Friday, November 28, 2014

Christmas Berry Wreath & RIP Bobbie Demmer

On this the day after Thanksgiving 2014, I have decided to do a little sewing, a little holiday decorating and a little holiday tatting.

But before I settle in, I have some sad news to share.

RIP Bobbie Demmer
Tatting mentor Roberta "Bobbie" Demmer, 88, of Thompson Falls, Montana, passed away on November 20, 2014.  This news was shared with me on Thanksgiving day via Facebook message.  I have been told that Bobbie Demmer used to write the Tatting editorial in the IOLI Bullentin, for all you IOLI members.

Debbie Arnold shared the following:  Bobbie's sister asked that her death not be announced publicly until this past Tuesday, November 25, so that she could have a bit of time and privacy.

TopTatCat said this about Bobbie Demmer:
"Tatters Across Time is Bobbie's Legacy. Her vision was to have a program that would encourage and allow individual tatters, wherever they were, to improve the looks of their tatting and increase their knowledge. Everyone participating on the TAT Team is committed to carrying on her dream."         
Bobbie Demmer
Teri "TATBiT" Dusenbury posted this image of Bobbie Demmer on her tatting blog, TATtle TALES Tatting Patterns, in a post memorializing Monica Hahn. You can read this post from August 2014 here:  A Knack for Tatting - Monica Hahn - A Christmas Angel

The October 2013 newsletter from M.E.O.W. [Machine Embroiderers of Oregon and Washington] noted that in September 2013 Bobbie Demmer had taught her 50th tatting workshop. Let's all give a posthumous round of applause for her wonderful achievement.



Bobbie was known for her "bauble" technique.  Here is a link to a PDF file that Jane Eborall shares on her free pattern pages:  Tatted Chain Bauble © 1996 Bobbie Demmer

Randy Houtz taught a class on the basics of Bobbie Demmer's "bauble-bobble" technique at the 2014 Palmetto Tat Days (of which I was in attendance) and I can say that this technique was very popular. Thank you, Randy, for carrying on this technique and adding your own personal touch to it!




Glad News - Giveaway Winner
On a happier note, I was the lucky winner of Umi & Tsuru's Organza Peacock Bag giveaway. Yippee!

Thank you so much for hosting this giveaway, Umi &Tsuru. The post simply cannot get here fast enough to contain my enthusiasm!

Christmas Berry Wreath © 1997 LaRae Mikulecky

Ready for a little holiday tatting?  Christmas Berry Wreath © 1997 LaRae Mikulecky.

This pattern is only available through the wonderful Wayback Machine.  For a while it was listed on Allcrafts.com but that link is currently broken. I encourage you to grab it, print it out and store it in your Tatting Pattern Library before it no longer can be recovered.

What happened with the Cluny Experiment?
For those who may be wondering what happened with the Cluny experiment, I am still muddling through with little progress.

Let me assure you that the tatting is not brain-straining or overly difficult.  Rather, I keep repeating the same mistake and starting over. This is (I presume) what happens when one doesn't write down their corrections after making a mistake. Easily correctable with the proper attidude -- *laughs*

But I carry on and will share when I have a sample of Pumpkins on a Vine by Heidi Sunday (with Clunies) to show.