September to May
Monthly General Meetings
3rd Wednesday, 9:30 am to 1 pm, Westdale United Church
Monthly Stitch-ins
2nd Wednesday, 9:30 am to 1 pm, various locations
www.egpstitch.ca
egpstitch@gmail.com
Report – October 2025
Submitted by ONN Rep Fiona White
Summer Activities
Our hot dry summer slowed us down! We had two summer stitch-ins at members’ homes, and a workshop on making rice bags – all in August. The workshop was led by Seanagh Murdoch, and her rice bag, along with one by Marilyn Buxton and one by Cynthia Guerin are shown below.
Planning for 2025-26
The new executive also met twice to plan for 2025-26, and the Program Committee has been busy organizing for the year. We are excited to start work on a Knot Garden project this fall, cards and other small items for our Fibre Festival booth in the spring, as well as a presentation by two long time-members (sisters Seanagh Murdoch and Mary Anne Hammond) in October, and another in January by long-time member Wenda Mortlock on her fabric circles (example shown below).
Also in the works is a full-day Four Corners Workshop on Saturday, November 22 which will be open to non-members. More information on that workshop will be available on our website (egpstitch.ca) and on our Facebook page “Embroiderers’ Guild of Peterborough”. We’d love to see some visitors from our nearby guilds!
September Meetings
We had a well-attended stitch-in on the second Wednesday of September, and then our regular meeting on the third Wednesday. We continue to meet at Westdale United Church, and are happy that we will now be holding all our regular meetings in their larger hall, giving us more space for setting up our meeting table and for displaying program, show and tell, and trash-to-treasure items.
Pat Dibb did a presentation on Finger Puppets for sick kids, with a sample shown below. Also shown are some of the wonderful items completed by members over the summer, running shoes by Linda Baklarz, a hand-coloured, sun print piece by Suz Cuss, and a set of boxes by Carol Rand.
Report – July 2025
Submitted by ONN Rep Fiona White
We had a busy finish to our 2024-2025 year with our annual exhibit and sale at the Peterborough Fibre Arts Festival and Sale in April; the culmination of Colour Play, our collective project for the year; a transition to our new executive following our AGM in May, and a wonderful luncheon celebrating the end of our year in June.
Peterborough Fibre Arts Festival and Sale
Our “Fibrefest” display and sale has continued to be a wonderful way to show the broader Peterborough community what we do, to connect with other Fibre groups and vendors, and to encourage prospective members. It is also our major fundraiser, though deciding what to sell and how to price it is always a challenge. This was the second year we focussed on selling greeting cards, and our sales were down from last year, but so was overall attendance. We featured our 2024 collective project, the Whisper Project on the display side of our booth, along with a number of other individual and workshop pieces created by our group. As always our booth was a popular stop for visitors.
Colour Play Project
Last fall members were given the opportunity to sign up for this project, and the response was the highest we have had for a collective project. Using a CMYK colour wheel, participating members were randomly given a section of the colour wheel from a bag, and were asked to create a 6 inch square piece, restricting themselves to colours from that range while using any materials and techniques of their choice. Finished pieces were mounted on a canvas. The colour ranges did overlap but consisted of cyan, red, blue, green, yellow and magenta sections. Participants were allowed to go lighter or darker, and to select from within the range. Once again the results displayed the full range of skills and interests represented in our group. Thanks to Olga Johnson, the project took a trip to Calgary and was displayed at the EAC seminar, placing third in the group project competition. The 22 completed pieces were set out on a table.
For close-ups of individual pieces please check out https://egpstitch.ca/home/what-we-do/embroiderers-association-of-canada-seminar-group-project-award-2025/
Transition to New Executive
Our executive members serve two year terms, and this was a year for a changeover. Fiona White, having served two years as president, and four years before that as Program Chair, is moving in to the role of past-president, though she is staying on as ONN rep. With no-one willing to take on the role of president or vice-president, our past president, Maggie James, who also spearheaded needed constitutional changes, suggested a way forward. With two new executive members sharing the role of Program Chair, and five members continuing in their roles as secretary, treasurer, membership, library and webmaster, the executive will share the responsibilities of the president. We are looking forward to another great year of activities, sharing our learning side by side. We benefit from a strong membership, who are always willing to take tasks on as needed.
June Celebration
The pictures say it all – check them out at https://egpstitch.ca/show-and-tell-monthly-photographs/show-and-tell-june-2025/. And while you are on the website check out some of the lovely cutwork and crazyquilt pieces, created during our dual track workshops in March and April, which were shown in April and May.
Report – December 2024
Submitted by Fiona White, President and ONN Representative
Basic Ingredients
Our program for the fall involved an emphasis on the basic ingredients for embroidery: a focus on stitches, and the way they can be used in both traditional and contemporary stitching. Seanagh Murdoch started us off in October with “Buttonholed” – a wonderful review of buttonhole stitches – and also demonstrated the use of small, dollar store photo books as a way of keeping the sample stitches for future reference. Wenda Mortlock and Kristi Reid followed this up with “Keeping it on the straight and narrow”, an exploration of outline stitches in November. Wenda had put Seanagh’s idea into practice producing a stunning sampler reference book that is a work of art on its own. And Kristi, one of our newer members produced a wonderful design using only outline stitches. We are very fortunate to have so many members of our group who are willing to share their expertise, and to spur us each on to new projects. We are going to finish off with knot stitches in January, and then spend March and April using those stitches in member-led workshops in cutwork or crazy-quilt pieces.
