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!