....that is the question. I am allowed to go as per the husbands permission but will I decide to go! Today the link came through from Thistle Threads East Coast Embroidered Casket Tour to those of us outside of the USA/Canada to enable us to book for this tour.
The tour involves four days of activities:
Day 1 - A visit to the Met Museum & shopping in NYC
Day 2 - A visit to the Cooper Hewitt Museum & travel to Boston
Day 3 - A visit to the MFA in Boston & shopping in downtown Boston
Day 4 - A visit to the Lexington Historical Society and a casket finishing course with Tricia from Thistle Threads followed by a reception at Tricia's house
All activities sound VERY appealing and the chance to get to view all that 17th century embroidery with expert knowledge supplied by the museum staff and Tricia would be awesome not to mention meeting the extremely talented Tricia and all the other lovely class members.....but
....for me living here in little old New Zealand in reality it means....
...40 hours plus of flying time with return flights, that's an entire working week spent in the air not to mention the time waiting at airports and all on my own
...I would be exhausted when I got there and so would need to arrive early just to sleep and all the travel time far outweighs the time allotted for the tour.
...and the big deciding factor for me is that for the cost of the tour/airfares & extra hotel stays not to mention spending while over there and adding to stash I would be able to purchase a double casket form along with the associated customs costs as well as get the new iMac I want and have enough left over to purchase a flattop double casket so....as much as I would like to join the tour it just doesn't stack up!
....so any USA ladies reading this blog who want to join the tour and are afraid of missing out due to numbers...there is a slot not taken...by me at least
Took me while to let it go though...that feeling of missing out but I will just have to celebrate my 50th with my goodies instead!
So ... enough mulling over that and onto the here and now
Time for a bit of chit chat about what's gone on this week
The Grow Your Blog party continues and I have spent a bit of time looking at some lovely blogs with many still to go on the list and thank you to all those lovely ladies who have posted your encouraging comments on my blog and become followers of my musings.
I still have my kids home on school holidays until 5th February and so have not achieved milestones but here are the results of my plugging away...
I have stitched the wings of the butterfly onto the background of the Essamplaire Casket
I have couched the old gold lace onto the outine of the Thistle Threads Floral Glove. Need to get a hurry on as The last lesson #6 comes out 1st February and I want to be up to date.
My main focus this week has been plugging away in the evenings on the Needleworker's Pocketbook and the pastoral scene is taking shape.
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I have succeeded in catching up with the latest lesson #5 for the Thistle Threads May Your Hands and am waiting for #6 on 1st February. I can't believe I have done this as I was so late starting this and the saw tooth borders took me what seemed forever.
In the piccie from left to right and excluding the painted thread holders (painted by Betsy Krieg Salm) are the finished Thimble Nest, Scissor Keep, Pin Pad and Wax Holder.
The final lesson will contain the instructions to complete the other more involved pieces so a bit of work ahead of me. Oh, I also made up the strawberry emery but it is just out of the picture on the left. I will photo it again when the set is complete so you can see then.
Have a fun week fellow bloggers and look forward to meeting more GYB participants.
Very good progresses, Raewyn ! I see that we have a lot of projects in common, but mine are not all started !
ReplyDeleteI'm in the CoC course too, but will not join the so appealling casket tour. My English is sadly not good enough for a great communication and I will save money for the casket itself...
Sorry that you can't go but your reasons are very sound. I think the travel time alone for such a short visit would be onerous to say the least. Major jet lag:( If you were staying for three weeks or longer it would be a different matter and think of all the goodies you can buy for 50th.
ReplyDeleteI love your needle work. I am now following.
ReplyDeleteWhat utterly magnificent needlework you do, I am simply flabbergasted! It reminds me of a book I have on stump-work embroidery and I thought THAT was good, but oh my, you are a true needle artist!
ReplyDeleteHi Jerri and lovely to talk to you. You might not have noticed but I already have you in my list of favourite blogs. Your blog is so pretty and your artwork is just amazing. Whilst I can claim credit for the execution of the needlework I have been doing I cannot claim credit for the original design. But I am working towards my own original 17th century casket in stumpwork, just learning as much as I can leading up to that and loving the journey. Thanks for stopping by and for you nice comments. Rae
DeleteI honestly don't know how you find the time in life for all your beautiful needlwork - you must be epic at multi-tasking! I'm so sorry that you can't go to your tour. Maybe some of the events will be live-streamed or youtube, so at least you can join in that way. I suppose it's no consolation really, but your lovely blog is a tour in itself. I suffer from pretty severe agoraphobia and can only go out when accompanied by someone who kicks me up the bum a bit so I miss out on a great deal which drives me NUTS - well, MORE nuts!! ;-P But reading blogs like yours, well - it's a kind of virtual doorway onto the world and makes the house seem less like a cage and more like a gateway to a universe of variety. So I'd like to say 'thank you' for your blog posts, your pictures and for sharing your talents with us - it's so very much appreciated. You may not be going on this great tour, but you're sure hosting a pretty darned awesome one of your own! (pun intended there with the 'darned' thing...heh heh). Best wishes from Shroo:)x
ReplyDeleteHi Shroo, thank you for your lovely comments. They sure are a boost to my ego which I have spoken a little of in my latest post :D. I read your posts too and am a mega fan of your art. I also love it when bloggers talk about the products they use and so of course I went hunting things down after you talked about all your lovely pens/pencils etc.
DeleteIt never ceases to amaze me how my ramblings in cyberspace can add joy to someone's day as others do to me. The internet sure does bring the big old world right to your doorstep. I too have trouble leaving my house but it's not through anything other than that my space just happens to be my favourite place in the world. Rae.