Tatting Corner's 2022 Tat Days, part 1

Lisa, at Tatting Corner, hosted her 2022 Tat Days July 7-9 in Chesterfield, Indiana. This is the first time I was able to go, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! My husband took several days of vacation so he could go with me. We left on the 5th and took a leisurely drive to Chesterfield. I attended classes Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and he took it easy.

Every day of Tat Days could start in the shop. Anyone interested in beginner needle tatting or shuttle tatting could go early to the shop (Tatting Corner) and get lessons, or just join the tat-n-chat.

Needle tatting lessons at Tat Days 2022

A bit of chatting at Tatting Corner

I was so busy tatting and chatting in the classes that I didn’t take many pictures. Here’s one picture of the large room we had all the classes in. We had our meals here as well.

Tat Days classes 2022

On the evening of the 7th Mike Lyon, the Shuttle Commander himself gave a seminar on encasing tatting in resin. My husband got a picture of his back when he took a picture of me. Mike is in the background on the left. He taught several different classes during tat days. I took the one on making Dorset buttons.

Seminar on encasing tatting in resin

Doing the resin pendants was fun. The longest part, besides the drying time, was making sure you eliminated all the bubbles before the resin hardened. Nan discovered that a light on them helped us to find those pesky bubbles.

My tatting pendants

My husband joined this seminar though I furnished the tatting. He was the designated stirrer of the resin and did a fine job. My tatting was very simple because I kept putting off making them. They still make pretty pendants. Most other tatters had tatted a bit more complex pieces. I might have to do something a bit more fancy next time.

I only finished one of my class projects while there. Well, except for hiding the ends, which I did at home. I completed two more projects on the way home, and am currently finishing the outside of the Dorset button. The hardest, most complicated one, Pearl, I’ll do after that. So far she’s looking pretty good, but I was very glad I was at the class with it, I needed the teacher’s help! I’ll be sharing that another day.

I am so happy I was able to go this year. I was able to see several people I had met at Palmetto’s Tat Days years ago and met new friends. The hardest part was remembering everyone’s names! Overall, it was a wonderful experience! Looking forward to next year. I’ll be sharing more about our trip in the next several posts. Hopefully, soon!

“The results you achieve will be in direct proportion to the effort you apply.” Denis Waitley

Tatting Tea Tuesday in May

A few weeks ago my tatting group got together at Sherry’s house.  She surprised us with tea and brownies served on a beautiful tea set.

Everything had butterflies – the teapot, teacups, and napkins.  Even the napkin holder was a butterfly.

I don’t remember the flavor of tea she had found but it was delicious!  The brownie bites were even gluten free so I could have some, too.

She amazed us with her thoughtfulness.

After sipping tea and nibbling brownies we got down to tatting.  Carla was able to come, so there were four of us.  Carla was worried about being too far behind but she remembered much more than she thought she would.  Becky worked on her napkin edging and Sherry her heart.

I brought several books with snowflake patterns to look through.  Becky is thinking about trying a few.  I also brought a sampling of LIzbeth thread.  We are talking of making an order together.  Not that I need anymore thread, but they could twist my arm.

We have still not officially come up with a name for our group.  At the moment it has defaulted to ‘Tuesday Tatters’ as that is how several of us put our meetings on our calendars.  We usually meet on Tuesdays but we’ve been known to meet on other days, just not as often.

We all had a lot of fun at Sherry’s house.  The June meeting is at my house.  On Tuesday.

“Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.”

Chaim Potok,   www.brainyquote.com

 

February Tat and Chat

Last Tuesday my two most recent tatting students came over for a tat and chat.  We've been getting together about once a month for several months now.  We have so much fun!  I'm not sure just how much tatting actually gets done but we do talk about it and have a great time.

Sherry takes a cautious approach to tatting.  She doesn't like taking out mistakes so doesn't work very fast but she's making progress.  She's working on a heart that she would like to frame.

Becky is a lot more bold and not afraid to make mistakes.  Since last month she tatted four hearts, framed them and gave them away for Valentine's day.  She didn't yet have a pattern that called for it but she wanted to learn how to make split rings.  She was doing it quite well with them by the time she left.

