Diane mentioned her flying visit yesterday with her husband. When we went through the exhibit, admiring all the pieces and especially the winners, we also commented on some of the pieces. Amazingly, some of the prices that we commented on were among the winners of last night’s special awards. One of them was a patriotic sampler that I think was in several issues of Needlepoint Now a few years ago. Another was an adaptation of a painting of a field of poppies. I am looking forward to seeing them again in a future issue of NeedlePointers.

We had interesting table mates from the west coast–Olympic Peninsula–south, mid Atlantic and us. The favors were useful–nice red stork scissors, a chocolate bar with an informative wrapper–Hershey’s of course–and a pen. The food was good and the right amount AND we left at a reasonable hour!

I am now ready to begin my first class!

Sue C.

Hi, Everyone —

What a great day!  I started the day with a swim — not quite the normal 45 minutes, but close!

Sue and I ate hard boiled eggs and pastries from the local markets — so instead of a $20 breakfast we ran less than $3.  That’s always a good day!

Here is my canvas at the start of the day.

Beginning of Day 2

I hadn’t made much progress — mostly because I ended up ripping out and redoing the golden wave — it still isn’t finished, but the placement is correct now.

We did a lot of new stitching today and I’m feeling a bit better by the end of the day.

End of Day 2

Progress!

Heidi told you about the Opening Banquet Dinner.  A few prizes from the Exhibit were announced — some of this work is just amazing — too bad that they won’t allow pictures.

Here’s hoping that we don’t have a repeat of last night’s fire alarms!

Cheers!  Rosie

Today was my first day of joni Stevenson’s Andalucia. What a fabulous day of stitching. The canvas and colors are far more beautiful than the catalogue picture appears. I am so happy with my choice. I sent a picture of my canvas after the first day to Rosie, with hopes she may be able to post it here. Time disappears while stitching. Three hours passed without a thought of time when Sue and Rosie appeared to go out to lunch. I was conflicted because I was so involved with my canvas I just wanted to tie up lose ends. But the break was good. We went across the street to the market place where whatever you like to eat, you can find. We each had different lunches from different vendors. After three more hours of class I ran off to my room to get a handle on my disorganization. And tuck my tails. I have now finished three of the six areas we covered today and I got my threads organized.
At the welcome dinner, the highlight was a guest speaker who spoke about her experience and pursuit of unfinished canvases. She even buys them on the Internet. Then she finishes them with white thread. It creates very interesting effects. She was quite amusing as well as thought provoking. I’m now exhausted, and should call my husband, but probably won’t.

As many of you know, I was in Philly on Saturday and Sunday for a wedding, which was fabulous!!  Sunday morning after the brunch, my husband was willing to walk over to Seminar with me to check out the shopping and exhibits.  The shop is outstanding – I’ve been wanting to get to Rittenhouse for a while but always seem to end up in Philly on days when they are closed.  The number of different fibers was amazing – my husband had no idea how many different types of fibers there were; he gave up asking after the first few!  I had a specific thread I wanted  (a light brown Sea Grass) for a small section of my piano piece – they didn’t have a lot of the Sea Grass; however I still found what I wanted.  When I go on Wednesday, I’m going to take a painted canvas I have that I’m going to make for my future daughter-in-law so I can at least start to kit it given all the amazing fiber options.  Supposedly, they have even more at their shop.  And the staff were wonderful, asking if I needed help but not bothering me.

I did get to meet up with Sue C and Rosie.  Rosie had to go off to class while Sue, my husband, and I checked out the exhibit area.  The exhibit area is small but packed full of finished projects.  I have to go back on Wednesday to check out the Independent entries because they all have write-ups on what the creator thought or was trying to do.  The 2013 seminar projects have several I’m eager to do if I can only get to Anaheim!  A friend from college is going to be teaching a fabulous evening bag so that was fun to see.

I’m looking forward to Wednesday, taking my class and just experiencing the whole atmosphere.  In just the few hours I was there today, I spoke to so many people who all share our love of needlepoint.  The energy and enthusiasm is really encouraging.

