I worked a bit on the Dusenbury heart at lunch time....and remembered what threw me ....it was that 3rd shuttle that suddenly got thrown in there. LOL! Well, I've just figured a way around it. I'll have ends to hide. It's not my best effort by any means. I used 2 different threads, a solid pink for the center and the "handles" and then a variegated for the rest. The pinks don't really look well together. I didn't get very far on it. I'm going to work on another rosette for the hatband tonight. I need to get all the rosettes done first and then I think I can continously work the green outer part.

I made out the check for the Artisan phase of the T.A.T. program tonight - will mail it in the morning. Making out my bills made me realize how expensive my travel has been....or rather my tatting splurges. My son moves into his house tomorrow so it's time to start sorting and ebaying my unwanted stuff now. Lots of craft magazines I had set aside at one time to sell. My granddaughter wants to learn to knit so I should check for some easy stuff for her first.

I got a new "phish" from ebay....not really ebay but it sure looks like it. Said my bid on something had been canceled and to click on the link to see why - of course it comes up as the sign in page but it's not really. I had some bids recently but I was outbid before they finished so there was no reason to cancel it. When I went to the real ebay site and put in the auction number, which was a valid auction, it was something I wouldn't bid on in a hundred years! LOL! Anyway, I sent it to the spoof ebay site. They just get trickier and trickier.

I bought a new printer tonight. It was only $7 more than the ink cartridge I was going to have to buy.

I'm painting on another shuttle. This one is based in copper. I got out my copper metallic embroidery floss and my copper beads and I'm trying to figure out how to tat something tiny enough to fit on there and look good too. We'll see how long it takes for inspiration to strike.

My titles aren't showing up for some reason so I'll quit doing that. The entries don't always make sense if you don't see the title.

Tanya emailed and said she got her quilt block today!



It's another of the Bonnet Girls. I adapted it a little. It's supposed to be raining, which I picked for "spring showers", but I never got around to tatting the raindrops. The umbrella and hat did not go as smoothly as I hoped and I was already late, so I finished it up and mailed it off. These blocks really are a lot of fun to make. No one signed up for the summer block so I think interest is dwindling.

I updated my wannatats over at the side. I removed the completed ones but haven't added any new ones. I'm working on the hatband for now. I guess I could list my UFO's at some point. That would be some motivation to finish them. I have a bunched up Dusenbury heart right here in front of me with the shuttles still attached. I only have one hump of the heart left to do so maybe after my hatband I'll finish it.

Okay, here's the 8 petaled motif. I hope it looks more symmetrical after I block it.



The motif measures 2" and the circumference of the hat crown is 21 1/2" which means 11 motifs. The motif itself is 2" counting the picots so I think 11 will likely come out at 21 1/2" instead of 22".....but I'll be checking as I go and maybe I'll have to pull it together with a fluffy organza ribbon flower. I'll be joining as I go so there's no point in blocking this single motif. I might get it done before the fair deadline. LOL!

Ideas #2 & #3......& #4

I will definitely have to fit in an 8th petal if I go with the bottom one. I just put the top one in a mini-frame and decided it looks better framed.



While I was looking for the frame, I found this package of mirrors that I recently bought. The largest is abut the size of a quarter, an American 1/4 dollar. When I bought them, I was thinking of tatting around them like I did the shell. sigh....so many ideas, so little time.

That's it for tonight. I'm off to try an 8 petal version of idea #2!

Idea #1

This was my first choice - an insertion from DMC's Book of Charted Tatting Designs. I've only done half of the design. At the end of the length you want, you turn around and do the same on the other side. There were a couple of problems. I was using size 20 manuela and this part alone (not the butterflies - those were shuttle endings) was about 1 1/2" high. With the other half, it would have been close to 3", which is a bit too tall for the hat. Oh...would you like to see the hat?



I have a few plain straw hats I'm more likely to wear, but this is my practice piece. Anyway, back to the problems. The thread seemed BIG. I didn't like it and the colors, while bright and pretty, were not what I wanted. Then I made a mistake, I thought, far enough down that I cut and tied in to correct it, only to find I was still wrong or that maybe I hadn't been wrong to begin with - so I took it as a sign to abandon idea #1.