Becky brought along a few flee market/antique store finds.  The small doily was found some time ago and looks to be made in about size 30.  Another time she and her husband did some bargaining for the silver shuttle.  The larger one we have determined is made from French ivory and is in very nice shape.  It is about the size of a Tatsy shuttle (the silver about the size of regular Clover) and still has tatting attached, the hen and chicks probably made in size 30.

We've set a date for our March get-together and made plans for our April meet to be on April 1 for International Tatting Day. They think they can handle the requirements: tat something fun, do it in public, and eat chocolate!

Have you made plans for International Tatting Day yet?

Tat and chat

Back in June I taught the basics in a tatting class to a couple of ladies from Wichita.  I'm very pleased that both have kept up with it and are enjoying it a lot.  We've communicated by email several times and thought it would be fun to get together again.  The timing finally worked and we met at Cheryl's house last week.

Me, Cheryl and Erica

Cheryl has made several lovely bookmarks and is working on another; Erica is working on a gift for a friend.   I'm impressed with their tatting, they are both doing a great job!  We talked patterns, threads, techniques, and shuttles.  They each had a list of questions to ask, which I hope I was able to answer satisfactorily for them.  It was a fun visit which I'm hoping we'll be able to do again sometime.

I hate to say it but the above photo is the only one I took (!).  I was going to take one of some of their work but got side-tracked by the conversation.  Time seemed to go by much to quickly!

Can you believe it?  I still haven't touched any more of my new thread yet. I have yet another project with a deadline that I am hurrying to meet.  If I hadn't gotten sick last weekend, and had a different schedule all week, I would have been able to proceed in a more relaxed manner.  But now I'm in a rush again.  And of course I couldn't just choose an existing pattern, mine or someone else's - no, I had to go and try something new. Again!  You'd think I'd learn, especially when there's a deadline, but I do this to myself time and time again.  I guess I like taking the chance that it will all work out.  And in time!

Lizbeth #149 Peacock Blues size 20.

Thank you to all who wished me health this last week.  I do feel a lot better, though now it seems to have morphed into really bad allergies with just a reminder now and then that colds hang on awhile.

"I fear the boredom that comes with not learning and not taking chances."
Robert Fulghum
www.brainyquotes.com

Ryan shows herself

Ryan, Flying Minor Norwegian Dragon designed by Anne Bruvold

This week has been very busy but I was still able to get some tatting done - amazing!

Ryan has finally shown herself. After hiding and being generally sneaky, she finally came out and introduced herself. She's in DMC Cebelia size 30 in Christmas green and #797 blue with a single strand of gold metallic embroidery floss, which makes her a little bigger than Jarek. I was able to get her to hold still for a little while as we contemplated different colors to use in her new home. We haven't yet come up with what either of us think will work, so we'll have to keep trying.

I was a little apprehensive about using a strand of metallic floss in with the other thread as I've done it in the past and fought with it a lot. This time it worked great. I had very little trouble with it and the floss didn't break at all, which is what I was most worried about. Somehow I also managed to put the right amount of thread on the shuttles. The first shuttle of blue made most of the body, then it was filled again for the rest. The last came off the shuttle while doing the last chain and I had to manage that last little bit loose. I almost asked for assistance holding it but made it all by my self. The shuttle of green did both wings with just a little bit left over. I guess I should mark that down for next time.

Based on "Angels in the Snow" by Miranda Rensberger

A friend of mine had a birthday last week - which I missed! I was trying to think of a little something to do for her while I cleaned out my tatting bag and found the start of "Angels in the Snow" by Miranda Rensberger that I had done to take step-by-step pictures for Tabatha. I suppose it was the angle I saw it, but it struck me that with a few additions it would make an interesting necklace. Then, of course, I was in a hurry to get it done and made all kinds of mistakes, like joining in the wrong place and adding too many stitches in a ring. It did come out well and the recipient liked it very much. It didn't hurt that I made it in green, one of her favorite colors, Lizbeth size 20 in Seagreen Dk 688. I added black shell beads that I found at Wal-mart. They are textured not flat, and look much better than the picture. It actually came out just like I envisioned it.

I mentioned last week that a Kansas tatter had contacted me through my blog. Believe it or not, another Kansas tatter contacted me this last week. Wow! Two in two weeks! I'm hoping to get together with them in the next week or so but will have to play it by ear and see how things work out. Meeting them is really something to look forward to! A tat and chat - hehehehe! How fun!

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us"
Ralph Waldo Emerson