The last part

Tuesday's merchandise night included a variety of vendors. There were some older painted canvas available, a great vintage and collectibles table including tons of buttons, wooden scissor stands, bags, totes and purses, several of the class teachers with some of their kits, wooden shaker boxes, and that is about all I can remember! LOL. During class that day, I got a lot of great ideas for the rose and tassel canvas which I will discuss with you as I work that project.
Wednesday during class, we started on the second round of canvas, after reviewing the boutique samples. We discussed layering, and lots of books and our collections of same! Can you say "I am a bookaholic, threadaholic, or stashaholic (fill in your own description here!)"
DH and I went to Columbia and met several of his old friends and had dinner and visited with all of them for a while. What fun! We got back a little late, but it was worth the trip.
Thursday was the last day of class, and we finished up all the second canvas that anyone had wanted to discuss and reviewed the first ones if anyone had other questions, comments. Several people had made great progress in those four days! A couple of people added new canvas to their stash from the boutique and almost everyone bought a little thread!! The closing reception and dinner were wonderful. Prime rib, salmon or chicken were the main course choice. Awards were presented for the gallery of stitched items that were on display during the week, and several door prizes were awarded.
All in all, it was a great week. I have lots of notes, had lots of fun too, and now know another large group of stitchers. If you get the chance to go, I encourage you to do so.....Maybe I will see you there sometime!

P.S. I stitched some more on the purse flap background tonight and tomorrow there will be pictures!! Promise!

More about Callaway

Several of you are asking for more details about my excursion to Callaway, so I decided to go into greater details. We arrived on Sunday afternoon, checked in and then and checked out the villa(photos previously posted), and unpacked. We settled in for a bit, and I checked my schedule of events. The boutique and bookstore were open so I left DH with a movie and I walked the five minutes over to the conference center. I picked up the black Micro Ice, the black Vineyard Silks Shimmer in the boutique (needed for a future project) and wandered over to the bookstore. I picked up the books (shown in the previous photos) and headed back to the villa. After chatting a bit, we went over to the Lodge for the teacher display and wine and cheese reception. Several of the attending teachers were there, including Carole, and we chatted with several of them. After having some wine and cheese and visiting with some of the women from the local guild, we met them for dinner and met Pam and Neva from Lincoln, NE. DH did very well with a table full of women and enjoyed himself. He is not shy and had great conversations with the ladies! We headed back to the villa after dinner in the Plant room which is served buffet style and serving up options for everyone's tastes.
Monday morning we headed to breakfast, and then DH dropped me off for class and left. Carole started the class by talking about what we would be doing for the next four days. We started off by discussing several canvas supplied by the boutique. What was the focal point? What fibers could be used? Would you buy the canvas? Is so, why? If not, why not? It was not her intention to write stitch guides for the canvas we took, but to raise our awareness and abilities to figure out what and how. We each received a book of stitches by Carole as well as any empty notebook for writing down ideas and sketching stitches. We then began working through all the canvas all of the students brought throughout that day. Some had fiber some did not. If after reviewing your canvas, you needed threads, you went to the boutique to shop and return to review.
After class on Monday, DH and I had dinner and I stitched a little bit. After so much excitement and information, I must admit I did go to bed early!
Tuesday class started by reviewing more boutique canvas, and then discussed a lot of the stitches in Carole's book and how to use it. We had a great conversation about stitching books and reviewed progress on some of the canvas that were reviewed on Monday where the owner had started stitching. Tuesday night was Merchandise night and after dinner, I walked through the displays. There were so many wonderful things available!
I will pick up this thread tomorrow and finish more details then. Meanwhile I am working on the Boots Bailey purse flap....just in case you thought I wasn't stitching!

Class, Purchases, etc.