I had a back-up idea.


I'd been looking through a vintage edgings booklet full of florals. There are some tatted flowers...and some looked almost like the rosette in Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns. I was trying to figure out how I could do the rosette with the leaf structure from the edging...so I made a rosette from a smaller thread, a size 50 Flora. In the meantime, I've been looking at a dress trim in the same book (page 52 for those who have it) and I'm wondering if I can't somehow adapt it to encircle the rosette. My rosette ends up having 7 petals on the bottom layer instead of 8 but the dress trim motif only had 6 logical join points so I'm not sure what to do but I start tatting and joining, wondering where I'm going with this.



I think I like it. I will probably end up with 7 repeats to match the join spots on the rosette. My only question then is how to make subsequent motifs match up in a straight line? I had it figured out with the 6 points. I'm wondering how beads would look on it too?

Sizzlin' Hot!!

It's been HOT these past few days. I spent a lovely half hour in the son's pool last night cooling off. May go again tonight if I have time.



I finished the quilt block for my partner last night. Tonight I'll get it into an envelope and send it off by Monday. I'll show it later on in the week after she gets it.

So now, I can play! Finally, I get to make the hat band for my straw hat that I wanted to do last year. I have more than one so I can make more than one. Coincidently, the theme at both Palmettos and Hector next year has to do with hats. There are a couple of tatted hats I would love to make - maybe I should give it a go?

I started a cyberlist for tatting teachers and it's been pretty busy with talk about whether to start newbies out with rings or chains or shuttle or needle and currently, we're talking about standardizing terms/symbols and where to begin. If you are a tatting teacher and not already a member of that list, please email me privately. ginab6 at yahoo.com

later.....ah, someone noticed I haven't made an entry since Saturday. Can't believe it myself! I've been busy working on that block though. Here's something that didn't make it into the block. The proportion was all wrong for the other elements.



I got a bunch of shuttles this week to decorate. I can't wait! But I will....tomorrow I'm teaching the cords at Greenfield, but I'm having trouble finding where everything is. All I need are shuttles and thread but I thought I had some already in process....oh, yeah, in the roll-up display mat we got. I just don't remember where I put it.
Yee Haw! I found them!

Wow! 87º and it's 8:06 p.m. My AC is having a little trouble keeping up.


Well, I'm off to look through books and find a good hatband motif. Might have to line them all up in front of me for inspiration. And I might just do all this while sitting in the tub cooling off. LOL!

Late this evening I started preparing for a family cookout tomorrow and in the process, I listened to the CD Wilma Walker gave me while at Palmettos. Wilma's daughter, Patti, plays the hammered dulcimer with this group. It's absolutely wonderful - amongst the best Celtic music I've listened to! During the years I was visiting Ireland, I bought a few CD's with Celtic on them, usually after test-listening, because very few are really good. This one is good.

Thank you Wilma!

I've been working on Tanya's quilt square. I had it all planned and made the mistake of going to JoAnn Fabrics yesterday to get some new bobbins for my sewing machine. I thought I'd check the fat quarters since there was one fabric I wasn't really happy with....well, their flat quarters (not the fat ones) were on sale for $.99 each and not only did I find the exact fabric I needed, I found about 10 others I HAD to get and in the process, changed my layout for the block. Sigh.....It's turning into a whole lot more sewing than I expected. Hang in there Tanya, I'll get it to you yet! It's not really due til Tuesday, but....it will take a monumental effort to send it out Tuesday since I will also be gone much of tomorrow.

Something that is NOT on the block is the cat motif by Becky Dempsey, from her book Bugs & Beasts. I bought this book for the cat alone.


Becky has taken great pains to write all the directions out and these are quite long. Normally, I would like that. But as you can see, I was doing fine with the body but somewhere in the head, I got all confused. I ended up improvising and I'm not happy with it. I was also using size 80 thread in an attempt to make the cat small. It's a perfect size but the head is icky. I was using my post-it religiously but I tatted and untatted so many times I didn't know if I was coming or going. There's got to be a better way to document this one. It's so cute!

