At last some tatting!

The tatting blogs will no doubt be getting quieter as spring warms into summer. Schools are letting out, pools are opening up, casual dress Fridays are becoming de riguer and thoughts are turning to R and R.

No matter how you spend it, I hope you find ways to work in a little time for tatting.

For the past few weeks my tatting has been really crappy, which has probably been a side-effect of the unexpected stressers [dog attack, A/C going out in the car and finding out it will cost more than the blue book value of the car to fix it, unexplained broken window on main floor of the house, rotten family arguments, yada yada yada].

Geogie Seitz passed along some wise advice her grandmother (I think) gave her. Basically it was "let patience work out the details." And of course her grandmother was right.

Today was the first day that my tatting wasn't a complete ka-fuffle and I managed to finish the spider for the crazy quilt block project. Albeit, it's an arachnid with one side wider than the other on the body.

But hey, it still looks pretty good. And it was the first time I have ever tatted around a button.

The finger tatting brought back fond memories of tatting from my younger days, including a wonderful dinner with an old friend in Harrisburg, PA, many years ago.

My twin sister and her husband, and I and my (then) boyfriend traveled to meet our high-school pal and his wife for a dinner party.

During the pre-dinner conversation I learned that my old pal had been trying to learn tatting. So we rounded up some kitchen twine and I showed him finger tatting.  He picked it up immediately and said that those few moments with twine clarified hours upon hours of frustrated confusion.

I should call him up to ask if he still does any tatting these days!

These are a few familiar snippets I am sending off to Georgia Seitz:

Lene Bjorn pattern from Danish Tatting Guild

(Dansk Orkisforening) newsletter Orkis Bladet

Lady Shuttlemaker's "Hope" Butterfly

Rose Doodle by Mary Konior

Single Shuttle Split Ring Dragonfly


Tatting Tea Tuesday
Last week I missed the local stitcher's group night. I was tending to a wounded pet. Tonight, as Julie Beagle is faring much better, I will go and try to get some tatting done. The tea will most likely be a bottled Snapple instead of a home-brewed cuppa, but the craft-bonding will be uplifting.

I still haven't finished the Spring bookmark made from Tatskools lovely Just Daffodils HDT, but it is coming along slowly. I plan to take it with me as well as some thread to tat treble clefs and this new motif I saw on the 25 Motif Challenge page:  Carolyn's Motif #11.  Love the bracketed shape!

Not sure what I will work on, but it is always nice to have choices, eh?

Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful. See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!

ArtBin® Giveaway Winners!

Today is the big day! And a little surprise is in store for one lucky giveaway entrant...

Congratulations to all the winners!

The random number generator chose:

#6 – Val
#27 – Tatterme

And Surprise! Because I neglected to double check that all entries had been published to the blog before running the random number generator, one more name was drawn.  *drumroll*

#23 – JB

Ladies, I have sent individual emails to each of you. If you have not already received an email from me, please send me a note at the email address listed above (in the About Me section) with your mailing address so I can send your prizes out promptly.

Thanks again to everyone who entered!

RIP Wilma Walker

I just read on Facebook (posted by Lily Qualls Morales and Bina Madden) the sad, sad news of the death of a dear lady. Wilma Walker, 81, passed away peacefully at 12:25 a.m. today.

Lily commented that Wilma fought valiantly and I couldn't imagine her any other way. She had a valiant and indominable spirit. Such a lovely person whose laughter, joys, sorrows and perspective on life were an inspiration to us all. She tats with the angels now.

Sadly, I don't have a photo of Wilma to share, but Ruth Perry (aka Rozella Linden) posted a video of her telling us all how she learned tatting. You can view it here: YouTube - Wilma3

On Ruth's blog post from January 14, 2007, she writes about a Riego Narrow Edging from the Royal Tatting Book and notes "Thanks to Wilma Walker." If you would like to see this edging pattern, it is available in the Tatting Pattern Calendar. Once there, search for "Riego Narrow Edging" and scroll down to the second post, dated January 15, 2007.

UPDATE: Ruth just sent me a link to the pattern:
Riego Narrow Edging Thank you, Ruth!

Today I shall set aside my other bits of tatting and start the Riego Narrow Edging while I remember Wilma. Sadly, I never got the chance to meet her in person. But from 2003 - 2007 so many tatters mentioned her in their writings that I began to feel as if I had met her.

If anyone has a sample of her tatting (perhaps received in an exchange) or a fond memory to share, please post it. Reading it will help celebrate her life. Rest in peace, Wilma. We will miss you.