He knows my name!

My life verse: "I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the Lord, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel." (Isaiah 45:3). For me, "the treasures of darkness" has been the medically-treated depression that I have suffered off and on with for years. More than anything else in my life, I think this has made me realize how much my Savior loves me and has deepened my relationship with God. The "hidden riches of secret places" are my wonderful family and this fabulous craft--tatting! I thank God for both!
I think it is awesome that God knows my name! Did you know that He knows yours?

Monday, September 21, 2015

100/Palmetto Tat Days Part 1


Thank you to my readers!  I started this blog so that I would have a record of my tatting, but I have made many online friends because of it.  Thank you for allowing me to share my life with you!  On a personal note--I came down with pneumonia (third time this year) last weekend.  God is so gracious that I was healthy for my trips this year!  My little drawing will include:  Some duplicate tatting books that I have, a few really old Workbaskets that were my grandmother's, a tatted item, some handmade items, a few tatting tools, maybe some non-tatting items....hopefully a nice collection of things that will brighten your day.

Memories from
Tatting Angels Among Us--13th Annual Tat Days
September 4-5, 2015


Above: Cynthia S.  Erin E. and I were roommates this year

Cynthia and I met back in 2010, when she advertised that she was going to the Finger Lakes Tatting Conference--and "Would anyone like to share expenses and ride with her, she was traveling from Oklahoma to New York?" I emailed her and found out that she lives about two and a half hours away from me.  I took her up on her offer, not knowing anything about her except that I had seen her name on the "tatting" internet for quite awhile.  (She teaches the beginners online tatting class and is a monitor for the group "newshuttlesandneedles@yahoogroups.com").    My thought was, "After all, she had to be safe because tatters were not ax murderers!"  So in April, I jumped in the car of someone I had officially met 5 minutes before and headed off to New York.  (Since then, someone has asked on one of the tatting sites, "I'm teaching tatting in a prison--does anyone have any suggestions for tools I can take into the prison with me?"--So warning!  Ax murderers might just be tatters!) 

Cynthia is one of the most outgoing and generous people I know.  We are extremely alike in so many ways...and extremely different in just as many ways.  I think we really enjoy and look forward to the other's company for the small amounts we see each other scattered throughout the year.  Along with short assorted visits during the years, we have now traveled to Finger Lakes each successive year, as well as to Georgia for Tat days this year, as well as in 2011.  I am already ready for our next adventure!

Cynthia also met Erin online, and asked me about Erin rooming with us.  "The more tatters the merrier!", in my opinion!  Erin was an enthusiastic,  fairly new tatter who was attending her first conference.  I hope she had as good a time as I had this year!

After an almost brutal (long hours in the car with a very few, short breaks) car trip, Cynthia and I arrived at the Georgia Baptist Conference center.  I think we were the last to arrive on Thursday night.  We missed Thursday night dinner, for which we had reservations.  More than that, we missed the additional little Thursday night class that we had been looking forward to attending.  We received our goodie bags (NICE tote bags!!) and moved everything into our room.  Then we went downstairs for a little fellowship with the few tatters who were lingering around.
Later that night, we went through our goodie bag--1) an awesome tote bag--nice fabric, pencil pocket, big front pocket, side pocket for water bottle, and good zipper. Going around like a clock--at 12:00 is a blue tape measure, and one of my little containers made out of pop bottle caps.  At 1:30 was a "Bell Angel Kit" by Vicki Clarke.  At 4:30 was a red plastic container that held post-it notes, paper clips and rubber bands and a little star shape ("What was the star about?" I wondered.  Well the theme for next year is "Tatting is Out of This World").  6:00 is a Handy Hands thread sample. 7:30 was a little purple net bag with a tatted angel with a purple crystal in the middle.  The tiny bag held peppermints and a square of dark chocolate.  At 11:00 were two ink pens and right below the 12:00 items was a tiny little bag with a a small card which read "From the last best place--HOPE" along with the cutest little tatted angel.