Well, it's nearly midnight. Time to get to bed!

It's All Bette's Fault

She brought up crochet at our last lace meeting. I had to go through my stash to see what might be suitable for a future class. And just to look. There are probably about a dozen of the pineapple heart patterns in my stuff. So I tried this one using size 20 thread instead of the size 5 it called for. I wanted it smaller and I got it! I didn't do the edging right. It called for a double layer but the instructions were not as clear as I would have liked so I improvised.


Yep.....what a relief. My lace group is gearing up to serve at the Taste of Tippecanoe on Saturday. It's a fundraiser for the Tippecanoe Arts Federation which we are a member of. I just finished sending out the email with everyone's schedule and tomorrow I pick up t-shirts, which I'm told are periwinkle. I think that is the same color our Palmettos shirts were!

I've also scanned my lesson plans into a pdf format so those are available and I think I've contacted everyone who was in my classes to make sure they have everything. There were some in the easier class who wanted some stuff from the harder class.

And I've launched a group for tatting teachers that I hope will be a valuable resource for those who teach the craft.

I'm keeping up with work stuff, barely. There is so much construction going on that it's very difficult to get around on campus. And it's been hot and humid, though the temps plummeted this evening and it's very comfortable now. I hope it is tomorrow too because I have 6 appointments - a heavy day in the life of ergonomics.

I've barely made progress on Tanya's block but I think I'm going to go tat here shortly. My brain seems to be in gear yet. LOL!

I took a peek at ebay late in the day but didn't find much. One shuttle that was already near $100. Not for me! I think instead that I will order those cheapo plastic ones from the Lacemaker and enjoy the decorating instead.

And Sunday, we are having a family cookout for the June birthdays. The gift shopping will have to come later.

And...I'm outta here!

Warning! Graphics Intensive!

Carol Rasor was kind enough to send me some photos she had taken. She said many of the entries had already been picked up by the time she got to take them but there are plenty here for you to ogle. They are being uploaded in the order they ended up in my picture file.


This bag might belong to Sherry Townsend. A tag was seen in the photo (cropped now) with her name but we couldn't tell if it was attached to this or not. 6/26/05 Yes -it is Sherry's.

Bag with dragonfly by unknown maker Thanks to Mimi - this bag was made by Karen Miner.


Beanile picture - maker also unidentified


Fan by Erin Holloway. It's kind of hard to tell here but if you click on it and see the larger version, you can see these are goldfish - I think like angel fish but I don't know what they are called. Very creative Erin - and colorful!


Fan by Gail Owens. The photo doesn't do this fan justice. You can't see the color play or the beads but it was gorgeous. And she almost didn't enter it!


Owls by Jane Eborall. Jane also had some flower fairies entered that I adored. Unfortunately, we don't have a pic.


Fan by Leeann Shaw


Edging by Lori Dunlap. Again, you can't really see the beautiful shading of the thread. It was a very fine thread.


Fan by Lynda Krupka. Her husband made the fan box and also the box for Carol Rasor's fan, which is coming up!


Fan by Carol Rasor. Carol received a perfect score in the judging! Beautiful Carol!


Fan by Sherry Townsend. Sherry missed the deadline for judging but was able to disply her fan. Another beautiful fan!


I enlarged and cropped this out of one of the other fan photos Carol sent me so the clarity isn't real good and the maker is unidentified. This is like the one I made 2 years ago....and decided not to enter because I knew the craftsmanship on mine wasn't very good. It was my first attempt to tat in rayon embroidery floss. It's pretty, but is not a good example of good tatting. No need to punish myself. LOL!

My lace group met this morning. Bette introduced beginning crochet as a program and brought lots of Anna magazines and other pattern books for us to drool over! I have a few tatting committments before I can take up a crochet project again, but it sure was tempting!

