2019 SHOW & TELL
2019 MERRY CHRISTMAS!
December 13, 2019 - Today, the Woolwrights gathered on this rainy, foggy, chilly day to celebrate with all our friends the 2019 Christmas holiday! We had a great time! The best part of our coming together is to be able to support Zion Lutheran Church in helping out a family in need at this time of the year and we are all so thankful that the church allows us to use their facility year after year! The Woolwrights showed off our best stocking feet in a competition for the most original, the funniest, and the most traditional. We had a big time winner for a wool basket donated by each of our members. The catered lunch was very good and, of course, the desserts! And..... there were rugs..... rugs to celebrate the Christmas season or the upcoming snow that will most likely be coming our way.
So......from the Woolwrights........ MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL & HAPPY NEW YEAR!
So......from the Woolwrights........ MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL & HAPPY NEW YEAR!
October 11, 2019 - Time has been moving too fast. Summer is over, fall is here. Leaves are dropping and there are millions of acorns hitting the hard dry ground as it is very, very dry here in Lancaster County. The Woolwrights had a great get together this past Friday! It was great to sit with our friends, laugh, and listen to stories of our earlier lives remembering back to the days when things were more simple. Plans are being made for our Christmas season and conversations are taking place in the planning of the 2020 Annual Woolwrights Hook-In and, of course, we will be having some great workshops coming up in 2020.
We did not have a stand up show & tell this week, but as you will see there are so many beautiful projects being worked on at the present time. We also had an opportunity to showcase the work of Shirley Fitzgerald and you can view her work below these photos.
We did not have a stand up show & tell this week, but as you will see there are so many beautiful projects being worked on at the present time. We also had an opportunity to showcase the work of Shirley Fitzgerald and you can view her work below these photos.
ALL ABOUT SHIRLEY FITZGERALD
Let the Woolwrights introduce you to Shirley Fitzgerald. Shirley is a dear lady. She is quiet and unassuming, but on the other hand, she has a wicked sense of humor, loves to laugh, tell stories and we all know one thing for sure, Shirley loves cookies!!
Shirley was asked to share with our group all of the works by hand that she indulges in. She set up a beautiful display of quilting, embroidery including counted cross stitch and harbinger. She brought knitted items including bears and little bags.
This is Shirley's short story of the beginnings of her talents: Shirley grew up in Warsaw, New York. She has lived in five states and moved to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 2013. Shirley started early with handiworks. Her father's twin sister, Aunt Lora, taught Shirley how to knit at age seven after a Thanksgiving celebration. Aunt Lora used to knit hundreds of mittens and gloves for charity. When Shirley was 30 years old, she took oil painting classes at Boston University at night. She attended a quilting camp for several years at "Quilting By The Lake" and has fond memories of one teacher from Australia by the name of Margaret Rolfe. She took crewel and needlepoint classes at the Elsa Williams School in West Townsend, Massachusetts. Shirley worked for the Eastman Kodak Company in the patent department and also owned and managed a needlework in Lynchburg, Virginia, for six years.
"I really didn't want to take up rug hooking, but a good friend talked me into it." So she took an adult education class and found that she really enjoyed rug hooking. Before moving to Lancaster County, she took classes from Donna Swanson, Lucille Festa, Norma Batastini, Kim Nixon, and Lisanne Miller.
Shirley enjoys rug hooking, needlepoint, crocheting, knitting, counted cross stitch, hardanger embroidery, a small amount of weaving, crewel embroidery, and quilting. She has attempted tatting, but for some reason, does not enjoy it. She would like to adventure out more with weaving and she loves to garden and was a member of the New Hartford, Connecticut, Garden Club for 18 years.
"I really enjoy the Woolwrights and the people in the guild." And.... the Woolwrights all feel the same about Shirley. We enjoy seeing her at all our meetings, listening and laughing to her and the stories she tells. Shirley is an inspiration to all of us and we are glad that Shirley made one of her homes here in Lancaster County.
Shirley was asked to share with our group all of the works by hand that she indulges in. She set up a beautiful display of quilting, embroidery including counted cross stitch and harbinger. She brought knitted items including bears and little bags.
This is Shirley's short story of the beginnings of her talents: Shirley grew up in Warsaw, New York. She has lived in five states and moved to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 2013. Shirley started early with handiworks. Her father's twin sister, Aunt Lora, taught Shirley how to knit at age seven after a Thanksgiving celebration. Aunt Lora used to knit hundreds of mittens and gloves for charity. When Shirley was 30 years old, she took oil painting classes at Boston University at night. She attended a quilting camp for several years at "Quilting By The Lake" and has fond memories of one teacher from Australia by the name of Margaret Rolfe. She took crewel and needlepoint classes at the Elsa Williams School in West Townsend, Massachusetts. Shirley worked for the Eastman Kodak Company in the patent department and also owned and managed a needlework in Lynchburg, Virginia, for six years.
