This ROMAGA* bell pull design is a result of over two years of planning. Prompted by the suggestions of seminar member/students in their Teachers’ Assessments. Gayl and Mary will show you the joys of working with rayon floss while dispensing interesting and practical B.E. information. This technical and enjoyable design will take you from pre-basic, through basic, and well into intermediate dimensional stitches. Each oval or section offers one or more technical procedures, many not found in most B.E. instructional books. The "How Does Our Garden Grow" bell pull design provides a creative and easy, but intense lesson for mastering Brazilian dimensional embroidery techniques. The garden, organized and drawn by Rosalie Wakefield, will be taught by Mary Crichton and Gayl Ratigan. They are both experienced seminar teachers with many ideas, observations, suggestions, hints, and technical advice as the class advances from basic through intermediate embroidery levels. Your head will be spinning As you leave these intensive, fun classes, and you will know just how floss feels when it is wrapped around a needle 30 to 50 times. A wide assortment of floss weights and colors will be used. Although Rosalie, Mary and Gayl consulted regularly regarding color, flower or insect inclusion and placement, the class will focus on technique. The surprise is at the bottom oval where the 2010 B.D.E.I.G. seminar theme, "By the Sea, By the Sea," is presented. Each flower and division was chosen so students could work on a particular technique as well as special procedures to accomplish mastery of that technique. It could be laying a satin stitch, a certain approach to padding, changing floss in the middle of blanket stitching, saving a French knot, spatial concepts in placing petals of a flower, using floss for the bullion bite, plus other chosen incidentals as deemed important by ROMAGA.

*That’s Rosalie, Mary, and Gayl.

There's nothing prettier than pots full of poinsettias to bring the color of Christmas to every room. It's simple and easy with no stress to complete.

Yemaja (ee-MAH-zha), Nigerian-Caribbean Goddess of the Sea. She is beautiful, mysterious, strong, confident, seductive—much more than "a pretty girl with a fishy tail". She is a creature of the deep, with gills, fins, webs, scales, and an "attitude". She adorns herself with "treasures" she has found in her aquatic travels. In class we will learn how to create and attach her gorgeous tail using Angelina fibers, couching, stem stitch, double stem stitch and detached buttonhole. Her luxurious hair is made of a variety of fibers, couched and arranged just so. Her face, upper body, and fins are made with satin stitch, split stitch, stem stitch, double stem stitch, Rhodes stitch, and padding. A doodle cloth will be provided for practicing in class, or students may work on the actual piece.

Who woulda thought it? A crab with crafting skills!! As our little CQ cutie sidles onto the beach, she brings her embroidery with her and embellishes her own garb. The name of our calico crab is Claudia – she told me that as I stitched her. She suggested colors and stitches for her calico shell-cape such as the Rosebud Knot, Sand Tulips, Sunny Susans, bright-eyed Swimmy Fish and interesting, simple crazy quilt border stitches. Oh! –and look! I think she has become entangled in an embellished fishnet! When Claudia’s not stitching conch shells, starfish and Bouclé barnacles, she can sashay sideways across the seafloor to dine in her lower-right dining room on pasta coral – with new stitch-techniques for manicotti, mostacholi and mac-and-cheese munchies garnished with pearls and gold Charlotte seed beads, all served with a side order of two cleverly-stitched, realistic clams. Her dining room curtains are decorated with waving, bead-embellished sea grass and RM couching. But Claudia isn’t alone in her watery wonderland of stitch delights. Just above her and almost hidden in the bullion-enhanced seaweed lurks the rare but well-known needle-threader fish that is in danger of being lured into oblivion by a bobber with a wiggle worm attached. Claudia has a friend, a companion print named Olivia, a crazy-lace octopus. Both designs have some stitches and features in

Stitches Included: Automatic couching, backstitch, bead embroidery techniques, blanket stitch, bullion, cast-on, chain stitch, Charisma knot, colonial knot, double cast-on, double colonial knot, drizzle, folded twisty drizzle, French knot, long slanted satin stitch, Marseille knot, outline stitch, RM couching, rosebud knot, running bullion, running stitches, satin stitch, spiraling folded drizzle, stem stitch, twisted lazy daisy

This delightfully realistic array of Australian wildflowers consists of Waratahs, Banksia, Silky Oak, Prickly Tea Tree and Red Gum Blossoms topped off with a lovely little buzzing bee with silver wings. The Waratahs are stitched in bullions, French knots and alternating satin stitch using a mixture of Nova, Lola and Iris threads, that adds dimension to them, giving them dimension with the sheen of the reds giving the flowers a vibrant realistic glow. The texture of the Banksia is achieved by using Bouclé thread and loosely wrapped pistil stitches in Iris. The majority of the embroidery is easy-to-stitch surface embroidery.