November Ornament Workshop
Following on our successful “four-corners” workshop last year, we arranged for another one this year with a focus on making ornaments. Held on a Saturday in November, participants rotated in small groups through the four corner stations in the morning for a quick overview of the ornament. In the afternoon participants went to their chosen corner and were given the materials and guidance to create their ornament. The ornaments included a small felt-house design by Linda Baklarz, a silk triangle design by Seanagh, a beaded tree design by Norah Jackson, and a Temari Ball design by Pat Dibb. We advertised to local quilt guilds and through Facebook and had a good mix of our own members and non-members.
Christmas Luncheon and Ornament Exchange
We only hold one meeting in December, but we all look forward to it! We had a wonderful lunch at The Vine (thevineptbo.com) complete with mocktails. We also completed a cryptic embroidery crossword (the answers were all stitches), enjoyed good company and conversation, and marvelled at the range of skills and artistry evident in the ornaments we exchanged.
To see more of what our members have created recently check out the Show and Tell section on our webpage https://egpstitch.ca/show-and-tell-monthly-photographs/
Report – September 2024
Submitted by Fiona White, President and ONN Representative
Botanical Printing and Dyeing
We scheduled a long-promised workshop on botanical printing and dyeing for July. The interest in it was higher than expected, so we ran it twice, on consecutive days. We ended up with 16 members each going home with a silk scarf, and a number of smaller pieces suitable for stitching. They all wore their scarves for our first regular meeting in September.
President’s Summer Challenge
Our summer stitch-ins were not well attended this year, as our members were busy with other things. Turns out they were also busy stitching! The President’s Summer Challenge was to make a “Small” or a “Small Project”. A “Small” was a new word to some of us – an embroidered item made to hold stitching tools or otherwise help with the stitching process: pin cushions, needlebooks, scissor fobs.
Come Back Often Celebration for Deb Blackmore
Our first regular meeting of the 2024-25 year was a busy one! We kicked off our program, including our new collective project “Colour Play”, held a “Trash to Treasures” display, welcomed two new members, and viewed the items created for the summer challenge. And then we culminated the meeting with a surprise party for member Deb Blackmore. Many long-time ONN and EAC members will know Deb, as she has been very active in the needlework community. She has been the heart of our guild for many years, serving on the executive, teaching, being the leading force for our community outreach (including our involvement with Fibrefest), and just generally being always generous with her time, her expertise, and her materials. Deb is moving to be closer to her daughters, but has opted to continue to be a member of our guild, and is planning to get back for as many meetings as she can. However, we wanted to celebrate all she has done for the guild so we held a “Come Back Often” party. As our meeting wound up, our pot-luck dishes magically appeared, and though we shared a few tears, we also shared lots of stories – including the tale of the epic trip Deb organized to visit Hampton Court.
Report – July 2024
Submitted by Fiona White, President and ONN Representative
Displaying our Work
Our annual display at the Peterborough Fibre Festival was popular with attendees, and was a rewarding fund-raiser for our group. Our members had created over 100 greeting cards, and we sold nearly all of them, along with some other items from previous years. We featured work completed this year, along with a few pieces that were still under construction, which helps to show viewers the process of stitching, not just the product. The Fibrefest display became the basis for our display at the ONN Fair a few weeks later, though we added in some items from previous years as well. We enjoy seeing our “show and tell” projects at meetings, but there’s nothing quite like seeing so many of our pieces all displayed together. And it was wonderful to see the displays from other guilds, giving us lots of ideas for things we can work on in the future.
Collective Project: The Whisper Project
For the third year in a row our group created a collective project. Two years ago individual members made “twinchies” (two inch squares) and from them we created a 15-sided biscornu. Last year participating members created individual post-card sized pieces which formed a Myriorama. This year, inspired by the Fergus Pod of SAQA, we did an embroidered version of the Whisper Project. We had three groups with five members each. The first person in each group received a picture of a Peterborough area landscape and created a post-card sized interpretation of the photo, using materials and techniques of their choosing. The second person received a photo of the first person’s post card, which they used as inspiration for their postcard – and so on through to the fifth person. Two group results are shown: the original photos in the top left, and then the subsequent interpretations shown clockwise. The difficult part was in keeping our pieces secret, but it made for a grand time when they were all revealed and explained at our May meeting. Plans are already under way for a collective project starting in September!
Summer Activities
We don’t have formal meetings in the summer, but we do try to gather every second Wednesday for a stitch-in at a local park. So far the weather hasn’t been the best for outdoor stitching, and we had to cancel the second stitch-in completely. We also decided to have a very informal workshop on botanical printing for embroiderers, as it is so much easier to do in the summertime. We planned for one day with up to 10 members, but the interest was high and we are holding two days in late July with a total of 18 participants. We’ll have pictures for the fall newsletter.
Basic Ingredients
With a number of new members this year, the program committee has decided to focus on the “basic ingredients” of embroidery for 2024-25. We will have some sessions on basic stitches, and how they can be used in traditional and contemporary embroidery, with a focus on creating items that can be used as reference/samplers such as books, scrolls, binders or traditional display samplers. Later in the year members will be given the choice of doing sessions on crazy quilting techniques or on cutwork techniques, to put the stitches to use. As always our program activities will be engaging for a range of stitchers, with new learning for novices, and challenges for experts.
