Today Only Got Cooler

That's me posing with Patty who made this fabulous purse that I am holding. Because I won our Region's opportunity basket tonight!!!

So that's the purse, hand-carved bellpull hardware, two bracelets, one with matching earrings, a beaded brooch, and 6 gift certificates to places like Nordic Needle and Salty Yarns and Ruth Kern's books. Like woah! 

Now I'm all excited and may never get to sleep tonight!

No Photos of my Own, But...

A photo of my work from Wednesday's class is on the EGA blog. 

Go here.

Scroll down.

The teacher, Gary Clarke, dressed in black, is standing in front of me in one photo. The next photo labeled "student work" is mine!

Cool beans!

Please Note New Blog

Somewhere over there on the side I have added the EGA Blog. They have been trying to post photos of Seminar day by day. If you read back a few posts you can also see information and photos about the International Embroidery Conference, too, that was held right before the start of Seminar. 

I realize I haven't been giving much detail, etc. 

It's because I'm darn tired. By Friday I'm expecting to be dragging. But it's still just so much fun seeing and talking with all these stitchers and teachers. 

Last night was Merchandise Mania! This little event is the only Seminar related activity I have ever done before (at Stitching in the Rye in New York in 2001 I believe was the year - nearly got trampled at that when they opened the doors.)

Fifty tables of designs and vendors of all sorts. I bought a few things, including the Joan Thomasson kit of the Fallen Angel, which was the one I was looking for. Also Kay Stanis had TIRE thread for couching goldwork - another thing I have been looking for a long time. I operated with cash, but nearly drug out the credit cards for Tanya Berlin and Marsha Papay Gomola's things. I resisted only because I couldn't make up my mind.

 

Projects!

But first the weather report.

Sunny and hot. With humidity in the 90% range. 

Possibilities of afternoon showers.

Well. Someone got rain, but it wasn't us!

My first class was Sunday morning with Lynn Payette. This is Alexander Alligator. He eats, um, holds a pair of scissors. We spent the morning learning to iron. And not one of us needed the tube of Iron Off that the teacher brought to class. The left side is where his mouth and eyes will be which makes the right side his tail. The finishing demo looked easy. Let's hope it is!

Monday and Tuesday I have been living on the beach with Susan Goodman. This is called Life is a Beach. The first morning we spent learning to iron and painting. Hmm. I see a common theme here.

This class was tons of fun. We were a smaller group than my Sunday class and everyone had a blast. I do not think the photo does this justice. 

Tomorrow I have a class with Gary Clarke from Australia. This should be a very interesting class. If you don't know who he is, you can see his book here, Embroidery Illusions. 

Seminar Update

I am beginning to think that if I was having any more fun in Florida, than this couldn't possibly be legal. I am enjoying every single moment, every second, every nanosecond!


I started Saturday morning by volunteering at the bag check. Because I have a strong desire to give back. Most people want to do the fun jobs, like volunteer at the bookstore so they get to see all the goodies. But you know what? even the bag check is fun. You get to see a lot of people and chat with them. And if it's slow you can sit and stitch. 


After that I visited Ruth Kern's traveling bookstore and the exhibits. And then the boutique. You all know my weaknesses. I found three books at the bookstore that I felt needed a change a scenery and they will relocating to Virgina. And maybe I found a few things at the boutique, too. This year the boutique is being run by Cathy and her helpers from the Golden Needle in Port Charlotte. I was there and talked to her last March. I'm sure her perspective on Seminar is totally different from mine! I was hoping to get to Needlepoint in Paradise that afternoon, but they close at 2:00 p.m. on Saturdays!

First sign you see as you leave the hotel. But I did not see an alligator.

Instead I saw this fine fellow! About four inches across right over my head. I bet tons of people walk under it every day.

The view looking north at the beach.

Sunset past the palms Monday evening. 

For photos of things I cannot take photos of - go here:  EGA Blog

The View from Up Here

Yesterday I picked up my roommate, my friend Barbara, from the airport at Ft. Myers and we drove to the hotel in Naples. We checked in and got to our room on the 10th floor with a view of the Gulf. 

We unpacked and got settled in and registered. Had dinner. Did a little shopping at the local grocery store. Somehow we managed to kill a lot of time. I only stitched two little letters on a piece before bedtime, but I did get to stitch.

This is sunrise off our balcony. The weather is perfectly atrocious. Nineties with high humidity. I walked through the mangrove swamp (on a boardwalk, I'm not that silly) this morning to get to the beach. I was dripping with sweat by the time I got back to the hotel at 9:30 a.m. For the past two days that I've been in Florida it has clouded by sunset and either rained and seriously  threatened rain. 


