EGA Seminar report

Posted by fran on September 12, 2005, 1:41 am

It's been a long week. Drove from Winston-Salem, NC, to Knoxville, TN
to pick up Mom, then we headed to Atlanta for our 2nd EGA Seminar. We
arrived Sunday afternoon, late, and just had time to get our rooms,
register, and change for the opening night banquet. Food was OK,
dessert was great.

Since we didn't know anyone, we just sat down at a table and started
talking. Turns out one person at the table lives 9 miles from me, and
she was taking the same class we were! I was a bit surpised, to say
the least.

Monday, we started class - Painted Ladies, a stumpwork project that
has a dragonfly, bee, beetle, and several sweet peas. I had never
done anything like stumpwork before and so was a bit concerned about
whether I could do it. However, the teacher was very nice and made it
seem so simple. This was a 4-day class, so we had plenty of time to
learn the techniques involved, though not to actually finish the
piece. The teacher had several tricks that she had developed on her
own that made many of the steps much easier than you will find in the
books.

We started with learning how to transfer the pattern from the book to
the cloth. Then we spent time working on the background part of the
design. I am terrible at long and short stitch and so my flower buds
look a little strange. I am going to have to practice a good bit
before I continue on the part requiring that stitch (which is all the
flower petals) , and I may even rip what I have done so far and start
over - it certainly couldn't look worse! We then learned how to make
a bee (turkey work) and it's wings. Because the wings are free, we
have to stitch them on a seperate piece of cloth and then attach them.
The same with the dragonfly wings and sweet pea petals. Thankfully
the leaves are done in satin stitch, and so I can do them with no
problems. The last day we learned how to make the vine tendrils and
how to attach all the parts to the background. Attaching is the very
last thing, and so it's going to be a while until I get that far.

The hotel was standard hotel, but its landscaping made all the
difference. In the back was a ravine that the hotel had landscaped to
have a fountain, several falls, and two large ponds. There were walks
and places to sit all along the ravine. I frequently went out there
just to read and unwind during lunch and after class. Now if only I
can transplant that into my back yard....

The class ran Mon, Tue, Thur, and Fri, leaving Wed open. On Wed, Mom
decided she didn't want to take any of the tours, so she just stayed
in the room and stitched. I took the "Cultural" tour which involved
an hour at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, and a hour on a
behind-the-sceens tour of the Fox Theater. The tour guide really knew
Atlanta, and was able to give all sorts of bits and pieces about the
history of the town, such as the fact that Atlanta is the 4th name for
the town, and that Peachtree is a corruption of Pitch Tree! I think I
like Peachtree better. :)

The gardens were gorgeous, and one hour only allowed time to see maybe
a quarter of them. There is a beautiful orchid section, and a
fascinating cactus area that gave me all sorts of ideas about textures
and designs. They are actively involved in conserving the native
pitcher plants and venus-fly traps that are disappearing in the wild,
and so have a fair-sized patch filled with all different types of
these plants.

The Fox theater was built in the 1920's and is beautifully restored.
It almost got torn down in the 80's, but a drive by the citizens saved
it and built up $$ enough for restoration. It was built originally by
the Shriners as thier lodge, but they ran out of money, so Fox Theater
agreed to foot part of the bill. When Fox went bankrupt, the building
was sold, and so forth. It is now restored to it's 20's grandure and
is absolutely lovely. The architecture is different - it is either
mid-eastern or egyptian, depending on if it is a section built by the
Shriners or by Fox. Its theater holds 5000 people, and it has several
ballrooms. While we were there, we got to see them setting up for the
Phantom of the Opera tour, and to meet with the people doing the
restoration. Because we were a stitching group, we were able to see
some of the original fabrics, learn how they went about finding copies
or adaptations, and were actually able to give some help in
identifying stiching methods and cloth types.

When back from the tours, I melted my credit card at the stiching shop
where I found all sorts of new fibers to play with. Rainbow Gallery
has a new fiber made from bamboo! I got two colors. It feels kinda
like linen, so we'll see how that works out. There were also fibers
such as silk chenille, the DMC linen threads, etc. I ordered a couple
of blackwork ironwork designs, and am awaiting those. I didn't get
much else there, as I have enough stash to fill a room already. The
bookstore had a lot of books on types of embroidery I haven't tried
yet, so I restricted myself to a book on beading, and another on
goldwork, as that is the class I signed up for at next year's seminar.

The merchadise night on Tuesday was a blast. I spent two hours
looking around, drooling over most of it, and restraining myself from
buying everyting I saw. I did get 2 Japanese carvings of dragons that
were originally designed to hang off the obi's, and same hand-dyed
cotton threads. I also drooled over some gorgeous beeding kits, one
especially of the face of a panther, but didn't buy it because I
simply could not afford $145!

Friday was the closing banquet. Dessert was to die for - a 4"
diameter ball of chocolate mousse covered in dark chocolate, with
raspberry and lime sauce dribbled over it. A white chocolate
rectangle with the seminar design printed on it was propped up on the
ball. I savored every bite.

We left Saturday morning, and stopped off at the Botanical gardens ont
he way out. I spent about 2 hours taking photos (over 200 of them),
and then we drove back to Knoxville. I got home this afternoon, and
thank God I took tommorrow off as well - I need some down time!

Posted by Cheryl Isaak on September 12, 2005, 8:54 am

Sounds great! and it is a small world some days isn't!

Cheryl

Posted by Susan Hartman/Dirty Linen on September 12, 2005, 11:19 am

fran wrote:
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Thank you for that report! I was able to enjoy the seminar vicariously.
Maybe someday I'll get to go to one myself!

Sue

Posted by Dianne Lewandowski on September 12, 2005, 11:27 am

Ooooh, I savored every word, Fran. Thanks for the tour!
Dianne

fran wrote:

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--
"The Journal of Needlework" - The E-zine for All Needleworkers
http://journal.heritageshoppe.com

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