Who are we?

I'm a programmer who's been mostly lurking here since early to mid

I also garden and am a voracious reader. I've landscaped my back yard so that I have a green fence (tho' it's pretty bare in the winter) and have some island beds throughout the rest of the yard. I read romance, sci fi, fantasy, history, and science.

I live in western NC, and there are no LNS's anymore w/in easy driving distance, so I've had a really good excuse to build a pretty good stash over the years ;-). I probably have 90% of Nora Colbert and Terrence Nolan's designs and have recently been perusing the Heaven and Earth design site. Like as tho I need any more charts.....

I am Cynthia, a fairly newbie lurker. Live in NH, do mostly xs, but dabble with crochet, hardanger and a few other crafts at times.

Figured I should wave hi,...

Life's a Stitch!! Cyn

Another mostly lurker these days. I'm Joyce, live in South Africa, in a very small town called Bethulie, in the Free State. I'm not sure when I came to this group, but it was around the time Jim's quilt was finishing, quite a few years ago now.

I have done a great deal of ccs in the past, but at present it's mostly hardanger. I started a group here, mostly older people, who have had great fun learning to do hardanger and ccs, with beautiful results.

Joyce in RSA.

I live in Dravosburg. Across the river from McKeesport and tucked in the middle of West Mifflin.

I'm Carolyn from the south coast of England. I've been mostly lurking since my divorce 12 years ago, as that is when I took up embroidery again. I had

I've been unemployed for 18 months with fibromyalgia and depression, so my house is a tip and I won't allow myself to start another project till it's clean and tidy. As my energy levels are around -10 it may be some time!

I like freestyle surface embroidery and am about to try stumpwork. Classic Inspirations is my favourite source and I have several projects kitted up and ready to go.... I pick up any old needlework tools I can find, old needlework books and old sewing machines which I love as they run like a dream. I've also been collecting fabrics, lace etc from charity shops with the idea of doing crazy patchwork. (Can't think why my house is a tip!!)

I read a LOT - mysteries, thrillers, sci-fi, anything I can get my hands on. I've just finished the first 3 books by Monica Ferris, which I read with a big smile on my face!

I have 3 dogs - 2 bichon frises and a rescue german shepherd with 'issues' - she's hard work but gives me a reason to get up in the morning!

I'd love to hear from anyone nearby with the same interests, or anyone far away who'd like to chat.

I love this group, you always make me smile and give me plenty to dream about. It's great to hear from people all over the world who have such a different lifestyle too.

Best to you all, Carolyn

Barbara T here, mostly lurker. Put my two cents in now and then. Been away for a bit and am delighted to be back in time to post. This thread is delightfully branching away now and then. One of my favorite parts of RCTN. Celebrated my mmm69mm birthday last month so I also fit in the senior group. Started lurking occasionally in late 90s whenever our home on wheels stayed in one spot long enough to catch onto a phone wire for internet access. Found RCTN from a link of K Dyer who had a link at Heartland House where I first found CCS. Wanted a project with Frank Lloyd Write design, my familiar knitting and crocheting skills would not be of use then as I could find no pattern. All the valuable info from this group made the learning easy. I'm self taught in needlework but DM taught me very well clothes construction which I did till offspring did NOT want hand made clothes! I swerved into Hardinger when Emie Bishop's Christmas in my Heart charts went on sale at Nordic Needle. They made excellent gifts to DH's extended family, especially since he framed them.

A Kansan by birth till DH retired, then we swapped our home without wheels for one that did have them. Traveled around the USA for years till it was time to seriously consider hanging up the keys. Settled in Alamogordo New Mexico early 2008. We do like it here and are learning the differences in vegetable gardening between Kansas and New Mexico. DH is retired Army, I'm retired odd jobber and SAHM.

Barbara T

Hi,

I'm Maggie and I live on the far northwest side of Chicago. I'm married (37 years) and Mom to Emily - a 5 y.o. terrier mix who definitely has a mind of her own. I mostly lurk but did post a few times back in 2002 when I discovered r.c.t.n. I do mainly counted cross stitch but I also crochet and do a bit of flower arranging. I would love to learn hardanger and brazilian embroidery. Like most people, I have more stash than I can complete in my lifetime. I'm currently working on a bookmark sampler...."Read Between the Lines" by Blue Ribbon Designs.

I am mirjam from Israel , A fiberartist , curatored some fibearts exhibition, like to make my own clothes. I never know if my Clothes & craft leftovers appear in my art or the other way around , i also love to read a lot Weave, knit, crochet, sew, embroider, [all kinds of Sts and techniques] also like to mix them all , as well as recycle any textiles ,, mirjam

Good reminder to have us do this, Joan.

So, I'm Ellice, live in the DC 'burbs -west, near Dulles airport. Share the house with DH and an English springer spaniel - Puckster. We do a lot of ice hockey stuff (yes, we met on a rink), and DH & I are refs (though as I'm out of shape and on the IR the last couple of years I tend to do a lot of evaluation type stuff. So, there will be the occasional off-topic threadss about hockey here.

