Post by Honeylioness on Jul 1, 2010 14:38:16 GMT -5
Okay, I do not even know where to start in recapping the last week. Yeah yeah, I can hear the smart-a$$ out in the audience saying "Why not at the beginning?"
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Anne and I were on the road mid morning in the rental car heading for Vermont. You know when you have that nagging feeling that you have forgotten something? Well about halfway through the drive I remembered - an umbrella and a sweater. Both of which were still at home. while it turned out the latter was not really needed - the former was - several times. Oh well, you could look at it as saving the time and water of doing laundry!
We stopped for a late lunch on the New Hampshire - Vermont border at a truck stop restaurant. Good prices and HUGE portions. We could not finish the side of onion rings at all.
After arriving at the campus and getting registered I sorted out a paperwork issue with the office then we unloaded the car and carried everything up to the third floor and our room - which was a lot bigger than I had supposed it would be. And it had the added benfit of being directly across from the bathroom. However what I think Anne was most relived to discover was that the rooms all had WiFi for her computer.
Lunch had been so big we pretty much skipped a real dinner but did hit a local grocery store to get a supply of seltzer water, fruit, crackers, dried fruit and some crackers to snack on during the weekend. Then it was off to the opening welcome and ribbon award ceremonies at the exhibit hall. As I suspected, no ribbon for Mr. Peacock. It will be interesting to see just what the judges have to say when I get my review sheets back.
Anne was rather baffled as she looked at the five hundred or so people gathering to go into the show. "Are all these people here just to look at quilts?" When I assured her the answer was "yes" and that this was not really a crowd, she should come back Saturday when thousands would descend in a steady stream all day.
We walked the contest quilt part of the Hall and looked at the different styles, colors and techniques displayed there. What some people are able to do with cloth and thread is just amazing. The "quilt" (and I use that term loosely) that won Best Of Show was just insane. Yes, it was made of cloth and was quilted. But after that any resemblence to what people would consider a quilt was long gone.
This thing was about 7'-8' long by almost 6' high and hung on it's own special system of rods. Four horizontal rods each supporting a different "level" and the entire thing boxed in by a quilted border piece. Think of one of the old pop-up books where you have the foreground figures on the nearest plane, then as you move "back" into the picture each level may only have a few figures or items to give the entire image depth. AND each of her "levels" was completely finished and quilted front AND back. Her concept being you could stick your head inside and see all sides of the figures - the design being a sort of fairy tale with a young girl heading down a pathway to a building.
It was an amazing concept and incredibly executed. But a quilt?
Sorry folks, not in MY book.
I was able to give Anne some more specific information regarding what makes a quilt, the difference between piecing and applique, hand or machine quilting etc. Often she would stop in front of a wonderful piece, look at it, then me, and ask "How come THIS didn't get a ribbon either?"
Anyway, I was glad for the shuttle buses back to the dorm so I could drink too much champagne and eat too much chocolate.
Friday, June 25, 2010
I set Anne up with a map and general directions into Burlington. I figure if she can handle big cities like Boston and D.C. then Vermont should be no problem. Then I headed off to class.
Now every year I sign up to be a Class Assistant. Because among other things it give me three hours of volunteer time credit for priority registration the next year. And while there is some work you do for the teacher you also get more access to them as well.
This class was taught by Galen Berry, a man from Oklahoma (which came across loud and clear in his voice!) who was teaching marbling techniques on fabric. marbleart.us/
Oh .... MY .... WORD!!!
This class was so much FUN!!! We were told to wear ratty clothes we did not mind getting paint on and we got to play all day with color and paint, paper then fabric. It was like being five again. I must say I was so impressed with myself and the pieces I made. When I was showing Anne before dinner she said "Oh, you went shopping". She was impressed I actually had done the designs myself.
The plan had been to grab a quick bite then I was headed off to a lecture. However, I don't know. I think everything sort of caught up with me. It really hit me this weekend that Anne is leaving this Wednesday and I got very emotional. I think I have been denying to myself that I would miss her too too much.