Report – March 2024
submitted by Fiona White, President and ONN Representative
More Growth and Renewal
We had some new members join us in January and February, so that we are now up to 33 members. It is wonderful to have new perspectives and enthusiasm, as well as new challenges for our program delivery and meeting space. For our January meeting we did a display of items from projects we have done in recent years, and sought input as to which of these would be interesting to do again. We also had all members complete a survey on ways in which they are willing to help with guild activities. For pictures check out
Silk Ribbon Workshop
Members started work on Deb Blackmore’s design for a silk ribbon sampler in November, and then continued the work at our January meeting with Deb’s assistance. This is one of the finished products. Deb had us review a basic stitch using floss in the inner wheel, and then use the same or similar stitch with silk ribbon in the outer wheel to understand the different process and effects possible with silk ribbon. Makes a great reference sampler for future work.
Presentation by Lori Everett
For our February program we held our meeting on Zoom, and had Lori Everett, a fibre artist from Kingston ( https://kingstonfibreartists.ca/members/lori-everett/ ) give a presentation on her work. Lori showed a variety of small stitch challenges, creating small pieces using a limited number of stitches, which she had then used as the basis for larger pieces, including accordion books, hangings, framed pieces, and bags. From a background in traditional stitching, she has developed techniques of improvisational stitching and collage which she combines with rust and botanical printing, as well as use of hand-dyed fabric, to produce stunning contemporary works.
Planning for Fibre Arts Festival
We are pleased that what we call Fibrefest is returning to its pre-pandemic venue, the Peterborough Wellness Centre, and moving back to an earlier date as well. We are looking forward to having a double booth again this year, on Saturday, April 13 from 10 am – 4 pm. We will have a display of our recent work, as well as a number of items for sale. Members have been busy replenishing our supply of embroidered greeting cards, such as these ones by Suz Cuss, and we will also have bag tags, wool embroidery packs, and some other assorted items. We always look forward to seeing the displays of other fibre groups and vendors.
Wooly Playday
Last year we had a play day with a few of our members on the theme of “colour on cloth”. This year we decided to expand the concept and run it in a large meeting hall, with a focus on working with wool. We also decided to open registration to other textile groups in the Peterborough area, and we ended up with a group of 21 participants. In the morning participants broke into small groups and rotated through brief presentations in the “four corners” of the room: fabrics and threads; mini-trunk show by guest Chrissy Altelaar; crazy quilting; wool applique. In the afternoon participants chose between completing a wool applique pattern under Chrissy’s guidance, or working on their own design to make a crazy quilt or a wool applique piece. Participants visited the fabric corner to obtain the materials they needed for their project.
The day was a great success, allowing all participants to learn and create according to their own interest and skill level.
Report – December 2023
Submitted by Fiona White, President and ONN Representative
Growth and Renewal
The theme we chose for the year turned out to be appropriate. We have been joined by 6 new members, bringing us to a group of 29. We have also completed our first extended exhibition in many years at Hutchison House, to rave reviews, as well as a hoop-art workshop for beginning stitchers in our first collaboration with the SPL Makerspace. And we are well in to our year of learning new (to many of us) stitches and techniques. Our new collective venture, the Whisper Project, is also under way.
Fall into Winter with Snowflakes
We got an early start to wintry projects at our October meeting. The focus was on stitching the seasons, where we shared past projects that members had completed on that theme. Inspired by a Four Seasons sampler from Stitch magazine, we learned some of the stitches from the project to create a mini-sampler of hoop-art snowflakes: pistil stitch, fly stitch, coral stitch, Palestrina stitch and whipped spider webs. Three of the pictures show the samples for the workshop. From there our members were challenged to combine those and other stitches to create an endless variety of snowflakes, or to use them to complete a pattern such as the one from the magazine, or to make their own design. Myrna Bloom did her piece with different coloured thread, and Norah Jackson did hers with beading. Both finished their pieces to show us at our November meeting.
Hoop Art Workshop
Drawing on what we had learned from doing our own snowflake hoop art, we created two 4-inch seasonal designs, one with snowflakes and one with a wreath, each using just 3 basic stitches done in #5 Perle Cotton: running stitch, pistil stitch/French knot, fly stitch. These were then offered as a two hour workshop for beginning stitchers in collaboration with the SPL Makerspace in Lakefield (https://www.selwyntownship.ca/en/library/makerspace.aspx ). We capped the registration at 10. We were pleased to have a range of stitchers, including two teenagers who were there with their mothers, a few women who were returning to stitching after many years, and a few in between with limited experience. Everyone went home happy with what they had learned and work they could easily finish off.
Silk Ribbon Workshop
After numerous requests from members for opportunities to learn silk ribbon embroidery, we asked Deb Blackmore if she would do a mini-workshop for our November meeting. She responded with a super design, which involved reviewing stitches done with embroidery floss, and then doing the same or similar stitch using silk ribbon. She also kindly took the opportunity to clear out some of her own stash of silk ribbon and Dupioni silk to make kits for the projects, with clear instructions. We’re going to continue with the project in January, and look forward to seeing the results.
December Luncheon
We decided to try a new location for our annual ornament exchange and luncheon and support a local, independent restaurant. Despite snowy weather, and a number of cancellations due to various respiratory viruses, we had a good turnout at The Vine in downtown Peterborough on Wednesday, December 13. With the restaurant closed to the public for our event, we had lots of space to mingle before eating, and to admire the ornaments once they were opened. Seanagh Murdoch kept us busy while we waited for our food with a set of trivia questions on embroidery. The food was delicious and the chef did a thorough job of catering to various dietary needs. The sun came out and shone through the windows and we had a glorious time.