Enjoy a serene frame of mind as you sit beside a calming pool of koi fish, lily pads, lotus flowers, and cherry blossoms. This Japanese scene, without doubt, depicts a tranquil sensation. The koi fish have tail fins and dorsal fins done in stumpwork using fused organza. The large lotus flower also contains stumpwork petals in the center of the blossom using pink interfaced fabric. Learn how to do a triple-stem for the large round branches and stems. This design is available on black or white fabric.

This is a wonderful flowing design for any beginner or for any stitcher who wants a refresher on the wonderful basic stitches. This design lends itself for an initial to be placed on one side. This half circle of flowers flows with the sweet and dainty picture of a spring garden. Permission was granted to me by Bertha to teach this design. Look it over carefully and find the little bitty spider.

Loving red work, I knew it would be even better with our beautiful rayon thread. And I was right. There are several interesting stitches from Rosalie Long that you will love.

Enjoy the South Seas paradise and the brilliant colors of this tropical textured floral design by Rosalie Wakefield of Millefiori. This colorful little design will delight and sweep you away to a wonderful island paradise with Maui Magnolia, Tahitian Glory Vine, Bougainvillea, and Thai Gardenia. Apply it to a keepsake box, or a wearable item.

This piece is not difficult as the stitches are basic and intermediate. However, I used many fibers along with our rayon thread. If you haven't created a piece with other fibers, this is a good opportunity. We will work both on your piece and on a doodle cloth. Shells, seaweed, fish - you name it. Come and have a unique time.

This is a simple, yet elegant design that Delma Moore created and granted me permission to teach at Seminar. The ribbon is completed with the raised stem stitch to give it added texture and the long leaves are stacked-stem stitched. Each petal of the rose is created with the up-down cast-on stitch and a small twisted bullion is included in the center of each petal. The leaves nestled around the roses are stitched in raised close herringbone stitch. To complete this lovely design, we add glass seed beads for the wisteria-type flowers. I chose to use Ciré floss for all the stems, leaves and flowers, but you may prefer to stitch it all in Iris as the original instructions suggest.

This little piece includes several different techniques. The background is 25 count even-weave linen with hemstitching and pulled thread filling used to create a beautiful background. The star flowers combine double cast-ons with double bullions for pointed petals, and the big flowers in the center use a double-knotted buttonhole stitch as the final row of each petal to create a full, lacy look.

Garden Party is a Blackberry Lane design by Delma Moore. It is a beautiful semi-circle of flowers including bullion roses, double cast-on lilies, with a choice of Rosalie Wakefield's comma flowers with crystals in their centers or bullion daisies shown in the design, geraniums, and irises. Along the inside, you will make Queen Anne's Lace using feather stitch stems and colonial or French knots. Landing on a stem-stitched vine is a beautiful golden Swarovski crustal butterfly included in your kit. The design can be enhanced by using beaded and colonial knot field flower clusters and beaded forget-me-knot flowers. Leaves, roses, lilies, and the comma flower will be covered in the first class. Geraniums, irises, forget-me-knots and Queen Anne's Lace will be covered in the second session. A short review of framing information will also be included.