We wound up having a very heart to heart discussion inside KFC about the past year and what each of us felt. I was an absolute puddle and needless to say missed the lecture.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Today was a day for me and Anne to spend a last full day together. So after grabbing some breakfast and a large iced coffee we headed off to spend the day at the Shelburne Museum. shelburnemuseum.org/
Aside from the regular rotating exhibits from their collection there was a great exhibit of antique carousel figures (including a great lion!) and the quilts from the AAQI's "Forgetting Piece by Piece" showing. www.alzquilts.org
It was drizzling most of the day but we soldiered on. Then back to the show grounds where I dropped Anne at the dorms and went over to the show to meet up with Kath74 from the NS/CS board. She and her friend came down from Canada for the show. She was a lot younger than I had thought, but not sure why I thought she was older. Sweet as could be with a very gentle spirit and very pretty.
After they left to head back I went to take another look at the antique and special exhibit quilts and wound up having a very interesting talk with Nancy Halpern about quilting and judging and all manner of things. (They were doing a retrospective of her work)
After dinner Anne and I headed back to the fairgrounds for the evening talk, show and tell and the big raffle drawings. Everyone who attends gets a ticket and for the last several years I have been a runner - taking the prize into the audience and collecting their tickets. Anne wanted to help so up to the stage we went.
About halfway through the drawings a number was called and no one raised their hand ... then the runners were reminded to check their tickets .. and it was Anne! A gift bag of 10 spools of machine quilting thread, each in it's own varigation of colors - approx value $80-$90. And this for the for the girl who cannot even sew a button on. But in a very sweet moment she looked into the bag then behind her where I was standing two runners back and announced "I am giving this to my host mom to thank her for this weekend" .. that got a big "AHHHH"
Sunday, June 27, 2010
My original plan had been to do one last sweep of the expo hall before heading back home. However we wound up doing something completely different.
On Friday as Anne had been looking around Burlington she had seen a German flag hanging off a building and gone to investigate. Turns out to be a bar/restaurant where most of the staff were either native speakers or had studied German. They let her hang out in the bar and even gave her some spaetzel as she had not had any in over a year. And they asked her is she was coming back for Sunday?
And what was so special about Sunday? Germany was playing England in the World Cup and it was being aired live at this bar. She had bounded back on Friday all excited asking if we could go.
So at 09:45 am on a Sunday morning we are entering the upstairs bar of this establishment .. and there are already quite a few people there .. we grab a table near one of the television screens and I order coffee .... later we will order some breakfast including the largest freakin' omelet I have seen in quite some time.
Within five minutes of the coverage starting the place is standing room only and people have resorted to even sitting on the floor. The couple who comes in and sits next to us are rooting for Germany even though she is Canadian and he is from Ireland. I had tried to explain to Anne why the Irish would be unlikely to root for England but I don't think you can condense centuries of feuding into a three minute explanation. The couple who snagged seats at the opposite end of our table were both Germany: She was from Berlin and he from Cologne. Actually half the bar were German citizens or immigrants - turns out Vermont has a huge German population ..who knew?? She was thrilled to be there, surrounded by other fans and among other Germans for the game. Though the guy who showed up wearing his leder hosen did make her stare a bit.
When she stood and sang along with the German National Anthem a few people did give her some odd looks. Then an older man stood, and the young couple, then a few more .... and suddenly all the German's in the bar were belting out Das Lied der Deutschen with gusto and then applauding. I could tell it was a very emotional thing for her, just as I get whenever I sing our National Anthem
Now, the only thing I know about soccer is that the rest of the world calls it "football", a yellow card is bad and entire hour can go by with no score and people will tell you how close a game it was. Oh, and I know it is not a really high scoring game like football of basketball. So the Irishman beside me gave me some pointers and Anne yelled her head off when her team did something good.
And wonder of wonders ... Germany Won!! and I mean REALLY won with a score of 5-1 which kicks England out of the World Cup competition.
Once we got home there was a message waiting for me from my mother. Now for whatever reason I had forgotten to send her my phone number again and dorm number so she had not been able to get a hold of me.
