GIFTS NEEDLEWORK : Pleasure Points : Smockers, embroiderers, quilters and knitters slave away at a craft they love.
One Magic Johnson fan is saluting the former Laker in her own special way. Needlepoint artist Lexi Schwartz is stitching a purple and gold picture with the words “I have the courage. . . .” She plans to send it to Magic.
Schwartz, president of the Ventura County chapter of the American Needlepointers Guild, is also working on an elaborate Christmas stocking. She estimated that she spent 60 to 80 hours needlepointing the stocking as a wedding gift for a friend.
Needle artists--be they smockers, embroiderers, quilters, knitters or needlepointers--spend many, many hours and much money creating their works of “wearable art,” bed coverings, or decorative items.
“It’s like slave labor, but it’s a joy,” Margaret Crow of Oxnard said. She readily admitted it would be impossible to sell a quilt for what it is worth in labor and materials, but that doesn’t faze her or other members of the Camarillo Quilters Assn.
“I like to do handwork, and I love Early American things,” Elsie Bustamante of Oxnard said.
As the quilters talked, their hands were busy basting together a quilt sandwich: the Indian-arrow-design top in red, white and navy; the batting in the middle, and the plain bottom fabric. Once basted, the piece was rolled up and placed on a frame so the women could begin the actual quilting, making tiny running stitches that would create a design and hold the layers in place “forever and ever.”
Janet Curtis, whose Camarillo home is decorated in colorful quilts she has completed over the past 19 years, is also a smocker. Smocking was described by members of the local chapter of the Smocking Arts Guild of America as “embroidery on pleats.”
Traditionally stitched on clothing for babies and young children, smocking has been used by some of the women to make Christmas wreaths and stockings. Jeanne Kooker of Camarillo made a tree ornament stitched with Santa and his sleigh and reindeer.
“When I first saw (smocking) I said, ‘Oh, sure.’ I sew, but I thought something like that would take a year to do,” said Kristine Christensen of Ventura. “Then I got pregnant and had my little Sarah, who’s now 2, and that really gave me incentive to do it. It’s something I want to continue doing so when I have grandchildren I can do it for them.”
She held out a delicate white christening dress with a smocked yoke she had made for her daughter.
“This,” said Christensen, “is something that will get passed on and on and on.”
The women estimated that a panel of smocking can be completed in an evening, perhaps two evenings if the design is intricate, but “it’s not something you can watch TV and do,” said Nita Dunkle of Camarillo. “With smocking, you have to stay on top of what you’re doing.”
Kooker sells some of her work: dresses for $75 to $150, Christmas stockings for $25.
Amyee Johnson, a member of the Channel Islands Embroiderers, is a professional stitcher. Designers send her pictures of what they want stitched, she does the work and the designs are published in books or magazines.
The talents and abilities of area embroiderers were evident at a recent meeting. Margie Hutchison of Oxnard was finishing a dresser scarf in white-on-white Hardanger embroidery, featuring a geometric pattern stitched on the diagonal with cutout centers filled in with needle weaving.
Janet Barr of Ventura was wearing a name tag in three-dimensional Brazilian embroidery.
Joann Mattingley of Simi Valley, who said she’d done her first embroidery project as a third-grader 40 years ago, has completed an heirloom project in reversible blackwork in dark thread on white. Blackwork dates back to the time of Henry VIII, she said.
Selma Perlmutter of Oxnard recalled learning to knit years ago from a co-worker. She wanted to impress her boyfriend and decided to knit him a pair of argyle socks, not knowing that was one of the most difficult knitting projects.
“Each day at lunch (my friend) would sit beside me and I’d say, ‘I don’t think I can do that,’ and she’d say, ‘Oh, yes you can,’ ” Perlmutter said.
Perlmutter did learn and knitted every day on her 45-minute bus commute. Her boyfriend, now her husband, got a pair of socks a week, she said.
“I went to Argentina a few years ago and I wasn’t knitting then,” Lillian Ching of Bell Canyon said. “I went through the jungle to Rio carrying 10 big skeins of yarn because I just couldn’t let it go. . . . Argentina is the land of sheep. The wool was so nice, so soft.”
For needlepointer Evie Polland of Ventura, stitchery is also therapeutic.
“I get rid of my hostilities,” she said, “when I stab that canvas.”
THE THREAD SET
Camarillo Quilters Assn., a member of the Southern California Council of Quilt Guilds, meets at 9:30 a.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 2304 Antonio Ave., Camarillo. Dues at $20 per year. Contact: 498-8915.
Camino Real Smockers, a member of the Smocking Arts Guild of America, meet at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at Camarillo Community Bank, 1150 Paseo Camarillo, Camarillo. Annual dues are $34.50. Contact: 388-1558.
Berry Good Smockers, a member of the Smocking Arts Guild of America, meet at 7 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of the month at members’ homes in the Simi Valley/Moorpark area. Annual dues are $36. Contact: 529-9423.
The Sand & Sea Knitting Guild, affiliated with the Knitting Guild of America, meets at 11 a.m. on the second Saturday of each month at the Malibu Community Center, 6955 Fernhill Drive, Malibu. Membership is $38. Contact: 487-1431.
The Channel Islands Chapter of the Embroiderers Guild of America Inc., meets at 10 a.m. the fourth Wednesday of the month, at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 755 Bard Ave., Port Hueneme. Annual dues are $35. Contact: 642-6490.
The Ventura County Silver Needles, a chapter of the American Needlepointers Guild, meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of the month at Heritage House, 903 Carmen Drive, Camarillo. Annual dues are $45. Contact: 642-4243.