First, I took Carole Lake's Painted Canvas Workshop: A Gallery of Ideas for Stitching for four days. It was a fantastic class! I highly recommend taking it if you are interested in expanding your canvas enhancement abilities. Carole led a group of twenty of us with two of our canvases in group discussions and brain storming ideas to get them out of our closets and onto the walls or wherever they belong. It was not a class where Carole writes a stitch guide for you, but you all work together and come up with ideas, stitches and threads. There was a large variety of canvas with all kinds of creative ideas to stitch them. Carole was an excellent enabler as well as educator and has a great sense of humor to boot! I will talk more about my canvas and how I will stitch them at a later date.
Second, the photo shows what I purchased. There was a wonderful boutique run by Barbara Jackson and her wonderful helpers. If you needed threads or additional ones, during our class you went to the Boutique and Leigh helped you pick them out! My canvas came with the threads and we will discuss those later also. There was also a bookstore by Ruth Kern and there I picked up the long skinny book called Categories for Needlepoint Stitches, The Midas Touch, and Embroidered Flora and Fauna. In the boutique, I purchased the Vineyard Shimmer Black, Micro Ice in black,the SJ Designs star beads and two Pearsall silks in grey. The Vineyard silk and Micro Ice are for a DeeBee's design in the stash. The beads were because they are cute, and the Pearsall's I thought I might use on the purse flap. At Merchandise night on Tuesday, I picked up Marnie Ritter's Aurora Revisited kit and the four pieces of Ultrasuede in the foreground.
Last, it was a fun filled busy week. On Sunday, after check in both the boutique, book store and exhibit were open and then there was the faculty showcase followed by a wine and cheese reception and dinner. Monday classes started. Tuesday night was Merchandise night and Thursday night was the closing banquet.
There are several restaurants available but mostly we ate our meals in the Plant Room restaurant which was a buffet for every meal. Breakfast and lunch also had a specialty island with omelettes for breakfast and different things like hot Caesar salads made while you waited. The service was excellent. Breakfast items included cereals-hot and cold, eggs, meats, breads and rolls, fruit. Lunches were salads, sandwiches, hot main entrees and veggies, cookies, fruits and brownies for dessert. Dinners were salads, hot veggies, hot entrees, and pies, cakes etc for desserts. Soups were available at lunch and dinner. Every meal also has coffee, tea, juice etc. The wait staff were all friendly and all meals were on china, and provided linen napkins. Pretty first class in my opinion!
I hope you all get a chance to go and get really spoiled for several days!

Rest of the villa

Since some of you asked to see the rest of the villa, I am posting those pictures for you! We did not stay at the Lodge itself,but the Villas which are a two minute drive from the center itself. They offered 1,2, or 3 bedroom units. Ours was a one bedroom. All have screened in porches and decks. The first picture is standing in the dining room looking to the living room and DH is working crossword puzzles.

The dining room light is in the top left of the picture and it is over the table which I showed before. Behind him the sliding glass doors lead out to another deck with a bbq grill. The fireplace is on the right and he built a fire two different days. There is a CD player in the bookshelf, along with CD's to listen to, on the end closest to the single window and the tv is closest to us in the picture. The cable is there also for internet connections. A nice wing back chair, a full couch and a love seat provided more than enough seating!
Below is the picture of the stained glass windowed front doors, opposite the dining room, with a large foyer area. On the right is a walk in laundry room and the left is a closet.


Below is the huge bathroom with two sinks, and a padded bench in the bay window where I sat to put on my shoes! Through the open door is the shower and commode. There is a huge closet on the right side and a cabinet and drawers on the left side before you walk into the tiled floor.
Since I was going to leave him to entertain himself for a while each day, I felt it was worth a little more to have all the comforts of home.


Tomorrow I will show you what I bought--don't act so surprised! You knew I would come home with something!

Villa

Standing in the living room looking towards the dining room and kitchen,

The bedroom and porch off of it,.

Standing at the front door looking towards the back porch.

Callaway #1

DH and I arrived around two this afternoon! Nice sunny, but chilly, day for a ride. This is my first trip to Callaway Gardens in Georgia. We have a beautiful one bedroom villa! A kitchen--but I am not cooking--complete with dishwasher, dining room, living room with wood stocked fireplace, bedroom with two double beds, huge closet and bathroom with double sinks, dressing area. First class! We registered and then unpacked. I registered for the class and then did a quick cruise of the boutique, bookstore and exhibit. Found some goodies and will post about them later along with photos of the villa. We attended the teacher display, the opening reception and then had dinner with six women from our area area and Lincoln Nebraska! Rick loves having a harem to dine with! More tomorrow!

Boots Bailey purse flap

I also brought this piece with me to Callaway and I have started working on it! I need to take a picture in the daylight and post it on Wednesday. Classes are great and I am having a great time along with taking notes. The class is about choosing fibers, stitches and bringing the canvas to the potential each piece has. Carole Lake is not only an excellent teacher, but has a great sense of humor, along with a wealth of knowledge!