Tat Days 2010 - Day Two Report

I'm going to skip the nighttime activities and go straight to Day Two of Tat Day classes.

My first class was with Nina. This is the third year running to have a class with her, and I dearly love her gorgeous beaded work. We were working on a jewelry set of a pendant and earrings, all in gold metallic thread with 3 mm garnets. This is a mostly finished earring that I made.  You need large shuttles for this - the gold one is my Jan Stawasz shuttle, and no, you can't have it.

Nina also showed us the secret to blocking this kind of beaded tatting. The thread is the hardest part of this tatting for me, it's very finicky.  But the blocking is your friend here!  In this case, it's pressing with a hot iron and a pressing cloth on a towel.

Nina's classes are double the regular length because her projects are SO intricate.  See how hard Sheriff Judy and Schari are concentrating?  It's not easy!

But the results are SO worth it.  This is Nina's own tatting in variations on the very same pattern.  Gorgeous.

(Sharren exposits.  A lot.)

My next class was with Sharren Morgan, my buddy from Greenwood SC.  (Why don't you have a blog, Sharren? Hmm?)  She is great, very patient, neat ideas. 

 (These are the class examples.  I forgot to take a picture of mine.)

We learned the niftiest technique for making pearl tatting with only two shuttles wound CTM.  We made a dragonfly - the tail is pearl tatted in this method.  To top it off, we learned how to add a regular ol' safety pin to the pearl tatting, and make your tatting into wearable art.  Cool, huh?

Here's Sharon demonstrating with a GIANT safely pin.  Really, it's there.  She's got a Tatsy and giant thread too.  Hee.

That's all my classes.  You could take 6, but two of mine were two class periods, so I was happy.

And on to vending......  So much thread and supplies, so little money.

They had Lizbeth 40 and Lizbeth 80 (yes, 80!) on their own spinning display.  Lots of other thread too.  Beads.  Books galore.  Any kind of shuttle.  Plus other lace making supplies.  What's a girl to do?


Why, whip out that check book, of course!  I'll bet you're wondering what I got, so I'll show you.  Just don't drool too much, ok?

 Clicky clicky for a close up

Here's my loot, including some of my goodie bag from Tat Days.  I purchased:

• 3 kinds of HDT from Karey Solomon
• A lucet kit from Karey
• A pair of teenie-weenie scissors, also from Karey (not shown)
• a book from Nina
• a book from Martha (autographed!)
• 2 shuttles (like I NEED more shuttles)
• 4 colors of Altin Basik metallic thread
• Lizbeth 40, black
• rust Altin Basik 50
• Multi-colored metallic thread (yeah, I need thread too!)
• 2 sizes of plastic knitting bobbins - Jane's EZ Bobs
• the CD of Tat Days 2010 patterns
• Aero bobbins

Everything else you see here (and more) was in my goodie bag or was a gift, 'ceptin' for the bead spinner, which I bought at the auction.  Whee!  It's a good thing DH and I have separate checking accounts.

Tomorrow - Tat Days night time edition!

And just so you don't forget about him, some kitten porn.

Vader isn't feeling so hot today.  He was taken to the vet this morning - and now he is an ALTERED beastie.  Yes, we niped his nads.  He won't miss them.  And neither will we.