Lace Embrace 2011

Saturday, October 1 of this year, the Lacemakers Guild of Oklahoma held their Lace Embrace Day in Bartlesville. The theme this year was Beautiful Beaded Lace. There was a wonderful lace exhibit of many types of laces including a fabulous display of tatting. The day started with a talk from Annette Ketchum from the Bartlesville Indian Women's Club. She discussed beadwork and its use in Native American clothing and cultural objects. There were beginning classes in both tatting and bobbin lace offered during the morning. Indian tacos made with Indian fry bread, chili, lettuce and tomatoes were available for lunch. These were prepared by the Bartlesville Indian Women's club for a very reasonable price. During the afternoon, there was a tatting class for those who already knew how to tat. We made these beaded strips--my zipper pulls now adorn my tatting bag. There were also afternoon classes in making beaded sprays or making paper beads and bobbins. The last event of the day was the lacing olympics. My partner and I came in first in synchronized tatting (I worked the left hand, Bridgette worked the right hand.) During the day I was able to pick up another tatting themed t-shirt, and some more tatting books from the vendors. In the secret auction, I won an adorable little bag with 6 balls of some very small Presencia thread (now I really need to learn to work with smaller thread) and a shuttle inside. It was a GREAT way to spend National Lace Day 2011!

Palmetto 3

My health has knocked me for a loop--recovering from pneumonia is not as easy as it sounds. I'm sorry these posts are taking so long.

At the Palmetto Tat Days, two extra classes are offered--and I wanted to take advantage of all the experiences I could. An night owl session (scheduled for 9:30p.m. on Friday--but probably started at around 10:30) with Riet Surtel-Smeulde taught us snowflakes made from lock chains. Lock chains are made by alternating flipped and unflipped stitches. I really enjoyed playing with different combinations and getting different looks to my snowflakes.

An earl bird class (think 6:00 a.m.; on Saturday morning) taught Jane Eborall's Star Motif. This class was taught by Donna Thompson. I love the different looks in this design when you change the center bead and the surrounding beads.

In our goodie bag was a lovely pattern by Vicki Clarke and supplies to make two Button Snowflakes. The thread was size 30--which I promptly broke several times and substituted size 20. I really liked this pattern. I need to work on not to tatting so tightly so that I don't break, shred, and totally destroy smaller threads.

I thoroughly loved my time at the Palmetto Tat Days. The Georgia Baptist Retreat Center is absolutely lovely. The food was delicious, and at the banquet, was elegantly served. Speaking of the banquet, the decorations were so thoughtfully put together and the program was designed to be informative as well as enjoyable and entertaining. I can't wait for a chance to join these lovely ladies for a weekend again!

Palmetto Part 2

Saturday morning started with doing the OctoStarFlake, a pattern by Jane Eborall, taught by Donna Thompson. This class taught the technique of the long beaded picot. I already knew this technique, but loved the pattern. When I got home I had a BUNCH of white wound shuttles. (with a theme of Tatting in a Winter Wonderland, what would you expect?) I made a bunch of these, emptying the shuttles, and put them on my small tree that stays up all year with little tatted bits on it.

My next class was Mrs. Mee's Snowflake. This was a snowflake that was adapted from an old-old pattern by Marth Ess. We learned the difference between single stitches and pearl stitches in old patterns. This pattern also used half-closed Josephine rings (I had a lot of trouble closing mine the same amount each time. This was a challenging pattern for me and I really enjoyed it... the effect of the pearl stitches gives the picots an overlapping look that I really like!

My last class at Palmettos was a Snow Angel by Sharren Morgan. She shared with us a technique for making a flat join for a self closing mock ring. This method keeps the ring from coming open as you continue to tat. After two days of doing a whole lot of tatting, I had a couple of bandaids on my fingers from thread cuts. My poor little angel has a dark shadow in its middle from dirty gunk from the loose sticky side of the bandaids. I thought this would wash out, but it didn't.... and really doesn't show unless I point it out, like I just did...

More from Palmettos is still to come!

Palmettos Part 1

No posts in a long, long time! Starting in June, I worked on a doily that is now residing in my UFO drawer (temporarily or permanently to be decided upon later.) In September, I started on the tatted/beaded ornaments for the relatives for Christmas. Then on September 23rd and 24th, I received a great gift. I got to attend the Palmetto Tatters Guild, "Tatting in a Winter Wonderland Tat Days! Thank you to all who have contributed in one way or another to help build their scholarship fund, I was one of this year's grateful recipients. Upon returning from Palmettos, I had a few days until the Oklahoma Lacemakers Guild's Lace Embrace Day. That was on Saturday, on Sunday I felt yucky enough that I skipped church and on Monday woke up with pneumonia. I am still recovering from that but feel well enough to play on the computer some, so I thought I would at least show you some of the things I did.

