Part 3 Finger Lakes 2015

     Pick one reason why you should go to the Finger Lakes Tatting Convention next year.....  Vendors, Fellowship with other tatters, learning new techniques, patterns taught by their designers....?  I couldn't choose a single reason, but the classes at Finger Lakes are definitely in my top five reasons!

    
 My first class this year was "Sail Away."   It turns out that this composed/compiled by Diane Daiker was used as the table decorations all over the conference.  It was a little intimidating to have so many beautiful samples surround you as you began to learn this design.  Diane showed us how she took bits and pieces of other patterns and modified them and put them together to create her sailboat.  I was impressed at how careful she was to give each of the other designers credit.  My sailboat is done in:  Lizbeth size 20:  boat #129 Purple Splendor, right sail # 634 Violet Pink Medium, left sail #632 Purple Medium.

 
My afternoon class was the Sand Dollar by Karey Solomon.  This is such an easy pattern, looks great, plus I learned a new technique.  This has rings that you "stack" onto the top of your work!  I had never done anything like this before.  I really like the added dimension this gives the tatting.   The reason I have two sand dollars to show is that I was working on the sand dollar on the left during one of the nights when I don't sleep at all--and I made a big mistake on the row where you join the rings.  This created the need to make a few additional rounds on the motif....plus the clearer beads don't show very well.  I decided I needed to do it again and the result is the sand dollar on the left.  I used Lizbeth, size 20, color #603 Ecru.

Message in a Bottle was a pattern by the talented, Ginny Weathers.  I have enjoyed every pattern of hers that I have ever worked!  I have both of her ornament books and love them.  This was an easy pattern to work--speaking of the tatting part.  I, however had an awful time working with the seashells!  Ginny was so patient, answering my "pestering" emails after the conference was over about how to work with the shells!  I felt like that that there should be some way of making them hang perfectly just using thread and knots...but -- getting the project done won over doing it perfctly.  On several of the shell types, I "cheated" and ended up tatting the row with the shells added, then putting hot glue into the shells so that they would hang correctly!    It doesn't show up very well--but there is actually a very small beach (sand and tiny shells) inside the ornament!  I used Lizbeth size 20 thread--color #112 Carousel.


 My last class at Finger Lakes was the SeashellCandy Dish by Sally Biggars.  Sally really tried to make it easier on her class by rewriting her lengthy pa ttern.  However her new, shortened pattrn did not get tested and the mistakes made working the pattern--"interesting."  While working on this project in class, one of the ladies suggested that pattern be modified by doubling the outside row, to match the double inside rows.  I thought this pattern modification would look nice and did so.  The little "pearl bauble" was one of several on the give-away table there at Finger Lakes.  I snatched one ane placed it on the tatted sample that Sally had on display in the center of the table--almost immediately all of the "little pearls" on the give-away table were claimed!  My seashell is done in Lizbeth, size 20, colors #111 Cotton Candy and #630 Peach Light.    I really like this this little dish! 



I had a blast this year at Finger Lakes 2015--looking forward to Finger Lakes 2016 "The Teddy Bear's Picnic"