Madison, Wisconsin

The Madison Area Chapter of EGA hosted a Wisconsin State Day last month, and Marguerite and I were lucky enough to be able to attend. We drove up on Thursday afternoon, and after stopping at Stitcher's Crossing to make sure we had enough supplies, and a quick bite at Culver's, we arrived at the Madison Area Chapter's monthly meeting, where Catherine Jordan gave a lecture about her designs and talked about some of her painting techniques.

After the lecture, we checked into the hotel. We were not happy to find out that the hotel charged $12.00 per day for internet access, so we stitched instead!

The next morning, we had breakfast with all the participants and then went on to class. The class project was this Great Lakes map. The photo does not do it justice. It is absolutely amazing, and detailed!

Of course we weren't going to finish this piece in just one weekend, so we were given a small friendship book to work on, so that we could practice the techniques.

We carefully stitched the outline of Lake Michigan and some other things in a reversible stitch that Catherine taught us, and then we got to paint! First on a blank piece of fabric to see how much water to add and then on our stitching. Once the paint dried, we got to stitch some more!

Mine will look a bit different, and I chose to put Lake Michigan in the middle and stitch the state of Michigan also. I am rather please with the way mine is turning out, and the painting of the fabric was much easier than I thought it would be. I was quite intimidated by the painting part, but it was a piece of cake!

We all had lunch together at the hotel and stitched the afternoon away. For dinner, Marguerite and I ventured to downtown Madison. Michelle had recommended The Essen Haus for dinner, so that's where we went. Yes, I know, I can get good German food anytime, but Marguerite hadn't had any German food in years, so we needed to get her some. I must admit, I was a bit put off at the waitresses wearing gray T-shirts with their Dinrdls instead of the traditional white blouses, but the menu seemed good. The food was very authentic and tasty. We were too early for the show, but that's okay, I hear German music very often. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and stitched and stitched.


Saturday morning we were up bright and early for breakfast and then back to the stitching room. We learned some hem stitches and continued to work on our friendship books. After another lunch at the hotel, we stitched for awhile longer. Before heading home, we posed for a class picture. Catherine Jordan, the instructor, is the one holding the Great Lakes map. If you are looking for me, I am second from the right in the very top row.