Volunteer as a medic, and with the election board. Have a crazy PT job as a barista, but am really a research engineer in my other life.

Stitch wise- do a lot of canvas work, counted thread & some cutwork - not traditional hardanger, but with the elements, and crewel. Was teaching a lot of commercial stuff, now been in the process of doing guild Master Teacher & craftsman programss. So, of late my stitching has been a lot of "got to do this for a reason" kind of thingss. Like to use varieties of stitches, and different threads for effects (hence a lot of canvas with the heftier threadss). Also knit and machine quilt. Trying to get the teaching gig back on track.

Am sporadic about posting here, depending on life crazies - of which there have been plenty the past 2 years.

Like Joan, been here since about '97, IIRC. Have met a bunch of folks in real life, and others - phone, chat, etc.

Ellice in No VA

Oh, yeah - we're also transplants. I grew up in NY & Miami, while my DH is from NJ (not far from Sue, and also Cheryl's DH who evidently went to school around some time/locales as my crazy SIL). Grad school in Pittsburgh, been in DC ever since (almost 25 years) - with a few years living in SE England, and a few in the boonies of France (to which I would move in a heart beat).

Ah, Sue, another reason that I love you - the memory and the vocabulary. Isn't it lovely how we come up with terminaology. While I didn't put this in my blurb, I am another promiscuous reader! There are even some of us that swap books (Ericka - I know - I have your stash to return some time).

And Sue does gi-normous stiched pieces of amazing beauty.

Ellice

Wow - Alamogordo! A name from my past. For way more time than I sometimes like to think about, I spent much of my time on the range. Alamogordo was someplace we'd go when tired (easily done) of too much time in Socorro. (A place at that time where we hailed the new "Super 8" as "The Hyatt" - and when Holiday Inn Express came - that was "The Ritz-Carlton"). Interesting place to retire - do you love it?

I had a house in Albuquerque, but a place in DC as well (rules of the employer - base here, though I spent most of my time in NM or overseas). When building the house in ABQ, I actually found a couple of books, one specializing in learning how to garden in the SW, and for transplants from the East. I sympathize- it really was an education learning how to garden there - but you can grow fabulous roses. I, OTOH, seriously miss my Hatch green chiles, and am trying to grow some hybrid "NM chiles" that I found at a garden specialty place. Not quite the same, but.... I only killed 1 rose plant, and some veggies, in getting the garden and yard set in ABQ.

DH has never been to the SW, but I keep threatening.Next year ANG national is in San Antonio, and we're planning to do a little SW tour after seminar.

Well, congrats on retiring - and being in the lovely SW - I keep thinking about missing being there.

Ellice in No VA

LOL - we strategized this year. Poor Sue. Put tomatoes in huge clay pots - and they're doing pretty well (even if I transplanted them late). The pots are high enough that the dog can stick his nose in, but can't pee on them - woo hoo. But he is definitely interested in them, and will eat tomatoes. The peppers are in huge pots on the front porch - though next year they'll go on the back patio as well. The local bunny family (which lives, I believe, under the dwarf weeping pussy willow) doesn't venture up onto the porch. The herbs are now in railing window boxes, or in pots, up on tables on the porch. I couldn't leave the containers down on the front ledge of the porce 'cause the wildlife got to them.

When we had a real veggie garden at the prior house, we put down some barrier granules, and those, along with much training (read this yelling) about the barrier - kept the dog out. But, the squirrels and birds made a dent. We did have hot peppers growing around the borders and that seemed to help with keeping the tomatoes safe.

But since we're in a pretty new 'hood, with smallish yards and not the old growth close-by, it's not so tough with critters. But, the birds did take a lot of our berries from the service berry tree, and we've had some apples knocked down from the tree. And our supposedly ornamental plum fruited like crazy, I did some cooked stuff with the fruit, and the local wildlife must've gorged on it.

Ellice

I'm Cathy. I live in Kentucky and work in California...so I go back and forth. I live in the East Bay and am about 15-20 minutes out of San Francisco.

I have a beautiful daughter in KY and we have three cats.

I will be finishing a Long Dog sampler this week and can't wait...as I have been working on it FOREVER!!

I just received my first CC from EGA and am very disappointed. I will be leaving EGA when my dues next expire as I feel the whole EGA thing is a huge waste of my money.

I have no interest in the Seminar as I think it is a grossly expensive, inflated, to-do for the elite and totally ignores the average stitcher.

(I could write for days on the subject of EGA!!)

I do cross stitch and I knit.