After lace group, I went to a wedding in the tiny burg of Linden, Indiana. As I left the town, I noticed an Antique store and decided to pop in and just take a quick look - who knows? Maybe there would be a shuttle. I had almost given up on the shuttle possibility when I looked at a case for the second time and saw them....THREE of them! How could I have missed them? LOL! The black one has a tiny hook on it. I thought I had one like the silver-plated one, but only the engraving is very similar. The one I already had is larger and doesn't have the hole in the middle. The ivory one - well, I've got lots of those now. The gentleman asked me where I found it - seems someone had been asking about shuttles just last week - guess he didn't realize he had them. Lucky me!



AND......When I got home Friday night, there was a package in the mail for me. My quilt block from Tanya! Tanya also included a ball of variegated pink thread in size 70. Thank you Tanya. You can see Tanya's work here.

A week already!

A week ago today, Jane & I arrived at Columbia University.

lessee......I think I left off at Friday night.

Saturday was BUSY. My first class was 9 - 11:00 a.m. This one was a little smaller and it went well. Bethann Lars was an aide and helped 3 tatters with their split rings. I think everyone else got the technique down and a few even wanted to know how to do some of the other techniques.

From 11:30 - 1:30, I was part of a conference team helping tatters with any subject they chose. Other team members were Mark Myers and Karen Miner. We each had 1 or 2 people to work with. I helped one member work on her split chains and the other member wanted to know some of the techniques in a pattern she bought from Deb Arnold last year. heheheheh....I bought that pattern too and still had not made it, so it was a good lesson for me too. It has a SCMR and a ring off the SCMR, plus uses the magic thread trick at the tail. I'm not a magic tricker. LOL! I know how, but I don't like it. But she tatted a practice piece using picots for the bead spaces. She is going overseas soon and wanted to take the dragonflys with her to give away.

Then we had lunch at 1:30. Door prizes followed and then the final class at 3 - 5:00 p.m. Georgia and I shared the room this time, doing pretty much what I'd done earlier - helped tatters in areas they were stumped.

Then we had dinner - way too soon after the late lunch - and picked up our stuff from the display room. Gail Owens won the prize for her beautiful fan and shame on me for not even getting a photo of it. There were lots of beautiful entries - not as much as last year, but every one of them was fantastic. My elf got 99 points out of 100 so I was pleased. That was my only entry.

Afterwards, Hope & I walked over to the gazebo and talked for awhile, serenaded by the frogs. LOL! It was nearly dark when we returned to the basement of Rossi. Tatting and chatting was in full force then. That was probably my latest night. When I got back to my room, I packed most of my stuff.

Next morning, shower & breakfast, many hugs and goodbys and Jane & I were on our way home. We stopped at an arts & crafts place in KY and saw some beautiful crafting of wood and glass and yarn and painting, etc. No tatting, but everything was unique there. I got Jane to the meeting place in Cincinnati and I think her family was relieved to have her back. She retrieved her stuff from my trunk and we all went our separate ways. Oh....Jane gave me a some UK tatting booklets, Stratford-Upon-Avon Shakespeare CHOCOLATE, a keyring with another Stratford-Upon-Avon scene, a tea-towel with the British colors/symbol on it (ok - it looks like the British flag - ggg)and a Stratford-Upon-Avon magnet! Shakespeare is probably writing a wonderful tatting drama from our Palmetto experience!

Another 3 hours and I was home. I had brought everything in and my eyes were burning so I was looking for my glasses and contact case. Nowhere to be found - I couldn't believe it, so I looked again and again, even in the white bag from the Vendors Room that had held my purchases - although I put them elsewhere and had put some lesson plans and magazines in there instead.......only......it wasn't my bag. IT WAS JANE'S!!!! And by this time it was 10:00 p.m. my time and I knew it was an hour later where she was so I emailed and asked for an address so I could mail it to her. She has her bag now....with ball after ball of beautiful thread. LOL! I almost had a bonus there!

BTW, you might want to keep an eye out for Palmetto fleas. Jane & Sue tatted one for everyone but neglected to warn us that they were pregnant fleas.....they look a lot like this critter I have trapped in my nametag:



I do encourage anyone who has the opportunity to attend the Palmetto event to take advantage of it. There were 125 attendees. I can't begin to name them all here but it was a magnificent cluster of tatters!

