Cochrane Big Hill Needlearts Guild

One of the advantages of being a chapter member of the Embroiderers' Association of Canada (EAC) is the opportunity to attend an EAC Seminar. This annual event is held alternately in Eastern Canada and Western Canada. The EAC Seminar offers a wide range of classes with North American and International teachers. In 2024 seminar will be held in Regina and in 2025 it will be held in Calgary. Below are some photos of classes taken by some of our members at seminar over the past few years. 2023 - 4 Day Course Canvas Needlework Africana by Lorene Salt (in progress, will post update when completed) 2019 - 2 Day course Stumpwork Illuminated Floral by Alison Cole 2019 - 2 Day course Stumpwork Pacific Dogwood by Alison Cole        

A guild member gave a class on bead looming. She used disposable chip sticks to make the 4" x 5" bead loom. It was an easy pattern to follow and a good introduction to bead looming for those first timers. That's funny they both look the same! The supplies were all kitted up using the same bead colors, so we ended up with 12 look alikes accept for the one with the feather charm!                                                                       

This was originally posted a few years ago, but it deserved another look. Needlework can show up almost anywhere! This piece was found hanging on the walls of a restaurant on a cruise ship. The photo does not do it justice. The artist is Kate Jenkins and a large part of her work is crocheted and knitted food items, particularly seafood! You can find out more about Kate by clicking on the links below:       https://katejenkinsstudio.co.uk/    https://www.facebook.com/KateJenkinsArt/

 Some of our members made these snowflake ornaments from a pattern published in the Embroidery Canada magazine, Volume 47. It's great to have a small project to work on when learning a new technique.                    

You never know who will drop into one of our guild  meetings!  A member of the guild worked on making these puppets for the Green Fools Theatre Society. As you can see they were great fun. Thanks to the Green Fools Theatre for sharing these charming puppets.  The one with the yellow striped shirt was a real handful!

In the fall of 2022 we had a presentation from a couple of our members on Visible Mending, its' history and current resurgence. Visible Mending has brought these jeans back to life and produced a fashion forward piece of clothing. It's a great way to upcycle a pair of old jeans. Sashiko a traditional Japanese style of embroidery dating back to the 1600's was used on the first pair of jeans. While the second pair of jeans incorporated various stitching techniques including blackwork, sashiko, applique and embroidery. 

As a fund raiser for the Guild, members make Ort Boxes throughout the year.  Little collapsible garbage cans for your threads. The Ort boxes are sold through the Stitching Corner in Cochrane. They come in a variety of patterns and colors. Seasonal Ort boxes are very popular, like the Halloween one pictured below. Proceeds from the  Ort Boxes allow the guild to support various local community service programs. One of our members made a quilt featuring ort box remnants.