Someone wrote to me yesterday -- asking about the workshop -- and I realised that I'd promised y'all a report and then promptly forgot all about it, being under siege from family visitors... So here it is, a "Tamara special" (long-winded) :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The title of the workshop was "Snowflake Quilt". The description of the course was as follows:
"Students will work a sampler of 6 to unlimited sections, using a minimum of 6 or up to 100 different snowflake stitches. The sampler may have different shapes or be 3 dimensional. Students should have experience in either Binche or Flanders lace and should be able to work with diagrams. Students who are experienced with PG laces and the use of diagrams but have not worked Flanders or Binche are also welcome"
A shoo-in, for me :) 1) I've always wanted to take a class from Loehr, almost to the point where the subject was immaterial; she seems to turn to gold *anything* she touches :) 2) It was a 24-hr class; if I'm going to travel and then spend oodles on food and accomodation, then I want my "reward" -- a solid, concentrated work-out, not a "dabble". 3) I've never done any Binche, but I have done Flanders, and some PG, and I'm reasonably comfortable with diagrams -- even drew some of my own at times...
I'm not "into" 3-D (or not much), but I don't *have to* make mine 3-D, so that's OK, too.
So I sent in my application and settled down to wait for a reply. In time, it came; I had been accepted, and the list of supplies needed was appended... I don't have to make my sampler in cobweb-fine thread; Gutermann 100/3 is one of the options as the basic thread. Hallelujah! Being able to *see* what I'm working on might be helpful, when learning something "rather new" :) Some of the requirements aren't all that clear to me, so I get in touch with a German Arachnean who'd studied with Loehr, and she clarifies things. I begin to "see", in my mind's eye, what it is I want to do. Thread (especially the "fat" one) is still a bit of a problem, but one Arachnean suggests something, another one gets it for me (what would I *do* without Arachne???) and I'm all set for my adventure.
Saturday, August 2. When Betty Ann and I stop for the night on the way to Convention, I wind 20 of the required 36 prs in the motel room (had been working on the Arachne Spider up to the last minute at home).
Sunday, August 3. On my way out of the sales room, with Toustou's roller firmly clutched to my chest, I run into Ms Loehr, introduce myself, and get handed two sheets of paper with dots arranged in triangles on them. I will need some sort of stiffer paper and the plastic film to make a proper pricking (oh, *duh*; why didn't I think I might need those? <g>). So, as soon as the pillow is safely deposited in the room, it's back to the fray, shopping for the missing ingredients. Back in the room, I finish winding the bobbins, and go to bed (in a borrowed nightgown :) I seem to have left mine in the motel in Allentown. Thankfully, my roomie -- another Arachnean <g> -- has thought to pack two) still appalled at the enormity of having spent *so much* for the pillow.
Monday, August 3. Class starts. I stroll in, very pleased with myself, 5 minutes "before the bell" (8:30; at home, I don't even *get up* till 10) and get a somewhat "fishy eye" from the teacher, for being later than most. Thankfully, at least one person is *later* than I am, so I'm able to slink away into a corner (well lit <g>) with all my gear (lots and lots of it <g>) and make myself as small as small...
There are 14 of us -- counting the teacher -- and we're "housed" in a bedroom, from which beds had been removed. That means that we have some natural light and a bathroom at our disposal. But we need tables, and, although requested, they had not been provided. Most of us have our own pillow stands/tables with us, but not all. And, anyway, it seems we'll need more than pillow stands; we'll need "real" tables before we even start on outr pillows. Ms Loehr makes her displeasure known to the management over the phone, and two tables appear. We're ready to get to "quilting in lace".
Er... not quite :) First, we need to decide which shape we want to make *ultimately*. Because (shades of "The Beginning of the End" <g>) the final result we're aiming at will determine how we start and the direction of work. So we spend some time cutting the sheets of "dots in triangles", pasting them onto our pricking cards (and only one of us -- not me -- had the foresight to bring paper-cutting scissors and glue), and covering them with "the blue".
We disperse to our seats, each with her own pricking, and *now* we're ready to begin...
----- Tamara P Duvall mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland
- To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
