last thoughts on seminar

It's a rainy morning and I'm packing up to move on. As I reflect on the seminar I realized that I got caught up a bit in cataloging goodies and activities and forgot to mention an important aspect of this gathering. This seminar was called "Threads of Friendship" and everything the committee did was to emphasize this aspect of the event. The often called it a "family reunion." And at each meal the coordinator, Sandi Nicolai, read a quote about friendship. Some were silly and some very poignant. The outgoing Regional Director, Carole DeWitt, was given a lovely friendship sampler, stitched by her board. The raffle cup for a quilt was stuffed by friends of one woman--they bought tickets and put her name on them--and she won to her vast delight. There were parties and gatherings in various rooms, most often between class and dinner.

Like everyone, I tried to find a friend to sit with at meals, but it really didn't matter. If you look like you're looking for a place to sit, people will offer an available place at their table. Everyone around the table introduced themselves, talked about their home area, what classes they were taking and what kind of needlework they liked. Connections were quickly found and people became friends. You're never lonely.

People also wander around the classes looking at their classmate's work. But more, it's acceptable, especially near the end of the day, to quietly walk into most other classes and see what they're up to. It's really interesting.
I will get photos of my works-in-progress and post them next week.

It's over!

Well, this year's GLR seminar is officially over. I'm whacked! (but happy). Today was more intense stitching on my cricket. I actually completed his wing. I didn't start his body. I want to do more on the leaf he'll be sitting on first. This class is so full of things to learn, my head's still spinning. Teacher Lynn Payette has really cool ways of doing fly stitch, beading, twisted cord, and detached sheer elements. I tried to sample each technique but the day just flew by.

I did a bit of work, got the books updated for the secretary position and passed them on to the new secretary and was generally busy! I stayed far away from the boutique sale and the bookstore.

We had a lovely dinner with the last of the doorprizes and the opportunity basket drawing. I didn't win. I'm not too bummed; I have plenty of goodies to bring home. But there were some lovely prizes. Our favor tonight was a sewing kit in a lipstick tube! It is really cool. I brought my autograph book and had the EGA national president, Carol Dam, sign it, along with some friends.

Two years ago I attended my first regional seminar. I didn't know anyone except for my roommate. Five meetings and two more seminars later, I feel like I really know a lot of these people! I know what kind of stitching they like--I already know several who like exactly the same things I do (because we're in classes together over and over). I know bits and pieces of their lives. I know who's quick and who's not, who's loud and who's very quiet. I've made two friends that I'm already thinking about ways we can get together in between meetings...

I know more about how chapters in other areas manage, what they do, and how they work. I've met a bunch of incredible teachers, too, and not just in class. I've ridden with them in the elevator and sat with them at meals. I've learned about their joys, trials and tribulations, and the other things they do besides teach needlework.

So, I'm sitting here on my last night, exhausted but hyped up with a brain full of new things, wishing it wasn't over but also rather happy it is. I think what I need now is a week here at the hotel, with the same people and shops just to stitch on my projects. A little less driven, more relaxed, more time to chat. Instead I'm heading north to visit a good friend for a day. Which is most likely a good break from the intensity of the last few days. I can't wait to see my friends. And I also can't wait to get home to my sweetie on Saturday. Time to go.

Regional Seminar Day Four

I was pretty tired this morning but once I got going all was well. My class with Lynn Payette is more active than my previous class. We spent the day making the background for our cricket (which is really a grasshopper). We fused and then cut and layered sheer fabrics onto canvas to create leaves coming out of water. Endless variations were possible from just a few fabrics you could layer one over another and depending on which was on top, you got very different effects. Or use two layers of the same fabric. Or some you could use the front or the back of the fabric. For a leaf with several colors, you could use different colors for each and then add a layer of one sheer over all. Or not. On some if you changed the direction of the fabric you got a totally different effect.

So we were up and down between our work stations, the ironing board and many demonstrations.

After dinner tonight we had "Merchandise Night." Local shops, groups, and teachers set up tables to sell their wares. I did my part to support the local economy. 'Nuff said.

It's late and I'm very tired. We had so many choices to make in our class today! It was very engaging and most of us had to be prodded to take breaks or leave for meals. I love this stuff. But now I'm feeling it and I'm off to bed.