It’s wonderful to have lots of arms and legs. Think of the stitching you can do! Olivia, a crazy-lace octopus, has put each of her eight arms to good use, embellishing her personal "wearable" with crazy patch stitches and lacy petticoats that peek from beneath her hemline. She does her hair and dons her pearls as she decorates her undersea home with elegant stitches. A floss tail fish is made with fluffy ruffles, two versions of the drizzle and the piggyback cast-on. Seaweed waves in undersea breezes and spiraling folded drizzle sponges offer shade for a simply-stitched oyster, the source of her pearls. Sea anemones, ruffled starfish, a conch shell and "Stretch, the Sea Snail" pause to admire her artistry, which features variations of the rolled rose, needle woven bullions, star-fill, feathers, fishies and flies. Olivia has a friend, a companion print named Claudia, the calico crab. Both designs have some stitches and features in common, yet both are quite different. One similarity, though, is those little jellyfish. Olivia’s jellyfish is Jill Jellyfish (…and Claudia’s jellyfish is named Jack Jellyfish). She is stitched in pink and lavender with new twisty folded drizzle tentacles and automatic couching. Her petticoats are running cast-on stitches and she is wearing her diamond earrings and tiara. We’ll explore some commonly-used stitching techniques, tips and variations that can create an entirely different stitch, one of this designer’s favorite pastimes.

Stitches Included: Automatic couching, backstitch, bullion cross stitch, bullion, cast-on, chain stitch, Charisma knot, colonial knot, cross stitch, feather stitch, fluffy ruffles. fly stitch, French knot, knotted loop, lazy daisy, long slanted satin stitch, long-tailed fly stitch, needle weaving, outline stitch, piggyback cast-on, running bullion, running cast-on, running stitch, satin stitch, star-fill, stem stitch, straight stitch, twisted lazy daisy

The idea for this lovely design came from Marsha Johnson and I thank her for assisting me in creating my design to teach at Seminar 2010. Our first step is to stitch the heart with the hopper stitch that gives it a lovely rope-like effect. Now you’re ready to step out of your comfort zone and do a little designing of your own. You will choose where to stitch your flowers, how many to include, where the leaves should go, and how much detailing is needed to complete your design. Yes, you can do this! We’ll all help each other and come up with some unique and lovely designs.

The cast-on petals of the large flowers are edged with running cast-ons to give them the pretty lacy ruffle. I’ll teach a new-to-me method to add shading to the larger leaves that are done with the raised closed herringbone stitch. Lazy daisy stitches grouped together create the smaller leaves, adding more elegance to the completed design. This is an easy-going class because you already know the basic stitches used. You will learn how simple it is to use these stitches in slightly different ways to accomplish new and interesting results as you create your own design. (Note: the design is shown on black fabric, but you will be stitching it on your choice of white or cream fabric.)

Combine travelling cast-ons with Palestrina knots and two detached buttonhole needle lace stitches to create this very elegant chambered nautilus shell on a moiré faille background. This is a good exercise in tension for detached buttonhole stitch - for some, a challenge, for others, perhaps sheer h--l.

Four new flowers, Shasta daisy, peonies, and wrapped cast-ons, plus one new stitch come together to make a pretty picture or a great quilt block

Fifteen years of teaching, condensed. The seashell stitch sampler was chosen for this class because it goes well with our seminar theme. The class is geared toward teaching any beginning design. Have you always wanted to teach Brazilian embroidery but aren’t quite sure how to go about it? This class will cover information teachers can give to students, techniques for teaching the stitches, troubleshooting problems, etc. In class we will study in detail how to teach the basic stitches—couching, stem stitch, French knot, straight stitch, bullion, cast-on, knotted/bullion lazy daisy. We’ll explore important miscellaneous Brazilian embroidery information, history, guidelines, etc. We won’t do a lot of stitching; we will do a lot of learning! Class will alternate between teaching hints and seeing the class from the student’s perspective. Instead of practicing the basic stitches, the class will explore the nuances of demonstration and information. The class is not about practice, it is about teaching. This class is not only for beginning teachers, it is teaching and learning knowledge that I would like to share with my colleagues at all levels. Please remember this is not the only way to teach a beginning class, it is shared knowledge gained from teaching many students over the years.

Flatter yourself with a touch of dimensional embroidery on a denim jacket, chambray or windowpane shirt or other wearable garment. Make your wearable lush and distinctive with these elegant, hand embroidered floral creations. Students will receive a regal wisteria design. If you wish to add another favorite design, bring it to transfer. Explore ways to add Brazilian embroidery to your clothing. The class time will allow time for design transfer to garment and stitching. Information is included for altering a basic beginner design into an advanced design with detached leaves and stumpwork. Student brings a personal color way selection of Iris, Lola, Glory, Nova and Bouclé or use lavender floss supplied.