"I really didn't want to take up rug hooking, but a good friend talked me into it." So she took an adult education class and found that she really enjoyed rug hooking. Before moving to Lancaster County, she took classes from Donna Swanson, Lucille Festa, Norma Batastini, Kim Nixon, and Lisanne Miller.
Shirley enjoys rug hooking, needlepoint, crocheting, knitting, counted cross stitch, hardanger embroidery, a small amount of weaving, crewel embroidery, and quilting. She has attempted tatting, but for some reason, does not enjoy it. She would like to adventure out more with weaving and she loves to garden and was a member of the New Hartford, Connecticut, Garden Club for 18 years.
"I really enjoy the Woolwrights and the people in the guild." And.... the Woolwrights all feel the same about Shirley. We enjoy seeing her at all our meetings, listening and laughing to her and the stories she tells. Shirley is an inspiration to all of us and we are glad that Shirley made one of her homes here in Lancaster County.
September 13, 2019 - We are almost to fall and the Woolwrights congregated this Friday for the annual Harvest Celebration. Thank you to Connie Bateman for photos.
July 12, 2019 - Summer is upon us and at times, we don't always have a great turnout for meetings during times of vacation, but this was not the story of the Woolwrights meeting. We had a great group of friends gather to share stories of our rugs and talk of events upcoming with our group and in our families. We had a new member join and recent new members came to enjoy the day. And, of course, the works in process are beautiful!
May 10, 2019 - HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, ATHA!! The Woolwrights held a great birthday party for ATHA today. We celebrated in a couple of different ways. First of all, the Woolwrights members brought photos from our childhood and we had a game where we tried to match the baby faces with "The Girls With Grandmother Faces". It was a great source of entertainment to try to match blue eyes, curls, smiles, or dimples with our friends that we see on a monthly basis and the game was also very hard and we were all surprised to see who matched with each photo. The second thing we used to celebrate the day was our usual Show & Tell with our very first or second rugs that we hooked along with stories of our first impressions of rug hooking and our motivations to continue with this wonderful craft. So we had a great day and we finished the day by singing Happy Birthday to ATHA and enjoying a delicious birthday cake!! So this was a day of celebration and a way of getting to know our friends better with stories of childhood and the gift of rug hooking! (Be sure to click on each photo below to see the entire photo.)
April 12, 2019 - The drive over to Zion Lutheran Church today was just beautiful! The daffodils and hyacinths are a’bloomin. The magnolias, the red buds, the Bradford pears, and the weeping cherries were all just gorgeous. The fields are being worked by the Amishmen with their team of mules and a dog following close along. Spring is definitely here and the Woolwrights celebrated spring this year with our annual yard sale. There were patterns, books, wool, and other items that could be used for our rugs for the upcoming year. And one surprise for all of the Woolwrights…. we had five new members attend and join our group today! What a way to start the spring!!
March 8, 2019 - The Woolwrights are ready to “March Into Spring” and we will be doing exactly that next weekend at the Woolwrights Annual Spring Hook-In. But on this cold Friday with the threat of snow once again, we met to spend the day together and were treated with an artist-in-house tutorial from Peggy Hannum. Peggy shared tips and stories of rugs that she has hooked over the years. She gave instruction on hooking a rug that will not bulge in the center and binding a circular rug that will lay flat using the “museum finish”. Peggy explained how to fix a faded rug, how to make dramatic turnovers in leaves and petals, and how to use your initials in your rugs. It was a great lesson with Peggy and we are so fortunate to have teachers in our group that we can learn from. To see Peggy’s work, go to www.peggyhannum.com.
Then on the day we celebrate "International Women's Day", we were treated to a colorful and beautiful description of the trip that Leanne and Connie recently made to Guatemala with the Multicolores experience. Connie spoke of the kindness of the Mayan women who have transformed their lives into women who can help support their families and communities with their rug hooking talents. Connie and Leanne had a great trip and encouraged anyone who has the opportunity to take this trip into the culture of the Mayan rug hookers.
To see additional photos of Connie & Leanne's trip, go to "Traveling Hookers" under "More" on our website.
To see additional photos of Connie & Leanne's trip, go to "Traveling Hookers" under "More" on our website.
A few random photos from March 8, 2019....
February 8, 2019 - It was another windy day, felt almost like spring, but we all know there should be more winter to come. We had a great day as always sharing stories of years before, new ideas, and planning for the upcoming hook-in. The "Coleus Leaves" project continued today and the results are beautiful!
January 11, 2019 - It was a cold, windy day traveling to Zion Lutheran for our first meeting of the New Year! We had a large group and many were taking the first session of Cindy Irwin's "Coleus Leaves" project. The second session will be held next month at our meeting. We only had two completed rugs that were shared, but we learned of many upcoming events for the future Woolwright meetings! The third photo is on an upcoming class using silk ties to dye wool, just beautiful! Happy New Year to all of followers!
