I haven't seen a lot about he convention this year, so I thought I'd give you one account.
Susan and I arrived about 5 minutes too late for early registration on Saturday. The airlines had lost my luggage and her plane was late. She was stuck in Chicago with Susie Johnson and several other lacers for a couple hours. Although they complained, it sounded like they had a good time. The hotel was quite nice, large central gathering area just in front of the doors to the vender's room that throughout the week had at least one lacemaker, throwing bobbins, passing the shuttle, clicking needles or some other lace related activity.... Lots of elevators that didn't get horribly packed except when all 250 of us tried to make it to our rooms or the second floor all at one time. The meals were all amazingly good for hotel food, the Arachne lunch we had cannelloni that was really tasty and at the banquet I had beef which looked like a possible oops but was tender and cooked to perfection for me. I took an afternoon class with Diana Glasspool, who put up with my frequent absences (due to Board stuff) with good humor. The class was beginning Binche and by the end, even this too busy, unprepared student had several snowflakes on her pillow. The first day was all lecture and drawing with the European color code, which surprisingly made the lace easier, just like she said it would. Amazing how teachers know what they are talking about, isn't it? Wednesday, we went on a yarn finding mission and found two great yarn shops. Loops and Stitches. Stitches is brand new and has mostly yarn, but some interesting needlework fibers. They have lots of samples and display items and a nicely lit table to sit and knit at. Loops is two rooms full of yarn with interesting and tempting samples attractively displayed. There is a seating area with room for 4 or 5 to sit and knit in if you have a moment. We also went to the Silver Needle which should be on your list if you do any needlework. I'm always interested in hearing about the next conventions. Next year it will be at Rockford, IL, which has an Amtrak station and bus service from O'Hare and the other Chicago airport, as well as an International Airport in the town itself, so no trouble getting there. The bus from Chicago can take close to an hour so bring something to keep yourself occupied. The convention after IL will be in LA, then in the wings provisionally for now are Portland, OR and the DC area. I was raised in OR and the yearly trip to Portland was always so much fun, I can't wait for the convention to be there! Tuesday night I was lucky enough to have some of my friends from Houston, where I began lacing, join Susan and I for dinner. They had driven 10 hours each way to shop. Yup, they are lacemakers. It was a Convention event and had a raucous bit of entertainment. Sure was nice to see Judy, Patsy, Carole and the rest, although Linda got swept off somewhere else before I could talk to her about her baskets. I was in the sales room at the Membership Table, but everyone reported that the Tatting Olympics were a hoot and a half. I hope someone will describe them for you that was there. I heard that the participants marched in to the Olympic theme behind banners that named their state and there were special tatting categories. Need I say there were medals awarded? At each meal the OK lacemakers had lovely favors and gifts, at the banquet, there was a book of all of Lia Baumeister's articles that have appeared in the Bulletin as a favor, quite impressive. AND a pair of Gingher scissors...WOW. For favors we received at least two pin cushions, a crocheted bobbin minder, a couple of those magnetized book marks, a needle keeper, lots of medical stuff, like sterile drapes for pillow covers, post -it notes, a personal fan that read "Avoid the gap with *anti-acid medicine name here*", so someone must be a nurse or doctor. Most of these came from other groups, which is most generous of them. There were lots of other things that will all be handy in my lacemaking and serve as reminders of a lovely week in OK. As I opened and examined all the favors, I couldn't help but think of the 6 lacemakers who are responsible for next year's convention. Yes, just 6 women. Many lace groups had sent items to OK and I wonder, if every chartered chapter (I think there are 81) sent a favor to IL, what a weight off the shoulders of the Illinois Six it would be. Heck even groups that aren't chartered could help if they wanted to. I know not every chapter can do something large, but not all favors need to be large. Why not contact Janice Blair or Janet Frederickson or any of the others and see what they need or have already done so your group can do something for convention next year? This was just my own personal idea, so don't blame anyone else. No one put me up to it. I was just thinking how hard it would be to do everything with just 6 people, no matter how talented. What do you all think of it? L ------------------------------------------ Laurie J Hughes Silicon Valley, CA (formerly the Valley of Hearts Delight) Bobbin lace, social history, gardening ------------------------------------------ - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
