Well, here's my adventures at the IOLI convention.
Left San Diego on Sat. Aug.27th. Sure helped to have someone push me in a
wheel chair through the airports. No problems on the flight. There were 7
of us from the Silvergate Lacers on the plane. We were all separated so we
couldn't cause any mischief. After getting to Denver and checked into room,
unpacked and met some of the gals for supper. Food was good, service was
very slow.
Sun. was registration day, vendor room and exhibit room opened. Went with my
list to buy all my much needed supplies and some that weren't on my list.
In the evening was the pajama party. It was a fun event. Wore my pj's with
a housecoat over. But my crowning glory item was an antique lavender tatted
dust cap or night cap. It got a lot of attention. Saw Ken from New York,
who teaches and makes bobbins (can't remember his last name) just before the
pajama party and asked him where his PJ's were. He informed me that he
didn't have any, he slept in the buff. OOOOH! I may be in trouble for
revealing his secret. So I told him to bring his birthday suit and come any
way. He said it was under his cloths and came. We were served breakfast at
night. It was fun.
Monday classes started. In the morning I studied Rosalibre bobbin lace,
with Cathleen Belleville. In the afternoon I had a class in wire tatting
with Carolyn Regnier. I found out that at my age (72) taking two classes
was too much for me to handle. But I did manage to get through them.
I really loved the Rosalibre lace. It's a three dimensional lace. The
flowers have a ruffle like a daffodil that sticks up and the leaves have a
fin that stick up. And the butterfly has wings that loop over. I think I
did pretty good with that. But was very disappointed when Cathleen said she
wasn't going to be teaching for at least two years. Had to do with her job.
Was sure glad I had also taken her chrysanthemum class in the past.
The wire tatting class was different. I had a hard time learning a
different method of working the wire than you use with thread. The
tensioning is different and you don't pull the wire tight like you do with
thread. I managed to get a few flowers made plus even crochet a wire plume.
Made a small corsage to wear on my dress at the Fri. banquet.
Monday was the arachne luncheon which was nice to put a few faces to
internet names. In the evening there was a Gold panning demonstration and a
display of a few live birds, a large owl and an eagle. I went to the vendors
room (again) and stopped to see the birds on my way back to my room.
Tuesday we had a catered lunch then in the evening there was the teachers
showcase. The teachers had lovely lace displays of the types of lace they
were teaching, plus they signed their books, and some had items and books
for sale. It was very crowded and a little hard for a handicapped person to
get through. But I managed.
Wednesday was tour day. I choose to go to the Flying W Ranch dinner. It was
a Bar B Q dinner served chuck wagon style. I couldn't believe how well
organized they were. There were over a thousand people served. I don't
remember how many they said. Wednesday was a rainy day. On the way there, a
big tractor trailer truck had broken down in the middle lane of the freeway.
Traffic was backed up for miles. There was a group that left early in the
day and got to the ranch in plenty of time to see the little ghost town and
Indian weaver and the blacksmith. They had visited a number of other places
including the airforce academy. I was in the two bus group that went late
in the day and we were supposed to get to visit the town but just managed
to get there in time to eat and see the show. It was a country western show
consisting of four men playing instruments and singing and telling stories
and jokes. Since I like country western I enjoyed it very much. The floor
was so uneven that two of our ladies did fall down. They seemed to be
alright, but I'm sure they probably had skinned knees and elbows.
Thursday was back to classes. Visited the vendors room again and spent some
more money, again. : )
In the evening was the Tat-Off. Of course the shuttle brothers had to show
everyone how to flip a stitch. Everytime I see it I still enjoy seeing it.
I didn't win anything not even being the oldest. After the Tat-Off the
Shuttle Bros. gave every one, one of their tatted butterflies. Then there
was the IOLI Gen. Meeting.
Friday. was cram day in my classes. Trying to get every last bit of
information we could from the teachers and seeing pieces that managed to get
finished by the students. In my wire tatting class, every day the teacher
came up with a way to give away a door prize. At the beginning of the class
we bought our supply kits. In one of each kit was a different item, such as
a different color of wire from the rest of the class. On Friday I won the
door prize by having the multi colored ruler in my kit. It was a fabulous
prize. It was a lovely pouch with two compartments and the treasures that
were in it. There was pair of scissors, two tortoise shell colored clover
shuttles, a miniature abalone shell shuttle and best of all was a Shuttle
Brothers shuttle, some thread and I think that's all. Isn't that enough? I
should have gone out and bought a lottery ticket that day. In the evening
was the banquet. Many of the people wore their best lace, collars, shawls,
head pieces, vests and even dresses. It was hard to get around to see them
all. That night was the last of the drawings. That night I won a lovely
signed book by Greet Rome-Verbeylen, Lace from Lier, tamboured with a hook
Problems for me: Couldn't get a lace pillow in my suitcase. Ended up kinda
making a rectangle pillow to fit in the suitcase. Then there was a pillow
stand. Was told that the tables were too high to work on and we had better
bring our own stand. Oh joy! My stands and TY tables wouldn't fit in my
suitcase. Well I had a embroiders giraffe stand for holding wooden hoops.
Well I drilled holes here and there to lower it to the right height, then
had to come up with something to hold the pillow. Found an old TV tray in
the garage, drilled holes in that and bolted it to the stand. Fit in the
suitcase. Luggage carrier was to big to fit in so had an old one that was
broken and tried to make it work. Got all this mess to the convention and
after one day of trying to lug all this to class and back, I realized it
just wouldn't work. Had to go buy an other pillow table that came apart
easily and a tote bag to carry it all in.
Good stuff: Upon registration we got wonderful tote bags with two big
zippered pockets. Lots of goodies from many of the guilds. Haven't unpacked
it all and so don't remember what all we got. At every event, such as the
luncheon, breakfast, and banquet we got lovely favors. Some of which I
remember. Lovely lace bookmarks, Ceramic lidded dish with a decal of a
tatted motif on it, pin cushions, striver pins with tatted butterflies, a
pair of stork scissors with a lovely beaded tassel on it. and one thing I
really liked was a simple book mark that was like a plastic paper clip with
a flat piece that came down that was a ball point style pen. Plus plenty of
things I forgot.
One comment my wire lace teacher made that will give you all a different way
to look at your work.
After I finished a piece she put it on the table and asked me if I would pay
$149.00 for it. I said "H___ NO!" Then she said " You just did!" Everyone
just laughed. We don't think of the price of the class, supplies etc. when
we make something. I know there is so much else in that cost, the
information we get, learning, etc. we don't think like that.
Then Sat. it was back to San Diego and now the unpacking, doing laundry and
trying to recoup. Enjoyed it very much.
I've done my report. Sorry it was so long.
Patsy A. Goodman
Chula Vista, CA, USA
TatPat1, NATA #333
-
To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line:
unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
