The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had an article about a Stitch N' Pitch game that was held at the end of July. These events sell special tickets to baseball games, where the goodie bags are needlework supplies. It's basically an attempt to reach out to more women to take an interest in the sport.

I used to follow basebal years ago, but while it's more fun to attend a game, I don't find professional baseball intersting enough to spend the time to watch. I might if I'm channel surfing, but that's about it. But, I'd love to go to a game now that I stitch. Several hours of stitching time outside and watch the game? Great idea. What I don't care for is the tone of the article, though, which seems to have made sure to quote people who don't usually follow baseball much. And I find it hilarious the guy that said, "It's boring," when asked if he'd take up knitting. To me, I don't think I could sit that long at a game anymore without doing SOMETHING with my hands. That sounds much more boring to me! 

Ok, I thought this bit at CraftyCrafty was amusing. It's a bit of "geek crafting" with Ms Pacman, including a link to a book full of Pac Man cross stitch patterns. Abi (the author of the article) has a great point about Ms Pacman being the first female in a computer game. A bit of retro love for geeky crafters.

Via Artist in Training comes a reminder about Cross Sttich Collectible's August freebie, a Fractal Bookmark in gold & white.

The annual Delmarva Needle Art Show and Competition at the Julia A. Purnell Museum in Snow Hill, MD (USA) is looking for entries. Entries are due August 24.

From The Daily Times: "Entries are now being sought for the annual Delmarva Needle Art Show and Competition to be held at the Julia A. Purnell Museum in Snow Hill.

All types of art created with needle and thread are encouraged, including quilts, embroidery, cross-stitch, needlepoint, knitting, crochet and more.All styles, from traditional to contemporary are welcome.Entries are due Aug. 24.

Entries should have an attached label with the artist's name, address, and phone number, along with the title of the work.

For more information, call the museum at 410-632-0515."

 

The Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, MI (USA) is hosting an exhibit from July 12 to November 25, 2007 of Palenstinian traditioanl costume. It includes a lot of mannkiens showing examples of clothing, jewelry, etc from severl areas, many of it heavily embroidered. This is a portion of the Hanan Munayyer collection, a woman who has been researching and collecting clothing & embroidery patterns of the area for 20 years. She has written a booklet on the topic, although the article isn't clear on whether this is available for free or purchase. There's some great photos accompaning the article, although I'd love to this work up close. Alas, I'm not likely to be in Michigan any time soon.

Giusypatch is an Italian designer who recently released a wee design of birdhouses and sunflowers. It's available for purchase directly from her, via payapal, for 7Euro. She has a blog (in English) where she shows off her own stitching as well as her new designs. They're all cute. :)  Other designs are a ladybug scissor fob (which she has stitched up), a bunny & carrot design, and an adorable mushroom.

The Augusta Chronicle has a great article on the Augusta, Georgia chapter of Embroiderers' Guild of America (EGA). They meet the first Monday of each month, at 7pm, which is great for working stitchers who want to join them.

Feeling Stitchy, the blog for the flickr embroidery group, has an article about slips, an Elizabethan method of stitching and then cutting out the design to use as an applique. This one was completely new to me!

From the Coloradoan:

Art - Twist and Shout, a traveling exhibit of needle arts, is on display from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia St [edit: Ft Collins, CO]. The free exhibit, which runs through Aug. 26, showcases work in knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, cross-stitch and embroidery. Info: 416-2789.

More info on it is here.

The Villages' Daily Sun, a newspaper for a retirement community in Florida, has an article about their Needlework Club. They imply that there are men in the club as well, which always intrigues me. I'm finding out that a lot of older men do handwork of some type; it's the younger ones who shy away from the hobby. I wish that wasn't the case.