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

Onion Ring Doily

I'm working on a rather "big" project right now, and won't be finished with it for awhile, so I thought I might show some things that I completed during the time when I wasn't "blogging" regularly.  

This is the Tatted Clover Flower Edging by Nancy Tracy.  The pattern can be found at www.bestitched.com/pattern0703edging.asp      The thread is Lizbeth, size 20, colors #684, Leaf Green Medium and #129, Purple Splendor.

When I first started this edging, I intended to do a large handkerchief...but the three layer onion rings were such a lesson in patience and perseverance that I found the smallest doily in my stash, attached the edging to it and said "I'm finished" with a great big smile on my face!

Tri-Color Bookmark

My blog has been sadly neglected...   I decided I'd just jump in blogging again with what I finished tonight.

I saw a picture of this bookmark and the apparently original pattern that someone had drawn on a sheet of paper on Pinterest--unfortunately there was no author's name.  There were very few details on the pattern--just simply rings drawn on paper.... I had to figure out which were regular rings and which were split rings, it was about half and half...  I also decided on the stitch count.
If anyone knows the original designer--please let me know so I can give them credit.


I'm not real happy with the way it looks.  I did not try to "frontside/backside" tat--as a matter of fact I never even kept track of which shuttle was "shuttle #1"!  Many of the rings ended up misshapen, especially if they ended up being a ring that was the result of being a ring that had thread ends added into it.  However, it will be a neat little bookmark to stick in my little purse Bible which was what I wanted it for to begin with.

The thread used was Lizbeth, size 20, colors #612 Golden Yellow Lt., #619 Baby Pink, and #649 Baby Blue.

Mom's Birthday "Linen Piece"

New Years Day of 1984, my Father married Alberta Smith.  No one could replace my late mother, and luckily, Alberta didn't try.  But in the last 30 years she has become my mother, as well as my children's grandmother, and my grandchild's great-grandmother in every sense of the word.  My Mother understood handmade gifts, and I'm pretty sure Alberta (Mom) does too.  Well, Her birthday was way back in November, but I'm just now posting pictures of the linen piece that I tatted as a gift for her ... we are calling it a "linen piece" because of the way it turned out, I'm not sure she would want to use it for a handkerchief.  I thought she might use it to line a bread basket, but when I mentioned it last, she wanted to use it behind some items in a shadow box... so it is a "linen piece" right now.  Anyway...it was done in Lizbeth size 20, colors 129 Purple Splendor and 633 Dark Purple.  The pattern was from the Old-Time Crochet Magazine Autumn 1993 edition and was called "Tatted Handkerchief Edging" by Mary McCarthy.  I love the lacy look on the wavy hanky!

Christmas Exchange--Suzie Steiner

I entered another Christmas exchange through one of the yahoo groups which was hosted by Karey Solomon.  Suzie Steiner drew my name for this challenge which was to fill a 6X9 envelope--and  she did it with zest!  She filled the envelope with two Workbasket magazines, a lovely padded black bag which contained four lovely colored balls of thread (one of which I didn't even recognize the brand stamped on it!),  a lovely tube of blue metallic beads, a clover shuttle, a tatted candy cane and blue hankerchief for me to tat around.  Last, but not least, there was a little pin that said "Tatter" on it.  I love Christmas exchanges....thank you Suzie Steiner you were a great exchange partner!

Legacy

Nichole Nordeman has a song called Legacy

I don't mind if you've got something nice to say about me

And i enjoy an accolade like the rest

And you could take my picture and hang it in a gallery

Of all the who's who's and so-and-so

That used to be the best at such and such

It wouldn't matter much

I won't lie it feels alright to see your name in lights

We all need an 'atta boy' or 'atta girl'

In the end i'd like to hang my hat on more besides

The temporary trappings of this world

I want to leave a legacy how will they remember me?

Did i choose to love? did i point to you enough

To make a mark on things? i want to leave an offering

A child of mercy and grace who blessed your name

Unapologetically and leave that kind of legacy

I want to live my life, not only to leave a legacy as a Christian witness...but to leave a trail of tatting behind me.  I'd like to be remembered by the tatting made for and given to people.  I'd like to have tatting students who will be better than their teacher and go on and share tatting with the next generation.  This whole little "rant" came into my heart because I received an unexpected package (contents below) in the mail from an acquaintance who sent me a friend's mother's tatting stash upon her friend's mother's death..."no one else will ever use it, and I know you will."  I thought, what if, upon my death, there was NO ONE to send my tatting stash to?  What if tatting was then "truly a lost art"? What if tatting died with ME?  I want to leave a legacy!