Tat Days 2011 Part One

Before I headed up the hill to Palmetto Tat Days last week, I swung by the Hotlanta airport and picked up Nina Libin and Isdihara. They were coming in from The Hinterlands and I was happy to be able to give them a ride. Since it was lunch time, I twisted their arms and we went to the quintessential Hotlanta fast food place, The Varsity. I love The Varsity. The Stooges love the Varsity. Frank Bruni of the New York Times loves The Varsity. (DH does not, but that's his problem. There's no accounting for taste.)

And what's not to love? Lots of 50's chrome, hot dogs and onion rings, cashiers shouting "Whaddaya have?!?" at anyone who elbows their way to the counter. (It was slow when we went, so no elbowing needed. But I've done it many times.) It's great. I had my usual, chili slaw dogs and homemade onion rings with an FO (a milkshake that tastes like a creamsicle.) Isdihara had chili dogs for the first time since she was in college! She tried the slaw chili dogs and declared them yummy. Nina was eating a heart-healthy meal of a chicken salad, unlike the BAD girls. Both Isdihara and Nina tried the rings and declared them to be delicious. Which is quite true - but all the food at The Varsity should come with a side of antacid. It bees greasy, ya' know?

Isdihara and Nina living the high life at The Varsity

Then we headed up the hill to Toccoa, about a 2 hour drive. We had a nice visit with each other. I hadn't had a good chance to visit with Nina before, so this was lots of fun. And then we got to ...

Lake Louise, as viewed from the cafeteria

Tat Days! Which was at the lovely GA Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa GA. And we saw a ton of friends like Martha and Sharren (and her DH) and Joanie and Donna and Hegla and Karen and Kerrieann and Anitra and Maria and Georgia (and her DH) and John and Erin (and her DH) and Hope and Marie and Teresa and And AND everyone else! There were 86 folks there - pretty amazing!

And if you weren't there, you missed out. I'm talking to you, Jane. You'd BETTER be here next year. And Sally - please come with her!

And I got Presents! A whole bag of teacher goodies (which I'll show you later) plus this darling, Barbie-sized hat made by Stephanie! I love the hat. I promise to show you the hat again. I have a funny photo-op in mind....

When Isdihara (my roommate) and I got to our room, she discovered that The Sprout had packed a stowaway in her bag. The Sprout is a charming, delightful little boy of 4 who missed his mommy. So he sent his friend along so she wouldn't forget him. What a sweetie...

Ellen and Mary working on hearts

On Friday, I taught my first class. It was a long class (2 sessions), teaching my cross of hearts. I was worried that maybe I would do poorly, or my students wouldn't understand my instructions, but there was no cause for concern. My students were brilliant. 

Arlene and Anitra mastering dimpled rings

My heart pattern has a tough, new concept in it - the vertically stacked split dimpled ring. Anitra said it blew her mind, as you have to sorta tat it backward. (No joke here.) But all my students GOT it. I felt great about this. And they did too.

And lookie-lookie! Finished projects! All my students either came close to finishing or actually finished this project during class. Above are Mary and Arlene's finished tatting. Lovely work, ladies.

Mary came up to me that evening and showed me these little gems, tatted heart earrings! I was wearing some heart earrings (made using the above technique) and Mary took that idea and rolled with it. Are they great? I was really chuffed.

Isdihara and Hegla

Isdihara and I were great roomies. We got VERY silly and stayed extremely late on Friday night telling funny stories. Hegla is a hoot and a half too. I've promised Hegla some special, very bad, inappropriate-for-viewing-on-a-blog tatting. With certain sections in blue. Right, Hegla?

More later....