Winter Plans
In addition to finishing projects we started in the fall, we are planning an expanded playday for March 20, open to more than just our members, with a focus on crazy quilting and wool applique. We will provide our neighbour ONN guilds with more information once we have finalized our plans in case some of their members want to join us. We are having a Zoom presentation in February with textile artist Lori Everett from Kingston, and then have to start preparing for our involvement in Fibrefest, ONN Fair, and possibly other events.
Report – September 2023
submitted by Fiona White, President and ONN Representative
Summer into Fall
Summer seems to have been slow in leaving this year, leaving us all in summer mode for longer than usual. After occasional summer stitch-ins we are now finally back to our regular schedule, meeting on the second Wednesday morning of the month for an informal stitch-in, and on the third Wednesday morning of the month for our general meeting and formal program session. We were happy to welcome several new members to our group. We have our year planned, based on a theme of Growth and Renewal. And with the success of our Myriorama, which won third prize at the EAC seminar in May, we are launching another collective project for the year. This time we are doing an embroidery version of the Whisper Project, inspired by the SAQA Fergus Pod project which was exhibited in Guelph last spring (https://www.wyndhamartsupplies.com/blogs/3rd-floor-gallery-4/whisper-project-by-saqa-fergus-pod ) We are also excited about some new opportunities for sharing what we do with our community, both through a display at a local small museum, and with connections being made with a local Makerspace in Lakefield.
President’s Summer Challenge
The president challenged guild members to work on a renewal project for the summer. The choice was to revisit and complete an old, unfinished project or to work on a new project that involved learning a new technique.
Deb Blackmore tackled something totally new – she took up woodcarving and produced some wonderful pieces. The one still in progress will be the head for a doll, providing an opportunity to connect her woodworking with her stitching.
Linda Baklarz had never tried stitching words and did so to create a piece for her sister-in-law. Fiona White was inspired by a Montreal textile artist to incorporate natural materials in her stitching, and created a tiny piece of hoop art on holiday in Normandy, with plant material from Omaha, Gold, and Juno beaches.
Monique Moore tackled a new piece to support her work on Sue Spargo designs, creating a needle roll that incorporates Dorset Buttons.
Carol Rand created a new scrapbook record of her lifetime of stitching, including fascinating pieces from when she was a child as well as a whole variety of her stitching projects completed while she was a teacher, and since she retired.
Other members chose to use the summer to finish up pieces, including Norah Jackson’s beautiful piece incorporating goldwork, Joan Ayre’s piece for her grand-daughter, Monique Moore’s wool applique, Wenda Mortlock’s bag tag pumpkin (inspired by The Shining), and Suz Cuss’s crazy quilt Christmas tree skirt.
Hutchison House Display
Hutchison House Museum invited our guild to set up a display of our work in the space they reserve to feature community groups. While the commitment to do the display was made last winter, the gathering of items, their organization, and the creation of signage occurred in August, and the display was set up right after Labour Day. The timing was fortuitous, as Hutchison House was participating in Doors Open Peterborough on September 16, which meant that we had a large audience of viewers just before our first regular meeting. We are delighted that the display will be up until the third week in November, in a room that is used both during school visits and other scheduled events at the museum. We are happy for our work to be seen in our community. Some of our members volunteered to sit and stitch beside the exhibit for the Doors Open event, and reported that they spent so much time answering questions they didn’t have time to stitch!
The first picture shows the three display cases, which are then shown individually in the other three pictures. The left case was used to display some traditional embroidery work, including crewelwork and crazy quilt pieces. The centre one featured Whitework (including some lovely heirloom pieces from Norah Jackson), Blackwork, needlecases, and canvaswork, along with another arrangement of our Myriorama piece. The case on the right was used to show some more modern takes on surface embroidery, postcard challenges, embroidered boxes, and sashiko embroidery. For each of the groupings we provided a paragraph with information on the technique.
Report – July 2023
submitted by Fiona White, President and ONN Representative
We kept busy with a variety of individual and group projects through the winter, and then they all came together for an even busier spring.
SAQA Trunk Show
We changed things up for our April meeting and booked a SAQA travelling trunk show through the SAQA Central Canada Region Rep. We examined the 40 small pieces in the show by splitting into 4 groups and then using guiding questions to prompt discussion about 10 pieces at a time. By the time each set of 10 had been examined by each group we had had fruitful discussions about what we liked or didn’t, and why, as well as how the artists had made design and technique choices. While not all the pieces included hand-stitching, there was lots for us to discuss about implications for our own work. Some of the techniques used were new to some of the members, but as is so often the case, there was usually at least one of our members who knew enough to explain it to others. For more information on the SAQA trunk shows check out https://www.saqa.com/resources/saqa-trunk-show
Fibrefest
EGP has participated in Peterborough’s Fibrefest since it began, and this year was the tenth show. It was held again this year on Mother’s Day weekend in the lower level of Peterborough Square. It’s a challenge to attract people to an indoor event at that time of year, but we were fortunate to have a booth near the front of the exhibit area, so had more visitors than last year. Our display was well-received. We decided to include some “works in progress”, as people often comment that they couldn’t do what we do, and we thought seeing the “not quite finished” projects might help them realize that it is just “one stitch at a time”!
We also did a reasonably brisk business of selling small items. This year we featured “bag-tags”/“backpack buddies” created by our members, and some new, small embroidery kits. However, we also had things left over from other years to give us a range of products for our sale table. It serves as our major fundraiser, and helps to subsidize our room rental costs.
