Tatting history - work of a legend

I'm tatting away on bracelets, Christmas presents for folks.

I made the black one with bugle bead centers and sterling silver findings. The navy one has the little silver middle beads, and some bigger ones I got Sunday at Michaels (I had a coupon for 15% off my order - woo-hoo!).

I have some final Palmetto Tat Days pictures for you. Sue Hanson came and brought some of the late, great Mary Konior's tatting. It seems that Mary's children placed no value on her tatting until she died. Mary had given the tatting to Sue, and Mary's children realized that there was some monetary value to the tatting, so they have demanded it all back. They plan to sell it off piecemeal. Sue was in tears when she told us this.

Sue brought tons of Mary's tatting and displayed it. I was in awe. I have three of Mary's tatting books, and many of these are the originals shown in her books. I've made some of these. None of mine hold a candle Mary's work.

I took pictures, and now I'm sharing.

 

 

See what I mean? Wow. Oh Wow.

Tat Days 2010 - What happens at night

Part of the fun of Tat Days is after the classes end. There's food, fun, and fellowship, and a LOT of laughter.

Friday night we had our big banquet. Nummy food, lots of fun. Here's Hope from the Palmetto Tatters acknowledging folks. All the folks involved - Hope, Donna, Theresa, Lori, Bonnie, Karen (and I'm sure I've missed folks - sorry!) were absolutely wonderful.  They thought of everything!

On our tables at the banquet were neat decorations made by the Southern Belle Tatters, a group from Columbia, TN. These were all made of natural elements, We could all take at least one decoration - here's what I snagged.  The one on the right is actually a cute frog.  Aren't they neat?

The crowd really enjoyed the banquet.  Here is Sharren Morgan, with her wonderful and faithful husband David (AKA the best tatting sherpa).  And Sharren now has a blog!

We had entertainment at the banquet too.  Leps, look out!  You have a big cousin!  It's Connor, with his friend Veronica Moore.



After dinner we adjourned to the hall, but not before seeing some truly spectacular heat lightning.

I missed the Tat-off, which happened before the banquet.  I was tired.  But I got back in time to see the auction, held by the inimitable Georgia Seitz.  Here's Georgia reading a tribute to tatting spouses (AKA widowers).  Hee.

Then we got on to the business of the night - the fund raising auction of items, including the big quilt. Erin is holding one of the smaller quilts.  All are embellished with lovely tatting.

Here's another quilt, not the big one.  The winners were very lucky.  At some point in the bidding, Georgia starting getting VERY silly and offered to add an item to sweeten the pot - her husband's mustache.  We asked if shaving the mustache could be bid for, then I had Sue Hanson in stitches asking if there were other parts to shave.....

A lot of money was raised and all were happy.  Then - more tatting!  I was really, really beat, so I didn't participate.  Yawn.

The second night had tons of tatting too, but since I had to run off and deal with funeral items, I missed most of it.  And that was too bad - a good time was had.

Oh - and here's another shot of where we were.  You can see the dining hall through the trees there, next to Lake Louise.

BTW - there are great pictures from Tat Days here. I'm in one or two, but I'm not revealing which.

On the home front, the debate went great, we haven't killed Curly, and the kitten has recovered from his procedure.  So much so that he bit the heck out of me through my sheets this morning.

 Toodles...

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.

Tat Days 2010 - Day One Report

On Friday, I drove up from Hotlanta through rush hour traffic and made it to the conference in Toccoa with some time to spare. The conference center is lovely, and all the classes, vending, and activities were in the same building as our rooms. Somehow I really lucked out, as my room was on the same floor as the classes! The only thing not on that floor was the dining hall, which was an easy ramp walk away.

This year's theme was "Fall into Tatting", so there were a lot of leaves taught.

My first class was with Martha Ess. If you don't know Martha, you need to make an effort to take a class with her. She is a love, and really talented.

Here is what I was working on in Martha's class, half way done. It looks like broomstick lace. Kinda cool and a fun technique.

In this class were both Krystle Dawne's mother Kerriann...

 So that's how it's done?

and Isdihara, here with Martha. They are so much fun, very sweet ladies. We laughed a lot in the class.

He almost went home in my Juicy Fruit tin.

Isdihara also brought a little buddy, her leprechaun Ciarrán. I'm told Martha had her's too, plus her visiting Leps, but since I never laid eyes on them, I'm sure this is just a fable.

Martha gave out prizes!  She had all these critters she had tatted when she was designing her latest book.  And we got to pick one!  It was hard to chose, but in the end I took a little pink pig.

We took a break and had lunch in the dining hall.  Taco's today, with delicious blueberry scones for dessert.  Nummers.  (FYI - the food was MUCH better here than in Winnsboro.)

Wally holding court in class

After Martha's class, I had class with Wally Sosa. So good of her to come here from Puerto Rico - she was very concerned about the two hurricanes that were near the island.  This class was about rolled tatting.  Wally's rolled tatting looks perfect.

I am NOT good with rolled tatting yet.  This looks like ca-ca, not leaf parts.  Practice needs to be done.  And this is one place where larger threads seem to look better.  Hmm.  I'll work on this.

There was much on display in vending, including great silent auction items.  I bid on some and won a mini-bead spinner.  The auction items were to benefit the Tat Days scholarships.  Here's a sampling:

Theme leaves by Jane

A great bag with one of the tatted quilt blocks

A jewelry set by Martha

Nina'a lovely beaded work

A framed and autographed picture of Georgia's brother, Ice Road Trucker George Spears.

This phenomenal tatted collar.  I didn't write down who did it, and I could kick myself.

More tomorrow!

And I'm back....

I went back to work today, and I have to say I'm completely whupped now.  Busy day at work, not much sleep over the weekend (I don't sleep well in a strange bed), plus Curly had some buddies over that I had to throw out at 12:45 am this morning.  So now I'm yawning and not thinking well.

But a little bit of Tat Days fun....

Some goodies I was given - a shuttle Georgia and Richard Seitz made, a pig from Martha, and Belgium chocolate from Riet.  I have shown admirable restraint in not eating delicious Belgium chocolate.  Yet.

 
I got to see - and touch - tatting by my hero, the late, great Mary Konior. I think we all recognize these.  Sue Hanson brought these in.  OMG OMG OMG I was vibrating with joy at seeing these items.  I'll show more later.  There's a big story that goes with this tatting.

I saw a few funny signs, like this one at a used car dealership in Anderson SC.  Don't you want to buy a car from Bob?  I know he'd give you a great bargain, boy howdie.  Buy here, pay here.

Some kitten porn.  I'm certain he missed me.  Doesn't he look like he missed me?  Bad but soooo cute.

I need rest.  More details tomorrow, I promise.