Poke - Pull - Knot

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Three verbs a felter uses when describing the mechanics of hand stitching.
With the pandemic still in effect, I had been following a friend in Vernon who was taking an online workshop and posting some wonderful images on Facebook of some hand stitching she was learning. I quickly realized this was something I had to do too. Artist and Instructor Julie Booth, based in Vienna, VA, USA was my ticket. Julie is a very organized and efficient teacher who had her step by step introduction to her workshops well setup. I registered for two 3 hour Zoom lessons, the first one was titled: "Intro to Boro-Style Stitching: Running Stitch/Sashiko Style Patterns" and the second was "Hand Stitching Primer."
 
While the first one started in the afternoon in Virginia, I sat myself down at 10am here on the West Coast to learn from her. The second class started at 10am on the East Coast so I needed to be well-fortified with coffee at the 7am start, yikes!
 
Both classes proved to be a wonderful creative distraction from the daily pandemic routine of juggling two adults working from home plus the daughter who can't go see her friends like most summers. Learning these new techniques is quite inspiring and I look forward to applying my new skills in my current artistic endeavours.
 
With gratitude and respect for our growing fiber community here in Kelowna I want to thank the Ponderosa Spinners, Weavers, and Fibre Arts Guild for offering the scholarship and accepting my submission.
 
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Amy Bradshaw  

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