Tat Days 2011 Loot

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island.”
~ Walt Disney

And there is more treasure at Tat Days than a Disney dreamer can imagine. It comes in many forms and guises.

Crazy Mom shared photos of her uber swag haul from Tat Days 2011, including the large tote bag, size 20 Omega thread and a clear bag jam-packed with nifty trinkets of every size and description.

I took the liberty of spreading mine out for a more detailed view. It is just one of the many ways Palmetto staff attend to every little detail for their guests. They excel at this.

Snack Room Treasure
Feeling peckish between classes? Need a late night snack? No problem. The snack room is filled to overflowing with every imaginable treat and refreshment. Another example of how Palmetto staffers attend to every little detail for their guests.

Finding Chocolate Strawberry tea in the snack room was a delightful surprise. I was so busy squealing with glee I forgot to snap a photo for the blog. Crazy Mom came to my rescue with this link - Chocolate Tea. Thanks, Crazy Mom!

Tat Days 2011 Spoils

Vending Room Treasure
Having experienced wicked, hedonistic shopping impulses in 2010, I came prepared with a shopping list. For the most part I stuck to it, only splurging on the Rosemarie Peel pattern book.

Two copies of Martha Ess' Playing with Picots and Tat Days 2011 Pattern CD were purchased. One copy of each item now lives in the Piedmont Lace Guild of Virginia's library.

Aren't you all impressed with my willpower?

Shuttle Lab Trends was a new vendor (for me) whose wares I am eager to try.

In 2009 I had seen photos of gorgeous, drool-worthy HDTs from this vendor, and lace made from them, show up on other blogs, but none were available in 2010.

Imagine me hovering vulture-like over the display of threads, beautifully blinged shuttles, etc., deciding what to take home. I bought four fabulous HDTs.

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Beanile Treasure
The loot I am most thrilled about are Nina Libin's beanile lace kits.

Winter Solstice © 2011 Nina Libin

Did you see my first completed earring in the above photo? No? Here is a close up.

Dazzling, eh? When the second earring is finished I will block them together. Then on to the exquisite necklace and pendant. This could be the beginning of a beautiful beanile relationship.

The second kit is an icy, crystalline enchantment called "The Snow Queen - I." It will be a snow day tat later this winter. Nina gifted Crazy Mom with the Snow Queen - I earrings she tatted. You can see them here.

Can you believe I'm not finished? (Almost.) Crazy Mom was so generous, she let me pick out this custom mix of gemstone beads. They're so pretty!

And last but not least, Georgia Seitz handed me this creative button sample on the final day. Her online tatting class page gives lots of inspiration for embellishing them. I'm looking forward to playing around with these to see what I can come up with. Thanks, Georgia!

Here is what they look like when you find them in their commercial packaging.

Whew! My fingers are tired! I hope you enjoyed this loot post. Back to tatting for me!

Lookie See & Loot to Come

Thanks to my eagle-eyed niece, Jalice, for alerting me to this notice:

It is good to see Yarnplayer's latest pattern booklet getting some buzz-generating promotion. Yarnplayer, can I get my copy autographed, pretty please?

Come back tomorrow for the long-awaited TAT DAYS 2011 LOOT post!

Wednesday Levity

Have you read The Blogess yet?

Right out of the gate, let me say that The Blogess has the kahones I only have in my wildest dreams.

[Yes, I know that the correct spelling of the Spanish word is "cojones." Since females don't have "cojones," I went with the kooler urban spelling.]

Oh Sweet Mercy! Her irreverent humor is oddly liberating. Plus, she still regards Pluto as a planet. I like that about her.

Crazy Mom got me hooked on The Blogess in June when she sent me a link to And that's why you should learn to pick your battles.

In truth Jenny had me at Will Wheaton Collating, but that giant metal chicken gag really had legs.

Now not only am I a Bloggess-aholic but a closet giant metal chicken groupie.

Tat Days Projects, Part I

Tatting Tea Tuesday - Hello October
Director Sprout set the scene, which explains the octopus and menacing tea light tree. ツ

While week one felt fall-ish, Columbus Day weekend sun brought temps in the mid-to-upper 70s. So instead of switching over to hot tea, today I settle in to tat with a sun-brewed glass of decaf green with peach iced tea. Later, The Sprout and I will bake pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies.

Let the huddles break, breezes blow and leaves rustle. My tea and thread cupboards are stocked, shuttles wound, and my favorite Pashmina shawl is at the ready.

Can you believe Tat Days ended three weeks ago? Still so much tatting to do! Here's what I have been tatting in the after glow of that marvelous, fun-filled event.

Crazy Mom's Hearts Afire Cross © 2011
Tatted in Lizbeth^® 20 Victorian Red

Motif 4 - Hearts Afire Cross
Just look at this adorable dimpled heart cross. I couldn't attend this class because Nina Libin's Winter Solstice was at the same time, so I opted to wait for the pattern CD to make the cross.

Can I make a confession? Over the years I have been pretty tight-lipped about my uncanny ability to break a thread when closing a dimpled ring. Those durned dimples got me every time.

That was before learning to close the dimpled rings second half-first, then first-half. The technique was first shared by Sue Hanson at 2008 Shuttlebirds Tatting Weekend. Sue called it the Dimpled Yorkie. Crazy Mom's pattern includes tips for closing her vertical heart split rings this way. Brilliant!

In fact, the whole Hearts Afire Cross pattern is a work of genius. It cleverly throws dimpled hearts off of dimpled hearts, then moves on to vertical heart split rings. It sounds complicated, doesn't it? But Crazy Mom's instructions are crystal clear and make it easy! If I can do it, you can too.

Sunrise, Sunset Bookmark © 2011 Martha Ess

Motif 5 - Sunrise, Sunset Bookmark
My first Friday class was with Martha Ess. We made her Sunrise, Sunset bookmark. The thread is Altin Basak 50 in colors AB355 Copper and AB336 Periwinkle.

Martha's patterns are 110% pure pleasure to tat. Clear instructions, gorgeous photos and diagrams - what's not to love? That said, her Sunrise, Sunset bookmark raised the bar.

Oops! Mine looks a bit topsy turvy, doesn't it? Sunset, Sunrise!

Don't fret if your bookmark curls a bit. Mine looked like this before pinning it out. A quick shot of steam and it was right as rain. (The pretty shuttle was made by Georgia and Richard Seitz.)

That which we call a rose, by any other name
Next up is a "rosone" (Italian for rosette) in progress from Il Lavoro Chiacchierino 14, page 8. The thread is YarnPlayer's Celery in size 20.

Celery (the food) has always been dreaded diet fare at Silly Hat Central, but YarnPlayer's Celery HDT is so fresh and pleasing it is easy to "swallow." ツ

This was my airport tatting project, not a Tat Days class. The bits I actually tatted in airports ended up looking positively wretched, so I cut it off and started again. This second try looks much better.

Last is a photo of the silly, "just say no to celery" pin I made for a fellow Tat Days attendee. My 2011 tatting resolution was to create more mixed media items with my tatting and this pin helps to meet that goal. Hee, hee, see how the Celery HDT accents the stalks?

I honestly couldn't judge the recipient's reaction beyond initial confusion (which, all things considered, was understandable) but the joy in creating, completing and giving it (On time, too!) made it all worthwhile.

This post just scratches the surface of my class projects so there will be a part II. Then comes Tat Days Loot! As for hijinx, all I can say is "what happens at Tat Days, stays at Tat Days." (Sometimes genteel, southern ladies can be bad.)

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