spirit of cross stitch – austin | Linen Fabric

spirit of cross stitch – austin

Question:

Living in the Austin area I saw the article about the Festival in the Statesman. You mean that reporter actually talked to one of those "middle-aged white women"? From the article it seemed that he didn’t have a clue what this was all about.

Um…yup. The picture in the paper was mine! I’ll comment on this thing later when I have more time. Your servant, Kelly Kaye Terrano

Response:

any body out there that went to the spirit of cross stitch in austin? what did you think? how about some stories, opinions, things you did, etc. for those of us that missed it??? thanks! joann houston, tx.

Hi Everyone! I wanted to let everyone know what fun the Spirit of Cross Stitch Festival is! I attended the one in Austin last weekend and had a great time. I did not find out about it in time to sign up for any classes, but it will be held in Austin again next year, and I’m on the mailing list! I had had a bad week, but it was all wiped away when I got to the Festival. I had so much fun on Friday, I went back again on Saturday! <G I also subscribed to the Video Library and brought #2, with C.A. Wells, home with me. It is an excellent video and very well done. I’m looking for the linen band she uses and will work up the project as soon as I can find it! I would reccomend that everyone go to a SOXS Festival at least once! It’s a great spirit lifter (no pun intended <G). itchin’ to be stitchin’ – *** bren *** officially de-lurked! p.s. – Guess what? I’m gonna be a Gran in February!

Response:

Hi All, I had a blast at the Spirit of Cross-Stitch Festival, first time to be held in Austin. It was also my first SoCSF, so that made us even I took 5 classes and thoroughly enjoyed having wonderful teachers – Maureen Appleton (1 over 1 needle nest project), Rosemary Drysdale (blackwork leaves), Lauren Sauer (laurel wreath for linens), Martha Schmidt (don’t be edgy about edges – finishing techniques), and Denise Pratt (lily sampler – loads of specialty stitches, and we talked her into showing us some others that weren’t on this sampler). All the teachers were very knowledgeable, and showed great enthusiasm for their subjects, which I think the students also shared. The merchandise mall was amazing – it was almost overwhelming in its entirety, and I loved seeing numerous models of projects in my USO pile. Had lots of fun meeting the vendors, and spent some time chatting with Ross Graeme (sp?) from Australia, Ross Designs. He was stitching on a new design at one of the vendors’ stalls, and we talked about how he designs from photographs (no computers involved), and how much he loves train travel in the US. He’s just delightful; if you get the chance, you should meet him. My thanks to the folks who posted the location of the needlework stores in Austin. I spent Wednesday afternoon at Ginger’s (fabulous selection), and the Honey Tree, where I met Jennie Might from the newsgroup (Hi Jennie) because she was sitting at some tables they have in the store just for people to drop in and stitch. So, I did Went back out to the car and brought in my photos of the IMQ to show and a project to work on, and spent the rest of the afternoon in the shop stitching and chatting. What a great place to have enough room for this. on our nametags. Hi to Peggy, Kelly, Gaye, Pat, and Wendy and Pat, and I hope that I haven’t forgotten someone – please forgive me if I didn’t mention your name and I met you, but I had such a great time with so many new/old friends that it’s hard to remember it all. Kelly got her picture in the Austin American-Statesman, the local newspaper. Kelly and I were cruising the mall, she spotted a display of TW stitched models, and just went crazy over them. While she was looking them over, with excitement all over her face, a photographer was taking lots of pictures, and one of them was used the next morning. (It’s a great shot, Kelly, and I have the article if you want a copy.) All in all, I was very glad that I went, and I’m already looking forward to next year. Now I just have to decide if I want to go locally at Valley Forge, or do Austin again. The nice part for me was staying with my sister-in-law (and brother when he came back in town), and then visiting my mother for a few days afterwards. I also caught up with a couple of college friends, and one friend from my hometown. I’m feeling well rested and refreshed, despite the heat in Austin in August ! When you’re stitching, the whole world stitches with you ! It’s going to be a struggle to wade through all the accumulated posts to rctn that occurred in my absence, but I guess I’ll just have to jump in. I missed you guys, and it’s good to be back in touch. _____/ / ) _) …and everywhere that Mary went, __)_/ the lamb was sure to go… / /

Response:

Well I for one am exhausted! I had no idea that setting up and tearing down a booth was so much work! My hat goes off to those of you who do this regularly. Running the booth and helping everyone was a treat as well as seeing all the goodies that you all were buying! I still can’t believe that I worked the festival for four days and didn’t spend a penny! My DH is still in shock! This doesn’t mean however that I came away empty handed! (Just one of the perks of working a booth!) I would recommend working a booth if you get the chance! It really opened my eyes to the hard work involved from conception of design to final packaging and selling. On the down side, I only met three of you from r.c.t.n.. Shame on the rest of you who didn’t come by Alma Lynne’s booth (in the corner right by the bathrooms) and say hi! I was sooo looking forward to meeting many of you. You couldn’t have missed me, I was the female working the booth. Well, maybe next year huh? Then again, we Texans could always try a get-together before then! =] (thanks Mary!) Overall, I had a terrific though exhausting weekend and now that I’ve caught up on the housework I plan to stitch, stitch, stitch. I have been inspired. My thanks to all who made this such a good festival. Jen

Response:

any body out there that went to the spirit of cross stitch in austin? what did you think? how about some stories, opinions, things you did, etc. for those of us that missed it???