My brother, who is never sick, has been complaining of not feeling well for over a week. Well, long story short - he was admitted into the hospital this weekend with what they thought was viral menigitis. So lucky boy got to have a spinal tap. That came back negative, but the culture swab revealed he has Valley Fever www.dhpe.org/infect/valley.html which is apparently quite common in the Southwest. Poor guy got to spend his birthday (today) in the hospital hooked up to IVs. And he is supposed to fly to Seattle with the girls on Thursday.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Anne and I were on the road mid morning in the rental car heading for Vermont. You know when you have that nagging feeling that you have forgotten something? Well about halfway through the drive I remembered - an umbrella and a sweater. Both of which were still at home. while it turned out the latter was not really needed - the former was - several times. Oh well, you could look at it as saving the time and water of doing laundry!
We stopped for a late lunch on the New Hampshire - Vermont border at a truck stop restaurant. Good prices and HUGE portions. We could not finish the side of onion rings at all.
After arriving at the campus and getting registered I sorted out a paperwork issue with the office then we unloaded the car and carried everything up to the third floor and our room - which was a lot bigger than I had supposed it would be. And it had the added benfit of being directly across from the bathroom. However what I think Anne was most relived to discover was that the rooms all had WiFi for her computer.
Lunch had been so big we pretty much skipped a real dinner but did hit a local grocery store to get a supply of seltzer water, fruit, crackers, dried fruit and some crackers to snack on during the weekend. Then it was off to the opening welcome and ribbon award ceremonies at the exhibit hall. As I suspected, no ribbon for Mr. Peacock. It will be interesting to see just what the judges have to say when I get my review sheets back.
Anne was rather baffled as she looked at the five hundred or so people gathering to go into the show. "Are all these people here just to look at quilts?" When I assured her the answer was "yes" and that this was not really a crowd, she should come back Saturday when thousands would descend in a steady stream all day.
We walked the contest quilt part of the Hall and looked at the different styles, colors and techniques displayed there. What some people are able to do with cloth and thread is just amazing. The "quilt" (and I use that term loosely) that won Best Of Show was just insane. Yes, it was made of cloth and was quilted. But after that any resemblence to what people would consider a quilt was long gone.
This thing was about 7'-8' long by almost 6' high and hung on it's own special system of rods. Four horizontal rods each supporting a different "level" and the entire thing boxed in by a quilted border piece. Think of one of the old pop-up books where you have the foreground figures on the nearest plane, then as you move "back" into the picture each level may only have a few figures or items to give the entire image depth. AND each of her "levels" was completely finished and quilted front AND back. Her concept being you could stick your head inside and see all sides of the figures - the design being a sort of fairy tale with a young girl heading down a pathway to a building.
It was an amazing concept and incredibly executed. But a quilt?
Sorry folks, not in MY book. I was able to give Anne some more specific information regarding what makes a quilt, the difference between piecing and applique, hand or machine quilting etc. Often she would stop in front of a wonderful piece, look at it, then me, and ask "How come THIS didn't get a ribbon either?"
Anyway, I was glad for the shuttle buses back to the dorm so I could drink too much champagne and eat too much chocolate.
Friday, June 25, 2010
I set Anne up with a map and general directions into Burlington. I figure if she can handle big cities like Boston and D.C. then Vermont should be no problem. Then I headed off to class.
Now every year I sign up to be a Class Assistant. Because among other things it give me three hours of volunteer time credit for priority registration the next year. And while there is some work you do for the teacher you also get more access to them as well.
This class was taught by Galen Berry, a man from Oklahoma (which came across loud and clear in his voice!) who was teaching marbling techniques on fabric. marbleart.us/
Oh .... MY .... WORD!!!
This class was so much FUN!!! We were told to wear ratty clothes we did not mind getting paint on and we got to play all day with color and paint, paper then fabric. It was like being five again. I must say I was so impressed with myself and the pieces I made. When I was showing Anne before dinner she said "Oh, you went shopping". She was impressed I actually had done the designs myself.
The plan had been to grab a quick bite then I was headed off to a lecture. However, I don't know. I think everything sort of caught up with me. It really hit me this weekend that Anne is leaving this Wednesday and I got very emotional. I think I have been denying to myself that I would miss her too too much.
