After hearing your concerns and consulting some colleagues whose opinion I value, I have decided to change the date of The Embroiderers’ Story Symposium. Please mark your calendars for 24 – 27 September, 2009. This is the weekend after we originally chose. I sincerely apologize for the perceived slight, I certainly meant no offense. Of course it’s true that no date will be convenient for everyone so I apologize in advance to those for whom this weekend is worse. But, at an institution where we place a high value on inclusion and cultural sensitivity, it only made sense that we make every effort to fix the mistake. Embarrassing, but the right thing to do.

There has been so much spontaneous good will and genuine community generated by this project that it would have been terrible to mar its culmination by any ill feeling. Fortunately the teachers and speakers who had already committed were amenable to the date change (and very gracious about the whole thing), and we were able to secure the necessary rooms and theater at Plimoth Plantation. Due to the visitation patterns, we may be a little more crowded this weekend, but we should be able to manage.

Now, though, I need your help with spreading the word about the correct date everywhere, to minimize the inevitable confusion. If you sent notes to your guild, or your needlework-loving friends, or to a yahoo group, please send the new date along.

I’m working hard on firming up the arrangements, and I anticipate that by the end of September I should be able to give you a ballpark on the registration fee and start accepting “save my spot” deposits.

MD wrote to me suggesting that we devise a way for participants to network carpooling and room sharing, and it seems to me that the forum for this blog is the right place for that. After we start accepting deposits, I’ll ask Robbin to start us a thread for each topic and people can find each other there.