I have been so fortunate to have spent so much time in the past three weeks stitching with friends and learning new things. I now have a wealth of things to work on during the dreary days of winter. You will see a big change in Zelda tonight as she now has a tail! Her ear hair has had it's first trimming. I need to wait for the final trimming sessions until I purchase a pair of sharp scissors with skinny blades that whisper when you cut.

Zelda with tail

It was not as difficult to attach the tail as I had thought. This technique would be great for pig tails! The tail will be shortened and attached again on the rump when all the stitching is complete. As it is now, it will be easy to move it aside to complete stitching the zebra. You will see that there is more added to the florentine ground. This was a case of two steps forward and one back. I need a quiet time to make sure that I don't mix up the color I should be using. I also added a bit to the sun. It took me so long to find where I was in the pattern that I did not straight round three! I did write a note as to where I left off in the design. The last thing we tackled today was the grasses of which you can see none. We can't add the grasses until the florentine ground is complete. The directions and Gale's demonstration will make that easy to do.

The week ended with the banquet of good food and good company and a great wait staff. We got hot, black tea served twice during dinner! Again it was a table laden with tea drinkers–five of the eight at the table. I am mostly packed, have written out the route changes–no Rosie to read it to me–and am ready to go. It has been grand this week to be able to share our excitement and fun with like minded people. See you at the next meeting whatever it may be! Sue

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The first hour of class today, as on Tuesday, is spent stitching on areas where we feel we need to work. For instance, this morning I knew that I needed to get the rump done in order to be able to attach the tail tomorrow and the head near the ear to fill in the ear with turkey work this afternoon. After an hour, Gail gave us directions on the white in the rump and how long to make or not make the satin stitches and why.

Untrimmed Turkey Work in Ear

Zelda's ear now looks like she needs a good trimming! I haven't finished the ear yet and will put it on my list to address first thing tomorrow when I get to class. After lunch we began the sky, a simple stitch that I finally got right on try number five! We are using Accentuate, one thread. Accentuate is a filament with very little to see, but it does glisten nicely. The pattern darning is over six under one, over six under one. Once you have gone out as far as you wish, you drop down one channel, go back or forward two vertical threads and head back. You “should” end up in the same relative position to the sun as where you started, “Should” being the operative word. Finally on try five I did! My problem was that it was hard to see the thread I was using and even harder to see where it came up and went down which resulted in poor counting. I hope that at home that part will be easier. I do understand what I should be doing.

I signed up for classes at the seminar next year in Phoenix. Three classes, am I crazy? They do have a number of nice canvas/congress cloth pieces which I find easier to work now and they are great designs. So my goal before then will be to finish the seminar pieces from this year at both seminars, a total of three. Since I enjoyed all of them, I expect that I will complete them.

One of the things that Rosie and I have both enjoyed at this seminar has been sharing meals with a variety of members from the Metropolitan region. Tonight's dinner included friends we have met from Long Island, Brooklyn, Paramus, Freehold, New Windsor, NY, Morristown and Mendham. It was a dinner of excellent food, many laughs and stories.

It hardly seems possible that tomorrow is the last day of seminar and we will soon be returning to our real lives!

Sue

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I began my day with a tour of the Louisville Slugger Factory which is nearby the hotel. It was not hard to find!

Entrance on Main St.

It was fascinating, especially for a lonnnng time baseball fan and a former science teacher. They still have an employee who can “turn” a bat by hand, but unless there is a special request all bats are made with the help of high speed tools and computers set for the specifications of each player. The company even owns the forests from which they harvest the trees!

The tour I went on in the afternoon included a stop at the Louisville Stoneware factory which was led by a very enthusiastic young woman who explained the entire process as she led us through the factory.

A Special Order

From the shaping to the paraffin placed on the bottom of each piece to the painting to the glazing by an air brush to the firing, we went through the whole process. Then we had a chance to shop in the store attached.

Cute Pumpkins!

We continued on the a glassworks place where we were able to see glass blowing but I was more impressed with the museum type pieces on display in the gallery!

Winnie the Pooh 8-10

I got back in time to walk to the park we can see from the window by the elevators and along the river. The park is over I-64 between the hotel and the Muhammed Ali Center and has statues of George Roger Clark who first settled Louisville and York the slave who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the Pacific.

York with our hotel in background

Today was a good break from the routine! Tomorrow I will be ready to dive back into Zebra! Sue

(Hopefully, this will be posted only once!)

