Meets: Alternate Tuesdays
(September to April)
7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
https://kwembroideryguild.wixsite.com/guildsite
Instagram: @kw_ceg
Report – April 2026
submitted by MJ Alexander, ONN Rep
We’ve had a lot of big changes at the KW Embroiderers’ Guild in the past few months. Our guild continues to grow and as of March 3rd we now have 36 paid members including 3 gentlemen. Sadly our vice-president and ONN rep has had to step away from guild due to work commitments. We were to have a thread painting class with her. Those 3 nights have been given to the bargello class and the hardanger class.
We spent two classes trying our hand at bargello. The projects were an interesting mix with some on larger canvas with thick yarn and others on higher count canvas using floss. Now that we have the hang of it we can finish the project as we have time.
We have had one Hardanger class where we reviewed the different types of stitches required supplies. We started with a small practice project and will move on to the bigger project during the next two classes. We will take advantage of the last few meetings this year to work on our own projects and finish any class projects we still have on the go.
Our annual meeting will be held in May with plans to appoint a new President, Vice President and ONN Rep.
Several of our members have been busy with projects outside of the current class schedule. Hilary Geddy has been working on a project depicting the Silk Road, Drew O’Brien has been working on surface embroidery and Maria Smit recently completed a new Christmas ornament.
On March 17 we lost one of our long-time guild members, Enid Emery. She was a longtime guild member and a valued member of our community. She will be missed dearly.
Report – December 2025
Submitted by MJ Alexander, ONN Rep
We’ve had a great first half of the year at the Kitchener-Waterloo Embroiderers’ Guild. New members and old have been learning new stitches side by side for this year’s projects.
We started the year with a bear ornament covered in Lazy Daisies and French Knots, taught by our President, Maria Smit. It was wonderful to see all the colourful variations created by our members. Some of these bears ended up in our Christmas ornament exchange, which was a real treat.
We then followed with another class taught by Maria. This time it was a beautiful Assisi border. Some class members chose to complete the entire border – no small feat – while others used the pattern to make a lovely embellished bookmark.
Our final project for the first half of this year was a Deerfield class taught by Brenda Warner. This was quite a challenge with roughly 5 stitches being taught at each class. As well as demonstrating the stitches, Brenda also explained the historical context of Deerfield stitching, why the stitches are done using certain techniques and the reasons why Deerfield traditionally is done in either blue or brown. Pam Cardases used her sewing skills to turn her project into a stunning green and white blouse.
Our Christmas party at the end of the semester was a big success. We held our annual ornament exchange and members brought an assortment of baked goods to enjoy.
Report – October 2025
submitted by Lea Wright, ONN Rep
The CEG K-W has been quite busy of late! Our executive committee boasts two new members,
MJ Alexander as vice president and Rachel Metzger as treasurer. We would like to thank Pat FitzGerald for the time and effort that she put in as treasurer for the past two years.
Over the summer we had three stitch-ins; two were at the houses of members and one was at the Stanley Park Library in Kitchener. We also had a showcase of members’ work in a display case at the Stanley Park Library. We’ve also added 6 new books to our own lending library at the guild.
Our first meeting of the year was held on Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 7 pm. We are still holding meetings at the same location as previous years, however the name of the building has changed from Grace Mennonite Brethren Church to Belmont Village Church. On our first night back we saw a good number of new stitchers show up and become members – our guild now boasts 27 members.
On September 13th, MJ and Debbie hosted an info table at the K-W Knitters’ Fair, hosted by the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitters’ Guild. We showcased items made by guild members and handed out brochures to people interested in joining the guild. Thank you to the K-W Knitters’ Guild for hosting the event!
Report – March 2024
submitted by Lea Wright, ONN Rep
Winter was a quiet term for the KW chapter of the Embroiderers Guild! We have been working steadily on our colour block canvas work project along with name tags and personal projects. Now that the snow is gone we shouldn’t have to cancel any meetings as we transition into spring
Report – December 2024
submitted by Lea Wright, ONN Rep
The KW chapter of the Canadian Embroiderers’ Guild just wrapped up its holiday party, with our ever popular ornament exchange, pictured. This term, we worked on some great projects including a gradient canvas piece that has been the object of desire for many of the members. We look forward to reconvening in January and hope the weather will be in our favour.
Maria Smit, from CEG K_W, also sent us an email with some favourite stitching websites:
“I visit Flosstube for mainly the cross stitching but every so often an embroidery flosstuber shows up and I’ve been watching them and suggesting the sites to our members.
Two others have caught my attention. Jennifer Clouston. She is from South Africa but now lives in Australia. She has a number of books about stitching flowers and videos on YouTube.
Then last week I came across Marion’s World. She’s from the UK and the best of all, she’s a left handed stitcher!!! What caught my eye was the title of the video Craft Your Own Embroidery Pocket. She stitches a floral design on a piece of linen and then makes it into a pocket.
I looked at some other of her videos and I liked them. In one she states she learned embroidery from her grandmother and mother.”
Report – September 2024
submitted by Lea Wright, ONN Rep
Welcome to a new year of stitching with the Kitchener-Waterloo branch of the Canadian Embroiderers’ Guild at the Grace Mennonite Brethren Church located at 546 Belmont Avenue, Kitchener. We will be starting our meetings on September 3, 2024. Meetings will be from 7 to 9 pm as per previous years. I am looking forward to the gathering of the stitchers. So nice to be surrounded with people of like mind.
During the summer we have held a number of stitch-ins at members’ homes and the Stanley Park Library. On June 15th we gathered at the home of Anna Rose, and on July we gathered at Hillary’s. Both days held sunshine, stitching and conversation. Always good on a Saturday in the summer. In August we gathered at the Stanley Park Library to stitch and show people wandering the library what our guild does.
Report – July 2024
submitted by Lea Wright, ONN Rep
The KW branch of The Canadian Embroiderers’ Guild is having a quiet summer. Our glorious president Maria is having Tuesday stitch ins on her back porch on nice afternoons.
Our 2024/2025 term promises to be busting with beautiful projects such as thread painting, a very popular trend right now, finishing a biscornu, and our marquee piece is a canvaswork design featuring a sampler of stitches done in a beautiful gradient pattern.
We start up on September third!
Report – May 2024
submitted by Lea Wright
The KW guild has been busy bees this spring term with some creative projects! We used Crayola crayons to create beautiful bases for embroidery and had a rocking holiday party! Our term for spring 2024 ends May 7th with a wonderfully productive and creative year!
Report – September 2023
submitted by Lea Wright
The Kitchener-Waterloo chapter has gone through some changes! We’ve updated our website to a much cleaner Wix site, https://kwembroideryguild.wixsite.com/guildsite, and we’ve got a brand new Instagram @kw_ceg.
This year, we are all about back to basics, covering stumpwork, candlewicking, surface embroidery using variegated yarn, and a unique course about using Crayola crayons to create a beautiful organic background for abstract embroidery projects. We’ve revived our popular Learn-A-Stitch as well, where members show off their favorite stich and teach it to the group, and we’ve got two seminars planned this year: design, colour and embellishment, and modern technology in embroidery.
Attached is some of the beautiful pieces our talented guild members have done! You can find more on our Instagram!
Ontario Network of Needleworkers 