Members of Indian River Chapter held an impromptu get-together at Indian River Colony Club by member Andrea E to celebrate World Embroidery Day on 30 July 2020. Fun was had by all! Thank you to Andrea for hosting this socially distanced meeting during the Covid-19 pandemic. Pictured (L-R): Sheila, Lee, Andrea, Nicole, a visitor, and Jan. Not shown, Joe, Andrea's wonderful husband, who took the picture!

Handmade Covid-19 Mask (and Other) Donations by IRC Members June 2020

The Indian River Chapter of the Embroiderers' Guild of America has extraordinary members. During this Corona virus pandemic these IRC members have gone above and beyond our expectations as our friends and sister embroiderers. Where there was a need these members jumped in to provide assistance as they could. Please join me in a round of applause to thank these selfless folks: Jan Clark: 600 + masks to nurses, doctors, staff, patients of Hospice of St. Francis, Purple Heart Foundation, Veterans Readjustment Effort, Viera Hospital, Alzheimer Center elderly neighbors, friends and family. Jan received donations from Knit N Stitch in Cocoa Village, Military Officers Association of America Cape Canaveral Chapter and Angels in the Attic. Adrienne Meyer: 115 masks for elderly neighbors, friends, family all over country including Annapolis Naval Academy and to The Haven (children's home). Christine Kampmeyer: 110 masks to friend, family, Bride/Groom wedding party, personnel at Lab Corp, post office, The Haven, Kindle Care. Andrea Eufrazio: 80 masks to local church, cancer victims and family, own family and friends. Toni Alper: 50 masks to The Haven (children's home). Carol Mallory: 50 masks to The Haven, self and friends. Bernadette Mathews: 40 masks to strangers, family and friends. Marty Wyatt: 53 masks to The Haven, family and friends and a baby blanket donation. Marita Burnette: 40 masks to The Haven. Suzanne Langfitt: 30 masks The Haven. Aline Lauzon: 24 to Pediatric Unit, The Haven, friends and friends Lee Ferguson: 22 masks family and friends Jineen: 6 masks to family Nancy King: made 8 crocheted masks for friends and self, belongs to Love Stitches (a prayer shawl ministry at Catholic Church) to provide 6 lap blankets and 2 shawls for Catholic Church and Health First Hospice; 20 dish wash cloths for Meals on Wheels Marcia Barrere: Knitted baby blankets and 2 wash cloths donated to Knit N Stitch Our members deserve a HUGE round of applause for doing all they did and continue doing.

IRC Needlework Fair March 16, 2019

The Indian River Chapter of the EGA participated in the Stitching in Public Day Event, February 1, 2020! Pictures on left from the top show members stitching in public. Jonalene G was at the Panera Bread at Post Commons- the corner of Post Road and Wickham Rd from 11 - 1. Donna M Christine K, and Jineen K (pictured) and Bernadette M (not shown) were at Panera Bread on Palm Bay Road from 11 - 1. . Adrienne Meyer (not shown), Aline L, and Annette C. at the Books A Million at the Avenues in Viera from noon to 2. Many people stopped by to chat about needlework!

Keepsake Pillows

The Keepsake design is available on the website and from the Keepsake Pillow coordinator. It was also published in a recent IRC Newsletter. We continue to have a goal of 100 Kissing Pillows annually to the military. We want to keep this project fast, easy and small enough to take with you to stitch wherever you go. Fabric and direction kits available and ready to be stitched. It is in giving that we show our soldiers, both men and women, that someone back home cares. I appreciate members putting their names on hearts when turning them in. Helps to keep track so each member who stitches five gets her name in the drawing for a free chapter membership. Call Adrienne to ask for a kit today. Adrienne needs patriotic fabric for the backing material. A quarter yard will cover 10 of these small pillows. Please contact her with your donations.