After the vendors room, I attended a presentation about organizing your tatting (Sample Books - Keeping Track of Threads) featuring Irene Woo, Hope Green, and Terry McGuffin. IMHO, these people are way too organized! LOL! Truly, they have beautiful sample books and from what they say, it makes their tat-life easier, but I have to admit that I will never be in that category. I don't have a clue how many ds's it takes in size 20 of ANY thread to equal 1" nor do I know personally how one thread tats up next to another unless I actually do it at the time. I have an overall idea about which threads are soft and limp and which are crisp and which fuzz up and what compares in size but to go to a book and pick what I need from it....nah, will never happen. I will never be in the Tatting Hall of Fame but fortunately we have tatters who are very good at this and deserve to be. Now you know who to go to when you want to know what kind of thread to use for a project!



I'm not sure what I was doing a this point but I missed the introduction of competition judges. I might have gone back to my room to make sure all my stuff for class was ready. Then we had lunch. The 1st class was 1-3, but I didn't take one from this time slot. I know I was checking my class stuff at this point and ....in the vending room again. You got a bag and put your anticipated purchases in it with your name on the outside. I didn't check out until later in the day.

My own class started at 3:30 p.m. and I wheeled my little cart and my display board over to Fisher Building. Then up to the 2nd floor. I was a little early and was setting my stuff up, including a portable stereo for background music. While I enjoyed having the music, I decided not to bother the next day. I had 15 students signed up - most eventually showed up. I realized long before class that we probably would not have enough time to cover everything thoroughly but I knew my hand-outs were graphic intensive and could probably help with anything we didn't get through. Oh....did I forget to say that on arrival Thursday night I found out my handouts weren't printed yet - and maybe not even received? We did find all but one and they were sent off for printing, arriving about 1/2 hour before my class. I spent 15 minutes sorting them.....only to realize half-way through class that I was still missing some. In fact, missing the one I thought most needed a visual explanation. I had a couple of students who had trouble with split rings but I hope they are able to follow the instructions later when they get split rings down. Anyway, it seemed to go well, but more time really was needed - or one less technique.

After that we had dinner -the banquet- including a skit with Mark and Tina dueling over which method, shuttle or needle, was the best. Georgia refereed. Advantages and disadvantages of both were pointed out, but in the end - it's whatever you feel comfortable doing that counts.

The time after that was for tat and chat and I'd told people from my class that I would help them that evening or the next day. As it turned out, I was really tired and begged off - I still had to put my display back together and make final preps for my morning class.

In between all this, I talked with tatters newly met and those I've met before. Oh!
I had a lovely surprise from Erin! Several months ago I mentioned how much I loved those colorful crochet hooks I'd seen in the stores. Well....Missy Holloway made sure I got them! LOL! I was completely taken by surprise! Thank you so much Erin!



BTW, I never did participate in the late night or early morning events. I know I miss out on some fun, but I also know my limits of physical endurance.

Not much tonight

It's been a long hot day so I'm not writing much tonight. I started tatting the elements for the Seasonal Spring Tatted Block for Tanya. I'm having fun coming up with ideas!

Back to Palmettos......

Friday morning, after breakfast and greeting new arrivals, I checked out the Vendor Room. YES! I think we live for tatting supplies, regardless of how much we already have. I did get some thread in spite of telling myself there was absolutely no reason to buy more. And shuttles....


This shuttle came from Rita Cochran. I think I bought a parrot one from her in Hector, but I'm not sure where it is at the moment. I couldn't resist this dog, even though I'm not fond of flat shuttles.


I was intrigued by these "Endless Tatting" shuttles by Abby Small. Most were painted and I especially liked one pair that seemed to have dogwood blossoms on them but decided I would also like to paint them myself so I bought the unpainted ones. I think they might work well for demonstrating with a bigger cord too.


Here's the current Palmettos shuttle by The Shuttle Shop. I ordered it ahead of time. I love the stripes running through the wood. Tulipwood, I believe.

These are Georgia Sietz shuttles. I've seen the big one several times and finally decided to get it. The red & white fan shaped ones were both in the same package and I got the blue one because of the butterfly on it.

