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

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

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.

Wool, cotton or silk scraps are cut and basted onto a special needle, but there is no sewing. The special hook is how: it’s a new CROCHET hook to add to your workbasket. It is stainless steel and it does two things at once. It’s a comfort 00 size hook with a bend that fits in your hand for no cramping: and the added fabric means that you fill up space, fast! Crochet a stitch with cotton cord and add a fabric gather from the hook to each stitch, like adding beads. The colorful scraps combine into rich, sturdy carpets.

In this workshop, you will get the muscle memory of the Shirret stitch from the repetition of making jewel-like squares and rounds.

Supplies: Bring colorful medium-weight wool or cotton fabric scraps, sharp scissors, cotton string if you have it. Bring old wool skirts, curtains, collected fabrics especially if the prints are ugly but the colors are nice, to cut with a special method. Don’t buy fabric because it will be the wrong thing. Louise will be loaning shirret hooks for use in class.

We will be cutting out/sewing bags for the Dana Farber and HAWC  projects. Please bring any extra fabric/threads/ribbons you have to donate (fabric/threads/ribbons will also be available from previous donations for use as well). If you would like to stay for lunch, please bring brown bag lunch.

If you plan on attending, please RSVP using the e-mail link shown at left.

Hope to see you there!

SEE YOU THERE!