Today was the last day of seminar and there were so many things I planned/wanted to do and never accomplished. I guess I had better hope we return here in the future to see the Chicago things I hoped to see. The seminar things I missed are now lost.

My BEADazzled class went very well today as we applied beads in two other areas, the center section has a Bargello frame and the beads are applied by stitching the delica beads to the canvas with FyreWorks thread by Rainbow Gallery. The black band on the left side has random beads stitched on with black beading thread. Take a look.

New ways to bead

If you double click on the picture, you can enlarge it and actually SEE the beads in the left black band. Not only did I learn new techniques of applying the beads to the canvas, but I never used a beading needle! With a Bohin size 26 needle, you can go through the delica beads. Nancy told stories and passed on many tidbits that were both interesting and educational. She knows how to keep a class happy as she had cookies from Eatily for us after the afternoon break.

Before the banquet tonight I took a walk down along the riverside to the east of Michigan. It is a beautiful walkway with eating places, landscaping and fountains to see along the way. Just west of the Lake Shore Drive underpass is a beautiful residential building that had tiny gardens in front of each unit filled with flowers and well maintained. It is nice to see such an inviting area in the middle of a big city, an oasis of calm and beauty.

You cabin see through the water fall

The best part of the final banquet was learning that the 2016 seminar is in….New Orleans, but then we heard that the 2017 seminar is in Anaheim. Both Rosie and I were shocked that we were returning to Anaheim so soon after the last seminar there in 2013. Chicago and Philadelphia it is not. Home tomorrow. What will I stitch first? Another seminar is history.

Sue

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My last class began this morning. Yesterday's outings revitalized me and I was off to new adventures in the stitching world this morning with Nancy Cucci's class where we will be attaching over 2500 beads before finishing, yes, I did not make a typing error, 2500. The piece is about 5.5 inches square. Today we learned three different patterns for the beads. The first was to stitch a basket weave stitch but with on open thread between the stitches. The beads are applied to every other open intersection making the overall appearance less intense. The second area had the same open basket weave but with beads applied to each open intersection making the appearance of beads stronger. (You will have to take my word for it having seen the model because I have not yet put beads into this area). The next area you stitch the beads on with floss on every other intersection so that the beads are in diagonal rows. Next we will stitch in floss between the beads over two threads so the overall appearance is off a diagonal mosaic.

Continental outline and basket weave

The pilot group for this class was Fox Chapter which is near to Chicago. Many of the participants in the pilot class are working here at the seminar and are unable to take classes. They did bring in their finished projects for Nancy (and us) to see. Nancy suggests that we take her design and use it as a starting point although we could stitch the design as the model is stitched. Seeing the pilot stitchers' finished pieces certainly did give us ideas of changes that could be made very simply. Tomorrow I will give you an idea of what my possibilities will be.

After class while Rosie and Carol went for a swim, I walked down to Millennium Park. This weekend is the Jazz Festival in Chicago and they were getting ready for a concert tonight at the open air auditorium in the park. I saw many couples and couples with youngsters walking toward the park with their chairs, blankets, coolers, etc. in preparation for a picnic on the lawn before the event. On the way back to the hotel walking across the bridge over the Chicago River, I saw not only the tour boats but also a number of kayakers enjoying a late summer outing on the river on a beautiful evening.

Evening on the river

Last day tomorrow; how did the week go by so quickly!

Sue

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Today was our break day and Rosie and I sure took a break from stitching! We began the day with a Segway Tour along the lake front to the museums. We began in a large concrete floor room where we learned how the Segway operates. It was so easy that by the time we slowly rode out the door we were adept. No spills or collisions the whole trip! We were with three others, a father with two sons about 12 and 15. The ride along the waterfront gave us views of the yacht basin. With stops along the way, Joe, our tour guide, pointed out many of the buildings we saw as well as the Buckingham Fountain. We did see the outside of the Shedd Aquarium which was the first sea water aquarium away from the ocean. Until the early 60's sea water was brought in by rail from Key West, FL, by tank cars! The whole experience lasted about two hours and was a exhilarating way to see the lake front of Chicago. Ask me tomorrow what muscles are aching.

Look, Ma, no hands!

After lunch was the River/Lake Architecture Cruise. Meg, may I pay you in cookies for the excellent advice to take the cruise which includes both the river and lake front? Our guide was excellent. She knew all the buildings and told us interesting as well as trivial information about each. This building is above the rail lines going into Union Station. It is held up by cantilevers in the large X on the roof! Imagine that.

