Finger Lakes 2013 Part 2

I love being taught by a teacher who knows her craft!  I have had many teachers start their classes by sharing their credentials--"I have finished this course, and have taught here and here"....  Mary Ellen Davies caught our attention a totally different way that proved she had the authority to teach... she opened a slim box and pulled out block tatted item after block tatted item.  The last thing she pulled out was a doily tatted in size 40 (I think) with block tatting all around the edge!  Her tatting was stunning!!

Ever have one of those days when you can't tat to save your life?  Well Saturday morning and afternoon at Finger Lakes was one of those days--I'm sure those around me thought I was a beginning tatter or a total mess.  I was tired and migraining and literally could not put a ring and a chain together!  I have done block tatting before :
  http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8354528998397405150#editor/target=post;postID=1276226168952690113;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=27;src=postname           
 but I was trying to put too many stitches into the chains, and trying to go below instead of above the block!

It wasn't until I finally took a narcotic painkiller in the afternoon that I could finally focus enough to start working on my little block tatted star,  What a fun pattern!  Mine is done in Lizbeth, size 20, color 163, Blue Ice.

Finger Lakes 2013 Part 1

Finger Lakes was a Blast this year!  I have so much to tell and so much to share....

I hate to show the last thing first, but it is the thing that I have finished.... The last class I took at Finger Lakes this year was Sandra Eichelberger's Starry Night Earrings.  They are a rings only pattern.  I learned something new doing this pattern.  I had never before hidden a single thread in a single ring... something new that I had to twist my brain around.  Thank you Sandra for showing me, and to Dani Rotach for breaking it down into "steps that I could see."   I made the butterfly charm earrings with Lizbeth, size 20 thread, color 652.  I liked this pattern so much that I played with it a little...changing the order of the rings so that I could hide my ends where I wanted to hide them.  I then made another pair of earrings with Lizbeth, size 20, color 644, using Swarovski crystals (bought 1/2 price at Hobby Lobby.) 

more to come....

mo