Hello from Anaheim!

OK, so it is only one half hour from my house, but still, it's a stitching vacation! This is how far I've progressed on the "Rosebuds and Hemstitched Baby Dress", a two day class taught by Jeannie Baumeister. We have actually accomplished quite a bit. We had to withdraw threads (three on each line shown) from the linen fabric and hemstitch the remaining threads into little bundles. Those hemstitched lines are all of two inches long. I've managed to withdraw the threads on the sleeves (not shown), stitch down the lace insertion and sew one tuck. You can see how I've botched drawing in the neckline on the left. As it still doesn't look quite right, I'll check it over very, very carefully once I get home. We also made samples of some of the hand finishing techniques we will use later on in making this darling little baby dress. We are using a very pale blue 1000 Ulster Linen fabric which is very fine and has a lovely "hand". There are lots of blue markings where I'll make little bullion roses and lazy daisy, or detached chain, leaves. I'll work on this tonight then tomorrow I'll have a completely different class.

After I came back from the Persian Peony class in San Diego, I decided to splurge and stay in the hotel for this convention. Of course, it was too late to get the special convention rate, so I'm staying at the Embassy Suites next door. My room's window faces east, so I have a beautiful view of the full moon rising all evening. What a treat! The hotel has an African theme with a mountain in the breakfast area that sports a sleeping lion on top. Every half hour he awakens and roars, just to let us all know who's king. The little kids are just fascinated. We are only two miles away from Disneyland so all of the hotels cater to families, especially with children who are visiting the theme park. It's fun to see the little ones with their MM ears and princess gowns prancing around.

We are also having a mini heat wave with temperatures in the high 90's. Tomorrow should be a bit cooler, with normal 70's by the time the convention winds up. I ran into a friend I met at the first convention I attended so we went out for sushi tonight and had a great time.  Now it's back to stitching so I can get a bit more accomplished on this dress and then early to bed. Last night I stayed up way too late working on the hemstitching and watching bad Star Trek movies. Not tonight!

I was unable to save the photo as a smaller file, so please let me know if this takes an inordinate amount of time to load. I am using a laptop which does not have Adobe Photoshop, so I am fairly limited in what I can do. I'll do much better once I get back home and can edit the photos.

Keep cool and Happy Stitching!