History of the Foothills Chapter of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America Janurary, 2020
Foothills Chapter was chartered in January of 1972. It had originally been the West Area group of the Colorado Chapter but functioned independently with its own programs and library and as a result its own budget. After Colorado Chapter asked the West Area group to turn over their money to them and disband their library, the executive board of the West Area group decided to separate from the Colorado Chapter and form their own independent chapter.
At the time they were meeting at the Foothills Art Center in Golden, so the name Foothills Chapter was chosen. Foothills Chapter became the 18th chapter accepted into the Embroiderers’ Guild of America with Marian M. as the first president of the chapter.
The chapter tablecloth came about out of necessity – a cloth was needed to cover the refreshment table and not every hostess had one that was large enough. An even weave polyester and flax blend fabric with about forty threads per inch was purchased from the Sears catalog. It was hemstitched by five early members using books from the library for guidance. The ladies embroidered their names on the tablecloth and presented it to the chapter in 1973. From then on members have been encouraged to add their names to the tablecloth in either cross stitch or another form of embroidery.
Beginning with the first exhibit at the Foothills Art Center from Oct. 17 to Nov. 5th, 1972, Foothills had an annual exhibit for a number of years. One hundred pieces were shown at that first exhibit. After the move to the Arvada Center in January, 1978, Foothills continued to have periodic exhibits. Channel 6 filmed one of the first exhibits at the Arvada Center. Smaller exhibits were set up at local libraries as well. The first was in 1979 and the last in 2003 at the Lakewood Library.
Foothills moved to the Arvada Center for meetings in January of 1978. The first meeting was a tour of the facility. In May, 1992 the chapter began to meet at First Presbyterian Church in Lakewood. The Arvada Center was going through major remodeling and we needed a temporary meeting place. After a few months, the chapter decided that they liked the central meeting place and decided to stay there permanently. Also, after the remodeling, the Arvada Center did not allow the chapter to bring in food for lunch. They required that food service be catered by their contracted catering company. Our latest move came in May of 2017. First Presbyterian Church was closing and we were fortunate to find our new meeting place at the Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church.
From December 1974 to 1992 the chapter always had their Christmas party at the home of Glenrose H. It was a potluck lunch on Glenrose’s Christmas plates and was quite an elegant affair. The Christmas gift exchange was started then and Glenrose contributed the ‘Gift’ poem used for the gift exchange. The Christmas party was moved to the Presbyterian Church in 1992 and continues yearly at Holy Shepherd Church.
Foothills Chapter participated in two national EGA seminars in the Denver area. At the first one in 1977, a number of pieces by Foothills Chapter members were included in the exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. During the national seminar in Denver in 1995 at the Denver tech Center, Foothills Chapter had a lovely community outreach display.
Foothills Chapter is a part of the Rocky Mountain Region of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America, Inc. We have four members who have served as Region Director – Nancy M., the first Region Director, Bette S., Janice W., and Nan W.
Foothills hosted two Rocky Mountain Region Spring board meetings. One was in April of 1992 and the second one in April of 2016.
Foothills hosted two region seminars, both were very successful. Beverly B. was seminar chairman for the 2004 region seminar “Friendship and Fanciwork” which was held at the Doubletree Hotel near the old Stapleton airport. Janice W. was the chairman of the second seminar, “Star Spangled Stitching” in 2011, also held at the Doubletree Hotel.
In our 48 years we have been privileged to have many national teachers, local teachers and our own members present workshops and programs. They have led us in learning new techniques and expanding our world of embroidery. Our Show and Share table each month is a testament of the many forms of embroidery of our wonderfully talented members.
In 1994 the Silver Scissors award was established to reward members who have gone ‘above and beyond’, giving their time and talent to the chapter. A small silver scissors charm is given to each recipient. The recipients have been:
1994 Glenrose H., 1994 Elva O., 1997 Lu L., 1997 Ann P., 1997 Donna C.,
1998 Nancy M., 1998 Bette S., 1999 Sharon “Dakota” R., 1999 Irene H., 2000 Joan H.,
2002 Beverly B., 2004 Marilyn T., 2004 Helen B., 2007 Janice W., 2009 Marcia M.,
2012 Joan C., 2013 Kathy S., 2013 Vivian W., 2014 Calea T., 2015 Sue K.,
2016 Mary Ann F., 2016 Minerva P., 2017 Joy L., 2017 Joyce L., 2019 Kathi G.,
Our first chapter nametag was created by Dakota R. in 1991. This is the one with the orange feet across the middle. In January of 2006 a new nametag with mountains and aspen trees was designed by Janice W. to match the chapter banner that was stitched by the members in 2004. The banner project was coordinated by Donna C. with members stitching the leaves on the trees with different needlework patterns. Before that, the chapter had a large hoop with the Foothills logo on it, but it proved to be difficult to put into a suitcase to take to region meetings.
We became a sister chapter with an Australian chapter and several members exchanged gifts during the year with their ‘sisters’ in the Australian chapter. In May of 1993 a group of women from our sister chapter visited Foothills and we had a get-together at the home of Bette S..
Donna C. was our official photographer and Historian from the mid 1990s. She took group pictures at the Christmas party every year and began taking group pictures at the region seminars in 2000. Chapter programs with teachers and projects were also photographed for the scrapbooks. Marcia M. assumed the Historian position in 2014 and continues with camera in hand. The photos over the years have been a wonderful addition to the history books.
Dakota R. designed a Foothills Sampler for our 25th birthday party in May of 1997. We had six members needlework showcased at the meetings with a Stitchers Showcase. The first was Gloria M. followed by Helen B., Nancy M., Bette S., Val S., and Judith E.
In 2004 we donated $1000 to national EGA for the purchase of a display case in the new headquarters. Our chapter members stitched on the EGA National Tapestry from July 2006 until May of 2007.
Foothills Chapter has had an active and productive 48 years. During that time 23 women have served as President of our chapter. Ten current members are Past Presidents. They are, in order of their service, Nancy M., Bette S., Ann P., Nancy M. (for a second time), Jhyree B., Beverly B., Donna C., Janice W., Marilyn T., Marcia M., Minerva P. and Beverly B. for a second time.
Region Clare award winners are Ann P., Bette S., Nancy M., Wanda A., Sharron R., and Karen R. Region Gold Thread Award winners are Ann P., Nancy M., Bette S., Janice W., Vivian W., Carolyn S., Nan W. and Kathy L.
We look forward to many more wonderful years together.
(By Janice W. 2008, Updated by Donna C. 2012, 2017 and 2020.)
FOOTHILLS CHAPTER 