ANG Seminar 2016 "Parade of Stitches" Itinerary - 9/5/16

September 5, 2016--Attended the 44th American Needlepoint Guild (ANG) Seminar (Parade of Stitches) in New Orleans, LA and had a blast!  I was also very, very busy.  If you look at my itinerary and comments below, I think you'll agree.

Thursday, August 25:

• 2:00 pm:  Arrived at the Hyatt Regency, New Orleans and checked-in.
• 3:30 pm: Met other Distance Learning (DL)* members in the Exhibit Hall to display the DL projects for viewing by attendees.  Actually, Barbara E and Kristi H did all the work possible before I got there.  Thank you B and K.
• 4:00 pm:  Checked in to the seminar.  Received a seminar pin for my name tag, a free Mardi Gras Fleur de Lys ornament designed by Michele Roberts, bead necklaces (of course in green, gold and purple), a beautifully printed informational booklet (which included instructions for The Jester's Mask Ornament by Connie Camp), banquet confirmations, a blue accessories tray with snaps (lays flat when opened),  etc.

Friday, August 26:

• 8:30 am:  Back at the Exhibit Hall with Melita G, Kristi H and Barbara E to hang and label the DL projects.  Wrapped this up quickly.
• Free Time All Day--Walked to the French Quarter with DH.  Whew, the weather was, hot, hot, hot!

Saturday, August 27:

• 8:30 am to 4:30 pm:  Day 1 of 2 day Purse Class taught by Janet Zickler Casey called "Let the Good Times Roll".  

Sunday, August 28:

• 8:30 am to 4:30 pm:  Day 2 of 2 day Purse Class taught by Janet Zickler Casey called "Let the Good Times Roll".  
• 12:00 pm:  Lunch meeting in the suite of ANG's Vice President of Education, Becky B, to discuss DL project proposals with Kristi H, the DL Coordinator; Melita G, the outgoing Correspondence Course Committee Chair; Sue E, Chapter Project Book Committee; Barbara E, CyberWorkshop Committee; Kathy L, Workshop by Mail Committee; Marilyn O, Stitch-of-the-Month (SOTM) Committee; and myself, the incoming Correspondence Course Committee Chair.
• 12:00 pm:  Exhibit Hall opened.  Learned I won a Second Place Ribbon for Rose Swirls.  Received a special "exhibitor" pin.
• 5:45 pm:  Welcome Reception.
• 6:30 pm:  Welcome Banquet and announcement of Special Ribbon Awards recipients.

Monday, August 29:

• 8:30 am to 4:30 pm:  Day 1 of 2 day Purse Class taught by Toni Gerdes called "Bronze Purse". 
• 11:45 am:  ANG Executive Council Lunch.  Met members of the ANG Board and learned of some exciting plans for the guild's magazine--Needle Pointers. 
• 7:00 pm:  Attended the CyberPointers Chapter meeting and met some of the officers and other members.  Was nice to put faces to the names I know.  A nice event and we received a free instruction pamphlet for Pat Mazu's Crescents with Sparkle Ornament.

Tuesday, August 30:

• 8:30 am to 4:30 pm:  Day 2 of 2 day Purse Class taught by Toni Gerdes called "Bronze Purse".  I was Class Angel (to assist the teacher as needed, hand out and collect evaluation forms, etc) and received a pin from ANG for this service.  Toni gave me a pair of petite embroidery scissors by Sullivans as a gift for being her Class Angel.  Thank you Toni.
• 5:30 pm:  Work with Melita G, Kristi H and Barbara E to move exhibits stitched by the seminar teachers for display at the Teachers Showcase event.
• 6:00 pm:  Attended the Teachers Showcase to meet the teachers and view current and upcoming class projects.  Enjoyed meeting Diane Herrmann, Terry Dryden, Gail Stafford, Joni Stevenson, Cynthia Thomas (a new FB friend), Jennifer Riefenberg, Joan Thomasson.  It was also nice to again see Nancy Cucci, Lynne Wilkinson, Susan Hoekstra.  Also got to personally thank Debbie Rowley of DebBees Designs for the help she gave me on the project she designed called American Beauty Rose; and Kurdy of Threedles for the help she gave me on her Christmas Diamond Ornaments instructions published in the Needlepoint Now Magazine, November/December 2015 issue.
• 7:00 pm:  Moved the teacher exhibits out of the Teachers Showcase room back to the Exhibit Hall.

