Celebration of Needlework 2009

Wow.. what a wonderful time I had at Celebration of Needlework!

Thursday morning, Susan and I flew from Chicago to Manchester, met up with Jenny at the airport, then the three of us headed to the hotel.

We dumped our things in our room, had some lunch, then hit the shopping mall.  I just looked and made note of things I liked then did a small amount of purchasing later on…

Jenny and I had a class with Teresa Layman called “Bumbling Bullions.”  Teresa is a wonderful and patient teacher and had samples of bullions that she had added to various pieces of clothing on display – beautiful!.  The majority of the class consisted of practicing bullions with different doodleclothes, needles, and fibers.  Teresa demonstrated the stitch and also helped troubleshoot less-than-perfect stitches and offered guidance and advice to each individual in the class.  I didn’t really get to work on the actual class project, which consisted of small floral and other motifs made with bullions and finished as buttons.  They look like quick stitches and I’m looking forward to working on them. 

Jenny and I met up with Susan and her friend Fran for dinner away from the hotel, then Jenny and I attend the Make It Take It Round Robbin class.   (It turns out that Erin was there too, but we hadn’t met her yet!)  We met with six different designers and received cute little project kits and had some time to talk with the designers about the project (and various other subjects – LOL).  We had the pleasure of meeting with Susan Greening Davis, Cynthia Zittel, Catherine Theron, Louise Henderson, Pam Reed, and Pam’s daughter (who’s name I don’t remember).

Friday was pretty much a free day.  We camped out at a table in the lobby and stitched most of the day and made a trip or two to the mall.  We had people come by who recognized us from blogs, etc and chatted.  Eventually, others from The Wagon started showing up and we all planned to go out for dinner:

 From Left to Right:  Me, Jenny, Carol, Robbin, Susan, and Erin

After dinner, Jenny, Erin, Robbin and I all attended the two Round Robbin sessions and had a really good time!  We got kits from lots of different designers – all who spoke about the design or gave instructions on finishing!  Susan Greening Davis, Lauren Sauer, Eileen Bennet, Jackie du Plessis, Julie Norton, Barbara Jackson, Catherine Strickler, and Marsha Brown.  Saturday morning, we had breakfast, then Susan, Jenny, Erin and I attended our Intermediate Hardanger Techniques class by Julie Norton, where I learned to do the amazing Eidelweiss filling stitch.  It was a really great class!

We had lunch, met up with some other Wagon stitchers, did a litle show and tell, and shopped before Susan, Jenny, and I went back to the airport to head home.

Standing:  Carol, Kate, Robbin, Me, and Erin  Sitting:  Jenny, Susan, and Erin

Overall, I had a wondeful mini-vacation!