Myriorama
We completed a myriorama as our collective project for display at the EAC seminar in Winnipeg. The inspiration came from an article in the Inspirations newsletter, and is a variation on an activity done in Victorian times, where individual pictures are created which can then be put together in a myriad of panoramas. We set out the basic parameters, provided the linen and threads for the path, and fourteen of our members completed pieces. While we created one piece for display, the pictures are backed with Velcro so they can be moved around. We are looking forward to showing it again as part of a display we have been invited to put on at Hutchison House, a local living museum, this fall.
Blackwork Workskhop
Another May activity was a Blackwork workshop which was taught by our resident Blackwork expert, Norah Jackson. Norah adapted the design from this set she created this year with variegated red threads, so that the workshop participants could make a biscornu. Beginners worked on Aida cloth, while those with more stitching experience used even-weave linen.
Eleven members took part, and we are looking forward to see what they produced at our first meeting in the fall.
June
We had our AGM in June this year, with some changeover in the executive, and then a lovely year-end pot luck lunch with a display of our work. We were delighted to see that some members had managed to complete a project for our theme for the year “House and Garden”.
For pictures check out our website at https://egpstitch.ca/show-and-tell-monthly-photographs/show-and-tell-june-2023/
Report – December 2022
Submitted by Fiona White, Program Chair and ONN Representative
Back-to-meetings!
It was great to start back in September with our regular meetings on the third Wednesday morning of the month, and to adapt to our new home at Westdale United Church. We have scaled back to having just one stitch-in per month, to be held the week before our regular meeting, usually in member homes.
We have gone with a “House and Garden” theme for the year, and our first program activity was to do a house clean-up and bring in our discards to share. We had great fun turning stash trash into treasures. The exchange was so popular that we continued with it for our October meeting. At that point we also presented our “House and Garden challenge” for the year, to create a piece representing that theme to be displayed at our year-end celebration in June. We also discussed different approached to creating a background for our pieces, illustrated with examples brought in to share by our members. For our November meeting we discussed architectural embroidery and did a mini-workshop showing how blackwork stitches, especially the double-running stitch, could be used to represent houses. Members new to blackwork were given Aida cloth to work with (example below), while more experienced members worked on linen.
By January we hope our members will be able to share their plans for their House and Garden piece or get assistance with their design process. February will see us planning for our Fibrefest display in Mary, and in March, when we hope spring will be arriving, we are going to discuss ways to represent gardens, and to do a mini-workshop on silk ribbon embroidery.
A Colour on Cloth Playday
We usually try to do one or two full-day workshops each year, but since we are still working on getting those organized for the new year, we decided to run a playday for the fall. We had 15 members gather on Saturday, November 19 to explore techniques for putting colour on cloth to create backgrounds for stitching. We set up four separate stations and had a Program Committee member to help out at each station. We started the day with a brief introduction and a handout, and then we split into groups and rotated through the four stations, with a brief demonstration and opportunity to try out the technique at each station. After a break for lunch, participants were free to return to work at whichever station(s) they chose.
Station 4 was doing digital printing on cotton, linen, and silk organza, using an Epson Workforce inkjet printer which allows print size up to 11×17 sheets.
And for a break we had the kitchen station! The host promised coffee and tea and asked everyone to bring their own lunch and snacks. However, the wonderful group of women brought extra snacks to share, helped keep things organized, and left the house cleaner than when we started.
The playday was a success and we may consider using a similar set-up for another day, with a focus on learning different stitches or other techniques.
Report – July 2022
Submitted by Fiona White, Program Chair and ONN Representative
Learning in April
For our meeting in April we had an interesting Zoom presentation by Lisa Kampel from the Calgary Guild ( https://finishingisfun.ca/about/ ) She demonstrated how to frame your own work using poster board and purchased frames.
We also had the second of two Sunday afternoon Zoom workshop sessions with Kim Mather of Kimat Designs (https://www.kimatdesigns.com) in which we she guided us to use the materials she had provided to turn our Zentangle drawings (see the Zoom screen picture) into an embroidered piece. Some of our members took a further step to create a range of interesting pieces, either directly from their original drawing, or inspired by the Zentangle process.
Suzanne Zakis and Deb Blackmore made bags, though Suzanne opted to just use part of her design.
Marilyn Buxton created a Zentangle Turtle. And Seanagh Murdoch found she enjoyed the Zentangle drawing process more than transposing it to an embroidered piece, so she deconstructed a favourite old pillow and embellished it with Zentangle inspirations, and then did a complex Zentangle drawing on the reverse.
Exhibiting in May
We were delighted that the Peterborough Fibrefest, which was cancelled in March 2020, was able to return this year. The date was changed to May, and we were in a new location – a large space in the lower level of Peterborough Square, our downtown mall, which is used through the winter for an indoor Farmers’ Market. Vendors and local fibre groups were happy to be back, and even though we were competing with the beautiful weather outside, we had a reasonable turnout. With the new location we were able to double the size of our booth, devoting half to displaying various articles we have made over the years for sale, and half to an exhibition of our pandemic projects. It was lovely to renew connections with our fibre community, and to remind our larger community that we are still an active organization. Fibrefest has always been our main fundraiser, and we were pleased to be able offer our customers the option of paying with our new Square device, part of our move to using more Internet banking services.
Celebrating in June
We were able to meet in person in June for the first time since March 2020 – definitely a reason to celebrate! And we did so in our new meeting space, using the opportunity to display our pandemic projects for our members – and for a few guests from the local quilt guild who were there to attend their annual luncheon down the hall.