Come explore the Caribbean Sea Life. You’ll capture the everyday life of an imperator angelfish, Moorish idols and butterfly angel fish; the flowing construction of the giant purple, orange, black and variegated corals; sitting on the bottom, a lonely conch shell.

If you like bullions, this is a class for you. If you hate bullions this is a class that will help you love them. If you have trouble with bullions, this is the right spot for you. This design was created by Geraldine Hevey through Blackberry Lane. Permission to teach this piece has been granted to me for the 2010 Seminar.

St. John’s Wort, our flower of the year. Give this realistic design a try. Petals are padded buttonhole stitch, the center has cast-on and drizzle stitches used in a different way, and it is surrounded with fluffy stuff created with raffia done in turkey work.

The first class will show how to use up bits and pieces you have left over from different projects. I have used rayon floss, silk ribbon, metallic threads, what ever I have left. I will show you how to layer the fabric and the tails, how to keep it all in place while you stitch, and how to pin the lace in place. The second class will show how to embellish the lace with stitches and beads.

Softest pastels in pink, yellow and blue frame the fragrant Rosa ballerina, a musk rose with clusters of single, five-petal flowers edged in a darker shade of pink, and nestled in surrounding blanket-stitched leaves. The heart of the rose is stitched with Rosalie’s original "snowball" technique and a drizzle variation for the stamens credited to Loretta Holzberger for a technique she developed.

The wreath repeats four times around with a motif that can also be used elsewhere, either on wearables, crazy quilts or hand-embroidered greeting cards. Flowers include the delicate shellflower in triple satin stitch and leaves that include a technique for adding a natural look to satin stitched leaves. Showy evening primroses with their unique star-crossed drizzle stamens are stitched in pale yellow, and delicate blue chicory, sometimes known as cornflower or endive, is stitched with bullions, straight stitches and a bright bead center.

The colorful bounty and stunning beauty of a coral reef—captured in Brazilian embroidery! This piece is dimensional to say the least. Some of the stitching is on the background blue fabric, the reef pieces (corners) are batik fabrics (included in the kit) that have been enhanced with Brazilian embroidery and then attached to the blue background piece. The filtered sunlight effect is achieved with paint sticks. Techniques taught in class will be painting the background fabric (easy, only 3 colors and a lot of blending), making cords, and how to attach the batik pieces to the background.

In the class you will embroider the pockets for this cute little sewing caddy. The design includes a delicate pink rose with a dimensional stumpwork centre, mauve bullion daisies, arum lily, tulips and rosebuds. There are two separate designs which have been made into pockets for the sewing caddy but you may choose to frame the embroidery or use it on the cover of a photo album or note book.

Note: There will not be time to make up the caddy during the class but comprehensive instructions for making up will be included with your kit. The fabric to make up the bag is not included in the kit. To complete the caddy you require 12 inches of a pretty print fabric to match the embroidery and 12 inches of cream lining fabric.

This little tree makes a wonderful ornament for someone special, or an exchange gift or just a nice ornament for you. We should be able to finish it in class including your decorations for your tree.

Expand your knowledge of stitches to make your leaves attractive and unique. This design, printed with permanent ink on trigger, will serve you as a wonderful sampler for many years to come.

This design has one new flower and stitch. Adding several flowers from the past creates a fantastic new look for this design.

Material Fee: $10.00 — Includes printed fabric, instruction sheet, color chart and color picture.

$26.00 — Includes all of the above plus 15 skeins of floss. If this full kit is desired please let me know before seminar

Abalone shell — who can resist those gorgeous colors? This charming pendant or brooch is a beautiful way to commemorate your "By The Sea, By The Sea" seminar experience. Techniques/stitches taught in class will be: how to make cords using Ciré and/or Glory, creating long beaded drizzles, attaching the charms to the cords, and how to finish the piece as a necklace or brooch. Students will be able to choose their own abalone shell pieces from a wide variety of shapes and sizes, as no two are ever alike. Various charms will be available for purchase, or students can be on the lookout for charms/buttons/shells they might want to include in their pendant/brooch. The student will be customizing their piece to suit their own style and taste! We will not be doodling in class, we will work on the actual piece.

Do you have a man (young or older) in your life and you want to stitch something for him? Here is your piece. The raccoon is peeking around a big pine tree. The trunk is stitched with wool fibers and our rayon.

