I gave myself plenty of time to get there, leaving Thursday afternoon. Tom-Tom and mapquest both say about 9 hours to get there. I stopped in Battle Creek, Michigan and stayed overnight. Went to a Hobby Lobby I found down the road and got these things.The tin with the vintage-looking tools was originally $22.97 and marked down to $4.97. I could NOT pass that one up. I think we are doing a hussif in my lace group and it will work nicely in that. The beads were not on sale and look much more color coordinated than in the picture. I don't know what I'll do with them yet.

Got up the next morning and ate at a nearby Denny's before taking off. I noticed as the day wore on that I was not the least bit hungry and every time I stopped and got out of the car, I was dizzy. I was fine driving, but getting out was disconcerting. I had a wait at the border - I swear I was in the slowest line. Once I got through, it was smooth riding and I got to the hotel around 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. I was still dizzy so I laid down for about an hour before heading off to the Curling Club. I hoped to at least find a convenience store or something to pick up something to take, but I didn't and the detour threw me a little bit. Tom-tom didn't recognize detours so I was backtracking a few times before I figured it out. When I got there, there were several people I recognized, including Georgia and Rita. There was plenty of food so I guess I didn't need to worry about bringing something. It was fun saying hi to everyone and watching them catch up. I was fine sitting and talking or driving but walking made me dizzy still so I left before dark to make sure I made it through the detour again and thought I'd go to bed early and feel better the next day.

I got there just at 8:00 a.m. and only a few carloads of us were there but soon everyone was showing up. We had plenty of social time beforehand. Ruth was at the registration table and we got our program and name lanyard (Canadian red leaf maples on the lanyard along with a holder for a cell phone, camera or ipod and a break-apart key ring) plus we picked a little "garbage can" for our goody bag. The can doubles as the challenge to decorate next year. As you can see, there were lots of nice suprises. I meant to leave the Workbasket - I know I already have that one. Maybe I'll send it there next year.

After much socializing and looking at raffle items and the stuff at the vending tables, we got started. There was one class in the morning and one in the afternoon. I took Karey's class in the morning. There was a choice of several leaves to make but I love the maple leaf and decided to do that one. Karey provided buttons and I ended up making 2 of them! I plan to make a 3rd and use all 3 on a table topper or something. Karey had some beautiful yarn and I succumbed....I hope there is enough for what I have in mind but if not, it will make a lovely scarf.

Lunch was catered and delicious but if I were to change anything, it would be the lunch. I'd rather have something lighter. At the end of the day, I wanted to go eat with others, but none of us were hungry. More about that later.

Heather is from the UK and visiting family so that was someone I would not normally meet. She had yo-yos on the bottom of her skirt and on the ends of a stole or wrap. She loves making them. She almost has me convinced I should try them. LOL! The 2 Shirleys were at Palmettos and it was nice to see them again. Actually several ladies had been at Palmettos but I didn't really have much time to talk to them then.

For the afternoon class, I took Nina's class of beaded earrings. Rita was able to fill in for Nina after Nina was unable to come. I'm not showing mine because I just did a sample in some beads and thread I already had but I have the kit and will make them up later. The sample does not look nearly as nice but it was good to practice the technique with. I've taken a class with Nina before but I needed a reminder as to how the technique worked.

During breaks I walked around and checked out the vending tables and what was going on in the other classes. The bags for sale were done in Crazy Quilting and were gorgeous. She also had some buttons that were shuttle-shaped. Georgia has some short hooks in size 15 & 16, which are smaller than what I already have plus I wanted some of those "celtic" shuttles. I got some thread from Rita...although I was hard pressed to find thread I did not have. I also met Clyde, a Canadian tatter taking part in the 25 motif challenge that I've not met before. He's in the Hawaiian type shirt. Norm, another male tatter I had not met before, is in the red shirt. I think you only see his back.

Brenda Franklin taught a knitted bangle bracelet class and had some beautiful knitted beaded jewelry for sale. I think I only got one small picture of her in the background of another setting. She's very talented and had some beads and books to die for. There were several people from Ohio. One from Pennsylvania, some from NY, and most of the rest were from Ontario.

As it turned out, we had to close up a bit early since the Club had overlapped in their booking. The raffles and live auction went well, providing funds for the Fringe Element Tatters to do this again next year! For those in the northeastern half of the States, it's a good alternative or addition to Palmetto or Hector. Got to as many as you can !! but sometimes timing doesn't work out - so keep all of them in mind. I won't be able to go to Ayr next year as my son has set his wedding date within just a few days....don't think I can do both and remain sane. LOL!

The hotel at Cambridge had been booked for some late night fun, knitting with Karey and a shuttle bud with Shirley. I felt much better as the day went on and the dizziness had disappeared but I wasn't sure what to do with those 3 or so hours in between. Since no one was hungry, it looked like everyone was going back to their hotels or sorting out other stuff until the 8:00 p.m. gathering. My hotel was 15 miles in the other direction and I was pretty sure I wouldn't come back for that. So I missed out on some good fun but I think it was probably good to rest up again. I was a little dizzy again yesterday morning and even this morning. It occured to me that one of my coworkers came in sick last week, really sick, and finally missed the rest of the week. I rarely get sick and when I do, it's usually so mild I don't even know it until after the fact. I kinda got to wondering if that's why I was dizzy and not hungry? I'll ask her tomorrow just what kind of symptoms she was having. I hope it was just a matter of trying to do too much.

Anyway...it was great fun and I'm glad I went. Oh...Karey has a new book,, Flutter Home, which you can see in the slideshow. I made 2 of the dragonfly pattern in it Friday night so you can tell they are a fairly quick tat.

And Saturday night, even though I was missing out on the fun with the gang, I was still tatting. I emptied out a couple of shuttles tatting this Christmas tree and flower from Jan Stawasz's book. I like the way the tree looks but I don't like cutting & tying at the end of each row. The only way I see around that is to start at the top and work down but even then, the split chains could get fiddly. I've done them that way before...almost as much trouble as cut & tie. I'll use this as one of my samples of holiday tatting with my lace group on Wednesday night.