At MET, we’re proud to celebrate the work of our talented club members!
NEW! May Chan — Jewellery, Handbags and Food
May Chan joined MET in 2018. She has led Marketing, established the club’s presence in social media and currently produces our monthly member newsletter.
May specializes in miniature jewellery, handbags and food. Many of you may have seen her work at the METminis Market in our annual October show. She’ll be there again this year and here is a sampling of what you can expect to see.
May makes all of her jewellery by hand, using super-fine wire, beads, rhinestones and nail-art decorations. They are displayed on stands that she designed and produced on her Cricut ‘Joy’ machine.
The mini handbags are constructed from faux leather and fabric and are also made from scratch while the food is formed from a mix of air dry and polymer clay. The rustic breadbasket is made from dyed cotton string and painted wire.
Judy Carlson — The Hobbyist’s Hobbyist
Judy Carlson has been a member of MET since the mid-nineties. She is what you could call a collector of hobbies, with miniatures being one of her longest loves. The minis you see here are just a sampling of things she’s made over the years. When she’s not producing gorgeous needlework or crafting mini scenes she’s knitting, quilting, or embroidering in full scale. She’s also a member of the Metro Marine Modelers Club, the York Heritage Quilt Guild, TGS (Toronto Guild of Stitchery) and the Toronto Society of Model Engineers. Wherever your interests lie Judy highly recommends starting with kits, calling them “idea farms” since they teach so many skills and always get her thinking about new ways to do things.
In this post you can see some of the toys Judy made for Kid’s Gifts at the MET Show, a gorgeous chest that started in a MET workshop and was enhanced by Judy with specialty woods, some of her exceptional needlework, a whimsical market stall, and an antiqued potter’s bench.
Since joining MET she’s served as Show Chair (for years and years!), has designed the MET Show kid’s gifts, produced the club newsletter, and run workshop programming. She may be on a brief hiatus from official duties right now, but we all rely on Judy for her vast knowledge of where we’ve been as well as ideas of what we can aim for next.
Sharon Da Costa — Knitting, Crochet and Needlework
Sharon DaCostajoined MET in 1996 and has been indispensable ever since, bringing her smiling energy to almost every club function including marketing, club secretary, newsletter writer, membership chair and president.
Sharon is a life-long knitter and crocheter – first raiding her mother’s sewing basket when she was 4 years old. A family friend taught her how to knit when she was 9 and she produced her first sweater at age 11.
Not surprisingly, her love of miniatures goes back almost as far. Many of the figures you see here first appeared as prizes in a 1:12 scale ‘Shooting Gallery’ that was exhibited at a MET Show in the 2000’s and the patterns came from a book by Lesley Roberts called ‘Period Miniature Patterns’.
Susan Daly — Queen of Quarter-Scale
Susan Daly is MET’s Queen of Quarter-Scale. Her preference for 1:48 minis means that she has far more room on her shelves for displays than her 1:12-scale colleagues. It also allows her to take advantage of the fabulous kits available through Petworth Miniatures and (for an even tinier scale) Robin Betterley.
Susan has been messing around with minis since 1977. She joined the Miniature Enthusiasts of Toronto in 2013 and has served as the club Webmaster from 2013-2026 when she passed the torch.
In Susan’s full-size life, she is also a quilter, sketcher and crime writer. You can find out about her life as a Woman of Mystery at her website, susandaly.com.
Karen Mason – Needlework
Karen Mason has been a MET member since 2022, and these are just some of her pieces. Her Van Gogh designs each contain over 9,000 stitches (Bedroom at Arles and The Postman). She produced the stunning Persian rug from one of Lucy Iducovic’s kits, and it has has 97,461 stitches!
The chest-on-stand is based on a William and Mary full-sized piece that Karen found on an antiques website. Bob Hurd made the chest and stand in 2018 while Claire Globensky (Art To Play With) painted the fall board and drawers in 2020. Karen is basing the needlepoint on two period-appropriate paintings by Dutch artist Jan van Huysum: ‘Hollyhocks and Other Flowers in a Vase’ (for the sides) and ‘Still Life with Flowers and Fruit’ (for the front and top). Karen considers this piece to be her ‘magnum opus’ and expects it will keep her busy for a long time!
The charming cushions (designed from vintage Christmas cards), the square-patterned rug (from a real-life hooked rug) and the slipper chair and the pole screen (inspired by photos of antique needlepoint provided in Annelle Ferguson classes) are all from charts that Karen created herself. The punch needle rug is from a stained-glass window pattern.