Regional Seminar Day Three

Today was another busy stitching day. First thing this morning I went shopping (how's that for bliss: a well-stocked needlework store around the corner and open at 7 a.m.!!!) I got some brown linen thread for tree trunks and some greens for leaves. The kits had plenty of materials but I wanted more variety and a slightly different color way.
I finished up my tree trunks and began adding branches. After lunch I started adding some leaves. Most of the students also cut out a backing board and painted a background to add even more of sense of distance. I made my piece just a bit too wide and it wouldn't fit well on the precut board. I'll do that when I get home--I watched everyone else and have a pretty good idea of how to do it. We learned how to mount and finish our pieces.
In the middle we had a Really Good lunch (Chicken Teriaki). I don't think I've mentioned it much before but the food here is really good. I hear the coffee is wonderful, too. At lunch we sat with two of our teachers, Lynn Payette and Michele Roberts, and two other teachers who, I believe, will be teaching at next year's seminar.
At the end of class I had the teacher sign my book and my autograph book and I asked my neighbors to also sign my autograph book. The chatter became a bit more general as we packed to leave and I learned more about my new friends.
Tonight was our free night. Many attendees went for a tour and dinner. Instead I had a pleasant drive through the Wisconsin countryside to Mt. Horeb and Witchery Stitchery. The shop extended their hours just for us and I must say I made it worth their while!
I found some Needle Necessity overdyes and DMC Medici wools, both fibers are no longer available. (more or less; I think Medici is still available, just not from DMC in the skeins, and I believe someone may be replicating some of NN's colorways but I'm not sure about either.) I'd never been up to Witchery Stitchery but my used to love to go to Mt. Horeb and the needlework shop. Mt. Horeb looks to be a charming old town with antiques and other interesting shops. I didn't linger because I wanted to find my way back before dark.
Afterward I decided that instead of a late dinner, I would, can you believe this?, exercise. I spent a half-hour jumping, jogging, and being silly in the pool. I dined on a lovely huge orange and almond-butter and rice cakes...not too shabby. Oh, and some Very Good Chocolate that my brother gave me Saturday.
Tomorrow I begin Cricket with Lynn Payette (which is really a grasshopper). Excuse me while I go and fondle my ever growing stash!

Regional seminar day 2

Today was all about stitching. I'm doing Perfect Forest by Catherine Jordan. We got lovely kits with dye-painted linen. We got going promptly and then spent the next three hours withdrawing some threads from the linen and reweaving others. It was tedious and seemingly endless! I was more than ready for the lunch break. It helped that I completed this task just before lunch so I could relax, knowing the hard part was over.

This afternoon we began to create our forest on the remaining fabric threads. We used needleweaving to fashion the tree trunks and branches. Catherine's techniques allowed us to separate the threads in a way that creates a dimensional effect, with some trees behind others.

I made one large tree up front and two in back. By then the day was over. The Regional Meeting was next, with the installation of new officers. Then another nice dinner. Tonight's table favor was a ball of perle coton. (Mine's yellow.) It came in a cool little plastic holder that is very reminiscent of the round holders you get prizes in from those coin machines (like gumball machines only bigger). It has a little hole in the top to feed the thread.

I won a doorprize tonight after dinner! I got Issue 70 of Cross Stitch & Beading, an Australian magazine, and a hand made wooden post-it-note holder with a diamond inlay. It holds the medium-sized square notes and came with a pad in place. It was handmade by a Madison Chapter member's husband. (I can't quite read his name on the note but hope to meet him Thursday to thank him.)

I also found two more goodie-bag prizes. I was looking for something and tipped the bag out and found a large nail file and a pen!

After dinner a friend and I went by the suite for next year's seminar and saw the pieces they're offering. Photos are nice but there's nothing like seeing the pieces in person!

My friend came by my room and we did our own show-n-tell. We both had brought some of our recent pieces and works in progress to show each other. Then we shared some of the things we'd bought here. The boutique and the book store are both nice. The boutique has an especially wide range of products---fibers galore, lovely tools and everything from beading through hand-dyed wool. So day two is done. Tomorrow I head back into the forest.

Goodie Bag and Favors!

Two posts in one night! I thought I'd catalogue my awesome goodie bag for you before it gets dispersed. Everyone got a handmade name tag (with a pocket for meal coupons and your room key) and a bag like this:
A complete catalog for the seminar: what's happening when and where and contact information for everyone.
Two cards of Rainbow Gallery Threads, Splendor and Flair and a coordinating skein of DMC perle coton.
A complete kit for a Brazilian Embroidery flower (Jasmine) from EdMar.
A Charles Craft Catalog.
Two samples of Udder Cream.
Gloves in a Bottle sample from Stitcher's Crossing (a local shop).
One sample tub of Handmade Natural Beauty Cranberry Almond lotion bar.
Charts from Martina Weber/Chatelaine, Nordic Needle, Prairie Schooler, Stacy Nash Primitive Designs, Creative Cross Stitch Designs and Quilt Patterns by Karen Kluba.
Recipes using real butter from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (they look yummy!)
Lots of shop fliers, some local-some not, and some with coupons!
Local tourism information and visitor's guides with lots of coupons for local shops, attractions and restaurants.

At dinner tonight we each got a favor. The theme of this seminar is friendship and our favor was a complex fold-out this way and that booklet with a hand-stamped and cutout cover. It's an autograph book! We passed ours around our table for all of our table mates to sign. What fun--I haven't done this since high-school. The pressure was less but there was still a bit of thought so you wouldn't say something too lame or silly. I may ask my table mate tomorrow to sign and the teacher...

Pretty good haul! and it's still only day one!

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.