Soul Stitchers
We are matching stitchers to be stitching pals in February 2024. For the remaining year, we encourage you to get to know your match. The rules are simple:
- Volunteer to be partnered with someone you don’t know well.
- Communicate as often as you like via zoom call, calls, postcards, letters, etc.
throughout the year. All costs associated with calls and postage are borne by
you. - Throughout the year, the newsletter editor may call to solicit a story about your
budding relationship. - At the 2024 holiday party, we’d love to hear about your experiences.
Please email info@sdang.org to be placed on the list. The deadline is Feb 10 and the matches will be announced at the Feb. general meeting and sent out as a separate email.
2023 Past Highlights
Winner of the Sandy Higgins Scholarship Award for Meritorious Service: Joanne Einhorn
A few of her achievements include Joanne stepping in as President while also serving as Treasurer when the then President became ill during 2019-20. She shepherded the chapter through a tough period (Covid) while retaining many members through her constant leadership worked diligently to locate our current meeting space at no cost to the chapter. Joanne coordinated the first holiday box during Covid to keep members engaged and connected. Feedback for these holiday boxes were very positive! She developed the Lifetime Achievement Award and coordinated its first luncheon and went above and beyond by commissioning 2 scrapbooks highlighting the luncheon for the recipients. She co-hosted 2 very successful open houses/stitch-ins at 2 American Needlepoint Guild seminars resulting in more members joining as well as connecting more deeply with our remote members. Finally, her passion int teaching beginning stitchers at her home and Needle Nook of La Jolla, many members new to needlepoint joined and she continues to mentor them today.
Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients:
Jill Rigoli & Sandy Higgins
Sandy and Jill, Charter Members of SDANG, were recognized as icons not just in our local community, but throughout the needlepoint world. Both ladies are incredible stitchers. They turned their passion for the art of needlepoint into career. They created needlepoint-related businesses when demand was increasing for quality, handpainted needlepoint canvas designs and finishing. To quote Cassie Prescott, a friend and colleague to both, “Without them, needlepoint wouldn’t be nearly as beautiful, creative, and exciting as it has become.”
Sandy Higgins wrote the quintessential book on needlepoint finishing, Sandy’s Finishing Touches. To date the book has sold more than 10,000 copies and it is still in print! Sandy is also an accomplished instructor, teaching classes for both our Chapter and ANG. For many of us around the country, Sandy is our “finisher of choice,” plus she has finished and donated numerous needlepoint items for the ANG national auction for over 35 years. ANG recognized her twice for her finishing and stitching services. Sandy’s finishing talent is now shared with her daughter, Marjorie Thornburgh, who is an active participant in her business.
Jill Rigoli spread her love of needlepoint around the world, starting when she was an Air Force bride in Germany and Washington, DC. In addition to opening and running local needlepoint shops, Jill created Danji Designs, a wholesale needlepoint business Through Danji Designs, Jill partnered with national artists, converting their artwork into hand painted canvases. Although Jill and her family have sold the business, she continues to consult with the company and her legacy lives on within Danji Designs. Jill continues to teach needlepoint stitching, having taught on cruise ships, at local needlepoint shops, and at retreats all over the country. She works with students of all ages, from 14 to 90! Jill’s stitch guides are works of art.