These ladies have it together!!  You ought to see the way things are organized, it is a true class act.  Along with the goodie bag, you receive a a folder and a name tag.  The name tag has your name on the front, as well as your city and state.  There are little colored blocks across the bottom of the tag that show which meals you have paid for.  On the back of the name tag is the schedule for the weekend. On the outside of the folder is YOUR class schedule (class, time and room)  Inside the pockets of the folder are all the patterns that you need for your particular classes.  Paper-clipped to the notebook were all the tickets that you needed.  (If you bought a kit for a class, there was a ticket that you took to vending, where they handed you your reserved kit.  Each person got tickets to vote on the tatting items that were brought to exhibit--there was "Best of Show", "Best Theme" and Most Creative -- these you wrote the number of the exhibited item on the back and dropped them in the voting box.  Each person also got one free ticket to put into the drawing for some of the items donated for the scholarship fund.)  We also had a tag paper-clipped to the notebook, I didn't discover until later that this was to put on our tote bag to identify it from all of the other lovely green tatting tote bags!


The last thing in the bag was the official "book" for Tat Days 2015.  This 48 page, 5x8 inch book is a "mini-guidebook" to Tat Days.  It includes bios of each teacher, a list of the teacher assistants for each class,
a schedule, and list of participants and their contact information.  There was a nice section that covered the rules for the Silent Auction and how to vote on the items that people had brought for the Tatting Display.  There were acknowledgments for everyone who helped make Tat Days a success (THANK YOU!!!)  Touching my heart, was a lovely tribute to three great tatters who have died in the past year and the impact they made on our craft---Bobbie Demmer, Terry McGuffin and Judi Banashek.  I never met any of them, but have benefited from the generous sharing of their knowledge and skill.  A lot of work went into this book!

About midnight I climbed into bed...ready for a few hours sleep--Early Bird class at 6a.m!  Join me for Friday at Tat Days 2015 in my next post!

38 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. It was very nice! I always enjoy goodie bags (I think it could be a stick of gum wrapped in tin foil--I just love the excitement of opening and the the feeling of joy that someone cared enough to make this time "special" for you!

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  2. Will get there soon I hope! Looks like you had a great time.

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    1. I had a great time, I am so blessed to have been able to travel to meet these lovely people who share so willingly what they know about tatting!I don't know your situation, but I highly recommend getting together someway with other tatters! Tatting gatherings are such lovely events--meeting new people, the fellowship, the sharing of ideas, techniques, favorite patterns and threads. If you are on the internet you have the added benefit of putting "faces" on "names" that you consider friends! I really love learning from the person who developed the pattern--which is what happens in most classes!

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  3. So nice of you to offer up a cool bag of gifts! I'm a recent addition to the tatting addiction and would love to be entered into your drawing! My FB info is https://www.facebook.com/TraciLWilkinson Favorite placed your blog and thanks again!

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    1. You are welcome, I've looked forward to this milestone for a long time.! I Welcome to the wonderful world of tatting! Life is a journey, and tatting is one of my companions! (The artwork on your facebook page is awesome!)

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  4. Looks like everyone is having a wonderful time!

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  5. I know I did! I think the whole trip was an adrenaline rush!

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  6. The bottle cap container is such a cute idea. I should go make some of those. Kind of funny I just commented on fb just tatting page about finding those red containers at dollar tree and thinking they were prefect for tatting shuttles and supplies had I gone to tat days I would have known about them sooner. werflour@gmail.com

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  7. We tatters love little containers! I am always on the lookout for something useful!

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  8. Saving my money for Tat Days next year (I can only hope!!!) and loved your post...I'm not near that good with words...You can reach me at https://www.facebook.com/cynthia.stevenson.3766..if you've lost me eleswhere,...LOL I have shared my bottle cap container with a couple people....such a cute idea...

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    1. If only we had a transporter, so we could avoid that killer drive on the second day going and the first day coming home!

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  9. Tat Days was a blast. Such a great assortment of goodies to be given away. Thanks for offering it as a giveaway.

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    1. I really did enjoy Tat Days, I'm glad you did too! I'm having fun putting together my little collection to giveaway!

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  10. Would love to come to Tat Days, maybe next year.

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  11. Save your money and the dates!! Tat Days 2016 (Theme: Tatting is Out of This World" will be September 9-19!! I hope to be there and get to meet you

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  12. Wow!!! Looks like such an exciting time!!! :) And such a wonderful bunch of things to keep you organized and on time. Glad you had a great time!!! :)

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  13. It was great! I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, but to me--they run this conference like a well oiled machine that's sole purpose is to make your experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible.

