EGA Seminar - Part 3

I didn't get very far on the wire work but I think I learned enough and took notes so I'll be able to finish this flower petal.

A great tip Deanna shared with us was to use a shower cap to transport and protect our work when we were finished for the day. She even gave everyone a cap for us to use when we packed our bags to go home at the end of the day.

EGA Seminar - Part 2

Perhaps one of the best things that happened this week was the rain on Friday. It hasn't rained for several months here and things are very dry. It was a treat to wake up to a gentle rain this morning.



Stumpwork is a very tedious job. As you can see these ladies were serious about their work!

Here is a picture of the project we worked on. It is called sweet peas by Deanna Bertelsen.

I decided not to even attempt working on the really nice fabric provided in the kit. Since this was my first attempt at Stumpwork I knew I wanted to practice first. So I chose to work on a practice cloth. It seemed to me this class probably could have been a four day class if there had been time. There was so much to learn and so little time to learn and practice each technique. Time flies when you are having fun!

As you can see I got started on a lot of the elements of the projects. The two days just flew by and if I practice for the next ten years I might just learn all the techniques and attempt to do the completed project. I will be using the techniques I learned in my crazy quilting and that is actually what my goal was when I started the class.

2008 EGA Seminar - Beading Class

This is the 4th bracelet we learned and as a bonus Deanna threw in a lesson on the two needle Peyote Stitch. LOL ... in my book that stitch alone could have been a full class!

There were 19 people in our class and I snapped this picture during a break. LOL ... some people just kept on beading. I heard the comment many times about how addictive beading can be. Several ladies went back to their room the first night and beaded. One lady finished one bracelet by the end of the second day! I for one was just too tired and couldn't think about beading after class but I did do a few stitches on my crazy quilt blocks I brought along with me.

Wednesday - today - is a day to see the city and the EGA headquarters. I'm going to run by the grocery and pick up a few supplies for the room. It gets very expensive if you have to eat out every meal. Then tomorrow I'm branching out to take a two day stump work class. I have to confess I'm a complete novice in that area also. Hopefully I'll have as much success picking up the technique as I did in the beading class. Check in later this week for part two of EGA 2008 Seminar!

EGA Seminar Class One - Beading

I signed up for classes well over a year ago and my plan was to learn a little about the subjects before the Seminar. Well best laid plans and life got in the way and I went into my first class as a total novice. If I knew then what I know now I would have said Karen you are crazy!!! The two day class covered four beading techniques and we had three hours for each bracelet to learn the technique.

I can honestly say that Deanna Powell was a great and patient teacher. I didn't feel out of place because I was such a newbie. I just followed along at my own pace and she helped me over the few stumbling blocks that I encountered.

Above you can see a how far I got with each technique. Some were easier than others but they were all new to me so I am happy that I learned as much as I did. Next time I think I will just take a class that teaches maybe one or two techniques but this way at least I've been introduced to all four and can decide if I want to go forward with any of them. I liked all of them and plan to finish at least a couple of the bracelets ..... that is if I can remember how to do them!

EGA Seminar 2008 - shopping

As always at these events shopping and demonstrations were available. I picked up a few packs of needles, some thread and few books I didn't have. All in all I've been good (so far)! But I understand there is a special shopping venue open today that I will be checking out. I'll let you know if I get out of there without spending any more money.

EGA Seminar 2008

The EGA Seminar is being held in Louisville Kentucky this year. Louisville is also home to The EGA Headquarters. The Seminar actually started this past weekend and many folks arrived as early as Friday and have been busy seeing the city and attending classes.

I went to my first event on Sunday evening - The Opening Banquet. Well over 900 people attended and the dinner was delicious! It's hard to imagine cooking for 900 plus people, getting them all served in a timely manner and to top it off the food being good. But the Hyatt Hotel managed to pull it off.

Here is a view out the window on the top floor of the hotel where a lot of us are staying. What a beautiful day to look out over the Ohio River!