Palmetto Tat Days 2013 - part one

A good time was had this year at Tat Days. If you are a tatter and you have never been to a tatting convention, find your closest one and sign up for it as soon as possible. It is SO worth it!

OK - now on to the fun.

Since I live in Hotlanta, I'm usually designated to head to the airport and retrieve some folks from out of town. I'm happy to do this, and I get to have a great visit on the way up to Toccoa GA (the site for Tat Days). This year I picked up Nina and Vicki. Nina came from the Big Apple, and Vicki flew in from Ottowa, Ontario. That would be in Canada, eh.

We stopped at The Varsity, naturally. Moe was very jealous when I told him about it later. He loves Varsity food. Yum!

Nina was very good and had a chicken salad - but that didn't stop her from requesting - and receiving - some of my yummy home-made onion rings. Nom nom nom.

Vicki had me order for her. "I'll eat anything you order!" she declared. So I got her 2 chili slaw dogs, onion rings, and an FO. That's a kind of milkshake flavored like an orange creamsicle. And she ate every bite.

So we headed up the hill and got there in time for the teacher's meeting (all of us taught), and then time to  meet and greet all our friends.

And folks, this is one of the very BEST things about a tatting convention. The people you meet are so wonderful. You make lifelong friends. You think I'm exaggerating, but it's the God's truth.

Another great thing about a tatting convention is Vending. Yessiree, being able to lay hands on thread and shuttles and books and all the great stuff you need - there's nothing like it. And no shipping charges! Here's an overview of vending. Zig-Zag Corner was our main commercial vendor.

And some oh-so-yummy-delicious hand dyed thread sent by the talented Jess of Tat-ilicious. Can't you just taste those colors?

And here's a spread of hand made shuttles, all made by the GR-8 Shuttle Brothers. And Randy was there teaching classes too!

Another fun thing about these conventions is you usually see a display of tatting people had done. This time, it was a competition with a number of categories, like most creative. Here you go....

Love this Godzilla!

 
Gorgeous doilies and snowflakes.

A great collar and more.

More doilies. This was quite large and beautiful.

And this lovely dragon, knight, and fair maiden, all tatted by the lovely and talented Martha Ess! You can tat this if you get her latest book!

But wait! There's more - in the next installment!

Fun with the girls

I am sad to report that, dispite our best intentions and terrific preparations, we did NO blinging of shuttles on our Girls' Night Away.

Damn.

But a FABULOUS time was had by all on our trip to Toccoa, all of us being me, Sharren, her fun friend Catherine (a tatter and artist), and Karrieann. Woo-hoo, did we have a good time. To wit:

Wine was drunk and spinach dip was gobbled. Also chocolate and cashews were consumed, separately.

Speaking of chocolate, Sharren and Catherine bought us these lovely boxes, filled with yummy chocolate. (For you non-tatters, we are always looking for cool boxes to keep our ever-expanding pile of tatting stuff.) And, Karrieann sent us home with some lovely home-made violet jelly, made from, you guessed it, actual violets! Nom nom nom.

Here's Karriann, Sharron, and Catherine

We laughed and talked tatting and families and work and told a zillion funny stories. Here we are having supper at Toccoa's Cornerstone Restaurant. (I had the pecan-crusted trout.) We also cruised a local gallery in downtown Toccoa.

This little imp was at the next table - so cute!

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and talked and giggled and laughed and hooted and tatted, until we started yawning. And then we realized it was 1 am, and well past our bedtime. So we crashed.

When we got up (and I confess, I was the last one up - I'm NOT a morning person), we stuffed ourselves on breakfast at the local Awful House. Then we went to this big ol' antique mall in search of treasure.

Here's what I found: a lovely little hanky to edge, a nifty Coats & Clark "How To" book, and this cool 1948 street guide to Hotlanta. (DH and Bubba pounced on the street guide when I got home, looking up businesses.) I tried to get a bag that contained some old silk Coats & Clark thread - on wooden spools! - but there was no price, and the owner could not be located to value it. Durn, wish I could have gotten the thread. I spent less than a Jackson ($20) total. Last of the big-time spenders.

Then we grabbed a soda, chatted & tatted a bit more, and went our own ways. DH and the Stooges were waiting on me, and I'm sure that everyone else had home things to attend to. I headed back to Hotlanta.

When I got home, I was beat. So I unpacked the car & crawled into bed for a nap with Vader, who purred happily as he lay with me. And DH had a supper of yummy chili and corn bread waiting for me when I woke up.

It was a great Girls' Night Away. I highly recommend it. And we plan to do this again!

I leave you with a uniquely Hotlanta view - the Georgia capitol, as seen from what's known as the downtown connector. The dome is gilded with Georgia gold - really!

toodles...

New attitude

No bitching in this post.  I promise.  I'm sick of bitching.

There were a couple of fun things I did this weekend.  One was my neighborhood Mom's Night Out, where we has dinner (catered by Moe's) and a movie.  We saw It's Complicated, which was really fun.  There weren't a huge number of ladies there, but enough to have a good time - we laughed a ton.  And at the end of the night, we all got a long stem red rose.  I like my neighborhood a lot.

The other fun thing (and this is weird, I know) was the new Aldi.  We haven't had an Aldi in my part of town before, and one opened last week.  I've been driving by it whil they were building it and I couldn't wait.  I'd heard great things about Aldi.  Moe and I went right after Sunday School.  Yes, I ditched the church service - oh, well.  Anyhow, my old grocery chain isn't going to get so much of my money any more, because Aldi totally ROCKS.  I mean, a gallon of milk for $1.48 is a steal!  We go through 4 gallons a week, so that's terrific.  Moe and I had a good time seeing what they had.  And bringing it home.  (Moe can be very nice company.  And he likes to go to the grocery with me.  What a good boy he is.)

Still crocheting up a storm.  I gave all the members of my Sunday School class their own dish cloth yesterday - everyone was pleased.

I'm sending this one to Mom.  It's a whole skein of Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn.  Does anyone want my stupid little pattern?  I'll do a tutorial on it if folks request it.  (FYI - when I've shown my completed dish cloths to the Stooges, they each do exactly the same thing - rub the cloth on their faces.)

Curly is sporting a cast on his right wrist/hand.  The major plus?  He is physically unable to drive the scooter.

I've been getting free stuff.  I like free.  It's fun.  I've been sending off from places like this. (I never shop at that store - I hate it.  It is an evil empire and BAD.  Bad for the economy, bad for their employees.  But free is good!)  This is part of the recent haul.  Woo-hoo!

And - a tribute.  Lena Horne was a great lady.