General Membership Meetings
January General Membership Meeting/Holiday Party/Brunch
Saturday, January 16, 2027
Wallingford Senior and Community Center
10 am – 1 pm
Stay tuned for more details…
May General Membership Meeting
Saturday, May 15, 2027
Wallingford Senior and Community Center
9:30 am – 1:00 pm.
Featuring guest speaker Liz Ligon of Clear Creek Farm in Duvall. Grand Rummage Table in our PNNAG Office, Room 120. More details to come.
Past General Meetings
September General Meeting
Saturday, September 19, 2026
PNNAG Office, Room 120
10 AM to 12:30 PM
Our September General Meeting was well attended and the business meeting went without a hitch. Christy came up with a fabulous speaker, Jennifer Herrara, who gave a fabulous presentation entitled “The History of Irish Crochet- a Journey Through Thread, Innovation and Resiliency”.
The story starts back in the 11th century when Ireland started using their flax to create linen. Fast forward to the mid-19th century when over half of the Irish population relied on a single crop- potatoes. With the Irish potato famine, more than 1 million people died and somewhere between 1-2 million fled their homeland. At the same time, lace was used in high fashion in the upper classes of Europe. As a means of survival, Irish women and girls started learning to make crocheted lace. Using a sewing needle with part of the eye broken out or a simple piece of bent wire in a base of cork, girls went to lace making school to support their families.
However the Irish lace wasn’t necessarily as fine as other laces of the time, even if it was much more affordable. In a magnanimous and caring act, Queen Victoria helped popularize and encourage the industry, calling Irish lace-making a respectable pursuit, took up crochet herself and patronized the Irish lacemakers.
Beyond the fascinating history, Jennifer shared her personal journey of learning to make Irish Crochet lace. Below you’ll see some of Jennifer’s lovely lace pieces. Typically, Irish crochet lace has heavier motifs that are joined together with a finer grid, as you can see on Jennifer’s bag and dress.
If you’re excited by this technique, keep your eyes out for the release of an upcoming PNNAG class in Irish Crochet Lace to be given on April 10, 2027 by Jennifer!
The story starts back in the 11th century when Ireland started using their flax to create linen. Fast forward to the mid-19th century when over half of the Irish population relied on a single crop- potatoes. With the Irish potato famine, more than 1 million people died and somewhere between 1-2 million fled their homeland. At the same time, lace was used in high fashion in the upper classes of Europe. As a means of survival, Irish women and girls started learning to make crocheted lace. Using a sewing needle with part of the eye broken out or a simple piece of bent wire in a base of cork, girls went to lace making school to support their families.
However the Irish lace wasn’t necessarily as fine as other laces of the time, even if it was much more affordable. In a magnanimous and caring act, Queen Victoria helped popularize and encourage the industry, calling Irish lace-making a respectable pursuit, took up crochet herself and patronized the Irish lacemakers.
Beyond the fascinating history, Jennifer shared her personal journey of learning to make Irish Crochet lace. Below you’ll see some of Jennifer’s lovely lace pieces. Typically, Irish crochet lace has heavier motifs that are joined together with a finer grid, as you can see on Jennifer’s bag and dress.
If you’re excited by this technique, keep your eyes out for the release of an upcoming PNNAG class in Irish Crochet Lace to be given on April 10, 2027 by Jennifer!
May General Meeting
Saturday May 16th, 2026
PNNAG Office
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We had a great turnout for our May General Meeting! Melissa Galbraith from MCreativeJ gave a wonderful slide presentation and had many of the gorgeous embroidery samples from her three published books on hand for us to peruse. We learned how her interest in the particular beauty of the flowers of poisonous plants became the focus of her third book - 3D Botanical Embroidery & Stumpwork: 17 Thread Projects to Make, Wear, and Display. Leslie L was the lucky winner of a seat in Melissa’s 10/3/26 Winter Botanical Napkin embroidery class – congrats, Leslie!
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