EGA Report from San Francisco 3

"Today was the first day of my class, as after all that is why I came here, didn't I? To learn new techniques, new teachers and new friends, while of course renewing friendship from previous seminars. Up early and so anxious to get to class, but first was a stop for morning beverages and shopping at the same time! The boutique and book store opens at 7am, right along with the coffee room! Now isn't that brilliant?! Of course I had to shop and started browsing the books.  I picked up the new stumpwork by Jane Nichols as she will be autographing them later. Time quickly passed and I didn't want to be late for my class, so quickly I headed that way to get settled in my seat. The room had lots of windows and I did grab a seat by the windows as the light was so wonderful. The room quickly filled with 25 anxious stitchers with Catherine Jordan stitching the Heirloom Journal Book cover. It is a map of the coastal areas of California, a fitting remembrance of this great seminar. It is stitched on hand dyed 32 count linen and then hand painted on top of that to add the oceans and land areas. About 1/2 the class painted today and the rest will paint tomorrow, including me. A very enjoyable class and I can't wait to get back to class tomorrow!

I of course viewed the pieces for next year's EGA seminar and what beautiful ones they are! It will be very hard to make a decision and I have my eye on a few of them! Actually you can view them on line now at the EGA website. EGA actually offers an early registration but if the class is very popular and it still goes to lottery.

The shops are wonderful and are loaded with threads and all kinds of goodies. A small selection of canvases, but lots of fabric and charts. There is so much there, that I haven't had a chance to see it all. Tomorrow is the day to visit both Marlene and Needlepoint Inc as they were closed today for the holiday.

Off to do some more shopping in the boutique!"

Thanks for the report, Vicky.  Here is the link to EGA's website about the current Seminar.  

http://www.egausa.org/html/seminar.html

Don't forget to visit Gay Ann Rogers' website where she is also reporting from San Francisco in photographs.

http://www.gayannrogers.com/site_2/Home_Page.html
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Lessons From Nerdlepoint

Finished Nerdlepoint Tote Bag

As regular Blog readers know, I like to talk about the lessons I learn from each piece I stitch.  Nerdlepoint was an unusual piece for me.  Not only was I stitching a technological marvel that a smart phone with the right app could scan, then be sent to this blog, I set myself the challenge of seeing if I could tart it up a bit and still have the scan work.

I also wanted to demonstrate how layering simple borders could really add a lot to a plain canvas. I wanted to use some fancy threads that I don't usually play around with because I stick mostly to 18 count canvas and plyable threads.  Nerdlepoint is on 13 count, making it a bit of a departure for me.

Inside Pocket

Once the canvas itself was stitched and whip-stitched onto the front of my tote bag, I had the problem of the rear of the canvas showing.  Above is the pocket I assembled from scraps of Ultrasuede.  I used some rough decorative embroidery through 2-3 layers to stitch everything together before actually sewing it to the inside of the tote bag to make a usable pocket for sunglasses and such that hides the raw back side of the canvas on the front.  Even though three layers stitching isn't too hard, but I used a sharp sewing needle and thread, a thimble and the Ultrasuede is the light weight type, not upholstery weight.

I think stretching yourself as a stitcher is a very good thing and it also presents you, Dear Reader, more than the same old thing to watch. I hope it has inspired you to tackle something plain yourself and see what you can make of it.

Thanks, John.  I hope you come up with other technological marvels for your fellow needlepointers to play with.

Now, what coffee shop full of smart phones should I invade carrying my Nerdlepoint tote?

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow