International Organization of Lace, Inc. Convention in Sacramento

At the end of July I attended the International Organization of Lace, Inc. convention in Sacramento, CA. My morning class was with Nancy Nehring was a necklace in Romanian Point lace. This is a combination of Lobster Chain cord outlines with needle lace fillings. The pattern was drawn for #10 thread but we were given the choice of #10 or #20 and I chose to work with #20. Nancy Nehring will be offering a similar class at the 2015 convention in Coralville, IA. She is working on a design inspired by a waterfall using overdyed blue thread. Spaces may be filled with needle lace stitches, by crocheting, with beads or the student's unique creativity.

My afternoon class was early lace with Gil Dye. We worked on samples of early lace patterns.

My mid-week class was "chaos" with Jean Leader. I chose to work on a necklace and learned to make a bobbin lace cord. The rectangles in the necklace are woven in a "chaos" pattern where the threads of a pair of bobbins appear to roam through the rectangle in a random fashion. The threads of the rectangles are worked through the bobbin lace cord and are ready to be trimmed. The cord is ready to finish the ends so that they can be fastened. The rectangles may be starched; beads can be added. Jean Leader will be offering a completely different pendant for her mid-week class at the 2015 convention in Coralville, IA.

OIDFA Congress at Adelaide, South Australia

July 11 I left for Australia. It took about 35 hours to go from my door to the school at Marion, South Australia where the OIDFA classes were held. We stayed at a residential school. I shared a cottage with a lacemaker from Sweden named Hedwig. The trees were full of colorful birds.

I took a class in Larrikin lace from Vicky Taylor. We worked with wire and assortment of threads and yarns. This is the first piece that I worked in class. After 4 days in class we packed up and moved into the city of Adelaide where the OIDFA Congress officially opened with a musical welcome.

April 2014 Showcase

At our biennial chapter exhibit, I displayed a piece named Scribbles. I started it at a class with Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn in January 2013. It is made in much the same way as Celebrate Spring.

Through The Needle's Eye

Three of my pieces of embroidery were accepted for the Embroiderers' Guild of America, Inc. 20th National Exhibit which opened in April at the Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts in Palmer Lake, Colorado. I traveled to Colorado and my daughter, sister and niece joined me for the opening reception. You can see pictures of my pieces in this blog. 8/24/12 Starts & Stripes Forever 8/23/12 Recomposition 8/23/12 Celebrate Spring! Celebrate Spring! received the Virginia Miller Award. There is an article about the exhibit in the current issue of NeedleArts. The exhibit travels around the country. You can find the schedule here.

Hundreds of lace friends

The past year has been busy and the next year will be busier. I attended the IOLI convention in Salt Lake City in 2013. There we learned that there were hosts for 2014 & 2016, but no host for 2015. Everyone was wondering if there would be a convention in 2015. At the Doris Southard Lace Guild in August 2013, we decided to apply to co-host the 2015 convention with IOLI. In September we submitted an application. It was accepted in October. Because I was the only DSLG member to attend the 2013 convention, I automatically became a chair and fortunately Ruth Lyon volunteered to co-chair. From October through December we were negotiating with hotels. We were pleased to begin the new year with a contract with the Mariott Coralville Hotel & Conference Center. This year we've been selecting teachers and classes for the convention. There will be 18 US and 4 international teachers. The process of signing contracts with the teachers has begun. Information about the convention will be posted on the International Organization of Lace website.