The Embroiderer's Guild of Victoria.

Last Tuesday was my first day as a regular 'Gallery Hostess' at the Guild House in Wattletree Road, Malvern. I wrote on Patra's Other Place that I had a few misgivings, wondering if I'd made the right decision, but I'm happy to say I have. My duties were explained in detail by the other two volunteers, and once they were sure I understood what needed to be done, we all relaxed and enjoyed our day. I did an hour or so of my stitching in between answering the occasional phone call and speaking to the other people who were in and out during the day. The Gallery was being set up for the annual exhibition, so I spent most of my time in the library with the Library and Front Desk hostesses. Normally I will spend my day in the Gallery, as the primary role is to be there to keep an eye on the displays, and talk to anyone who wanders in. We are allowed free reign to the library, which is a mind-blowing collection of books and magazines on all kinds of needlecrafts from knitting to embroidery, and everything in between. The Guild subscribes to a large number of English language needlecraft magazines around the world - Australian, English and American mostly, including to my great delight an American quarterly called "Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly". Danielle has mentioned this several times on her blog and I was tempted to subscribe to it myself as it sounded fascinating. But now I don't have to - I can borrow the Guild copies whenever I like! On Saturday morning, I was back at the Guild for three hours, as one of the exhibition hostesses. More volunteers are needed there during the exhibition, as it is widely publicised and attracts a lot more people than the usual day to day traffic. Again I enjoyed myself, as the long-standing members are getting to know me and include me in more discussions and activities, instead of just being politely friendly, as one tends to do to 'ring-ins' who are not regular attendees of a group. The exhibits are as always, absolutely sensational. Someone asked me if I had my work out there and I exclaimed "You must be joking! I will NEVER be that good!" to which they responded "Rubbish - if you think your own work is worth framing, it would be good enough to be in one of the Guild's exhibitions". Something to think about...