Our new home was a result of COVID – we lost our long-time meeting location, a bright, second story space at our local Superstore, which had been changed into a staff break room during the pandemic. After an extensive search, we settled on a main floor meeting room at a local church, and booked it for 2022-23. It was great to try it out in June, and we are pleased with the lighting, the comfortable and quiet atmosphere, as well as easy access and parking.
Report – March 2022
Submitted by Fiona White, Program Chair and ONN Representative
To make up for my all-text fall report, I have concentrated on images for this report, featuring work from 10 of our talented members. We have had a busy year of Zoom meetings and stitch-ins, starting with biscornus and an autumn tree for the fall, and a then a winter focus on embroidering things we can find – keeping it simple with running stitch.
Some of the biscornus completed as our fall project.
Some items from our Make Do and Mend program for January – a sweatshirt and a nightgown, inspired by our exploration of kantha and boro stitching.
February Blues was our program for February, continuing our look at the uses of running stitch by learning about sashiko. Following our plan to use what we have on hand, members were asked to find any blue fabric, resulting in some interesting pieces!
For more information on any of the pieces pictured, or for instructions and further related links please visit our website at egpstitch.ca.
We are looking forward to doing running stitch collages at our March meeting, and a weekend workshop on Zentangle for Embroidery with Kim Mather of Kimat Designs.
Report – December 2021
Submitted by Fiona White, Program Chair and ONN Representative
Finding Our Way
With a new executive in place for 2021-2023, the Embroiderers’ Guild of Peterborough has been busy finding our way forward, building on our strengths and identifying things we can improve. Our new president, Maggie James, is leading an executive with many new members, and she started things off with an open-ended survey of our members at the end of the summer, receiving many helpful responses. One of the challenges identified was in attracting new members. A committee is now working on a strategic plan.
The new, enlarged Program Committee then followed with a selected-responses survey (using Survey Monkey). The key findings from that survey were that we need to ensure that our program activities are suitable for both new and experienced stitchers, provide activities including detailed instructions with open-ended possibilities (or vice versa), teach skills that can be used in a specific project as well as incorporated into other ongoing projects, and give opportunities for working on short and long-term projects. We feel that both our fall projects, the biscornu and the autumn tree, have done that. The survey also gave us good direction on topics and techniques to include in our program.
Finding Technology
The executive, under Maggie’s guidance, is also updating our use of technology. We were sharing a Zoom account with another guild, but now have our own. We are finding it helpful for our executive and program committees, as those who have hesitated to be involved previously because of their location outside Peterborough are easily able to attend meetings. The executive has decided to continue with our monthly general meetings via Zoom, as we have been doing for the last year and a half, and to add a monthly Zoom stitch-in as well. Our treasurer, Marilyn Buxton, is incorporating more use of on-line banking, so that we will be able to make and receive e-transfers. Our program committee created a video to teach woven picot stitch and variations for our November meeting, including it in our slide presentation as well as a private link on our website. Our web-master posts images for “show and tell” each month on our website, which we can view during our meetings, allowing our members to see things clearly and explain their techniques. Our website continues to be our central platform, and we have now also incorporated website-based email. This has allowed us to have some executive positions have an EGPstitch email account, which can be be passed on to the next person who takes that position, enabling the history to be accessible for them.
Finding Embroidery
Our fall project was initiated in June: a biscornu sampler. Members were able to work on it over the summer, and then to learn how to put it together in October. Some have completed a 15-sided biscornu, others opted for an 8-sided biscornu, and some chose to complete it as a sampler. This has given us a good start on our challenges for the next ONN general meeting.
As the program committee discussed what projects and topics to focus on from November through April, a theme of “finding embroidery” emerged. We are presenting a series of projects that allow us to use what we have on hand – what we can find in our stash! For November we worked on a design by our librarian Suz Cuss, called Autumn Tree, which was published in the EAC magazine a few years ago. It uses an amalgam of threads (whatever you can find!) to create the trunk and branches, and uses variations on woven picot stitch for a few leaves. For January we will be doing Visible Mending, after we find some clothing with worn spots or stains that can be improved with embroidery. February Blues will see us learning some Sashiko stitches on whatever blue fabric and white thread we can find. For March we will be creating Layers of Fabric, making a collage with whatever fabrics we can find to develop a piece on which we can embroider. In April we are looking forward to an online presentation by Lisa Kampel from Calgary, on how to do your own framing – again, on whatever pieces we can find!
Finding the New Normal
We are planning to present two workshops this year, with at least one online. We had booked Kim Mather of Kimat Designs to do a Zentangle workshop for April 2020, and are planning to finally hold it this spring. We are also planning a collage workshop. We will be offering the workshops to our members and also to others who are interested. The online workshop format will enable us to offer it to an even broader audience. We will let the ONN know when we have more details.
We will miss our annual December luncheon and ornament exchange again this year, but instead will be gathering on Zoom for coffee and sharing an ornament that we have made for ourselves. We are hoping that by June we will able to meet again for our annual year-end gathering, though we are planning for the first time to have all members display at least one piece of their work. We have missed being involved in the local Fibrefest for the last two years, and are pleased that it will be running again this May, giving us time to change up what we have done in the past, and find new ways forward!
Report – March 2021
Winter Report submitted by Fiona White, ONN Representative March 23, 2021
Going Forward
The new year brought new commitment to our guild. We have continued to meet via Zoom on the third Wednesday of the month and the meetings have been well attended. It seems that we have become used to the new way of doing things and embraced it. We have also continued to keep in touch via email. Our members have been busy producing a range of wonderful needlework, including lots of activity on our program project. Our wonderful webmaster, Tina Lubimiv, has continued to post pictures of work completed on our website. For a quick look at the range of projects check out the website at https://egpstitch.ca/home/what-s-new/
Our past president, Deb Blackmore, has been looking after nominations for the new executive to be elected at our general meeting in May, and we are approaching a full slate, with both new and experienced members. While we hope that we will be able to meet in person soon, we are prepared to continue regardless of when that may be.
