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!