I am saddened to share the news brought to the East by Jan Janowicz. Isabeau D’Orleans has passed away. One of the lights of our Guild, the East, and the SCA. Thoughts and love go out to Jan and Rosamund and to all of her family and friends. Isabeau was a Craftsman in our Guild and brought beauty and song to our world.
At John Barleycorn, Countess Vienna retired as our Guildmistress, and Dame Elizabet took on this illustrious role. Vivant to both for their good service!
We also have 3 new Senior Members: Mistress Amalie, THL Aurelia and Maestra Cathain.
(Photo by Lady Sitt al-Gharb ha niqret Khazariyya)
The gradual process of rebuilding our old photo gallery has begun. Visit the Gallery page and browse through each collection, and come back often to check progress. Please bring any omissions or corrections to the Webminister.
Note that anywhere you see a SEARCH box, you can enter any word or name and our entire site will be searched — all page text, news posts and photo captions. Use this feature to find mentions of a person, an event, a technique, whatever!
At our annual Embroidery Schola (held online this year), we had a successful trial run of holding a virtual panel. Mistress Vienna has just issued guidelines for conducting them, and Baroness Marieta published a survey to get an idea of how many people have been waiting for an opportunity to panel their work. Virtual panels will cover working knowledge (WK) and competency (C) rankings only. Period Competency and Expert panels will not be accepted at this time in this virtual format. The guidelines and survey are available on our FaceBook page and were sent out on our email list.
Mistress Vienna became Princess of the East Kingdom at Crown Tournement, May 5, 2018. So that our Guild would be in good hands while she attended to her Royal duties, Lady Elizabet Marshall stepped-in to act as Interim Guildmistress.
At Crown Tournement, Mistress Briony passed the torch to Mistress Vienna. Thank you, Briony, for your fine leadership and inspiring skill, and best wishes, Vienna, as you take on this venerable job!
Because we are a chartered East Kingdom guild (and to save money) we moved from private hosting onto the kingdom servers.
Several features of our old website need to be rebuilt on the new one, namely our photo gallery, and the Senior Member Contacts page.
At East Kingdom 12th Night in AS XIX, their Majesties Hanno and Kunnegunda were presented with a petition to start a kingdom guild dedicated to the research and practice of embroidery. So, as of 12th Night AS XLIX – January 17, 2015 – our Guild will be 30 years old! Planned celebrations so far include:
Then and Now Display – We have been granted some display space at 12th Night, and everyone is encouraged to participate. Show some of those old pieces – the ones you love, the ones you now look at and say “what was I thinking?”, the ones you never finished… And bring some of your recent work as well. We want to show off what wonderful artisans we have in this guild, as well as how our work has evolved, both personally and as a group, over the years. If you can, please do a brief blurb describing your pieces: materials, techniques, guild category, etc. And, if you dare, how old your “then” pieces are! Names should be included. Documentation 100% NOT required, but welcome if you want to bring it.
Challenges – Many of our Senior Guild Members are issuing challenges to encourage everyone to learn new techniques and broaden their knowledge. Some challenges will be long-term during the upcoming year, others will be “due” at specific events. To accept a challenge, contact its sponsor. For descriptions of the challenges, please visit the special Anniversary Challenges FaceBook Page or download this printable Anniversary Challenges Document.
Tokens – Senior Members will be giving out tokens at events, for excellent displays of needlework. These may be items entered in a display or competition, parts of someone’s clothing or accessories, or otherwise seen at an event! Each senior member will be giving out one (or maybe two) at every event they attend for the year. Be sure to show your stuff! Or even better, be sure to point out exceptional examples of embroidery you see to a senior member. The token will be a small owl, of the senior members’ personal preference, with an accompanying card.
Mistress Briony has set up a FaceBook Community for the Guild, for discussions, questions, sharing photos, etc. Please “like” us and participate!
Lady Cellach (in Tir Mara) suggested a group project at Pennsic, and she now has kits and instructions available to give out to anyone who is interested in participating. She will be attending the University event on Oct.6, and Coronation on Oct.13, or the kits can be mailed. Please read her description, which follows:
Greetings to all embroidery lovers, I submitted a project during a panel at Pennsic 41. The guild Mistress, Briony of Chatham suggested that I should present the project to our members on Athena's Thimble web site. The project consists of a wall hanging that once finished will be presented to the East Kingdom Crown. The wall hanging is a picturial alphabet. The letters derived from 15th and 16th century wood blocks. They have been simplified by the author for appliqué technique. We would work on 37 different blocks to complete the project. Some are letters, others are borders and separations. I thought it would be nice project to help get members more involved... One member, one block...What do you think ? Are you interested in participating? If so, send me an e-mail to cellachdonn@hotmail.com. You can also phone me at 450-667-1292 (ask for Norah) I will send you the instructions and the kit. Thank you for your participation. ALL FOR CROWN. Lady Cellach Donn inghean Mhic an Mhadaigh
