It's nearly time

The 2018 SAGA Convention is fast approaching.  On Monday, I'll be heading to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for a week of stitching and conversation with a whole crew of other women.  Of course, Florence is also barreling down on the North Carolina coast, so we're all waiting to see how she veers before throwing the suitcases into the car.  The venue is 60 miles or so inland so storm surge won't be much of an issue, but this hurricane is supposed to be "really wet" which makes heavy rains and winds an issue to watch.  Hopefully, the storm will have hit and weakened by the time we need to head south.

Most of my week will be spent with Claudia Newton. My first day is a small hardanger ornament.  I like the idea of small, and I like that the project is something I should be able to finish.
   On Thursday I migrate to Australian teacher Judith Adams for a class on designing smocking plates. Earlier in the year, I'd started trying to design a few graphs that had cables  tapering into large hearts.  It looks easy enough on similar plates.  You just need some baby waves for the tops and then some trellises to make the lower part of the hearts.   My math/engineering/design skills were NOT up to getting the bottom points of the hearts hearts to meet up properly with the center or the upper points.  I finally gave up and used a- transcription? interpretation? - of a dress I'd seen on Pinterest (as one does).  It turned out well, but I'd like to be able to figure out how to put these elements together on my own. 

   I'll be with Miss Claudia for the remainder of the convention. I'm repeating a class on dainty edges.  She teaches a gorgeous mitered hem suitable for delicate hankies or hand towels, and while I finally got the gist of it in the first go-round I would like a refresher.  There will also be instruction on a shell edge and applying delicate lace or tatted edgings to fabric, discussion of the proper threads to use and when to use color.     
    Hemstitch is the topic of my next class with Claudia.  We'll be making a sampler with several variations of a basic hemstitch.  (I need to practice my basics before class!) 
    Finally, there is a pretty tape-measure circle that features a shisha-worked mirror centered between some decorative stitches, all done in shades of sand and sea.  She has an entire set of "smalls" and possibly a sewing case that match this piece, but I like the idea of a small project that I might actually be able to finish. (Unlike the three different styles of reticules and several dresses up in the Room of Doom!)

Photos of all these projects and more can be seen at www.smocking.org under "convention class descriptions".  It will probably only be available for another week, though.  I'll see if I can post photos from the brochure here in my blog after that.  It bugs me when I read a blog and get links to photos that have disappeared, so I'll try to avoid doing that to you, my readers. 

In the interim between now and taking off I'll be doing the usual- frantically catching up on laundry, sorting out the tools and supplies I need to take along with me, watching the Weather Channel often, and finishing up a few Wee-Care projects for donation.