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  14. Tat Days was such fun. I enjoyed 'meeting' your shirt on Saturday night. :-) Please enter me in your drawing. You can reach me at: trompeter914 (at) Hotmail (dot) com.
    StephanieW

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    1. Stephanie is a wonderful tatter with the sweetest smile! Stephanie was sitting beside me during the origami class when she suddenly said "I recognize that shirt! I read your blog!" It was so exciting because it was only the second time that I've met someone in real life through my blog.

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  15. Patricia Thank you for being such a wonderful tatting teacher. So wish I could have went with you to Georgia but had to work. I hope you get to feeling better real soon so we can have our own tatting day at your house. I so enjoy tatting an the fellowship. An just can't wait to come an tat an you can tell me all about your trip.

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    1. Emma--We have to teach more people to tat and get you to retire. Then we are going to take a small bus filled with Okies to one of the conferences!
      Looking forward to our next tatting session--where we talk about as much as we tat!!

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  16. Such a lovely post - enjoyed reading it all through, with all the interesting details ! But the best part for me was that I got to see a pic of Cyn :-D I joined OTC just a few months back & all the teachers/team there are Wonderful, helpful & ever-encouraging.
    And when there were some conversations about the trip to Tat Days between Erin & Cyn, with your name being mentioned, I did Not realize it was You !!!
    So glad you all had a great time. Looking forward to the 'rest of the story' :-)

    And a huge congratulations on your 100th post. Hope you stay healthy, happy & actively tatting always :-)

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    1. Thank you I enjoy jotting down my memories!! Isn't it wonderful being able to put a face onto internet names? I appreciate your well-wishes.

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  17. A special weekend with so many special people! They do a great job of planning and holding Palmetto Tat Days!

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    1. I am always so impressed with how many people are at the conferences--and how far they travel to get there! Represented at Tat Days in Georgia were Canada and the Netherlands. Traveling a few miles from here in the USA--there were people there from Illinois, New York, Texas and Missouri--as well as Cyn and I from Oklahoma!

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  18. Congrats! Patricia. It was an interesting read. Choices, choices, choices! CYIA training? See my parents? Family vacation? Finger Lakes? Tat Day? I do not have enough vacation days for everything I want to do. I guess I will have to be satisfied with Lace Embrace!! How does 10/16 - 10/18 for our weekend of tatting?

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    1. I hate trying to prioritize my time--and I don't work! Someday, I'm sure you will get to join us on one of our journeys! The problem with that is---all those days in the car cooped up together might end our friendship (if that was possible!)
      I'm free on those days. I'll check with Emma.

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  19. Sounds to me like you had GREAT fun!!! I'm Jealous!! LOL Good luck to everyone entering the '100th Post Drawing'!!!

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    1. Tat Days 2016 (Theme: Tatting is Out of This World" will be September 9-19--I would love to get to know you!

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    2. Hmmm... you never know your luck.... maybe not next year as I'm planning to be 'down south' in the UK shortly after, but at some point in the future!!!

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  20. I had to laugh at, "After all, she had to be safe because tatters were not ax murderers!" If you knew how much thread I had murdered! But, it is true. I only know of a couple of tatters who are hard to get along with. It is a very low percent.
    Tat Days is the highlight of my year. This was my 4th and the first time I had tried to teach. All is great there: the comradely, the surprise gifts, the totes, the vendors, the learning...
    Thank you for the opportunity to try for your prizes. l a reiff @ yahoo. com

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    1. I just looked your email up in the conference book--I recognize that smile, it beamed all weekend! I loved your comment about your "red blood cells look like shuttles, tatting is such a part of " you!

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  21. It was so nice meeting you at tat days this year. I look forward to that weekend all year long. I enjoyed reading your experience and will be watching for more. Congratulations on your 100th post. jl at pepper.net

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    1. JB--It was wonderful to make your acquaintance and put a face on your name!

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  22. Love reading about your adventures, Patricia!

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    1. I enjoy sharing them! I miss you---seems like forever since we have talked face to face!

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I love comments from my readers!