We wound up having a very heart to heart discussion inside KFC about the past year and what each of us felt. I was an absolute puddle and needless to say missed the lecture.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Today was a day for me and Anne to spend a last full day together. So after grabbing some breakfast and a large iced coffee we headed off to spend the day at the Shelburne Museum. shelburnemuseum.org/
Aside from the regular rotating exhibits from their collection there was a great exhibit of antique carousel figures (including a great lion!) and the quilts from the AAQI's "Forgetting Piece by Piece" showing. www.alzquilts.org
It was drizzling most of the day but we soldiered on. Then back to the show grounds where I dropped Anne at the dorms and went over to the show to meet up with Kath74 from the NS/CS board. She and her friend came down from Canada for the show. She was a lot younger than I had thought, but not sure why I thought she was older. Sweet as could be with a very gentle spirit and very pretty.
After they left to head back I went to take another look at the antique and special exhibit quilts and wound up having a very interesting talk with Nancy Halpern about quilting and judging and all manner of things. (They were doing a retrospective of her work)
After dinner Anne and I headed back to the fairgrounds for the evening talk, show and tell and the big raffle drawings. Everyone who attends gets a ticket and for the last several years I have been a runner - taking the prize into the audience and collecting their tickets. Anne wanted to help so up to the stage we went.
About halfway through the drawings a number was called and no one raised their hand ... then the runners were reminded to check their tickets .. and it was Anne! A gift bag of 10 spools of machine quilting thread, each in it's own varigation of colors - approx value $80-$90. And this for the for the girl who cannot even sew a button on. But in a very sweet moment she looked into the bag then behind her where I was standing two runners back and announced "I am giving this to my host mom to thank her for this weekend" .. that got a big "AHHHH"
Sunday, June 27, 2010
My original plan had been to do one last sweep of the expo hall before heading back home. However we wound up doing something completely different.
On Friday as Anne had been looking around Burlington she had seen a German flag hanging off a building and gone to investigate. Turns out to be a bar/restaurant where most of the staff were either native speakers or had studied German. They let her hang out in the bar and even gave her some spaetzel as she had not had any in over a year. And they asked her is she was coming back for Sunday?
And what was so special about Sunday? Germany was playing England in the World Cup and it was being aired live at this bar. She had bounded back on Friday all excited asking if we could go.
So at 09:45 am on a Sunday morning we are entering the upstairs bar of this establishment .. and there are already quite a few people there .. we grab a table near one of the television screens and I order coffee .... later we will order some breakfast including the largest freakin' omelet I have seen in quite some time.
Within five minutes of the coverage starting the place is standing room only and people have resorted to even sitting on the floor. The couple who comes in and sits next to us are rooting for Germany even though she is Canadian and he is from Ireland. I had tried to explain to Anne why the Irish would be unlikely to root for England but I don't think you can condense centuries of feuding into a three minute explanation. The couple who snagged seats at the opposite end of our table were both Germany: She was from Berlin and he from Cologne. Actually half the bar were German citizens or immigrants - turns out Vermont has a huge German population ..who knew?? She was thrilled to be there, surrounded by other fans and among other Germans for the game. Though the guy who showed up wearing his leder hosen did make her stare a bit.
When she stood and sang along with the German National Anthem a few people did give her some odd looks. Then an older man stood, and the young couple, then a few more .... and suddenly all the German's in the bar were belting out Das Lied der Deutschen with gusto and then applauding. I could tell it was a very emotional thing for her, just as I get whenever I sing our National Anthem
Now, the only thing I know about soccer is that the rest of the world calls it "football", a yellow card is bad and entire hour can go by with no score and people will tell you how close a game it was. Oh, and I know it is not a really high scoring game like football of basketball. So the Irishman beside me gave me some pointers and Anne yelled her head off when her team did something good.
And wonder of wonders ... Germany Won!! and I mean REALLY won with a score of 5-1 which kicks England out of the World Cup competition.
Once we got home there was a message waiting for me from my mother. Now for whatever reason I had forgotten to send her my phone number again and dorm number so she had not been able to get a hold of me.
My brother, who is never sick, has been complaining of not feeling well for over a week. Well, long story short - he was admitted into the hospital this weekend with what they thought was viral menigitis. So lucky boy got to have a spinal tap. That came back negative, but the culture swab revealed he has Valley Fever www.dhpe.org/infect/valley.html which is apparently quite common in the Southwest. Poor guy got to spend his birthday (today) in the hospital hooked up to IVs. And he is supposed to fly to Seattle with the girls on Thursday.