ECNG joins the WEB!

Go check out our new website and join our Facebook fan page if you haven’t already! This year promises to give members more access to information of upcoming events, lectures, workshops trips and more. We will also have links to our Community Service Projects patterns, library lending list, shop list that offer member discounts, and lots more in the coming months! We are also looking to have weekly blog posts including spotlights on our members, ECNG archives from the past, and upcoming lectures and workshops! So check back oftern! Have an idea for us, or want to see something on our website? Then let us know at info@essexcountyneedlecraft.com. Here’s to a great year ahead!

Sandi Bard will be joining us Wednesday October 6, 2010!

Sandi Bard will be joining us on Wednesday October 6, 2010 with Trunk Show of her penny rugs and other designs. A workshop will follow for $20 (kit included) for her penny rug “sheep” pin/ornament. If you are interested in signing up please contact Kristin.

ECNG meetings begin at 10AM for our business meeting (9:30 for coffee hour), and the program begins at 11:00AM. For those participating in the workshop-they begin at 1:00PM. We meet at the Emerson Center located at 9 East Common Street, Topsfield, MA. Guest fee is $5 for non-members.

For more than 25 years she has been designing with fabric and sharing ideas and techniques with others. She is also one of the founding members of the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts, and resides in the Boston area where she was born and raised. She will be sharing pieces from her latest collection-a series of patterns of wool and cotton appliqué, redwork
stitchery, and cloth doll designs (for more information on her work or to purchase you can contact her at sbard123@comcast.net

ECNG April 2010 Meeting “A Brief History of Quilting in America”

Please join us in welcoming Jennifer Rogers from Crafter Quarters to present a Lecture on a Brief History of Quilting in America!

Lecture- A Brief History of Quilting in America
We will take a look at the myths, truths, fashions, and technology of quilting in North America. It’s interesting to see how various influences have changed quilting over time, from the Colonial period through now!
Presented by Jensi Rogers, founder of Crafters Quarters in Amesbury, MA

Workshop-Button Jewelry: A Play Day!
Reuse, recycle, and revamp all those little buttons that have collected in your creative space over the years! Make a beautiful pendant or pin, each one a completely unique work of art that you can proudly wear or give as a gift to someone special.
This workshop will share a simple technique to create fabulous, fun button jewelry. Most of the class we will be designing our pendants while playing with the gorgeous buttons!

Materials
Please bring any loose buttons that you may have — some students may also wish to share buttons with each other to design more interesting pieces! If possible, bring buttons with posts as well as flat ones. (Buttons with posts on the back will add dimension to your project.) Other rigid items with holes may also be used: beads, coins, etc.

Optional:If you have them, please bring a pair of easy-to-handle pliers (such a needle-nose) to help create a long-lasting design with wire.
If you are not sure that you’d like to create your pendant using wire, you may bring strong thread and a needle that fits through the button holes instead. This method may be easier for some folks. Jensi will also bring many buttons, wire, jump rings, and the rest of the materials you will need to design, develop, and finish your pieces.

Workshop Fee
$20 per person, including materials

want more info on Crafters Quarters visit www.craftersquarters.com

Louise McCrady workshop at March 3 meeting

Please join us on March 3, 2010, for a lecture and workshop with Louise McCrady. She will be sharing with us a technique her mother created called Shirret! Lots to show and share! The technique combines crochet with shirring (pleating/ gathering of fabric strips) to create fun and easy rugs, tea cozies, hats and more! Featured in Piecework (Dec. 2008), Yankee magazine and many others! Visit her website for more pix.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: Wild Crochet a RagRug Shirret Beret

2-hour workshop with Louise McCrady – $20
Advance registration required (E-mail us to sign up)
Note: you must be able to crochet chain and double crochet stitches fluently to shirret. Visit crochet.org to learn and practice ahead of time.

If you love colorful texturey fabric scraps, why not crochet them into rugs and carpets, hats. bags, tea cozies and more? Shirret is a way to enjoy crochet – without expensive yarn – while you make something completely luxurious, new and unique using RECYCLED FABRIC.

Join us for a stitch-in to benefit Dana Farber and HAWC

ECNG will be having a Stitch In  on Tuesday February 16th at 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM. ECNG member Stephanie Julian will be hosting us at her shop, Bernina Design Workshop, located at 30 Main Street, Topsfield MA.

Wednesday September 2nd 2009!

Come join ECNG for “the web we weave” and hear more about our exciting year, our new ENCG Blog, Facebook, and fun websites to check out!

SEE YOU THERE!