Hi, Everyone —

Today the work progressed on the Cardinal in the Garden — mostly stitching, so that felt better.  I loved doing the Florentine variation and the leaf stitch, but the long and short stitches on the flowers are not my cup of tea.  I did learn how to do turkey work (the purple flower center — unfinished) and it isn’t at all the way that I taught myself from diagrams.  This afternoon, I started stitching the tree branch that the cardinals are sitting on and I realized that the branch had gored the male cardinal.  So, I pulled out some stitches and filled in the cardinal so that he is whole again!

Cardinal — End of Day 2!

I know that I will learn a few more new techniques before Friday, including needleweaving.  The piece is beautiful, but the guidance is “Do whatever you want” and I am not finding this do it yourself stitching to be relaxing.  Hard to get into my zone!

Tonight was merchandise night, so I bought a glass of wine and prepared to wander around.  Alas, unlike ANG, I was not allowed to enter the room with wine — so I sat outside until my glass was empty.  Then I started my power browsing (and shopping).  I caught up to Sue quickly and bought two projects before I left to return to the room.  Total elapsed time:  about 15 minutes!  It is interesting to compare this merchandise night with the one at the ANG seminar.  The biggest difference is that the space was about four times larger than the ANG space.  This prevented a lot of jostling and it allowed better visibility of the wares.  Several well-known designers were on hand with most of their designs fully-kitted.  Lovely items from Kathy Rees, DebBee Designs, and Ann Strite-Kurz.  Most of the regional EGA groups had booths to support their fund-raising.

Tomorrow is tour day and I am looking forward to getting out and seeing some of the sights of Kentucky!

Cheers!  Rosie