piece she shows has been a wonderful part of our meetings. Jean Connelly will be our new Ta-Da Table presenter.

Along with announcing the new officers, Catherine thanked the officers from the last two years. She made everyone stunning book marks. And Kathy and Laurie, the retiring program co-chairs, also gave out some lovely thank you gifts to members who have helped by teaching programs.

Finally, we presented our President's Challenge pieces. This year, we were given a small, square metal form to decorate any way we please. Only 4 were complete, but others had them there and were working on them. As always, there was a variety of styles and uses.

Jean used a fabric painting technique from a previous class by Catherine, and made an ornament.

Holly did a lovely little petite-point mini-sampler and put it on a wooden thread holder.

Linda used the recently taught Casalguidi technique and made a wonderful little box.

And Margaret used needlepainting techniques to make a horse ornament.

On a final note, those of you who don't want to be tempted by a beading kit, might want to stop here, because one of our Ta-Da items was an amazing beaded goldfish scissors keep by Merry Susan.

If you are interested, the kit is here (in 4 colourways). If you love beads and haven't looked at the Shipwreck Beads web site before, you may not want to go there - you will be tempted.