13 stories supported by the X on the roof

This tour included the lake as well so we were able to go though the lock (and watch all the mechanical operations that went with it) as we moved from river to lake. Some of the buildings that we had seen in the morning were against pointed out on this tour. In one spot we could see the four tallest buildings in Chicago. We saw the Millennium Park which I have not yet walked to and hope to fit that in tomorrow. Chicago has a great deal to offer and at least today we were able to see and experience some of that.

Chicago Skyline

And also the main tourist attraction

The Navy Pier and its Ferris Wheel

Tomorrow it is back to stitching!

Sue

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As you may have counted we had quite a few states to address today, but no extra hours of class time. We did need to “dry lab” as we used to say, a few states, meaning we read over the directions and took a few notes. There are some really pretty and fun stitches in the western states. I like the one for Colorado, but think I will take it out and rotate it 90 degrees so it looks like mountains even though they are the wrong color for the Rockies. The nice thing about these stitches is that they cover a large area. A funny thing in Gail's designing and writing up her directions was that when she ended the lower forty-eight states, she had only forty-seven stitches. Which was the missing state? Turns out it was Maryland which has probably the most irregular borders and wanders all over the place! The stitch for that is the encroaching Gobelin which should be fine for covering the area and easily compensated.

A Bit Here, A Bit There

After class today I wanted to walk down to where we will be taking the Segway tour Wednesday to make sure I knew the route and determine how long it would take to get there. It is down near the Navy Pier so after I found the door to the tour I continued on to the Navy Pier which was more than I expected with shops, restaurants, a Ferris wheel, carousel, and a few other entertainment activities. They are in the process of updating the area so some parts were closed for construction, but it looked like an interesting place to wander around. Maybe Thursday night when nothing is on the schedule.

I came back to see the Teacher's Showcase where teachers showed the things that they will bring to your area to teach. We all looked with the idea that maybe NJNA could bring a teacher in at some point. We did see a few things we thought worthwhile to put on the list of potential workshops.

Wednesday is an off day from stitching until we have exhausted our touring.

Sue

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Today we did begin the westward journey across the Mississippi once we learned the stitch for Illinois. Much less compensation is needed with these states with mostly flat borders! You can see that we are moving away from the greens and into the blues and purples. Wondering why Wyoming is sitting out there by its lonesome? The design calls for the waffle stitch which is 9 threads square. Which means we needed to make the state a multiple of nine squares or find some way to accommodate extra stitches or threads. I took a canvas thread from Montana to help out and have put a row of tent stitches on the west and east borders as well as a slanted Gobelin between each column of waffle stitches.

We did learn the stitch for South Dakota, but I decided to get another waffle into Wyoming instead of using the ten minutes we had for the Old Florentine which will go in South Dakota. Unfortunately, what I stitched for Nebraska had to be removed as I put it in the wrong place, it is pretty and will be stitched soon.

It is apparent that some of our instructions tomorrow will have to be verbal as class does end at 4:30 and by that time most of us cannot even think straight. I did go to the well lighted but cold stitching room this morning at six to finish up a few threads and complete the Upper Peninsula of Michigan so I got off to a good start this morning with only a few loose threads!

Wagons Ho!

Last day of this class tomorrow.

Sue

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We are moving on! Today we only got to 11 states. Most were easy because the borders are more regular in the Northwest Territory states as well as a few of the southern states. But Florida! Lots of compensation, lots and lots! I now have only two blue threads left to use and one state east of the Mississippi to begin, Illinois. You will see quite a few hanging threads left to finish and one more completed state, Indiana. Plus a couple more history lessons–the Toledo War was “fought” in Congress when Michigan was supposed to enter the union in 1835 along with the slave state, Alabama. Ohio congressmen were blocking the admittance because they wanted the city of Toledo on Lake Erie in their state. You can see a jog in the Ohio/Michigan border just for that. Does make it more interesting. One of the women in the class took close up photos of the piece with her iPad so that as she is stitching she can look at a blown up photo of the state she is stitching. this is valuable when you cannot quite figure out how to begin the next row or when you are not quite sure of the location of the border between two states–they are not all straight lines and those rivers do wiggle around! I am glad that we still have two more days of class as I am on a roll, enjoying the teacher as well as my stitching neighbors.

Cropped picture would not transfer!

Hope to complete some loose threads before class tomorrow!

Sue

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