This was my first Spirit festival and I am so looking forward to next year’s. I guess that means 2 thumbs up from me! I printed out Martha Beth’s comments on what to bring and took everything she said to. It was very handy. I also took a roll of masking tape. For the classes I took, this was great. I *hate* having my fabric unravel and since there isn’t time in class to hem the material, the tape was great! I loaned it to the ladies sitting around me. Austin seems to be a bit different from the other festivals because this was the first year holding it in the Texas capital. Rosemary Drysdale (she just happened to be the teacher for *all* the classes I wanted to take) said that she was very surprised that there were empty places in her classes. At all the other festivals, she says that there are waiting lists to get into her classes. I heard rumors in the mall, that one important stitcher (Linda Driskoll?) was not there and another important stitcher/teacher who was attending would not be there next year because the classes were not full. I hope this is not true; give Austin a chance ya’ll! One of the most wonderful things was the Love ‘n Stitches Hardanger booth. It was near closing time and the mall traffic had quieted down quite a bit when I came to this booth. I was looking closely at all of the sample pillows, ornaments, etc. on the tables with the signs "Please TRY not to touch" on them when I saw two hands suddenly appear and fiddle with a hardanger purse. I said "Oh please, don’t touch these or maybe the artist won’t put them out for us….." I was looking up into the face of Janice Love! (The author of the best beginning Hardanger books and owner of the company.) She laughed and said thanks for helping to protect her artwork. I told her I was a beginner and that I had both of her books and was having trouble making picots and she said, "Oh, you’re having trouble with picots? Well, let’s ;have a lesson!" She then proceeded to give me a private Hardanger lesson right there! It was incredible! It must have been a 15 minute private sewing session with the master! Sigh….I wish she had been teaching a 4-8 hour class. This was one of the two most incredible things that happened at the fest. The second was looking at the contestants entries into the contest. And to actually see up close almost all of Teresa Wentzler’s designs stitched up. The sister of Jean Farish Huls (organizer of all the festivals) spoke to me and I asked her just what the judges were looking for and how they could distinguish between the beautiful entries. This was an enlightening conversation. She said the judges (her sister in particular) use a magnifying glass and can see through the front to the other side for any tails, how they stitched the crosses (up and down is a no-no….should stitch them across the design), all crosses should have the threads laying side by side, etc. I took both classes offered in blackwork, pulled linen bags, a Hardanger baby afgan, and a Zweigart Xmas class. They were all Level 4. Some things in the class I was already aware of; other tips were well worth the price of the class. Rosemary Drysdale is a very good teacher and encouraging to beginner’s. I was glad that I was a Special Stitcher because it was handy being able to go into the mall at any time during the weekend without having to pay each day. I bought two SoCS Festival video tapes, Ruskin Lace and Tatting. Only at the Festivals are they available for individual sale. At other times all 12 tapes in the series must be purchased. Haven’t had time to look at them yet, but will post my review when I do have time. I really didn’t have time to shop as much as I wanted because I took classes during the opening time of the mall and it closed at 6 pm. I wish the mall could have been open later on at least one night. Water fountains were not found in the mall, so if you wanted "free" water (as opposed to $2.00 for a small bottled water) you had to go into the bathroom and get it from the tap. And the bathroom was clear on the other side of the mall from the cafeteria. 8^( Food was very expensive and I suggest bringing your lunch if you can. nametag. I was unable to attend the other get-togethers because of schedule conflicts. The stitchers I met are *great* and I feel that I have met some electronic pen-pals like those that are united on Oprah! You people are the greatest! My backpack was a godsend. I am very glad that I had my hands free and that I didn’t have to keep shifting a heavy satchel from shoulder to shoulder. There was a reporter we spoke to from the Austin American Statesman but I will save *this* incident for another post. Interesting….(shaking my head in disbelief.) I am glad that I have paid for the video tape for the classes for next year. When I arrived, there was a table near the registration desk with the projects for the classes displayed. There were some classes that I wish I had signed up for once I saw the project. But I had already signed up for classes that conflicted with these. Any other questions, I’ll be happy to answer if I can. Your servant, Kelly Kaye Terrano

Response:

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