Finally I have completed reading all the back digests that accumulated whilst I was off to convention. We drove so it took an extra 3+ days but was good fun. 3 lacemakers in a van, taking turns, one to drive whilst the other two knit, can't have idle hands!! I made one and a half scarves. I bought Tina towards the end of the week, by which time one of my room-mates had almost read the novel. I have to say that it is a beautiful book and the weight is due in main part to the superior quality of paper used so that pictures did not bleed through. I have not read the novel yet as I tend to want to finish one book before starting another but I did read the forward and was impressed by how much work was involved in getting the project together. It is sitting proudly on my ottoman which doubles as a coffee table, because it deserves to be seen rather than languish on a shelf. Congratulations to the Rocky Mountain Guild (RMG). I hope we can come up with something more than knitting scarves for fundraising for the 2008 convention. For those ordering Tina by mail, there is one consolation, you will save on your sales tax if you live outside of Colorado. We had to pay $1.50 in sales tax buying it at the convention! My Prairie Mill Lacemakers guild in Belvidere, Illinois became a chartered guild this convention and also were accepted as hosts for the 2008 convention which we will be holding the last week of July. Tentatively we have a hotel in Crystal Lake, my town of residence, which is about 50 miles northwest of Chicago, so guess where some of our tours will be. :-) Although there were negatives about the convention, on the whole my group all had a good time. I enjoyed my two workshops with Gil Dye and my torchon wool scarf is probably getting close to 3 feet long, more if you include the fringe that I started with. One negative was the fact that the display room and sales rooms did not always open at the times posted. Very annoying, especially as I rushed down at 7:30 am on the Saturday to do my last minute shopping, only to find a scribbled notice that it would not open until 10 am to 1 pm. No use to me as my computer class was held at the Harrisburg Penn State college and we did not get back until almost 5 pm. Also I was unable to see who had made what in the competition as the names were only revealed late in the week, first time I have not entered in years so no pressure on me. One plus was the ability to reserve a banquet table if we had 10 people. My group joined with the RMG group and Sumac and Jane Viking Stover made up o ur 10. I hope RMG remember to use that idea for their banquet, saves trying to rush in to grab a table. Most of the few favors we got this year also seemed to come from the RMG, so thanks girls. We did get a set of two note/gift cards with tatting on them but I did not see who had contributed them. Some people enjoyed the afternoon breaks which included food, but as I was usually intent on working my lace I was always late and by that time not much was left,as is the problem with buffet type events, which as most of my friends know I detest, and I promise that I will do everything in my power not to have a buffet in 2008! All in all, a good convention, hard on the pocketbook (purse) as I finally decided to buy a Simone Tousteou pillow, and if I had to spend that much money I decided to go for his Cadilac of pillows, a large roller pillow with 3 drawers, not much change out of $300! I will have to find a worthy piece of lace for this pillow! I am now looking forward to meeting Yvonne Scheele Kirkhof on Wednesday when I meet her at O'Hare airport for our Beds/Whitof class at LACE later in the week. Pity her class was cancelled at convention but at least she decided to do her little post convention tour as arranged before the cancellation. Janice
Janice Blair Crystal Lake, 50 miles northwest of Chicago, Illinois, USA - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
