Hello, stitchy friends!

I can’t believe we’re nearly halfway through February already. Time is flying by! I hope you’ve had some time to stitch. I haven’t had as much as I’d like, if I’m being honest, but I’ve been having other adventures…like my recent trip to London to see the Royal School of Needlework’s exhibit “A Girl’s Education in Stitch”. I’ll share details on that in another post soon. Today I’m here to share what’s going on in our chapter.

MORE new members! Question: how many stitchy friends is too many? Answer: there is no such thing as too many stitchy friends! We’re growing again, y’all, and as of 8 pm on February 13th, we have 82 wonderful members in our chapter. WOW! In the words of our amazing Treasurer/Membership ninja Anna Todd: “Can we get to 85?”

I’m not going to share their names on the website, as we’re still figuring out some of the finer points of communicating here, but I’m sure you’ll meet them at the next meeting or two…or maybe on a WIP Wednesday one night!

Speaking of new members, the “Facebook Memories” feature on Facebook recently reminded me of one of my favorite Stitch In Public days our chapter has ever had. If you’ve never heard of Stitch In Public before, it’s just an excuse for us all to get together and stitch…in a public place where people can look over and think to themselves “Wow! What a cool bunch of people over there. Look at all those amazing things they’re stitching. We should go over and say hi!”

On this particular SIP day, many friends were made – and by the end of our time together we had 3 new members. We even decided to take our new friends over to the Stitch Niche to introduce them to one of the amazing local needlework shops in the DFW area. Every time I see these pictures, I’m reminded of the reason I love our chapter so much: the friendships we make. I know life gets busy and messy…and I know it’s not always easy to get to our monthly meetings…but I do hope that all of our members take the opportunity to participate in the many activities our chapter has to enjoy. We’re all joined by the common thread of our love for this art form. I am so grateful that we continue to get new members and make new friends!

Upcoming Events. I’ve updated the Chapter Calendar with the latest events, including our next Stitch in Public day (this Saturday), and our Stash Sale. Be sure to check it out!

While we’re at it, I wanted to point out a very annoying issue on our calendar. Right now, you can view three months at a glance…but what a glance! As you can see by the example below, the months bleed into each other and make it hard to read. Just in case you’ve noticed it too, I want you to know I’m working on figuring this out and I hope to have it resolved soon.

Reminder: Donate Items for Stitching Texas “Opportunity Knocks” basket. Jeanne Maxwell is working on gathering donations for the gift basket we’ll raffle off at the next Stitching Texas retreat. If you have any stitchy stash or stitching gift related items you’d like to donate, please reach out to Jeanne. If you want to add an extra bit of flair, it’ll be helpful to share that this year’s theme is monarch butterflies…but you’re not required to donate items with butterflies on them. You can find Jeanne’s contact information in the Member Yearbook. If you don’t have the Yearbook or can’t find your copy (it’s a pdf file you were emailed when you joined…and it’s also updated and emailed to all members annually), please feel free to reply to any President’s emails you’ve received and ask me for a copy. That goes for any questions, really. Need something? Just yell!

March Program: Our Big Public Stash Sale! Who is ready? This is going to be so fun. Here’s how it’ll work: members who want to sell their stash, craft supplies, or stitching related gifts/items can buy a table for $10. There is no sign up list and no need to reserve a table. You can roll up to our March 4th meeting with all your stuff and pay your $10 on the day of the sale. From 9:30 am to 10:30 am, we’ll have a quick meeting. At 10:30 am, members will be allowed to set up their sales tables. The sale will run from 11 am to 1 pm, then clean-up will happen from 1 pm to 2 pm. If you’re selling, it’s up to you what types of payment you accept. And yes…you can split a table with one or more members if you don’t have enough to fill a whole table. Questions? Reach out to our Vice President of Programs, Debra Bessent, for more info.

February EGA Stitch A Long Facebook Group Project. For those of you on Facebook, EGA National has a Stitch A Long group that provides free monthly projects for everyone. The group is open to everyone whether they’re a member of EGA or not. This month’s project is called “Fill Your Hearts With Stitching” and it involves stitching a mini embroidery hoop pendant or ornament. You can find the group here.

April’s Program…it’s a Mystery! If you were at our last meeting, you got a copy of Sherri Hagar’s cross stitch pattern for our mystery finish project in April. If not, here’s your chance. Click here to download the pdf of the pattern. Between now and our April meeting, stitch this up in any color combination you’d like. Sherri will guide us through finishing it into a fun mystery shape at the April meeting. So what are you waiting for…get stitching!

Until next time…happy stitching!