This was a day of firsts: Rosie’s first class, my first venture to the surrounding blocks to try to get oriented and visits to the bookstore, shop, and Reading Terminal Market. The bookshop has everything from needlework books of ALL kinds to children’s books to mysteries based on some form of needlework. (I thought I’d copy down some authors for the newsletter editor.). I made a list of my favorite needlework books. I did not buy yet; I figure if some are soldout, my wallet is safer! I did find some charts that I liked at the shop and drooled over the enormous selection of threads. In my search of the neighborhood I found a 7Eleven that carried hard boiled eggs for Rosie’s breakfast–none in the Reading Terminal Market, I asked all over. I found the recommended restaurant from our conversation last night at the open stitching where we went tonight–Caribou Cafe. I found friendly stitchers at the open stitching area again. Stitchers are so friendly!

This afternoon Heidi arrived, checked in, went to her room and came out of the shop an hour later with her hands full! She is one fast shopper! I am sure you have read about the excitement Rosie and I saw while at the First Timers’ Reception. What a hoot! Only in a big city! The three of us went out for a good dinner tonight and are getting ready for a good day tomorrow.

Hi, Everyone —

Sue C and I attended the first timer’s reception tonight.  The ANG officers and area reps did speed dating at each table to tell us about the seminar and their particular responsibilities.  Also, my name was pulled out of a bag and I won a door prize!  By far, the highlight of the event was a spectacular naked biking parade!  We were on a mezzanine and had front row seats to this annual Philadelphia event!  I don’t think I can post the video on the blog — sorry!

Naked Bike Parade in Philadelphia

My class called “Asian Collage” with Debbie Steihler started this morning.  It’s been a lot of fun and the stitches are unique and interesting.  Lots of influence by Jane Zimmerman.  Sue Rossi — I met Sue Wardrep and Toni Goetzman — they are both in the Asian Collage class with me.  Very nice ladies!

You probably saw the photo of Sue and I scouring the Reading Terminal Market for our lunch.  We had yummy sandwiches from an Italian deli and wonderful tea from a booth that specialized in scores of types of tea,

After the first timer’s banquet we met Heidi and went to dinner at a restaurant that some of our seminar colleagues had recommended called Cariboo Cafe.  It was about a four block walk from the hotel and was an interesting mix of mostly French cafe cuisine.  (I had steak tartare — one of my favorites!)

After I send this post out into cyberspace, I may try to tie off a few of my “tails” from today’s project before I hit the sack.

These are very busy days — I haven’t even found time to visit the store or exhibits.

Looking forward to seeing more NJNA members soon!

Cheers!  Rosie

Wow, I am here and ever so happy to be here.  Thanks to Sue  C. , who babysat my luggage while I found a parking spot for my car, I was able to check in without any mishaps.  After unpacking I immediately hit registration and the needlepoint store to pick up the necessary items I needed for my class tomorrow, and a few extra goodies.  Once situated, I met Sue and Rosie to go to dinner.  We went to a wonderful spot, the Carabou Club, for a delicious dinner, but more importantly terrific company and conversation about stitching and bigger issues.  I know I am in a city because I was completely oblivious to the naked bicyclists streaming by the hotel.  I have yet to understand what their cause was, freedom of some sort.

Hi, Everyone —

Sue C and I arrived in Philadelphia around 5:00 PM and before we even settled into our room, we hit the ANG registration booth.  Lots of goodies.  We have decided that we need to make a one page schedule because there are so many activities going on this week — I swear that there is something every night.

So after reading our program cover to cover, we settled in to our room.  I think we’ll be very cozy here for the week!

It turns out that there are quite a few restaurants in the area.  The Reading Terminal Market was closed, so we didn’t get a chance to scope that out yet.  We decided to go to The Melting Pot for dinner — it was literally just across the street.

After dinner, we scoped out the meeting floors and stumbled upon a group in the open stitching area (it’s open 24 hours in case someone has trouble sleeping!).  What fun!  Jo Ippolito Christensen was sitting with folks from Syracuse, NY; San Diego, CA; Easton, PA; and Mendham, NJ.  Someone immediately knew Mendham as “Where Mrs. Stitches is!”  They thought I was lucky to live within walking distance — some of these women have to drive an hour for stitching supplies.

Good night all!

Cheers — Rosie