The only motif I tatted! I bought Patti Duff's Mini-Tats and made this dimpled ring heart motif from some metallic red one night.

This is just an advertisement I received yesterday for a bead magazine. Doesn't the pendant look like a shuttle?

Where to begin......

My oh my! What a week!

I didn't take that first picture and this afternoon, I was regretting it - what will I show everyone?


Like that's really a problem.

I started scanning...and scanning....and scanning......

Perhaps I should start at the beginning when I left home on Wednesday, June 1, later than I wanted but not too late. I had the car packed and snacks and water in the cooler. I made a few stops along the way for gas and drinks and potty stops, but nothing major. The drive was pleasant, the weather good. I stopped at a place about 45 minutes away from where I was to pick up Jane. It was getting quite overcast and I was to soon go through a section that might be confusing if I wasn't quite alert and I didn't want to end up backtracking. I stayed at a Super 8 Motel which was only $35 plus tax for some reason. Clean, adequate. I ate dinner at a Waffle House nearby. Called Jane and we arranged for 10:00 a.m. as the time to meet. We had arranged to meet at a place called the Beehive. A coworker told me there were beads there and we would love it.

Wrong!

It was bead jewelry. And purses and bags and other things having more to do with home decor. I got a couple of bracelets for $1 each and a couple of necklaces for the way they were made, also $1 each. Then I got a little rolling bag for $6 which worked perfectly for hauling my stuff to the classroom. That one was a good buy - but we were both disappointed that the store was not what we expected it to be.

So, with pick up directions from Jane's family and goodbyes, we set off for SC. It was only about a 4 hour drive from there. We stopped along the way at a Crackerbarrel and had lunch. We had no trouble finding the place. I was there last year, but had come a little different route for some reason. Anyway, Jane is quite good at reading the map, considering it's not her country and she's unfamiliar with the signage and landmarks. It was great help having her watch for the signs!

So we arrive at Columbia University and go in. No one was at the registration table yet, but there were people inside. We were greeted right away ......... but it took me awhile to connect faces and names. Poor Erin.....I knew I knew her but it didn't hit me who it was at first! Sorry Erin! I recognized the ladies from Canada that we met in Hector and who were also at Palmettos last year, but I couldn't for the life of me remember who was who at first! It all came together later though. Eventually Bonnie made it from work and the registration started. In the meantime, Jane & I had taken our competition entries over. I only had 2 and one was for display only. Jane just kept laying things down and trying to match them up with the paperwork. I hope someone has photos to share of all the beautiful tatting!

We found our dorm rooms, pulled up the car and unloaded. I like to get a room to myself - it helps me stay grounded with so much intensity from the event. My room was better than last year. I don't remember carpeting, for one thing, but we were in a different building.

As the evening wore on, I caught up with Hope, and Sherry, and Mary Donahue, and the Palmettos Guild staff as well as many other teachers. We had dinner and then there was a teacher/aides meeting. During registration we got lovely lavender tshirts - I will have to take a pic after I wash it. We also got a nice plastic case with a handle, about 7" x 11" and 3" deep, filled with goodies. We also got a basket with even more goodies! There was a tatted chatelaine with a permanent marker attached for signing books and shirts.

Mine was tatted by Julie Brennan, whom I met later and was able to thank personally.

I got a lovely peach colored tumbler with a palm tree on it - everyone got one in different colors. Very handy in my room for brushing my teeth! Numerous little plastic cases. A water bottle snuggie in a fan motif fabric. A tatted shuttle bag, tatted by Joanie Culverhouse, whom I did not meet and did not get to thank in person, but I'll find her email and do so. In the meantime, Thank you Joanie! Oh - just remembered another thing to scan! Sherry and I exchanged shuttles and butterflies. The shuttle goes so perfectly with the shuttle bag.....



And here's what I gave Sherry.



And the butterflies.....

mine to Sherry Sherry's for me

and here's more goodies....

Cards tatted by Betty Magill

The plastic container with the fan was meant to hold butterflies and stuff to donate....not that I ever got to tat any. The water bottle holder with the fan motif fabric. The little wire dog was given to me by Ruth Perry the next day.

Okay...more tomorrow.