Cici's Work at EGA-GLR, Madison, WI

This past Saturday, I spent a better part of the day visiting with two fellow needleworkers. We worked on our practice pieces for the Diane Clements' class we took this past Spring in Madison, WI. The work is called reticello and is quite tedious. I did most of the above work in class and one little teeny tinsey strawberry this past Saturday. The picture below is of me on the rooftop of Monona Terrace, Madison's lovely convention center, which was originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Monona Terrace, Madison, WI

A (Somewhat) Brief History of Monona Terrace, A Public Place by Frank Lloyd Wright

On July 18, 1997, Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center opened its doors after nearly 60 years of controversy. First proposed in 1938, the lakefront facility is a testament to the genius of Frank Lloyd Wright and the controversy both he and his design created. Of his plans, Wright said the building would be “the long awaited wedding between the city and beautiful Lake Monona.” It was a long wait.

By 1938, Wright’s reputation soared with the success and positive publicity that surrounded Fallingwater, Johnson Wax and the Usonian houses. Featured on the cover of Time magazine, the author praised the architect and said that he had rebounded from setbacks to become the “greatest architect of the twentieth century.” Despite his international acclaim, however, he had not yet been celebrated in his own hometown with a large public commission. It is within this context that Wright approached the City of Madison to build Monona Terrace. The project intended to fulfill the City’s need for an auditorium, armory, boat harbor, train station and city-county building. Wright envisioned the space to be an inspirational lake-view locale where great minds would gather to recreate and discuss the issues of the day. The city and county did not approve a joint office building project in 1938, so Wright’s plans were not required.

Another opportunity to build Monona Terrace arose in 1952 when the City decided to move forward with an auditorium. Wright altered his earlier plans and presented them to the city council and public forums. A referendum passed and Wright was voted as the architect. But the vote was close, and Wright’s arrogance and extravagant lifestyle earned him several enemies. In 1957, the Terrace project suffered a tremendous setback when one member of the Wisconsin assembly leader introduced a bill prohibiting any building construction on the lakefront higher than 20 feet. The bill passed, though it was later repealed in March 1959.

In April 1959, twenty-one years and eight designs after the original proposal, Frank Lloyd Wright died. In the process he devoted countless hours preparing drawings, renderings, and models, while simultaneously trying to convince the City that the project had merit. The proposal created a heated controversy resulting in five referenda, ten lawsuits, ten pieces of state legislation, and over four thousand newspaper articles. The fact that Wright returned repeatedly to a project for which he was paid a meager $250 attests to his commitment to the Terrace project.

Throughout the next few decades, the City considered multiple plans and debated what would best fulfill the interests of the City, County and State. The interior spaces were repeatedly reconfigured to fulfill the City’s immediate goals.

In the 1990s, as Wright’s plans were revisited again, Taliesin architect Tony Puttnam was hired to work with the City planning committee. The resulting structure was built on the same site, and still has the lecture hall, community center, meeting rooms, exhibition hall and rooftop garden Wright proposed in the 1950s. However, it now fulfills the City’s need for a convention center to serve as an ecoomic catalyst for the downtown area, to be a community center, and tourism destination.

The design of Monona Terrace centers on the circular form. The dramatic cylindrical parking ramps that flank the east and west ends of the building reflect the circular forms with which Wright was experimenting. And the connecting spaces, both internal and external flow continuously in a curvilinear form that is echoed in the buildings decorative details including lighting fixtures, carpeting, furnishings and signage.

Completed in 1997 at the cost of $67.1 million, the building and its utilization have exceeded expectations as Madison residents and visitors have attended meetings, banquets, concerts, conventions and myriad other community events. Wright’s beloved hometown finally celebrated its local architect by building his working piece of art.

Vegans for Father's Day!

YUMMY! This is what my vegan daughter, Katie, and I made for Father's Day dinner!

9th Floor News

One of the lovely ladies who works outside of the Mayor's office had asked me to hang an exhibit of my needlework and, surprisingly, it has gotten a lot of attention. My sweet daughter, Katie, and I had lunch together last Thursday and I dragged her to the exhibit so I could show off a bit (show off Katie, that is). One of the neighborhood advocates happened by and took this photo, which I think turned out pretty well!

BBQ of Seville

Last Sunday my friend, Bonnie, and I attended Fort Wayne's Philharmonic production of the BBQ of Seville, a take off on the Barber of Seville. Before the show, there was a terrific BBQ by a good ol' fashioned but world class, rib fest winnin', finger-lickin' grill team. Then we heard about an hour's worth of classical music. Good company, lovely night - all for $20.

Janice Love Class

I recently attended the Indianapolis EGA's Spring retreat at McCormick's Creek State Park, where Janice Love had been hired to teach a hardanger project. This was Janice's swan song - her last teaching engagement of her career. As many know, Janice has been teaching for a long time and she authored what many consider to be the bibles of hardanger, Basics and Beyond and Fundamentals Made Fancy. And there I am - sitting next to her, learning how to make perfect picots!

