Designers / Instructors

Autumn 2010 - Thea Dueck

Victoria Sampler

Thea has has been designing and teaching for over 15 years, and has achieved an international reputation for her exquisite sampler designs. She now lives and designs out of her studio in Sidney, B.C. Canada, just north of Victoria. Over the years, her love of needlework and the demand for her designs has led her to publish and distribute her own leaflets and accessory packs to today's sampler stitchers. These sampler designs are often created for meaningful occasions such as weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays, as well as for many other occasions. The beauty and combinations of different techniques, stitches, colours and themes she uses in her samplers all add to the stitcher's pleasure and education. Thea has taught her designs for many shops, guilds and retreats over the years, although she now teaches more infrequently.

She has earned a Teacher of the Year award from DMC and Just Cross Stitch magazine for her excellent online Cyberclasses (www.victoriasampler.com), which are attended by hundreds of students every year. The cameraderie, quality and high standard of teaching combined with her warm and humorous encouragement, draw her students back to her classes again and again. By creating and publishing her beautiful designs, and by teaching in person and online, Thea reaches out to empower todays stitchers to achieve their own high goals, turning their own creative skills into heirloom quality embroideries for future generations.

 Spring 2011 - Pam and Susan from Praiseworthy Stitches

Praiseworthy Stitches

Pam and Susan have been best friends for over 30 years. Pam is a retired public librarian and Susan is a elementry school teacher. They have been avid stitchers for over 35 years and have been designing samplers for the last 8 years. The company of Praiseworthy Stitches started in 2002 as an outgrowth of their love for stitching.

Autumn 2011 - Belinda Karls-Nace

Blue Ribbon Designs

Belinda will be our instructor for the Autumn 2011 retreat.

Belinda says that she has "an enormous passion for needlework ~ friends and family rarely see me without a needle, my sketch book, or a project of some sort." She also "became fascinated by stitching and finishing of smalls, and found a great sense of personal satisfaction by learning to hand finish my own work into useful items". "Currently", she says, "I have a special place in my heart for historic sampler designs", and a "personal fondness for "one over one" needlework and specialty stitches; however, you will find me working on all different types of projects."

Belinda says that when she is creating her own designs, "I try to compose charts that can be catered to the stitcher's needs. I want the needleworker to be able to select colors, fabrics, threads and styles that suit their own taste and decor. I love to combine the ideqas of historic samplers with the lifestyles and colors of today."