See the A & B? That's my stitching from last night. At least now I finish the border across the top without having to count the entire way. This is one on my Crazy January projects. I did leave the Quaker sampler at home. I can be strong.

Unhappy

WTF, blogger?!?

I just attempted to publish a post and it disappeared. And apparently in this new format I have chosen to work with, there is no automatic saving because it isn't in my drafts. 

So here is a greatly condensed version.

I've got a cold which includes a headache. 

I apologize for not posting. 

And will I feel better before I have to fly on Thursday? 

Stay tuned for further developments.

Sporadic Postings

 I know I've not been posting regularly. But it's summer and things are happening. I will be back to a more normal schedule in about three weeks. 


Next week I leave for EGA Seminar in Naples, Florida with some visiting time also with my Mom and step-dad. I'm not sure how much the internet situation has improved at my Mom's, but I should be able to post from hotel. 


Meanwhile, here's a photo of the fun thing I've been stitching. Oh, how I love that basket of apples. This is a Quaker design by Pamela Darney that was created for the Carolina Sampler Guild. I purchased the last kit of this design from Pam back in late 2009. And I decided of all the designs of hers that I have I wanted to do this one the most. I'm changing all the words on it and I'm not saying exactly what I'm doing. You'll see it as it happens. 

Last week I finished stitching my flamingo. Today I start the process of attaching it to the canvas tote. I don't know if you can see in this photo, but I added Naples, EGA, and the year to this piece. 

I'm using the new interface page here on blogger and there's so much white space it reminds of that blank piece of paper in my old electric typewriter that would mock when I sat down to write. I think I can get past it though!

Good Morning Monday!

Let's start by asking forgiveness in advance for any typos. This laptop sometimes does crazy things. It's a 5 year old Sony and lately it seems to have a mind of it's own leading me to watch what I type and I spend a lot of time going back and correcting things. Most frustrating is when entire lines disappear and I realize I'm now typing in the middle of a previous sentence.

Queen Irene was basically a non-event here. Though we did see some trees down yesterday coming home the back way, in our neighborhood it's just small branches and we never once lost power. My sister in NH did have a car taken out by a tree. But she never liked that car anyway...LOL.

So given that the sun was trying to shine yesterday morning, DH and I decided to take advantage of two free tix to the Baltimore Antique show. Did not purchase one single thing. But saw lots of lovely stuff. The absolute first thing to catch my eye was a 18th century man's wallet done in crewel work. With an $11,000 price tag. I have to admit it looked to be in flawless condition. There were two more wallets with it done in flame stitch that were much more reasonable at around $1,000 a piece. They both had a few tiny condition issues. I saw about a dozen schoolgirl samplers ranging in price from $1,000 to $30,000. And visited with a few textile dealers. DH and I did some fantasy shopping. Had fun. But can't afford the Tiffany prices.

I've been collecting my supplies for Seminar and I think I have everything now. Just need to decide what I'm mailing to my mother's in Florida and what's traveling with me.

I've finished my flamingo and need to attach it to its bag. And mostly I've been doing pleasure stitching this week. Not a whole ton of progress, but I've been enjoying what I've been stitching. I do have some obligation stuff that needs attention and I should sort that out today or tomorrow. 

I've been living vicariously through the people reporting on ANG seminar going on now in San Antonio. This morning I was perusing the photos of the class pieces for next year in Philadelphia. There are some things that might be calling my name.

Enough with the Disasters

Alright. It's not even here, but I've had enough natural disasters for one week. Now we have to go through hurricane preparedness?

It's raining out right now, just a little warm up to remind everyone of what's coming. No sunshine on our anniversary? Come on. I admit utter defeat in the face of rain. As much as my daughter loves a cloudy, rainy day, that's how much I hate it. I know it's necessary. But I want my environment to be like Camelot and only rain after sundown. 


Yeah. That's right. Today is our anniversary. Twenty-seven long years ago we got hitched in front of family and friends. This year, they tore down the building where we had our wedding reception. Who knows? Someday they may close the church and tear it down. Or turn it into condos. Or a bar. All interesting prospects. 

It's been an interesting twenty-seven years. I'm ready for twenty-seven more! I'll readily admit that I'm still a sucker for this guy. He makes laugh. He makes me sigh. Sometimes he downright drives me crazy. And I love him.


No stitchy gift for him from me. But he did identify something he likes that would look good above the new 50" television. It's Carriage House Samplings "My Home Town." As I already have this piece in my stash, the least I can do is stitch it. I need to find it and see if I have a big enough piece of fabric in the stash and then I can set about stitching it. Yes - the name Manchester will be replaced with the name of our home town. 


Here's one more NH photo for you. From the antique truck show in Barrington: