EGA Seminar, Chicago Illinois

Last Thursday, Melody, Sue D, & I went into Chicago. We wanted to take a look around at the EGA Seminar, located at the Marriott Hotel in the loop. None of us had ever attended seminar & with it being nearby, we thought we'd take a look around!
A special Thank you to Marjorie H for sending me the schedule of events for Thursday. It sure made it easy to find everything
We chatted, merrily away, on our commute. Enjoyed the walk from the station to the hotel, stopping along the way to see the beautiful floral displays in the garden planters.

I was gobsmacked by the EGA exhibit in Salon III. They had some of their textiles on display - from the EGA collection [housed in Louisville, KY]. Plus, the display of ICCs and GCCs were awesome. The photos in the magazines do not do justice to these projects. The tapestry panels were on the wall -- how fabulously interesting to look at them!! Next years seminars projects were on display -- loads of eye candy to view.

Another area had EGA merchandise for sale. Also, silent auction pieces ... opportunity drawing pieces -- what an outstanding assortment donated by various groups and individuals. I picked up a couple EGA charms [photo above]. I thought they would look interesting on a beaded or stitched scissors fob.

There was a large area full of books, on sale. Talk about a needleworkers dream library! I went over to the 'sale' table & pickedup one interesting book -- it was $100.00, so I quickly set it down : ) Yeah, this living within our means gets boring when there is so much I'd like to BUY! Some of the sampler books were on display - including the Maryland sampler book [exact title escapes me right now], taking orders for it, but it is a lovely publication. btw, imo - it is very hard to purchase a BOOK, full of photographs, when you can see the real textiles on display in the NEXT room.

Behind the registration counter, was a room with GLR projects. WOW. They had some unique & interesting pieces to sign up for! So, how do you decide?

The boutique was in full swing when we walked in. Loads of fibers, beads, beads, bead patterns, bead models ... did I mention the beading section??? I've never seen anything quite like it.

We crossed paths with a few of our NANI friends [Joan, Carol C & her friend Cathy, Aggie G] who were taking classes that day [sorry to have missed seeing Marjorie H and Sue H ... I heard Deb L & Linda H were there earlier in the week]. One friend, Aggie G, was the class angel for a painted threads class taught by Tanja Berlin Berlin Embroidery Designs. We were invited to come into the classroom after their lunch break to meet the instructor, see the class model - and other designs [oh, so kewl], and see how the stitchers in the classroom were doing! I was impressed : ) Each project was unique - even tho they all had the same pattern. I look forward to seeing some of them FINISHED : ) Yeah, you know who you are .... Aggie & Marjorie.

Again, thx Marjorie H for the information, emails, and I certainly enjoyed reading the seminar bulletins that you published. Outstanding!