I, too, am a promiscuous reader and recently got a Nook from B&N. I love it!

just me, Cathy from KY in CA

We like the area very much and are learning to love the countryside. Summertime rain marches across the desert. It may or may not come our way. Lovely to watch. The Sacramento Mountains are the east edge of town and have a few clouds sitting over them always. Roses do very well here still. The previous owner of this house had a huge walled rose garden, at least 45 of them. The remaining lot was already landscaped with trees, bushes and rocks. Different kinds in different areas. We like roses but wanted tomatoes and beans and.. So we gave them away and found new friends. We also decided we wanted raised beds as we don't stoop as well as we used to. The dirt we filled them with is a puzzle. The assorted veggies come up quickly but then just sit there and don't grow much. We had the soil analyzed and a friend is preparing a dissertation on what all those numbers mean. This fall and next spring will be another experience.

On our way to Abq to Amtrak depot to pick up visiting kin we had lunch at a brewpub in Socorro, stopped on the way back with said kin for a great dinner complete with their brew and pizza. Towns sometimes grow when we don't watch closely.

Hatch chiles are late this year and are just now available. We will be getting some already roasted to freeze. Best wishes on your garden as well. This summer has been odd all around.

I suspect your ANG gathering is in San Antonio TX not NM. We are a couple of days travel west of there. Holler when you get close, our new house has room for company. Seriously, e-mai we like visitors.

Barbara T

Dear Cathy,

First, let me say that I am sorry you have not had a wonderful experience with the EGA. My own experience with the EGA is diametrically opposed to yours, I guess.

I've been a member for 10 years now and though I haven't been to National Seminar yet, I have been to Regional Seminars and had a great time. I've done both GCCs and ICCs and everything about them has met my satisfaction. The magazine has been improving by leaps and bounds. And in general I think the organization is doing an admirable job of meeting of meeting their mission statement:

To stimulate appreciation for and celebrate the heritage of embroidery by advancing the highest standards of excellence in its practice through education, exhibition, preservation, collection and research.

Donna in Virginia

That is a shame that you have no interest. I have plenty of interest, but I can't afford to go. So I don't go. That doesn't mean it's for the "elite", it just simply means it takes more than what I've got. That's life.

What I do appreciate is that, for very little money, you can become a Master Craftsman. Many chair these programs on a volunteer basis - I'm one of them, as well as the judging. I also teach GCCs, and yes, I get paid. Not everything in life is free, and often the cost is minimal if it is spread out amongst many members. And remember, that cost includes a final evaluation - which can take quite some time to complete. Yes, the materials can be costly, but EGA also does many things for free. I have had a project in "NeedleArts".

I wasn't fond of the local chapter and opted to become a Member At Large. There is also CyberStitchers, which is a huge chapter which I helped found - all for free. Many months and hours to put that chapter together. Most of the organization is made up of volunteers.

There is a common misconception that - if it costs something, it must be elitist. Please. As for a $100 commute fee, I'm sure it has to do with the overall cost and having to spread it around so that there *could* be a convention. Attendance has been down and this causes problems. Many of the programs offered are sold out long before convention, so it is popular. I hope to get to go before my eyes go!

Dianne

You said yourself, you can't afford to go. They should have seminars that are affordable to all their members.....and they wonder why attendance is down! They need to scale back to fit with the economy. I think they could choose much more affordable venues in which to have their seminars.

I feel I am wasting my dues money because I receive no benefit from the org. They can't even write a survey that makes sense!

If you think they EGA is so great.......then stay with it. I will use future dues money to attend occ classes at my LNS.

just me, Cathy from KY in CA

Cathy you are not the voice crying in the wilderness, more than ten years ago I addressed the same issue with the Canadian Embroidery Assoc.

I really don't know how the EGA runs it's seminars but in Canada for an area to take it on is quite the job. When it was near me, our Guild contributed by stitching favours for all the guests, we started at least two years before the event ! To my mind, that could have easily been cut out, making hosting the seminar far easier. Most Guilds are not large enough to be able to host.

As president of my Guild when I attended national meetings (only partly sponsored by our little Guild, mostly paid by me) the cost of taking advantage of a seminar was a point I raised. Talk about a chill settling over the meeting lol I came away feeling that the attitude was 'If you can't afford to lavish this amount on your stitching - - tough !' It didn't go anywhere, even though I knew many felt the same way.

It's a paradox, time was when women learned to stitch from other local women, they met, sat, stitched, learned, gossiped and progressed. Now we are so modern that we stitch mostly on our own then poke somebody on FB - well some do, personally I detest FB !

If it's an option you can access, join your local Guild, that's where most learning is available. If not, asking questions here is still a good option, I notice when anyone asks a question, most of the time they get a great response.

I can try explain the commuter fee that is being talked about. Twice now I have passed on going to National Seminar and the commuter fee was the reason why.

The hotel gives the organization a price based on booking so many rooms for overnight stays. The classrooms, merchandise rooms, and display rooms all cost money. If the hotel has too many people coming as commuters, and not staying overnight, they don't make money. And that's what the commuter goes to pay for.

Donna in Virginia