I had a new kind of thrill this evening. I didn't have time to enter anything into the County Fair again but I stopped in to see what WAS entered and how it went. I saw there were EIGHT entries by Dagmar, one of my lace guild members. Not only that, two of them were Romanian Point Lace, which I taught at our meetings. She also had some tatting, hardanger, and bobbinlace. Dagmar puts the locals to shame. She is from Germany and has been here several years but is not a US citizen or permanent resident. She is trying to finish some advanced schooling. She did know how to tat when she joined our lace guild but it was beginning tatting and she had lots of questions. She had two exhibits in tatting from Tatting Collage by Lindsay Rogers. If you have seen the book, there are a few "scenes" and Dagmar used these and framed them. I remember two bobbinlace pieces too. She got Reserve Champion and I can't remember if she also got Champion but she did get several blue ribbons also. There was also a simple tatted doily in white and peach by someone I'm not familiar with. Another lace group member had a bobbinlace bookmark. If it hadn't been for Dagmar, we would have had next to nothing in lace. The good thing is, you can enter anything you've made in the past three years so I'll be sure to line up some goodies for next year. I'll have to make a point of hanging on to them so I can exhibit them. LOL!

I have to say though, that seeing how well Dagmar placed (and she does exquisite work) and knowing that I had mentored and taught her in more than one lace, gave me a special little thrill that I think was almost better than winning myself!

I've been incredibly busy lately, mostly sorting through stuff for a garage sale that will be this weekend. I parted with balls and balls of crochet thread, the 3 ply cotton kind that isn't very good for tatting. I kept some that I know I will crochet with but much of this is stuff accumulated through the years from other garage sales or second hand stores or clearance sales.

I really hoped to get the 1st row of the bridal hanky done but instead, I finished the corner test piece. After pinning it on the hanky and laying what I've already tatted on top, I think I need one more repeat on each side. I currently have 9 but I think 10 might work better.

I picked up a copy of Piecework last week during a lunch hour in anticipation of oogling the results of their pincushion contest. I do love the pincushions but I was disappointed in many aspects. This is the tatted one - which I think is exceptional - but the grand prize winner is the biscornu one which you can see in the group photo and on the cover of the magazine.

Now let me tell you what I was disappointed about. The magazine cost $5.99 US. I also bought a copy of Sew Beautiful for $5.99. Same price but Sew Beautiful is twice as thick. Piecework also only had small photos of the pincushions, finalists on one page and runners up on the second page in a space less than a quarter of the page size. That was it. I would have expected some directions for at least the big winner. On the website however, you can go to this 11 page pdf file and see photos of all 44 entries and who they were by. (so why bother to buy the magazine?)

A few months ago I took advantage of a free offer by Interweave Press to get a free copy of Piecework. I used to get it but felt there wasn't enough I was interested in consistently to keep subscribing and I let it lapse. After getting my free issue, I remembered why I had let it lapse. They do have some interesting historical articles and a few patterns but generally not in areas I am interested in - AND - it's gotten so freakin' small compared to the size it used to be. So I canceled my offer for a subscription. There is a beautiful shawl to knit in this issue as well as a knitted edging. There is an article about crocheted lace and the directions for a motif. Some directions about wrapping thread - like on a wooden comb. A couple more historical articles. That's it.

At the weekend while I was cleaning off the storage cubes in my craft/computer room, before I put these neon colored threads away, I wrapped about 20 yards doubled on each floss card. I originally got the thread to do the needlelace in a Romanian Point Lace mask I had couched down. I wasn't happy with the results and still haven't finished the mask.

I think I'll try tatting something with it though, just to see how it goes.

During the cleaning, I also came across this stitch tracker that I got at one of the Tat Days. Fringe Element Tatters in Canada, I believe. Anyway, I was wondering why I hadn't used it! I emptied a shuttle or two tatting the chain daisy and it really would come in handy there keeping track of which round I was on but I was too lazy to get up and bring it back from the table by my usual tatting spot.

Another treasure found during my cleaning....this apron pattern. I ended up joining an apron group so I can find out how to use a pattern that has no markings other than a few holes which clearly mean something. I think there was also a blouse in that bag. The date on the newspaper inside is 1913. I love old vintage aprons..the kind made of muslin or batiste, with embroidery and lace. I'm not really much for the garish prints of the 50's though.

Check out Beading Daily to learn more about the cylinder bead numbering system.

Hopefully I'll get some more garage sale stuff sorted this evening.