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I am afraid that this will be a dull and short post as there is not much to report. Today in my zebra class we added white to the face, worked on the florentine ground and began the sun. Gale, our teacher is very specific as to what she wants us to work on so she can make sure we understand the things that could lead to problems. I am enjoying her class and find her directions and diagrams clear.

Day 2

Tonight was Merchandise Night. Rosie and I talked at dinner tonight about the differences between the merchandise sales for the two different seminars which Rosie plans to report.

At dinner Rosie also mentioned how EGA members seemed to know so many more attendees than you see among attendees at ANG seminars. Since EGA has more input from local level to the region level and since the region does so much more related to individual chapters you can see how that happens. It is interesting to see how the two are so different in their organizations. Another major difference in the seminars became very clear today when a woman in my class (also a friend of mine) was hit by a car while she was crossing the street with the walk light while she was in her electric scooter. Where ANG has a security man who would give the support needed and make sure that what should be done was done, Dorna had to rely on friends with her and the police who reported to the scene. Fortunately, she was not injured but jolted badly and bruised.

I did find things that I could not live without at the merchandise night. Now if we have a blizzard that keeps me in the house with power I will have lots to work on. But tell me how can I resist a small Kathy Rees piece that I can take with me on my trip to Colorado next week? Sue

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After the rains of yesterday, today was clear, crisp and breezy. Being on the 19th floor we are constantly looking out the window at the river. This afternoon what do we see going upriver but a coal barge. Is it the same one as yesterday? A barge where no one will takes its offering? Who knows.

Barge Going under the Second Street Bridge

I began my Out of Africa, Zebra class with Gale Washington today. Class began with a line drawn canvas, a bag of threads that were subdivided by where on the canvas they would be used, an instruction booklet with five beautiful photos showing the different phases of stitching as well as the finished piece. We worked first on the black on the head as she said the head was the hardest part with the small sections of black separated by white. Once I got over the fear of making the wrong decision on exactly where to place each stitch, I enjoyed it. We began the florentine stitching after lunch where Gale explained what she wanted the back to look like as well as the front and why. Tomorrow we start the day with an hour of stitching on any of these sections before we learn something new. I like that idea! Plus we were told not to stitch on our piece tonight.

Zebra, after day 1

We were not happy with the Express Breakfast offerings–pre packaged bakery products, sausage in a biscuit, but no eggs! We went to the restaurant for breakfast but decided we needed to get foods for the room. Tonight before going out to dinner we stopped at the information desk to ask for a convenience store nearby. There are none! BUT we got directions for the nearest grocery store, Kroeger's, right across the river. It seemed simple enough. We take the Second Street bridge, the same one the barge is moving under, over the river onto what we think would be called a service road or access road for I-65. Fortunately, we never had to get on the highway. We made the left as directed and started looking for Kroeger's on the right. We looked and looked and looked! Just as we pulled into a service station to ask, Rosie spotted the Kroeger's sign. We got our hard boiled eggs, fruit, pop-tarts, raisins. I then went to the customer service desk for directions back as we could never have backtracked the way we came without going the wrong way on a one way road. The man behind the desk began, ran into problems and called someone else for help. A few minutes later we were on our way. Now that is customer service! As we were walking into the store I told her that we were not making this trip daily! Sue

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Neither Rosie or I had classes today so we could pretty much do as we wished. The very heavy rain that hit Louisville made us decide not to go to the Louisville Slugger factory today. I began the day volunteering at the Registration Desk from 7:30 to 9:30. There were four of us doing that job and business was very slow! Rosie came down at 9:30 and I was finally able to escape so that we could go for a late breakfast at the Magnolia Cafe in the hotel. After breakfast we went to the bookstore and exhibit area then on to the boutique shop, my downfall! With the help of Rosie, one very knowledgeable saleswoman and two other friends who appeared on the scene for the final selection here is what I purchased.

Frankie colors, with an alternate choice

I caouldn’t decide on the “yellow” so have narrowed it down to these two. I do realize that these colors fit neither with the Michael Boren idea of what is right nor the colors of Frank Lloyd Wright, but to me they are appropriate colors for stained glass windows.

We stopped at the room displaying the classes for next year’s seminar in Phoenix and were able to find a few things that we liked, never the same classes. The resort looks beautiful and the rooms are suites with free parking and a refrigerator! Wow!

When we returned to the room, we worked on our SOTM and finished the audio book. Banquet is tonight. I know I will be too tired to write after the banquet so I am posting now.

Sue

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