Threads to Cherish

The first day back from national seminar is a hard day. It is a time of adjustment and readjustment. Louisville is two hours ahead of Albuquerque and so my whole body system is slightly askew. It was a week and a couple of days of living in a wet blanket of heavy air, dull skies (even when the sun was shining), and sudden temperature changes from indoors to outdoors. The hotter it was outside, the colder it was inside. I should have brought my winter indoor sweater and wool socks just to sit in the classrooms.

The brightness of the days were the people. My two roommates were the rocks of my time spent there. Though generally Ann and Carole are the rocks of my life away from seminar too. Jette and Roy were there, old friends from England whom Carole and Ann and I visit on every occasion we get whether over there or here. There are new friends I met for the first time at seminar and friends I don't see from decade to decade. I met up with friends from Rocky Mountain Region with whom I communicate from time to time. I saw new friends from the Greater Pacific Region I met for the first time at Asilomar. Even without the fantastic classes, the exhibits, the bookstore and stitchers' boutique, the national seminar was thunderous success.

But three things happened at this national seminar that put the cherry on the sundae. The first that happened I knew was going to happen--the three awards that came my way. Those three awards are milestones in my life and my work as an embroiderer and fiber artist, giving me solid verification of my chosen work in this life.

The other two things were compliments, stunning compliments from people I love. It is these two compliments that make a life worthwhile. The first came from my very good friend, Carole Rinard. Carole's life is also embroidery. Her interests are slightly different from mine, but we make a formidable pair of friends. Years ago I did a Winning Ways lecture at a national seminar. The Winning Ways lectures are given every national for the judging candidates (and other interested parties) about what is the best in embroidery, how to judge various aspects of embroidery, and what the highest standards in embroidery are. My lecture was on blackwork (what else?) I said that in blackwork instead of using several strands of a stranded thread, such as silk or cotton, to thicken and stitch a line. one should just use a thicker thread. Using several strands is unsatisfactory because the strands shift and buckle against one another as we stitch. But one thicker strand allows complete smoothness, no bubbling of the strands, and no loops left on the stitching. It is a simple concept and I was not the first one to think about it. Carole said that at first people were discomforted if not outraged that I would suggest such a thing. But now twelve or fifteen years later, the single strand is the standard of blackwork in mastercraftsman and certification. Carole told me in effect, that I had changed the face of counted embroidery within the EGA. It was a wonderful thing to say to a person and something I will cherish forever.

Japanese Ribbons

Five weights of silk thread from the very finest,

less than a human hair in diameter, to very thick, almost a yarn.

From Mastercraftsman Step Two in Counted Work.

In the same week another person said something to me that I will forever remember and forever hold close to my heart. Roy Heath, Jette Roy Finley's husband, is a magician, a comedian. a great chef, and a wonderful host. Jette and I first met in England when she came to give the Newbury Branch of the Embroiderers' Guild a talk on Danish work. Everyone knows Jette now. She comes to the US every two years to teach in the national seminars. She also teaches in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. But back when I was living in England, she was only teaching in England at Urchfont and other locations in the west country. She lived about a half an hour's drive from my home in Newbury and so she graciously met with me there one bright sunny morning. I knew from the first minute I saw her work that she would do well in America. It was just a matter of her proposing. And so I went to see her, to urge her to propose for the next national seminar (Denver 1995), and to show her how to put together a good proposal. All I did was talk. Jette and Roy did all the rest. They had the drive and the know-how. And Roy when he saw me at this Louisville national seminar, said to me, "You know, you changed my life."

So lives are changed and made worthwhile by our friendships and our actions. And the EGA has made this all possible by our coming together every year in celebration and fellowship.