Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild - Newsletter January & February 2012

Dear honourable Lords and Ladies,
dear gentle members of the "Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild" and "-eMail Group"!

I wish you a great 2012 and hope everyone of you had a great New Year's Eve.

The year 2012 already starts with a very interesting information - the guild welcomes a new local guild head in Aarnimetsä.
First I want to thank Lady Fiora for her great work as the former guild head of Aarnimetsä - Fiora, thank you very much for your great work over so many years - you inspired so many people! :)
...and it is a great honor for me to be the one who may introduce Fru Ida Juhanantytär as the new local guild head of Aarnimetsä to you and I am also happy to forward the following text from Fru Juhanantytär to you:

________________ ~*~ ________________

Dear people in Drachenwald,

My name is Fru Ida Juhanantytär.

And I got a really good post as the new head of the Aarnimetsä’s embroidery guild.

Right after those words I have to start thanking and praising my predecessor, Donna Fiora, who has done big work by sitting us all in the same circle, and helped sharing our secrets among each other. And she somehow got us all to confess that there are no secrets in embroidery, there’s just passion and learning.

I can’t say if it was her who first showed her unfinished work saying “this is what I been doing lately”, but definitely, without that circle of skirts, her small jug of good wine and that relaxed cackle of female voices talking about their needles, spins and  ideas. I would never have shown my own works to anybody, or had time to learn my own favourite stitches. Donna Fiora has inspired and encouraged me, and humbly saying right after these words “no, I didn’t do that much.” 

We have lot of skilful embroiders in Aarnimetsä, and I think our guilds purpose is to gather all of us into the same place. Our guild is the meeting point, showroom, study and gossip house for our own passion: stitches, yarns, needles and hundreds of different ways to create something unique from textiles.

I hope that we keep on meeting in cantons and events, showing our best and worst and keep gathering new and old embroiders together.

So, who am I?

I started my embroiding by using thick wool-yarn on fleece, it was something on a hood, it’s still unfinished and my big sister has it somewhere just to scare me some day.  That’s how I started at my SCA-lifestyle somewhere circa 1998.

Nowadays I prefer linen or smooth wool as a textile, and my favourite yarns are cottons, I have just started to use woollen yarns. (maybe one day I will try my luck with silk, but it’s far in the future.)

My frame is always round, wooden, light one, and last time I counted I had it in five different sizes.  I always lose my scissors during big works, and I keep on looking for that perfect needle.

My favourite stitches are nowadays split-stitch or change-stitch, but I also like satin-, and padded-stitch. I am a bit dyslexic and it seems that it really matters over counted-techniques, like blackwork. I work more by  free hand or try to learn styles like they used in Opus Anglicanum.

I’m also the seneschal of Miehonlinna, canton in the South-East Finland. I was founding Miehonlinna in circa 2000. We are active but small group, very lovely people.

In mundane I work half-time as a potter, and full day as cleaner lady at hospital.

I read books a lot. I watch detective-DVDs while doing my textile crafts.

I live in South-West Finland, even I’m originally from the eastern side of the country.

If I don’t get my daily amount of black tea I get cranky, and my motto is to always have a good picnic, nevertheless what else the day would bring to me. And I love baking.

Best regards

Fru Ida Juhanantytär

________________ ~*~ ________________

And now to the Guild Project 2011 - "We have Dragons":
Fru Juhanantytär posted some pictures of the great patches which already arrived - they are sooooo lovely - please check out: http://dragonsembroiderers.blogspot.com/2012/01/we-have-dragons-challenge-we-surely.html
...and don't miss Renikas lovely dragon: http://dragonsembroiderers.blogspot.com/2012/01/we-have-dragons-challenge.html
There are still some patches on its way and I can't wait to see more pictures - of more patches and also of the progress concerning the assembling of the wallhanging. :)

...and finally some Guild business:

Guild Membership Roll:
We still have 64 members.
( http://dragonsembroiderers.blogspot.com/search/label/Guild%20Member-List )

Guild Blog - Dragon's Embroidery Workshop:
If you would like to join the Workshop, just write me an eMail! ( http://dragonsembroiderers.blogspot.com )
...related blogs:
- Insulae Draconis Fibre Arts Interest Group ( http://idfibreinterestgroup.blogspot.com/ )
- Aarnimetsä Embroidery Basket ( http://kirjontakori.blogspot.com/ )

Guild Fanpage at facebook:
Our guild fanpage at facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/guild.head.Racaire ) has 223 fans! (last newsletter - 209 fans) :)

I can't repeat it often enough - every project can be an inspiration - therefore please don't hesitate to use the fanpage or the blog and to post your embroidery projects or links to your projects there if you like :)

...and if you think you have a great project which you would like to share, please don't hesitate to contact me :)

Guild Projects / Challenges:
- The 1st Guild Project 2010 - "Coat of Arms Wallhanging for Drachenwald"
http://dragonsembroiderers.blogspot.com/search/label/Coat%20of%20Arms%20Wallhanging%20for%20Drachenwald
- The 2nd Guild Project 2011 - "We have Dragons"
http://dragonsembroiderers.blogspot.com/search/label/Guild%20Project%202

Misc. Projects / Challenges:
- A&S 50 Challenge ( http://dragonsembroiderers.blogspot.com/2008/03/50-challenge.html )
- A&S 50 Challenge Drachenwald Blog ( http://drachenwald-as50.blogspot.com/ )

Yours in Service
Racaire
Dragon's Needle Embroidery Guild Head