NG of MN Retreat - Day Two

So now the retreat begins in earnest.  I wake up early as I live in an hour ahead time zone.  Breakfast isn't until 8.  The food isn't great but passable.  Sort of like Dylan's school cafeteria meals.  My class is Briar Rose with Jackie DuPlessis and it is an all day class.  I have mine all stitched so I will be doing as much finishing as I can.  My BFF is in the class and we have seats next to each other.  I know about 6 of the people in this class from going to Spring Fling.

  As we go into class we see that Jackie has brought many of her projects and set them all out on a table.

  Oh wow.  It was fun to see in person many of her projects that I have only seen pictures of.  On the whole, they are smaller than I imagined.  Many that I haven't been crazy about look way niftier in person.  I like the Case of India Ink that is in the Sampler and Antique Needlework magazine.  I have just subscribed and am hoping I can make it from the instructions in the magazine.  Cool.  It is great to hear Jackie describe each one.  I see several projects that I would like to make and that I haven't seen before.

Jackie is a fantastic finisher.  I want to see how she finishes this style of etui. (She pronounces etui :  ette two ee, where I thought is was pronounced ette twaw)  I had misconceptions about this project.  I thought there were pockets inside but I find out they are decorative panels.  The finishing involves skirtex and interfacing sandwiches.  First we have to cut the skirtex into many pieces.  This is where I make my first major mistake.  I don't cut one of the sides as I should have. I don't realize this until much later (when it is too late to do anything about).   There are two sewing machines and quite a few people.  There are three place to iron and quite a few people.  Some of our time is spent waiting to use a sewing machine or iron.  I make pretty good progress.  I need a xerox of the completed stitching.  But I have forgotten to do that.  Luckily Jackie has a xerox and someone goes to make copies for us ninnies who didn't follow the directions.  My BFF and I go out to lunch at Perkins where you can get breakfast any time.  It was great but we are late getting back to class as the food took a long time to get to us.  So I get my Briar Rose lined with silk duioni and I get to the point where everything left to do is handwork.  I begin sewing on the ribbon edge.  Jackie has a bunch of very pretty buttons that are for sale so I write the first of several checks to her.

It will take more than our class time to finish Briar Rose but I am determined and I will finish this if I can find someone with scallop scissors for the linen needle page.

We learn how to make this tiny pincushion.  Jackie shows us how to make a hedebo stitch around a metal ring.
Dinner is tater tot casserole.  This is a sixties dish. DH's mother was fond of tater-tots.   You put all the leftovers in a pan and top it off with tater-tots.  It was kind of gross.  I liked the brownie though.  I happened to sit right next to a retreat teacher (Orna Willis) and right across from another retreat teacher (Jean Campbell).  It was fun to ask them questions and hear about what they are doing.
Each night of the retreat there is some activity.  Tonight is the welcome meeting.  I am introduced and I go up front to get a pin since I am new to this retreat.  Many of the first time people have retreat buddies that answer questions and keep in touch with them.  My buddy has been very nice and helpful to me.  There are people from Texas, Louisiana, California and South Carolina.  The big laugh of the night was when the teachers were introduced and given a name tag made by someone in the guild.  Orna Willis got a necklace and name tag made by Lee Popp.  It was hilarious.  The necklace had lights in it that lit up.  It was wild.  I wish I had a picture of that.
This was a full day and I was really pooped when I went to bed.  Tomorrow: Independent Study.
A