Monday, February 4, 2008

75 people + One Room + Embroidery = heaven


















We had a fun night tonight - the kind of night where I come home and still have to pinch myself and say, "Really? This is part of my job? Seriously? I'm that lucky? Dang!"

I'm wound up, but also tired, so the post will be short and sweet with plenty 'o pictures to show how much fantastic fun it was to teach 75 people embroidery ... in one room ... in three hours.

We were lucky enough to be invited to hold a Stitch Lab event at Design Within Reach in downtown Austin. It's an amazing furniture store - the kind where you walk in and want pretty much everything in there (ohh .... the aqua leather couch ... it has my name written all over it ....) Leslie thought a hand embroidery night would be fun, and of course, I'm not going to complain about that. Long story short: we ended up with more than 75 people in this amazing furniture store and taught them all some basic embroidery.

It was amazing. Imagine a beautiful, artful space, filled with small groups of 10 or so people hunched over embroidery hoops. There was lots of talking, lots of laughing and lots of fun creative connections. Pretty much heaven to me.


















The people were so fantastic, and were very receptive to the crafty goodness of embroidery. There were all ranges of ages, women and men, and they all seemed to really enjoy picking up the needle and floss and get to stitching. Several people talked about having not embroidered in decades, or how they used to watch their grandmothers embroider, and it was great to hear their stories. Mostly, it was just great to see people laughing, connecting and enjoying the craft. Honestly, my little embroidery-loving heart was down right overflowing. It was almost too much to handle.

So I'm still wound up, but still exhausted, and really needing to get in bed. So enjoy the pictures of the stitchy fabulousness!

These gals were adorable and had a blast stitching up their napkins.
Jenny Hart and the Sublime Stitching gang donated the transfers we used on the napkins. They were perfect for fun stitching! Thanks, Jenny!

Lots of laughter and fun.
Victory! A sassy, fun napkin and a new skill all in one night!

Mmmmmm .... floss .... Participants picked a few colors and got ready to stitch!

Must. Go. To. Bed. I'll be dreaming of embroidery.

9 comments :

  1. wow! i'm so bummed to have missed out on that!

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  2. What an awesome event! I wish I could have been there, stitching and chatting away.

    Teaching 75 people to embroider is no small feat, my friend - you should get a gold star!

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  3. yay, Rach! I'm so glad it was a smashing success! I read about this on the Sublime Stitching blog, and thought of you. Keep on rockin' the stitch, Mama.

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  4. I'm so glad everyone had fun! Thanks a ton to Leslie Bonnell for teaching this workshop with my patterns. Lookit all you people stitching. Aww....

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  5. Wow, how fun! I have a friend that wants me to give her an embroidery lesson. I never really learned myself----I just make the design work with basic stitches. I wish I could have attended your lesson to know what to teach others!!;-)

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  6. So fun! I just ordered transfers from Sublime Stitching, too. I'll have a little party of two on my own up here in the north...

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  7. Ohhhhhh! I'm jealous! Congratulations; I can see why you'd be so keyed up after a night light that. Crafting is deceptive... You *think* it looks tame and quiet, but it is really quite wild and liberating.

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  8. Dang - that looks like a total blast! I'm definitely going to have to get my butt in gear and get down there the next time you do something like this!

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Thank you so much for your comments! I read every single one of them. I do my best to respond when I can.

Have fun and be nice! :)
XOX
Rach