Let’s kick off our shoes, sit back (not literally!), and have fun making a lovely origami pin cushion. First you will learn to fold and press the fabric in the origami way. Then I will teach a needle-tatted flower for the center of your pin cushion, and from there you can let your creative juices flow as you detail your pin cushion in your own unique way. Don’t let this "creativeness" scare you away from taking this class! I will have plenty of ideas to share and we will bounce ideas around with each other as you come up with some very interesting and unique pin cushions. This is a project that you may be able to complete during the class time; one less unfinished item to take home to finish or to stash away in a drawer and forget about. You’ll definitely want to complete this pin cushion and put it to good use.

Reserve a much needed holiday at this beach resort. This beach house sports a stained-glass window, colonial-style columns, and has a full balcony. Smell the flowers and feel the soothing sea breeze on your face. Gaze into the courtyard which is full of blooming roses, trumpet flowers, colorful bromeliads, and vines. Take a walk down the flagstone path to a fountain of tropical flowers, foxtail and fan palms, bird of paradise, and beautiful caladiums. Watch the waves come to shore as a sail boat slowly and silently heads to ports unknown. Learn how to do a triple-stem; this is used as the base for the trunk of the fan palm. Also, learn how to do a knotted up-down drizzle. This is a 2-session class. The first session will cover the house and flowers on the left half of the design. The second session will cover the tropical flowers, palms, flagstone, sea, and sailboat on the right half of the design.

Stretch your parameters in this class and learn a basic crewel technique and a padding technique to create this great bouquet. Let’s hear a rousing cheer for St. John’s Wort everywhere.

This is a class for everyone who has a completed design stashed away in a drawer waiting to be detailed, stretched and framed. Join me for this hands-on class where you will detail your design for framing, stretch and stitch it over a foam board covered with thin batting, and finally put it into its frame. The whole process of framing a design is really not very difficult when you take it step by step, and the price is right! If you don’t have a design completed and ready for framing, you still have time before seminar to finish one and bring it to this class. Wouldn’t it be nice to take home from seminar a completely framed wall hanging? Join me for this class and you can make this happen.

Armenian Knotted Lace will be a new technique to almost everyone. I think you will find it useful in Brazilian embroidery since it can create stable, open, lacy loops. This is why I’d like to share it with my B.E. friends. The first session will concentrate on learning the stitch and learning to control the tension and loop size. We will begin an edging on a coaster. This stitch is different from others that you have learned, and using it on something simple like an edging will be challenging enough.

This design has vines and flowers spilling down the sides in pretty spring colors. There are daisies, a flower with heart-shaped petals, bullion flowers with long stamens, and large three-color chrysanthemums to stitch. My colors are for spring but it could be stitched in the rich, fiery colors of fall as well.

Looking for the right mat to set off your favorite photo? Look no further. Here is one that will make any picture look like a work of art. Your picture will be enhanced by delicate roses and charming honeysuckle blossoms. Padded satin stitch and turkey work add to the delight of stitching this piece. Its multi-directionality adds versatility to fit any picture.

Keeping in mind the theme for Seminar and the flower of the year, I put St. John’s Wort "Under the Sea" just for laugh's — Floating in three big bubbles. Fun!

Material Fee: $10.00 -- Includes printed fabric, instruction sheet, color chart, and color picture.

We’ll have fun, fun, fun while we play with She Sells Sea Shells. See the shells? Like a child exploring the seashore for hidden wonders, spontaneous decisions make this project a design to treasure. Ordinary and unusual procedures are incorporated in the class. Floss weights are mixed, color choices are combined, and what might begin as one stitch may suddenly switch to another. Are all stem stitches used as stems or outline? Have you ever satin stitched in 360 directions? At once?? Have you ever tried to build a sea anemone? And what about the clam? It’s borrowed from a pansy, but there is something in that clam that is an enigma, or is it an anomaly? The seaweed that serves as a bed for the seashells and clam uses Bouclé and a three-needle procedure with a twist. There is a blanket-stitched leaf, but can you discover its location? It might be modified or transformed. Rosalie Wakefield was pressed to provide a 22-stitch (give-or-take-a-stitch) seahorse. Her contribution is a 25-or-so-stitch seahorse. The class also explores other basic stitches, seashells and rock fragments. Our journey of discovery along the seashore will include hints, suggestions and practical ideas as we proceed through a class filled with adventures "by the sea, by the sea."

