Did you guess correctly?

If you read my last post, did you guess what the silk ribbon embroidery project was that I was inspired to start and complete?

If you guessed sewing reticule then you were correct!

This was another Wanda DeWitt project. She taught the class to Thimbleberry, SAGA chapter a couple of years ago.

Why did I wait so long to make it?

I love it!

Thimble

Thimble

A pitted cap or cover worn on the finger to push the needle in sewing.

Or

A group of islands off of the Connecticut coast.

The islands themselves - long prized by sailors on the Sound as a sheltered deep-water anchorage - comprise 23 that are inhabited (most of them wooded), numerous barren rocks and hundreds of reefs visible only at low tide.

Although they are said to be named for the thimbleberry, a relative of the black raspberry, that plant is seldom seen in the area, and is more frequent in northern New England. Other species of blackberry and raspberry, however, are sometimes referred to by residents of the area as thimbleberries.

Or

Thimble(berry)

Rubus parviflorus, commonly called thimbleberry, salmonberry, and snow bramble, is a species of Rubus, native to North America.
 
Or 

A chapter of SAGA, Thimbleberry,  that was founded in 1989 that meets in Fairfield, Connecticut.

A Special Road Trip

What do you do to make the SAGA Wee Care Chair very happy (besides make Wee Care items for donation to NICU's throughout this country and others)?

Take her to Harney and Sons tea shop in Millerton, New York of course!

 

Wanda was visiting to teach her silk ribbon embroidered reticule to my chapter, Thimbleberry at their April workshop. I invited her to come a day earlier so that we could make the visit to Harney as she is a big fan of their tea!

 

Wanda tasting one of the days special brews

 And of course, Wanda left with some special purchases!

A very happy Wanda!

 After the excitement of Harney's we went on to lunch and then stopped off at Kent Falls State Park in Connecticut.

A great day out with perfect spring weather!

(And, yes, Wanda is wearing the embellished jacket featured in the last issue of SAGANews, Volume 37 Issue 1).

Buttons, buttons, buttons

This month my chapter, Thimbleberry in Connecticut, took another field trip to visit another museum! This time we traveled a little further from home to meet up at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut. The museum covers the history for the city and local area known as The Valley. This area was very industrial, built around the Housatonic River. Waterbury is known as the Brass City and had factories turning out everything from pins to parts for nuclear power stations. There were also tyre manufacturers and who knew Mr. Goodyear sat a desk made from rubber, but looking like black and gilt wood?

Our reason for making the trip was to view the button collection. The collection is housed in a room of its own, with buttons displayed on the walls and in specially made wooden drawers that can be opened by visitors to reveal the hidden treasurers! One hidden treasure not on display at present are four buttons from a coat worn by George Washington, set on a velvet cushion with a box made especially to keep them in. These buttons come with a provenance and were a gift to the museum. A docent was kind enough to go and get these buttons for us to see first hand.

 

The Mattatuck Museum has 3,000 buttons on permanent display in a special Button Gallery. Buttons of all materials are included in the collection, including some very special engraved buttons from the coat of George Washington! The Button Museum was set up more than 60 years ago by Warren F. Kaynor for the Waterbury Button Company. The collection of some 20,000 buttons contained pieces from not just Waterbury or Connecticut companies but the world. It was given to the Mattatuck Museum in 1999 by the Waterbury Companies (previously the Waterbury Button Company) who have been manufacturing buttons in Waterbury since 1812.

Buttons have played a big part in the history of the city of Waterbury in Connecticut for more than 200 years. The manufacture of buttons, first by hand and then by machine, has been a mainstay of the region's economy since the late 18th century. This is a result of the city having experts in the manufacture of elaborate metal products. Large military contracts and the fashion industry made buttons making an important industry in the area for many companies.

Buttons are like a small piece of artwork. They are made from many varied materials and can be highly decorated either by machine imprinting or hand painting. They reflect history with images of the times on their surfaces and type of use they are designed for. Materials used to make buttons include wood, plastic, jade, bone, shell, metals of all kinds, glass. Each material requires its own skill in manufacturing the perfect button.

Today OGS Technologies in Cheshire, Connecticut is home to The Waterbury Button Company.

http://www.mattatuckmuseum.org/button

National Smocking Month Library Display

My chapter, Thimbleberry in Connecticut, have a display at a local library (Fairfield Woods Branch library in Fairfield) for National Smocking Month.

The cabinet isn't very big, but is full of smocked items (and not just childrens clothing) to show what you can smock. The library has arranged an afternoon for us to share our smocking skills with the public. It is wonderful as the library print flyers, put articles in the local papers and publise the event for us. I hope we get lots of attendees and maybe pick up some new members, but that aside at least we are trying and proving smocking is still something people do and enjoy!

I know many other chapters have displays at their local libraries during National Smocking Month and also plan events to stitch in public. Let me know what your chapter (or just you) have done.
email me at saganews@smocking.org

Wes visits Thimbleberry

Thimbleberry chapter of SAGA meet the first Tuesday of the month at a church in Fairfield, Connecticut. The November programme is always a Christmas ornament and is lead by a chapter member. So Wes went along to visit the chapter members.

 

This years ornament was from an old issue of SAGANews (before my time) and was the winner in a SAGA 2000 ornament contest. Barbara Ellis' design, 'Blended Curves', is an intermediate project. What our programme leader, Lisa Hawkes (SAGA President) had not anticipated was that the chart in the magazine was graphed wrongly, so she had to take time to redraw the erronious area for us-wonderful!

But then, working from the directions form the magazine, a couple of other errors were found in the written text, but between us we finally worked it all out and there should be a couple of completed ornaments to see at our next meeting!

The design is very pretty and everyone picked different colours to smock with, but we all agreed a colour photo of the original design would have been a great help!

I encourage you to look back over past issues of SAGANews for projects you can use for chapter programmes. Either thumb through your own copies or visit the SAGA website where many back issues are archived in the Member's Only' area.

And I apologise ahead of time for any errors you might find, but it is all part of the learning curve!

This is my ornament-A work in progress!

What's in a Name?

I live in Connecticut, the Constitution State. There are no heirloom sewing shops nearby, just JoAnn Fabrics, Michaels and Hobby Lobby. We do have a few quilt fabric, needlepoint and knitting stores, but these are few and far between.

But we do have the Thimble Islands!

The Thimble Islands is an archipelago consisting of small islands in Long Island Sound, located in and around the harbor of Stony Creek in the southeast corner of Branford, Connecticut.

 

The archipelago of islands made up of Stony Creek pink granite bedrock were once the tops of hills prior to the last ice age. As a result, the Thimble Islands are much more stable than most other islands in Long Island Sound, which are terminal moraines of rubble deposited by retreating glaciers

Known to the Mattabeseck Indians as Kuttomquosh, "the beautiful sea rocks,

 

The first European to discover the islands was Adrian Block in 1614. Legend says that Captain Kidd buried his treasure here, causing intermittent interest among treasure hunters who believe they have unearthed a clue to its location, although more interest is generally paid to Gardiners Island, 30 miles away.

Although they are said to be named for the thimbleberry, a relative of the black raspberry, that plant is seldom seen in the area, and is more frequent in northern New England. Other species of blackberry and raspberry, however, are sometimes referred to by residents of the area as thimbleberries.

And I belong to Thimbleberry Chapter of SAGA, which is named for the thimbleberry bush.

Do you know how your chapter name came about? It is a fun thing to research-let me know what you discover!

www.saganews@smocking.org