Hello all, I second that the convention was great. The organizers did a great job, there is an unbelieveable amount of work that goes into a function like this, up front and behind the scenes. Thank you so very much! I was in aawww of all the favours that we got, my dining room table is still full of all my goodies and lace stuff that I want to enjoy still. My classes were great, I took Tønder lace with Marianne Stang from Germany, where we learned the technicalities of Tønder Lace. For a Wednesday class I took Hedgehog Mania with Lia Baumeister, where we could chose what technique we wanted to work a Hedgehog in, I chose Russian Tape. Saturday class was Organized Chaos with Jean Leader, oh my.....the possibilities, all I need is time. All 3 classes so very different, but oh so much fun. Saturday afternoon, I took a beaded bobbin course with Karen Calhoun, a great way to end the convention.....a finished beaded bobbin! I now have 4 new works in progress......can't decide which I want to work on! The vendors room.....Wow, a lacemakers dream! Looking forward to Portland, 2010!
Irene Whitham Surrey, BC [lace] Report on the IOLI Convention Patsy A. Goodman Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:09:12 -0700 Hi, Got back from the IOLI Convention late Saturday afternoon. It was one hectic, whirlwind week. Ending in total exhaustion. After checking in on Sunday, then registering, we received lovely navy blue canvas bags and our class schedule, along with a few goodies in our bags. That night was an ice cream social, we renewed old friendships and met a few new friends. Monday started off early with classes. My morning class was with Bridget Cook. Walked into class and there is Bridget with a neck brace. Seems the week before she had fallen and broken a bone in her neck. She was supposed to be home in bed but just had to come to convention. I took her class in Idrija lace. This was an enjoyable class, with some good humor thrown in. My afternoon class was with Louise Colgan in Lace Fans. I felt that Louise was one fantastic instructor. I couldn't believe that she had "five" different techniques that she was teaching in one class, and was able to switch from one kind of lace to another as she went around the room from one person to the next. She knew exactly where each student was in the patterns and was able to help with everyone. On Wednesday most of the people went on the tours, but with me in a handicap scooter I choose to take an other class. I took Gros Point de Venise with Sylvia Muraria. This was a very intense class and she tried to squeeze in too much in such a short time frame. She was a good teacher but I think this class should have been stretched out to a four day class. The vendors room -- there were loads of vendors to choose from. Threads as far as the eye could see. Pillows, bobbins, gadgets of all kinds. Some beautiful carved bobbins. And books, if one dealer didn't have what you wanted the next one did. Even jewelry. Some fantastic hand made silver lace pieces. They even created a combination necklace, brooch piece of a lacemaker making her lace. It was beautiful but my funds didn't allow me to make that purchase. I attended the Arachne lunch. It was nice and we had Bridget Cook give the speech. Then there was the breakfast buffet and I don't think anyone went away hungry from that. Friday evening was the big banquet and everyone was dressed up for the occasion, with many wearing lovely pieces of lace to show off. A lovely couple danced for us and the white dress the lady wore had yards of beautiful hand made lace. Myself and Linda Knott accepted our IOLI Charter for our new group of lacemakers called The Chula Bobbin Lacers. There were meetings and programs every night. There was the big Tat Off, with also the Crochet and Bobbin Lace events. I only stayed for the first competition of the Tat Off and I was just too tired to stay for any of the rest. My purchases were way too many. But I'm sure the vendors were happy. : ) So many of the familiar teachers were there including Georgia Seitz. There were loads and loads of raffle prizes given away every day. A wonderful time was had by all, but one lady who had a bad experience, I'm sorry to say. That will be her story to tell. I've still got a lot of sleep to catch up on. Patsy A. Goodman Chula Vista, CA, USA - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
