About Me

My photo
West Virginia
When I started my retirement travels in 2009, I wanted a way to share it with family and friends as it was happening. Hence, "My Travel Journal". However I realized I wouldn't always be on a trip and wondered what to do with the blog in between times. My daughter pointed out, wisely, that travels can also include trips to the kitchen to try a new recipe, trips to visit family, trips to my neighborhood Starbucks, or a fun day trip with a friend. You're welcome to join me on any of these journeys! I've set up individual pages for each of my major trips (see tabs above).

Also, I have an Etsy shop where my current needlework resides. The last pieces I posted here were in 2013! So if you'd like to see what I have accomplished recently, go to (and I apologize for having to copy and paste):

www.etsy.com/shop/thedollhouseneedle

I recently added an "Italian Word a Day" thingie which shows up at the bottom of every page. You see the word and can click to hear it pronounced. I've been enjoying it and I think my accent is improving as time goes by.

September 24, 2011

My First IGMA Show

IGMA is the International Guild of Miniature Artisans, an organization dedicated to giving support and recognition to miniature artisans who can join IGMA as members, and if they desire to, apply for Artisan status, and then go on to Fellow status.  For each of these steps, they must submit work which is then judged and if they don't earn the title, they are encouraged to try again and are constructively instructed on what would help them on a second attempt.  So the work of these folks is truly a joy to see.  We ended up spending pretty much the entire day in the show and, for me, especially, it was wonderful meeting several women who are members of the Yahoo petitpointers group that I belong to.  They were all so warm and welcoming!  I found various and sundry things to purchase - no treasures like I have sometimes bought in years past, but I'm happy with everything I bought.  And Chris bought 2 very nice pieces and then, when we ended up staying for the live auction, he bid on and won a beautiful wood bowl.  The auction was great fun - it and the auctions following IGMA's other events are their main sources of fund-raising and the artisans and other folks all donate beautiful, beautiful pieces to be auctioned off.

I took pictures of each of the petitpointers I met and am posting them here just because they made my day so very pleasant and I always post pictures of the highlights of my trips.  These ladies were definitely highlights! :)


On the left is Christa Goes who came all the way from the Netherlands for the show.  She does beautiful Hardanger embroidery on 54 count linen which you see pictured here on the right.  She also had petitpoint on her table but I was especially enchanted with the Hardanger because that is something I've been trying to work up my nerve to try for a long time.  You really should click on the Hardanger picture to get a better idea of the detail she manages to put into each piece.  A delightful young woman and I'm glad I got to meet her!



And, this is Pat Richards on the left and a small sampling of her work on the right.  She makes wonderful upholstered furniture, the little rugs you see that I believe are created by a method called penny felting.  She also creates beautiful, and I mean beautiful petitpoint pieces and submitted a 1/12th scale framed picture done in stump work embroidery - a form of raised embroidery.  Needless to say, it did very well as a fund raiser!  Oh, and I mustn't forget to mention the cats - I think she must do these every now and then for fun because they certainly fun to look at.  They are very lightly stuffed I think so they look like they've just sort of collapsed into the chair.  I need to think of a perfect spot to display one because they make me smile when I look at them.




I also got to meet Peggy Meyers (I think it's 2 "e"s) in the blue jacket and visit with Annelle Ferguson in the black and white who is considered one of the "queens" of the petitpoint world.  I have visited with her briefly at several other shows and she is delightful with her gentle southern drawl and her great sense of humor.  And that's me and Annelle and I guess you can tell what a good time I was having!  And I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Corky and am just real put out with myself!  She stopped by our table at breakfast and stayed for a nice visit and then we both ended up out in the lobby while I ate lunch and we had another visit.  She is a delight and I'm just sorry I didn't get a picture of her to share.  She is a hoot! :)

It dawned on me after Chris and I pretty much packed everything up tonight for our trip back to DC tomorrow that I didn't take pictures yet of what we both bought.  So I will do that maybe tomorrow night or Monday and try and get them posted too.

Tomorrow, we leave here in time to get to NYC by 10:30 when we'll join a Megan, a friend of Chris's.  She lives in Brooklyn and we're all going to join up for brunch at ... wait for it ... Artisanal!  It will be delicious I'm sure and pretty darned fabulous.

And, now - good night!

5 comments:

elly in amsterdam said...

Wonderful pics and a great description of your meetings, Mary Lynne! I love Pat R.'s kitties,too.
Cheers,
Elly

rosanna said...

Mary Lynne, now I'm green... with envy.
It's my dream to go to Castine but, unless I win a lottery ,it will remain so.
I'm glad you had such gorgeous time. Have a nice day, Rosanna

Mary Lynne said...

This is what I love so much about my two passions - miniatures and needlework. These first two comments are from Elly in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Rosanna in Genoa, Italy! How neat is that?! These two hobbies have put me in touch with lovely people all around the world. :)

Christopher said...

It was quite a surprise to see how far-flung some of the international exhibitors were! I was amazed at the level of artistry and technical excellence on display at many more than "just a few" tables... so many talented people there... My new little treasures sure are wonderful, and they weren't by any means at the top end of the spectrum of amazing craftsmanship.

January said...

It sounds delightful, Mama! And that last picture with you in it is really nice - it's easy to see what a good time you were having.
xox

Italian Word Word of the Day

My Trusty Followers

Blog Archive