PLG Newsletter Summer/Fall 1997
Treat, treat, treat….
No, I’m not talking about Halloween, since I personally do not celebrate it, but I am talking about treats we got by being a member of the Pittsburgh Lace Group. In May, we were invited by the Five Rivers Lace Group to their dinner/lecture with Pamela Notingham. We demonstrated lacemaking at the Pittsburgh Folk Festival on Memorial Day weekend. We were asked to participate at the Monroeville Arts Festival sponsored by the Monroeville Chamber of Commerce. They gave us an indoor setup with cool air conditioning while it was steaming outside. It was an art exhibition and craft show and a lot of people appreciated our lacemaking. We had a lacemaking mini workshop in July with Louise Chuha. In September, our Fall Lace Day with Holly van Sciver’s lecture and workshop was a great success. Our group demonstrated lacemaking at the Youghtoberfest ’97 sponsored by the MonYough Trail Council. Some of us attended the Finger Lakes Lace Convention in Ithaca in October. Lastly, our wonderful trip to the Lacemaker in Warren, Ohio, was in November. With all these lace happenings within our group we enriched, supported, and shared our experience amongst ourselves. I feel that we are blessed. Thanks to all of you who made all of this possible.
CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT BOOKLET
Andy and Robin have photographed the ornaments and most of them have information. We are still planning to put together the Christmas ornament booklet.
CHRISTMAS AND HOLIDAY PROGRAM AT THE CATHEDRAL OF LEARNING
This year, the Pittsburgh Lace Group will again be part of the Festivities at the Cathedral of Leaning, University of Pittsburgh. We will decorate a tree in the Croghan Schenley room with our lace ornaments on Saturday, November 22, 1997, from 9:30-11:00 AM. On Sunday, December 7, there will be a Holiday Open House with many different activities, dances, music, and shows from noon to 4 PM. The Pittsburgh Lace Group will demonstrate lacemaking. The event is very well-attended every year and there were. hundreds of people, many wearing, colorful Holiday National costumes. Please call Amy if you are able to demonstrate.
PLG LIBRARY
We have a collection of books in our Library which will eventually be housed in the Grace Reformed Presbyterian Church, where we meet every month. Our collection has crown with several more books and patterns purchased by the folks who come Thursday evenings. These books are securely placed in our new filing cabinet. If you would like to inquire about a certain book that our group might have, please call Linda Hartman, our librarian.
Blessed are they that have hard pillows for they shall produce good work
Blessed are they that use cover cloths for their work will be spotless
Blessed are they that prick all their patters’ holes vertically for they shall have accurate designs
Blessed are they that have accurate prickings for their work will be perfect in the eyes of man
Blessed are they that lay not a finger upon their threads for their lace will be pristine
Blessed are they that do not jerk their bobbins for they shall have no holes in their lace
Blessed are they that move their bobbins across their pillow for they shall have even lace
Blessed are they that slant their pins outwards for their tension shall be perfect
Blessed are they that do not break threads and use knots for their work will be smooth
Blessed are all teachers for maintaining infinite patience amid all trials for they shall have transmitted their enthusiasm to others
reprinted from Susan Retter’s file
PEOPLE
As one way to get to know our members better, from time to time our editor would like to include a story about one or two of our members. An article about a personal experience such as travel is also suitable for submission. This time we’d like to turn our spotlight on Louise Chuha. The article included here is copied with permission from “Successful people…” in SUCCESS. the Pittsburgh Blind Association 1996 Annual Report.
November 22 | Saturday — Decorating Christmas tree at the Cathedral ofLeaning (9:30 – 11:00 AM) |
December 13 | Holiday Gathering at Amy Gibbon’s house in lieu of our regular monthly meeting. We will celebrate St. Catherine Day, Christmas and New Year. (Begins at 3:00 PM) |
January | No meeting |
February | Regular meeting followed by a mini-workshop on making a Christmas ornament with recycled Christmas cards. Save your cards for this workshop. |
March | Regular meeting followed by a workshop (tatting or netting?) |
April | Annual Business Meeting Election of officers |
A WEB PAGE FOR PLG
In article 2 of our bylaws, “The Group shall be a not-for-profit educational organization whose purpose is to foster and promote interest in lacemaking by providing a means for members to meet and exchange ideas and information, by offering, demonstrations of lacemaking and exhibit to the general public, and by providing programs and workshops on all aspects of lace, lacemaking and related topics of interest to the members.”
SNOW DAYS
The first Saturday of January is to close to the New Year, so we will not meet that month. That leaves February and March to worry about. Last year, we had a telephone tree, which fortunately Was not needed. In the event of heavy snowfall on our scheduled meeting day, Dewi will call the board members, who will then call a few members each for meeting cancellation.
LACEMAKING DEMONSTRATIONS
We lacemakers have an ongoing commitment to keep the art alive by doing group demonstrations as well as individual ones.
CLASS NEWS
The Thursday night lass at the church has picked up a new student, from the Folk Festival. Her name is Peggy Yountz. She comes when her work allows. Thursday night is also open to all members who want to complete any workshops or individual projects.
PRICKER
Hello! My name is Picker. I am a virtual member of the Pittsburgh Lace Group. I am also a common hedgehog, known to scientists as Erinaceus europaeus. Surely you’ve heard of and seen those virtual pets. Well, I’m better than those! You don’t have to feed me, nor pet me, nor play with me, and I don’t make a mess. (Plus, I’m a lot cuter!)
FINAL NOTE
Our “bimonthly” newsletter is experiencing severe downsizing and is under an extreme slimming regiment. Unless we are all contributing articles, stories, patterns, recipes, tips, tidbits, anecdotes, etc. it is dangerously becoming a semiannual newsletter. We won’t let that happen, now won’t -we? The Thursday night folks will take the initiative to get the newsletter going for a quarterly publication. They will be the newsletter committee gathering the submissions. Margot Barbour and Gretchen Baudoux will be the editors with Angeline Wong as a helper.
A WINDOW TO THE PAST
By Dewi Wong
I recently visited the “Pittsburgh Revealed” exhibition which just opened at the Carnegie Museum of Art. It was an interesting show and truly was a window to the past through the art of photography — My favorite part of the exhibition was the “Cabinet Cards” display. Some time ago I had purchased an old picture by a Pittsburgh photographer. I had no idea what kind of and from what era the picture was. I picked one picture from many available because it was a picture of a woman that could be an “instant relative.” I am so fond of the look on her face, she looked very serene and ladylike. Her hair was neatly styled and she wore beautiful lace on the upper bodice of her dress. From time to time, I see old lace pieces that resemble vests, but the sides are not sewn and I try to picture them in my mind , that if the sides were connected they would be really small, almost the size of a child’s vest. From this photograph, I learned that the lace piece is supposed to be mounted as decoration on the upper bodice and does not go around and connect below the arms. From the show at the Carnegie, I learned that Cabinet Cards were popular until 1890. Below is the description of what a Cabinet Card is:
CORRECTIONS TO 1997 MEMBERSHIP ROSTER
Loprieno, Esther M.
42 Dolly Ave., Jeannette, PA 15644
e-mail: Esther324@aol.com
LOUISE CHUHA
Louise Chuha’s mother did not coddle her, even though Louise was born blind. She learned to do the same things as her 3 sighted sisters. Her mother started Louise on the road to independence at an early age and perhaps those early lessons in self-reliance helped lead Louise towards her career in rehabilitation teaching. She became a provider of services for persons who were blind or vision-impaired.