Military Outreach

All supplies for cross stitching kits are needed for our soldiers and veterans at the Viera Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic and the new VA Hospital in Orlando. Some of the kits are taken to the James Haley VA Hospital in Tampa where they are distributed to patients and their families. We are also collecting colored pencils, coloring books, and puzzle books for the same groups.

IRC EGA members have a lunchtime day group called the Patrick Stitchers. Members teach needlecraft at Patrick AFB. Members with Patrick AFB access should contact the Patrick AFB Library about meeting times and dates. Thanks go out to all our members who have given donations to pass along.

Library Exhibits

Our current library display is at the Port Malabar Library. A recent display pictured below was at the Suntree Library. Please get your pieces to Christine for the future. If you have any suggested locations, let Christine know. Thanks to all who provided beginner and intermediate pieces for previous displays.

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Brevard County HfH branch has launched a building project to include 11 new homes in the Booker T. Washington area so samplers are needed. At least 6 houses are in the pipeline. Thank you in advance for your steadfast donation of time and love for this community project. Please attend any dedication if you can! It is inspiring.

On May 21, 2016 Indian River Chapter presented its first sampler to St. Lucie Habitat in Fort Pierce, Florida.

We need your support and we need some samplers stitched. New Sampler packages will be available at the chapter meeting.

We also need a new HfH Coordinator to take over this project from Christine as she has been the primary POC for over 10 years.

Find out more about Habitat for Humanity.

Teaching Embroidery to Children Members of IRC teach children at The Melbourne Library on Fee Ave. THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO THE PANDEMIC. At the suggestion of the children's librarian, IRC has reserved the large meeting room for a three-consecutive-day class the week before school starts in August from 1:45 to 3:45 for this program. The librarian advertises the classes and handles the registration. .

We normally teach about 25 students each summer introducing children to the fun of needlepoint and cross stitch.

Christine has been teaching children at the Masters Workshop on Lipscomb Street and has 8 students in the last class. Most of the children attend Stone Middle School. Cross stitch tended to be too difficult for the children to grasp, so more modern designs using a string art technique were selected. Christine punches each ground material to prepare it for class. As a reward for finishing, Christine provides a small frame for the stitched project and the finished pieces were displayed at the MLK Library in an IRC EGA Exhibit. Christine checked with the MLK Library program coordinator to see if we could teach a childrens embroidery program at the Library.
IRC had a successful program at the Funk Center at Florida Institute of Technology in February 2020 teaching bead embroidery to children and adults.
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Stitching Series for Adults

IRC EGA is working with the local Senior Adventures in Learning (S.A.I.L.) groups to offer needlework classes to adults.. We have a selected design to teach, generate kits from donated and bought materials, and teach interested adults. If you are interested, please contact Jean Simson who has wonderfully volunteered to be the coordinator for this project. The SAIL program is currently on Tuesdays from 11 - 12. SAIL HAS BEEN SUSPENDED DUE TO THE PANDEMIC. More info will follow when the program starts again.
IRC had a successful program at the Funk Center at Florida Institute of Technology in February 2020 teaching bead embroidery to children and adults.

School Supplies Programs

 We continue to collect cancelled stamps (to Adrienne Meyer) and pop tops. The Einstein Montessori Charter School benefits from our coupons and box tops and uses them to purchase supplies and computer equipment. It is a school dedicated to children with reading problems, especially with dyslexia, and who are reading below their grade level. These are children that usually fall between the cracks and eventually drop out of school. They use a lot of computer programs and the LIPs program is used extensively. Please bring what you can to a general meeting or pass them along to Lyle at any Satellite Meeting.

The Haven

Christmas in August is our annual collection of gifts to benefit The Haven. Representatives from the Haven visit our August meeting to speak briefly about the children's shelter and answer members' questions. At the August 2020 meeting we presented the Haven with donated items, including monetary donations from our members, totally over $700. Please see the July-August newsletter for donation needs which are continual throughout the year.

Donations to Haven representative in 2018.





Updated 3/7/2021