Box Project
Our fall project was to create an embroidered box, based on instructions from Norah Jackson, which are available on our website: https://egpstitch.ca/home/program-and-calendar-of-events/ We were all given the matting used for the exterior and interior pieces of the box, cut to size, as a starting point. Some of our members were quick off the mark, but others found themselves spinning their wheels until the new year arrived. As always the creativity and the diversity of response to a common task is impressive. Below are a few examples of the boxes created. For more views of these and other boxes, as well as descriptions of the techniques and motivations, go to https://egpstitch.ca/home/what-we-do/embroidered-boxes/
Embroidered Postcards
For our winter project we are working on embroidered postcards, with instructions from Deb Blackmore, and examples from a previous run of this project by the guild several years ago. In February we were given the first photograph to work from – a seaside scene from our president Jan Nicholls, taken when she was visiting her daughter in Halifax. Members had submitted pictures of their postcards prior to our March meeting, and Tina did a screen share from the website so that members could explain their postcard, allowing her to zoom in (pun intended!) to show detail. This led to rich discussion about techniques and materials used – almost like a set of mini-workshops. It is interesting that Zoom allows for closer collective examination and discussion of a piece than is possible at a regular meeting. Below are a few of the interpretations that were shared. For other examples, again with explanation of techniques and motivations, as well as the instructions and original photo go to https://egpstitch.ca/home/what-we-do/embroidered-postcards-2021/ Our plan is to continue with these postcard projects for the rest of this year, with a member chosen at random each month to provide the photo for the following month.
Report – December 2020
Fall Report submitted by Fiona White, ONN Representative
November 28, 2020
Maintaining our Community
While all our guild activities were suspended in April, we were still hopeful that September would see us being able to meet again. By August we were more realistic that our 2020-2021 year was going to be very different! We decided to continue our regular general meetings on the third Wednesday of the month, starting in October, using Zoom. It has been a learning experience for all, but with two successful meetings now under our belt the executive is comfortable to continue with Zoom meetings for the remainder of the year, if necessary. Our usual December luncheon will be replaced by a virtual sharing of Christmas ornaments using a slide show on Zoom. Rather than exchanging our ornaments we will be making them for ourselves.
In addition to our monthly general meeting, we have always held well-attended stitch-ins on three other Wednesdays of the month. While we are missing those opportunities for sewing, socializing, and helping each other, we have been sharing information and links through emails, and showing what we have completed on our website. Our webmaster Tina Lubimiv has done an amazing job updating the site with the more frequent submissions, while also serving as our Zoom master. Our librarian Mary Anne Hammond has also been helpful in keeping us in touch through sharing books and magazines. She lets us know when new issues arrive or notifies us of books that are relevant to our program topics, which often results in items being passed along to members who want to read them, including the opportunity for brief doorway chats!
Pictures of recent work are available on our website:
https://egpstitch.ca/pandemic-christmas-ornaments/
https://egpstitch.ca/show-and-tell-pandemic-projects/
Program Progress
Our program has progressed more or less as planned. Our fall project is to make an embroidered box. Our past president, Deb Blackmore, obtained the matting to be used for the box forms from Kim Mather at Kimat, and the matting kits were hand-delivered by executive members. In October Norah Jackson demonstrated the process for making the box sides on Zoom and posted the instructions on our member sign-in area on the website. In November we shared our progress on our individual design decisions for our box and we can look forward to seeing a wide variety of boxes in early winter. Norah will be demonstrating how to stitch the boxes together at our January meeting, with the hopes that members will be able to share their designs by February or March. Examples of boxes already completed by members in the past have also been posted to our website.
https://egpstitch.ca/home/program-and-calendar-of-events/
From February to June, we have decided to do a monthly postcard challenge. In February we will be shown a single photo and then all members will be asked to interpret it in a 3×5 postcard to be shown at the next meeting. This process will be repeated with new photos each month until June, and possibly through the summer and into fall. It provides a wonderful opportunity for showcasing different techniques and approaches by our members, as well as rich discussion when we share our results.
Future Challenges
While we are fortunate that we have maintained our membership numbers for this year, we still worry what effect the disruption will have on our guild as we move on to 2021 and beyond. As we all reconsider the priorities in our lives will we want things to be the same as before, or will we want to change them? Will we be able to meet on a weekly basis as we did before? Will the facility we have used for many years still be available to us? Will the outreach activities we have been involved with in past years, such as Fibre Fest and teaching opportunities, still be available? Being an election year for our guild, will we be successful in filling vacant positions on the executive? What opportunities will we have for recruiting new members to maintain a vibrant guild? With over 40 years as a guild we are confident we will find a way forward. We look forward to discussions within our guild, and to hearing about what other groups in ONN are doing.