The last picture is Martha Ess's Sunrise, Sunset Bookmark. The techique taught in this class was the use of picot gauges to get equal sized picots. One of the things that I thought was most astonishing, and economical was that Martha cuts her picot gauges out of a plastic folder....she says that the folder lasts for a very long time, and when she needs a different size, she can just cut one easily. I only made two repetitions of the design because I really wanted to finish as much of the projects as I could there at the conference. The bookmark didn't look like much until I pinned it and blocked it, now I am quite pleased with it.

The next class I had was Tatting with Flair with Georgia Seitz. If you have not met Georgia yet, you are really missing something. She is a very gracious, encouraging lady. This class taught the encapsulation of threads. She tried teaching us a new way to hold our thread and shuttle when encapsulating threads--tried because this dog couldn't seem to learn a new trick. We decorated our tulle bags with rings and chains (some encapsulating three threads), beads and buttons. It was amazing to see her classroom, their were a lot of items to be used in some of her other classes, but they certainly opened your eyes as to how tatting could be used in different ways, and different objects that you could decorate with tatting.

My last class on Friday was the Broomstick Picot Snowflake with Martha Ess. I love this pattern, and hopefully next time I try to work it, I'll have more patience arranging my picots than I did on this poor example that I'm showing you now in the first picture. It was amazing the way the picots swirled on Martha's pieces looking like stuff I've seen out of other lace techniques--something I may look forward to with some practice.

Check back here to see my Saturday stuff from Palmettos!

Grandma's Garden Doily

No posts since April! I've been very busy with life, most recently Christian Youth in Action, and Vacation Bible School.

Have you ever had a project that you were ready to be through with, long before you actually were through with it? That was definitely this doily. It seems every time I was half through with the final round of a motif, I would figure out that it was in backwards, with the "pinwheel" going the wrong direction. This is Grandma's Garden, by Pam Palmer in Tatting Treats Two. The thread is Lizbeth, size 20, colors 115, 683 and 684.

I took a Wire Tatting Class this weekend offered by the LaceMakers Guild of Oklahoma. The teacher was Carolyn Regneir. Remember that kid in school who just didn't get whatever the teacher was teaching???? That was me, most of the weekend. Her opening remarks in class, as well as in our handout brochure was that you treat wire differently than thread... I still wanted to tat tightly, and have lots of wire in play between my hands as I made the stitches. It took about 6 hours of class time before I could close a ring without feeling the wire snap in my hands. I finished two small motifs during the weekend, and hope to show you them, and a few others soon. I'd like a little more time to work on my technique before I share my efforts with the world.

Part 4 Finger Lakes Tatting Seminar

Well, It's 12:50 at night, and my dear husband is rocking our 19 month old grandson...who doesn't seem to want to go to sleep...So, I'll take the time to tell you about the last day of the seminar.

My morning class was with Nina Libin who had a delightful looking flower pin. The pin was done in three stages, two for the flower and the last for the leaves...all three done on the same thread and connected together. Try as I might, there at the seminar and later at home, I couldn't get my three stages close enough together to look anything like a flower. I eventually did them as three different stages and "sewed" them together with the thread ends. I loved the way this looked. I am presently trying to make enough of them to give to the mothers at church on Mother's Day.

My last class was taught by Jennifer Ostrander. She taught a split ring edging, split rings were a technique I already knew, but I could always use practice. I certainly got practice! The green was done in all split rings, and the flowers had two split rings out of every five rings. Jennifer had hand dyed thread for us to work with--this was new to me. I enjoyed working with it, and loved the different color changes that the thread made doing the edging. Jennifer had hand-sewn handkerchiefs and some smaller "coaster" size cotton pieces that we could chose from. Once I got home, I thought that I really wanted an absorbent coaster, so I sewed up these out of "micro-fiber" cloth. I have the large one on my craft table, and have put the smaller one in my big tatting bag for use when I'm not at home.

I really enjoyed this year's seminar. The food was excellent, not only for meals but also in the snacks that were provided. How they worked around all the food allergies that people had, I have no idea...but they really put effort into making sure that everyone has something (plenty) to eat every meal. The Saturday evening speaker was excellent. She spoke about gardening, but she really encouraged everyone to step out and make a difference in the world with the talents that you have been given. The time and effort put into this weekend really showed, and I deeply appreciated it. I'm hoping to visit New York again in 2012.

Part 3 Finger Lakes Tatting Seminar

Saturday afternoon I was in the Celtic Knotted Picot Ornament Motif class taught by Bina Madden. I'd never met Bina Madden before and I really enjoyed her. She has an "intense" personality and a lovely laugh. She described herself as a "tatting technician"--and she could really explain how to do a technique.

The list of techniques needed to make her motif was intimidating: Beaded Celtic Knotted Picot, Split Rings and Rings on Rings, Beads in a Picot, Mock Ring Chain with beaded base. The Celtic Picot was a new technique for me. Actually though, if you took the motif one ds at a time, it wasn't bad at all.