This is a wonderful design by Delma Moore of Blackberry Lane. She has given me permission to teach you the wonder of a summer garden. It flows with the grace and beauty that you would expect your garden to look like if you had planned it and had planted it with all the love that is in your heart. Every flower comes alive in this design as it flows from side to side. You will feel its warmth as you stitch the flowers.

This class builds upon Armenian Knotted Lace I. You cannot take it without the first class. It goes into the fun stuff that I’m sure you will want to learn, how to make flowers that are completely detached. They are made "in hand" and can be attached to anything when finished. Think corsage, added to clothing, whatever; you are only limited by your imagination. These are traditional flowers that have been made by Armenian women for centuries. Basic patterns for a variety of flowers will be included. After learning to make them, you will also see that the stitch will be useful combined with our other B.E. stitches for creative attached flowers with lots of dimension.

This wonderfully sweet design from Australia just makes you smile. Gain expertise in using some of our "old favorite" stitches to make this charming piece. Suggestions for making some changes will be supplied if you wish to stray from the printed instructions.

The Cascade Rose is my tribute to the beautiful U.S. Pacific Northwest, where I live. Dewdrop beads and the beaded mille flower sparkle at the heart of this stunning flower, reminiscent of the beautiful wild rhododendrons that grow in the Coast and Cascade Mountain ranges from British Columbia to Monterey, California. The Cascade Rose is interpreted in Lola floss with a new cast-on technique, its leaves completed in fly stitch (yes, fly fishing for trout and salmon is a popular sport in the Northwest). The mist-covered foothills of these same mountains inspired our sparkling Oregon Mist flowers which are stitched with beads (but Glory 312 can be substituted). Oregon’s Western Wood Anemone, native to West Coast forests, is stitched with side-by-side lazy daisy leaves and a twisted lazy daisy. Flower petals are made with long and short buttonhole stitches and finished with fly-stitch-and-bead stamens. Salmonberries, related to thimbleberries and raspberries, grow from Alaska to California. Their bullion leaves and showy dark pink or magenta, double-daisy flower blossoms nestle around plump golden needle woven berries. A shower of lazy daisy leaves, sparkling silver curling sprays and dots of beady mist complete the design.

Celebrate by the sea with this charming underwater picture. Great for framing or a wearable or keepsake box. A special collage of material and stitchery for your delight and memento of Seminar 2010. Add a few personal touches with the sand dollar and shells, starfish, limpet, and other sea life, variations of spider web, along with generous amount of semi precious gems, shells, and beads, bead thread and needle for a rock pool. Elaine Keller, designer and copyright holder.

Stitched in complementary mauve and pink colors on mauve hand-dyed trigger cloth, this lovely heart design features a delightful array of daisies, cast-on flowers and sprays of bullion flowers, forget-me-nots and knotted lazy daisy leaves.

Now that you have finished stitching your design, what are you going to do with it? Why limit yourself to pictures on a wall? Your pieces can be used to adorn boxes, sit on tables, sit on shelves, fill a pretty basket, hang on a tree. Learn how to do basic flat padded finishing for pin keeps, ornaments, and sandwich boards and set them off with custom-made cording to enhance your piece.

Three new flowers — Shasta daisy, peonies and St. John's Wort, and a new stitch of wrapped cast-ons that I shared with some of the students that took my class last year. This is another piece that can be used as a quilt block or as a picture. Hours of stitching fun.

This little fellow swims in tropical waters. Create him with fused silk fabric and embroidery on a hand painted silk fabric background. Add sea grasses and whatever you like to surround him.

A-Tisket, A-Tasket - flowers fill our wicker basket! We’ll stitch lots of new flowers - the Blue Mountain Rose, Beauty Rose, painted mum, Night Romancing the Moon, red flowering currant, Appalachian violet and our beloved "Loopy," and we’ll explore the ways simple stitch re-arrangements can give flowers a completely new look. Bead embroidery techniques will be taught as well as working with YLI Candlelight fibers. Several different leaf and flower petal treatments will be explored, as will satin stitch and long, slanted satin stitching - techniques from Erica Wilson and Helen Stevens that will add realism to our dimensional embroidery.