TIF and Vacation!

As I was getting ready to leave Friday night, I scanned the next two finished bands. It was frustrating because my thumb drived died on me. I finally gave up on it and borrowed my husband's. The first band adds a little color and stitch variety. I did it on an ecru linen with a darker perle using four-sided stitch. The third band is on lugana and it went quickly. I used satin stitch and purple perle.

Saturday morning I left on vacation. First I drove up to the Rockford area to visit my brother and sister-in-law. We went to the 12th Annual Stephenson County Fiber Art Fair. It was very nice. Many spinners. You could by a fleece and a drop spindle and learn from scratch! They had lots of lovely tools and accessories, gorgeous yarns, many hand-spun. We had fun paint-dyeing our own wool. For a nominal fee we received a skein of handspun wool, a lovely trash-bag coverall, dye and instructions. The dye was in old-fashioned baby bottles and you squeezed it onto the wool in the colors and pattern you wanted. Mine is all shades of green from yellowish to teal. It was a load of fun.

After a nice dinner, I drove backroads up to Madison, Wisconsin. It was a lovely pink and purple sunset as I drove along the winding roads. Now in Madison I'm at the Embroiderer's Guild of America Great Lakes Region seminar. I thought I'd share with you how much fun and what a bargain this regional seminar is. Many EGA regions hold them, but I would guess they vary in style and content. The GLR seminar is wonderful.

I checked in last night, had a lazy morning and lunch and then headed to my first class. It was a beaded pendant taught by Andrea Sapon and was a lot of fun. The class was only three hours and my piece is nearly done!

(I brought my camera so I could take and post pictures but forgot to bring the interface thingy that allows me to plug in my data chip, so no more pix 'till I get home.)

After the class I had a board meeting and then there was a "meet the teachers" where all of the seminar teachers displayed their seminar pieces and often other things they've been doing. So I got to meet my teachers for the rest of the week. The opening banquet featured killer chocolate cake and a talk by a local quilt artist. She brought a lot of her quilts (pieced, applique, painted, dyed, thread-painted, etc.).

I ran into the boutique after dinner. If you don't catch it early, you may miss that treasure! I got a kit for a needlepunch pincushion. I like to buy a kit at each event I attend and then do my best to finish it before leaving. It's kind of a souvenir for me.

That's just day 1. The seminar offically begins tomorrow.

The GLR seminar runs from Sunday night's opening banquet through Thursday night's closing dinner. The classes are all day M-T-W-Th or M&T and W&Th with the Sunday afternoon short classes for those who come in early.

The seminar package includes all but one meal from Sunday night through Thursday night. One night there's usually a special tour and dinner you can sign up for. I usually don't--I need that night off to just absorb everything. Our fee for this seminar was $395. So that's four days of teaching fees and twelve meals, plus all sorts of goodies, door prizes, events, and fun! Kit costs and hotel are extra, but they do a great job at keeping costs down and the rooms are one rate whether it's one of you or four.

That's all for today. Tomorrow I'm doing "Perfect Forest" with Catherine Jordan and I need to gather my supplies.