Wednesday, August 31:

• A free day to enjoy my birthday with DH.  Did some shopping, sightseeing, gambling and dining,  A delightful day!

Thursday, September 1:

• Another free day.  Went on a VIP Tour of New Orleans with DH and Melita G.  We had a very informative and energetic guide who showed us a New Orleans most people know nothing about.  

Friday, September 2:

• 8:30 am to 4:30 pm:  One day class taught by Michele Roberts called "Theo Faberge's Jeweled Spiral Coil Egg".
• 12:00 pm:  Work with Melita G, Kristi H and Barbara E to pack up the DL exhibit pieces for mailing back to the designers.
• 5:45 pm:  Closing Banquet Reception
• 6:30 pm:  Closing Banquet and announcement of People's Choice and Delegate's Choice award recipients.  DH attended this banquet with me.
• 9:00 pm:  Pick up my project from the Exhibit Hall to take home (get to keep the beautiful ribbon).

Saturday, September 3:

• Leave New Orleans and begin the two-day drive home.  Fortunately we drove northeast to Delaware after Hurricane Hermine ran her course up the east coast.  We had clear weather all the way.

So that's it.  Loved being at seminar, but am so very glad to be home.  Just reading through this itinerary probably exhausted you as well, but thanks for hanging in there.

* I am the incoming ANG Correspondence Course Committee Chair.  ANG's job description for this position can be found here.

Rose Swirls - Updated 9/4/16

September 4, 2016--I am so pleased to report that this project, Rose Swirls, won a second place ribbon in Category 3 for Independent Projects (Non-Professional) at the 2016 American Needlepoint Guild (ANG) Seminar Exhibit in New Orleans, LA.   I feel this venue is the pinnacle of exhibits with the most stringent judging, and winning ANY ribbon is something to be extremely proud of.

All in all, very happy.

Second Place Ribbon Won at ANG 2016 Seminar

March 18, 2015--Won 2nd Place Ribbon in the Canvaswork-Multi category at Woodlawn's 52 Annual Needlework Exhibition in Alexandria, VA.

November 18, 2014--From January through April of this year, 2014, I participated in an ANG pilot stitch program and am finally able to write about this beautiful project.  It's called Rose Swirls and is designed by Carol Algie Higginbotham.  This is the first time I've done anything as a pilot stitcher online and thoroughly enjoyed the process.  Of course, Carol's written instructions and photographs were wonderful and I had very few comments to make to assist Carol in preparing her final classroom instructions.

BTW, this is now an ANG Correspondence Course and can be found at this link.

Rose Swirls Completed

I only made two changes to Carol's instructions.  The first involves the outlining.  Her instructions called for a stem stitch outline which I changed to couching.  I've not had good luck doing stem stitches--the lines are more zig zag in fashion instead of straight or curved.  So I purchased perle 5 in the same colors as the floss being outlined and couched the perle with one strand of matching floss.  It worked great for me.   The picture below shows the raised, couched outline.

Rose Swirls Raised Couched Outline

The second change was to add a trellis darning pattern to the background.  Her instructions didn't call for anything in the background, but I wanted to place the project in a square frame, so needed to do something with all that blank space.  I really like how it came out.

I learned a number of new things doing this project--ribbon embroidery being one of them.   I loved the petite ribbon roses and also used ribbon to make some of the french knots.  Of course, the feather stitches were done in a random fashion which I'm not a big fan of, but they too came out well.  Many of the white pulled work stitches inside the circle were new to me and again, had a lot of fun working them.

The last picture shows how this piece is framed.

Rose Swirls Framed