Katie's Homework

I think this is a very cool homework assignment done by my daughter, Katie. You can't tell from this picture but all of these elements are done using cut up bits of paper. Each one represents a different design element. Maybe if I understood these design elements more, I could make some of my own cool pictures!

Mary Garry's Sewing Cabin - Pinkeeps

These two designs are freebies from Mary Garry that I made into pinkeeps. I had seen them done by another stitching friend and could not wait to stitch them. It took me a good part of today to make the pinkeeps as these were my first attempts. I used up a bit of bead stash to make the "pins", by poking a pin through the bead and then into the sides.

Snowy Monday Morning

For those of you basking in the warm sun, this is what we faced this past Monday morning. Not fun to shovel but lovely anyway!

Needlebook - Flower Motif

This is the first needlebook I made that has a spine. It is stitched on raw linen, 28 count, over one with ecru wildflowers.

Easter Basket

This Easter "Egg" was a design I stitched years ago when I first started stitching. It was probably my first attempt at specialty stitches and I believe it was designed by one of my former guild members, although not available commercially. I finished it in the last year or so and will display it soon for Easter. Yes - Easter is early this year so we will probably have snow!

Valentine's Day - 2008

Don't you think this is what I looked like when I was a youngster? I gave this card to Doug this Valentine's Day. The inside reads, "Of course, I didn't know YOU then!"

And A Forest Grew - Update

The last time I posted about this project was on 1/15/2008, 15 days from the start. Today, 2/7/2008, I have completed about two pages of the chart, with about 14 pages to go. I am enjoyng every stitch!

Quaker Needlebok - The Workbasket

This is the blue, over one, version of the Quaker Needlebook. The design is from The Workbasket and used to be a shop freebie.

Paulette's Pincushion

Yesterday I spent a lovey day at Sew Biz in Marion, IN, making a beautiful pin cushion. The designer and teacher was an old friend from Blackford County, IN. Her name is Paulette and I originally met her through the garden club as she is a talented gardener. She is equally talented with a needle and thread. The pincushion class she taught - making a pincushion from 2 CDs - was very fun. She even showed us how to make decorative hat pins! I used my quiet time this morning embellishing the pin cushion and now my mind is overflowing with ideas on how to use many other embellishments on more pincushions!

National Seminar - Louisville, KY - September 2008

This is the 50th anniversary, The Golden Gala, for the Embroiderers Guild of America. It is being held in Louisville, KY, the home of EGA's national headquarters. As it is not 4 hours from my home, I am very lucky to be attending. I have signed up for a lovely two day class by Deanna Bertelsen called Molly's Mouse.




I have seen the model and it depicts a lovable little mouse and her dragonfly companion with raised gossamer wings, enhanced with beads and gold thread worked in DMC cotton on silk Dupioni. The class description says students will perfect random long and short stitches and bullion knots and will learn an innovative padding technique.

Sew Biz, Marion, IN

There is a wonderful quilting shop in Marion, IN, where I will be taking a class - Paulette's Pincushion Class - Version 2, which is shown below. The class is set for this Saturday, February 2, 2008, so I will have to assemble my supplies quite quickly!



Apparently, a version of this class was taught before as I saw several samples in the shop when I visited some weeks ago. It is made on a CD and you can embellish the top of the pin cushion fabric in any way that you desire. I think I will love this class and, as a bonus, the teacher will be bringing beads for us to make some beautiful long decorative pins to stick in the cushion. This would make a great gift for any woman, and gives me many ways to use up some stitching ideas and embellishments. Check out the other classes - which are very reasonable - by accessing the shop's blog site from the shop's website @ www.sewbizmarion.com.

Turns out I am taking Diane Clements' Strawberry Lace at the GLR in April. Hope I get my lovely kit soon so I can start the pre-stitching!

This colorful, multi-stitch sampler is done in a 17th century style sampler in a book style sewing case. A wool-stuffed pin cushion, needle book with reversible stitching, scissors pocket, and fob complete the ensemble. The Punto in Aria design on the front cover features a petite, five petal strawberry blossom of cloth stitch surrounded by berries filled with knotted buttonhole stitch and accented by needlewoven lozenge leaves. The lace bits are supported by buttonhole and wrapped bars and a few Venetian picots add more detail to the design. Case is 3 1/2”x 5 1/2” x 1”.

This is the front of the needlebbook I designed and taught for House of Stitches in La Porte, IN, some time ago. The design is from The Work Basket. It used to be a freebie handout but now is included in one of two charts, called Quaker Odds and Evens.

Chihuahua Craziness

I just discovered a blog of note - Chihuahua Craziness. Since my son and his girlfriend have two miniature Chihuahuas, I thought it might be them. Sadly, it is not them but the site is very cute anyway. Here it is:

http://chihuahuacraziness.blogspot.com/