The first Guild class of 2008, with designer Barbara Rakosnik of Periwinkle Promises, was a resounding success!  After picking Barbara up from the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Airport, Adele Grout drove her to the Comfort Inn in Monroe, Ohio. They met Pat Elsass and Nancy Chattoraj at TGI Friday’s for dinner.  

Class began at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 29th at the Otterbein clubhouse.The class attendees were Edith Brewer, Adele Grout, Sue Bradford, Jan Moormeier, Pat Elsass, Mary Mihlbacher, Marsha Gray, Rita Wallace, Janna Fowler, Toni Thomas, Judith Petrokas, Lynn Klahm, Dottie Rye, Donna Lawrence, Eileen Berner, Paula Wolfe, Christy Yost, Pam Murphy, Nancy Chattoraj, and Susan Wells. Check out the pictures.

Set out for our perusal was the completed project-- the Berry Sampler Box.  You have to see it in person to really enjoy this beautiful piece.  It was not two dimensional and flat.  The attached leaves and berries turn it into an extraordinary piece that everyone would love to have on display at home.  The sampler is 130 by 86 stitches on 28 count natural Glasgow linen, with 12 colors of Soie d’Alger silk thread, using 15 different stitches including queen stitch, couching & laid work, detached buttonhole, long-arm cross stitch, Holbein stitch and more.

Barbara brought many of other patterns for our purchase and it was a good cross section of her many patterns. Check out her website, Periwinkle Promises.

Barbara’s style of teaching makes even the most complicated stitches easy.  The first try of the queen stitch by a novice stitcher will turn out perfectly. It was so easy because of the way Barbara taught the stitch.  A copy of her instructions for the queen stitch are here. By the end of the first day, all of us had several bands started and some even completed.  We had conquered the queen stitch and learned to cover beads to make our berries.

Sunday morning we gathered at 9:00 am, so that we could get an early start on the leaves, which were made using the detached buttonhole stitch, and the red berries, which were made using couching and laid work.  Before we knew it the day was over and all were anxious to get home and start stitching again.