Report – July 2020
submitted by Fiona White, ONN Representative 10 July, 2020
As with most guilds our best-laid plans came to a halt in late March. Peterborough’s Fibrefest was cancelled, our April Zentangle workshop was postponed, and we ceased having regular meetings. The executive met once using an online meeting system. We did manage to hold our Annual General Meeting via email, made easier by the fact that this was not an election year for the executive. The executive decided to continue supporting our members through emails and on our website. Some members have been sending emails to our group list to show their recent work and others have submitted work to our web-master for display on our website. To see some of this work check out https://egpstitch.ca/home/what-s-new/
We are planning another executive meeting for August, when we hope that we will know more about what is possible for our fall schedule. In addition to provincial and local health guidelines, we will also be affected by whether our meeting space at the local Superstore will be available, and whether our membership will be willing to attend in-person meetings. An email survey of our members in June showed that there was a preference for meeting in-person, with some willingness to move to online meetings if it is necessary. We had already determined our program theme for the year (making books and boxes), and we have strong expertise from within our group to support us on those projects. Our annual membership fees were due in June and nearly all signed up for another year, despite not knowing exactly how that year will unfold!
Report – March 2020
submitted by Fiona White, ONN Representative March 11, 2020
Winter is always a busy time for our guild, as we collaborate on multiple guild projects, as well as working on our own individual (and often multiple) stitching projects.
For our winter program Wenda Mortlock and Linda Vassiliadis have been leading us through a Glistening Webs canvas work project. Some members had done an earlier version a few years ago and are changing it up this time to make coasters or smaller variations, while more recent members are taking the opportunity to create the full version that we had seen and admired. The work on this project, as well as the stumpwork we did in the fall are preparing us for a focus on books and boxes for next year’s program.
Winter is also when we get serious about preparing for our booth at Peterborough’s Fibre Fest, now in its 10th year (see http://www.ptbo-hwsg.com/events/fibrefest-2016/ for more information). While it is a wonderful opportunity to display our recent work and recruit new members, we also use it as a fundraiser by selling small pieces. Last year’s covered tape measures were a great hit, so we have produced more for this year, and the stand-up crows that were popular a few years ago are making a return appearance, joined by some bunnies as well as some Easter ornaments.
We also had another community outreach project this year which involved a series of four half-day classes held at Peterborough’s New Canadian Centre in January. The idea for it grew out of a contact made during our participation in the Creative Hands On Festival in September. Led by Deb Blackmore, our past president, three of us facilitated the classes with six women, most of whom had come to Canada within the last three years. Each week the participants learned new stitches on a doodle cloth, discussed tools, threads and fabric choices, and worked on designing and creating a needlecase. While the native languages in the room included Spanish, Mandarin, Farsi and Arabic, we found we were able to communicate well with diagrams, demonstrations, and some dictionary use. As we started to stitch on our new stitch while varying the size of our stitches, we realized that a simple word like stitch could have so many meanings. The sessions were well received, and we have been invited to teach the series again in the fall.
We are looking forward to a full day workshop in April with Kim Mather on Zentangles, before we finish up our year (and hopefully our projects) with our AGM in May and our end of year luncheon in June.
Report – December 2019
submitted by Fiona White, ONN Representative
Our guild has had a productive fall, culminating in our December luncheon and star ornament exchange on December 11. We got off to a good start in September with a number of new members, maintaining our membership at around 30.
Our formal program started at our October general meeting, with a workshop presented by Deb Blackmore on stumpwork. She developed a kit and instructions for creating holly leaves using three different techniques, with various colour choices. Nora Jackson also created instructions for a more advanced stumpwork piece. Both of these pieces could be used as tree ornaments.
For November, Deb continued to support us in our learning, as she provided instructions and demonstration on how to create twisted cord, which can be incorporated in ornaments or edging. Also discussed was how to do backing for ornaments.
We held our luncheon at a local restaurant, in their private dining room, which gives us lots of time and space to play some needlework-inspired games, eat whatever we want, and delight over the star ornaments created. Despite all starting with the same five-pointed star shape, it’s amazing to see the variety produced, with wonderful skill and artful design.
Our new year activities include preparations for the annual Fibrefest, program workshops on canvas work, and an outreach project to teach a series of embroidery classes at the Peterborough New Canadians Centre.
More information on our guild activities is available at our website egpstitch.ca
Report – October 2019
Submitted by Fiona White, ONN Rep
Fall Report
Our guild had a busy summer and is now busy getting settled in for a new year. As usual we continued to meet weekly for stitch-in days at members’ houses, and our executive met and finalized plans for our 2019-2020 program. We used one of our Wednesdays for a field trip to visit Kimat Designs http://www.kimatdesigns.com as well as some other stitch, fabric, and art stores nearby.
The big event, though, was our guild’s participation in the Creative Hands on Festival, held September 13-15 in downtown Peterborough https://creativehandsonfestival.ca A sub-committee, led by our talented past-president Deb Blackmore, developed a display, a “make and take” bookmark activity and a workshop class. Deb developed a lovely sampler kit for use in the workshop, and some committee members did a trial run so Deb could fine tune the instructions. The event was a success for the organizers, and for our group. The outreach possible from such events as this, and the Peterborough Fibre Arts Festival, help us to connect with our community.
Following on last year’s “stitch of the month”, which we used to support our program focus of the “My Place, My Space” mapping challenge, we decided to develop a program for this year on different embroidery techniques. In October we will be doing stump work and then will follow that up in November with a session on twisted cording and mounting the stump work to complete a Christmas ornament. December is our usual luncheon and star exchange. January and February will be work on a canvaswork sampler. Techniques for March and April will be decided after more input from our members, with a show of work planned for our May meeting. We have had interest expressed on creating three dimensional pieces and realized that this year’s techniques will lead nicely in to a focus on “Books and Boxes” for 2020-2021!
More information on these activities is available at our website egpstitch.ca
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