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Report – December 2025
Submitted by Jane Bermingham, ONN Rep

I am sitting here and watching the snow fall. My granddaughter is pleased to have her first snow day early in December. We had a hot dry summer now it seems we are to have a cold snowy winter. Still as a stitcher and knitter that is not necessarily bad.

It seems like our guild is coming to the end of a very busy year. We did two exhibits in Belleville. Participated in stitching in public in 3 libraries in the area. Participated in Gathering in the County in Picton. We had to decline 2 local Fall Fairs but hope to particpate next year. Two of us finished our Bargello Christmas Trees and brought them to show the rest of the guild. It was many years since I had done any Bargello so it was a good refresher for me.

We had a lovely potluck lunch at our last meeting. It was a great day of a little stitching and lots of conversation. Some of us had time to make stitched tree ornaments for our ornament exchange. There were also several finished items in our show and tell. The first two pieces shown in the photos below were designed by Joanne for The Needle Pulling Thread. The second two were designed and stitched by Allie. The last photo shows stitched tree ornaments by our members.

In January we are planning on having the EAC educator, Heather, talk to us about EAC and what it has to offer us. This will be a zoom presentation as Heather lives in B.C. In February Shirley is going to teach Boro mending. Boro mending is a traditional Japanese textile art of repairing worn fabrics with layered patches. It can also be used to decorate clothing. Later in April, Joanne is going to teach us basic felting. She has two little critters that we can make.

We are hoping to organize a stitching retreat during the summer months and perhaps have a teacher to teach us a project. At present we are unable to have more than one meeting a month. We decided that some of us would continue to go to free craft groups in the area.

I would like to wish everybody a Happy Christmas and good health for 2026.

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Report – October 2025

submitted by Jane Bermingham, ONN Rep

I can’t believe the lovely weather we are having just now. I have windows and the patio door open and it is not cold. We are halfway through September already, which is hard to believe.

Our good news is since last Spring we have had 4 new members join us. These ladies learned about our guild from our exhibit last May. We are so happy to have them. We are also happy to see most of our old members return.

One of our members who was one of the original founding members is in a nursing home at present. Some of you may know Anne Cooke. I believe she was 97 last year. Unfortunately she had a fall and fractured a hip and arm earlier in the year. She still takes an active interest in the guild and what we are doing.

We have several programs this year starting with a Hardanger and Bargello Christmas project. These patterns are 2 of the free projects listed on our eac-acb website. Later in the year we will have programs on beadwork, needle weaving, and Boro mending.

We have 2 community projects coming up this fall. We are doing Stitch in Public at 3 different libraries this year, Trenton, Belleville, and Picton. Then our work will be on show at the Arts Council building in Belleville for the whole month of November.

As you know we received a large donation of fabric last year. This Spring we were fortunate to get a large donation of DMC floss. These donations have been very helpful not only in raising some money, but we have them available for programs we offer.

Even though we have raised money it is not sufficient to go back to two meetings a month with the present fees we are paying for the room. However some of us have been making use of free craft get-togethers in libraries.

I hope everybody has an enjoyable year with their guilds.

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Report – July 2025

submitted by Jane Bermingham, ONN Rep

In 2024 we were lucky enough to get a City of Belleville Arts and Culture Grant, which we could used towards hosting an exhibit of our work in Bellville. The grant application took sometime and thought. We had help along the way. Most of the spring was spent organizing this event for the first Saturday in May. It was the guilds 35th anniversary this year so we made it a birthday celebration as well.

The exhibit went well, the Belleville Mayor attended and cut the cake. The exhibit was much appreciated by the many visitors, (approximately 70).

One of the goals of the guild was to attract some new members, and we did get some new members. We also wanted people to be aware of the guild and what we crafted.

In June we had a free table outside Crystal Palace in Picton at ‘The Gathering in the County.’ Two of our members sold some items, but we did it mainly to promote our guild.

During the last year we have made felt birds. Our members really enjoyed doing these as they could use their imagination to decorate the birds.

We did a paper bag challenge. Everyone who wished to participate made up a small brown bag of various items such as fabric, threads, beads, etc. The bags were distributed and the receiver had to make something from the supplies.
One of our members taught us how to lace a finished piece of needlework onto foam core. Another member demonstrated silk ribbon embroidery.