The base of the ornament basically was done in four quarters....I unfortunately was so enthralled that I had "gotten" the technique that I didn't pay attention and joined the 3rd quarter to the first quarter....with the metallic thread, I gave up at that point and spent some time talking to the people around me for a few minutes (it was almost time for the class to be over.)

When I got home I practiced with some lovely size 10 Lizbeth thread and pink beads that were in our "goodie" bag from the seminar....you'll see them show up in a future post when I decorate a t-shirt with them....Anyway, once I got the technique down cold using the metallic thread, I was able to make all four parts of her motif, which is supposed to be two-sided and can be worn as a pendant.

However at this point I decided I liked just the first two parts, and since I don't wear many necklaces anyway, I put them on a covered notebook that I was making. I also changed the design abit by turning the second part a quarter of a turn. I like the way the beads looked that way.

Part 2 Finger Lakes Tatting Seminar

Every year, at the seminar you have the option to draw a name and play Secret Angel. You must sneak a gift to someone, and see if they can guess that you are their Secret Angel. At the same time, someone else is trying to sneak and give you a gift undetected. Well, my secret angel went totally undetected until it was time to reveal yourself during the last few hours of the seminar. I was stumped! I received my gift within the first hour of the seminar on Saturday...and I didn't have a clue who it was. It was Karey Solomon! I should have guessed with the beautiful hand dyed threads in the metal tin....and the little glass baubles. Karey has out a new book about baubles and beads...I wanted to buy it, but ran out of $$. Along with the thread was a cute little bottle full of all different kinds and sizes of buttons.

Karey was the teacher of my first class. She sent "homework" to us a few weeks before the seminar, so that we would be prepared for the class. It was a round piece of fabric that we were to add blue and green thread on and create the illusion of earth and sky. In class, she taught us how to make floating chains....josephine floating chains. A new technique for me. The pattern was merely suggestions...make five leaves on a stem...this is how to create a 3-D rosebud, and this is how to make a 3-D rose. You created your own rose bush however you wanted it. She then had some beautiful felt, wool and bottle caps to make your own tiny little pin cushion. I sort of went my own way at this point and decided that I needed to frame mine. I also left off the little gold beads that were to be added to the large rose. Here is mine matted, minus the frame.

Part 1 Finger Lakes Tatting Seminar

I was blessed to attend the Finger Lakes Tatting Group's 13th International Tatting Seminar (formerly Hector Tat Days) again this year. Last year we received a small clay pot in our "goodie bags." Their challenge was for us to decorate it with this year's theme "Tatting Along the Garden Path" and enter it this year in a competition. These little turtles and their vegetable and flower gardens were my entry. I like to think the "wife" is welcoming her "husband" home to their ivy covered palace (I mean pot) as he comes down the tatted trail. My "home sweet home" didn't come in first place.

The winner tatted a beautful, imitation "tatting fern." (Yes, there actually is such a plant!) I was told that it was a close race and the little turtle abode came in second.

I wanted this beautiful ornament by Ginny Weathers, author of The Twelve Ornaments of Christmas because I thought it symbolized so well the theme of this years seminar. I was able to win the silent auction bid on it. Their auction goes toward their scholarship funds.

Stay tuned for further posts which will show what I learned and experienced at the seminar.

Flowerpiece Doily

I've spent a great deal of time lately tatting. It kept me busy while traveling with my parents to a 50th Wedding Anniversary (Congratulations Aunt Doris and Uncle Duane!) . My father had a pacemaker-defibrillator-synchronizer put in (Hope you continue feeling better Daddy). We've had two church members in the hospital for surgeries, and I've kept them and their families company at various times. So, this is Mary Konior's Flowerpiece Doily from the book, Tatting with Visual Patterns.. It is done in Lizbeth thread, size 20, colors 683, and 612. The outside round, I tried and tried to figure out how to do the green and ecru in one continuous set, but could only figure out how to do the ecru...so each motif is done individually--that's a lot of ends to hide!

Weather Records Doily

Weather records! Last week it was

-31 degrees Farenheit nearby.... This is Oklahoma not Alaska! Also NorthEast Oklahoma broke the record for the most snow it has ever had in February...and the month is only half over.

Well, this was my sit inside and stay warm doily. It is Mary Konior's Masquerade doily from the book, Tatting with Visual Patterns. It is made out of Lizbeth thread, Size 20, color 656. When I saw this thread, Wedgewook-Dk., I thought it was the prettiest shade of blue that I'd ever seen. After I finished the doily, I realized that it is almost exactly the same shade of blue as the example doily is in the book.

Twin Doilies

In January, I sat with my father-in-law as his body slowly shut down. Tatting has helped me through many stressful events, and it didn't let me down that week. I finished the first doily during those days and nights. In the time between his passing and the funeral, I started the second one, I really didn't want "twins" but was limited by having only the one pattern and one ball of thread with me. I finished the other one in February during Oklahoma's "Blizzard of 2011." The pattern is Beatrice, by Iris Niebach from the book Tatted Doilies. The doily is finished in one round. The thread is Lizbeth, size 20, color 131.