Palmetto Tat-a-Con 2017

Tat Days 2017 -- TAT-A-CON -- was a fabulous event!  The weather was perfection, with lower humidity than usual and clear, sunny skies.

Driving toward an impending hurricane event was a bit nerve wracking, but IRMA didn't make landfall until after we tatters had all cleared out of the Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa, GA. We kept our sense of humor concerning Irma.  Emergency (tatting-themed) Hurricane TP!

We got a lot of tatting in before the rains came!  I get so busy having fun and talking with people that I tend to take very few photographs.  Here are a few that I remembered to take (in no particular order).

I befriended my first Southern Belle!  She is from the Southern Belles Tatting Society in Columbia, Tennessee and a fabulously fun, high-spirited lady.

It is not a trip to Tat Days without passing the "Giant Peach"  (And exclaiming "Giant Peach!" as we drive by.)  You can't miss it as you drive down I-85. It is a massive peach-shaped water tower near the North Carolina border.

Hilarity ensues when a few of us decide to snap selfies with the pretty privacy screen in the background. From left to right, me, Wanda (Her blog is called Wanda's Knotty Thoughts.) and Lace-Lovin' Librarian Diane couldn't stop joking and laughing and the photos show us at our happiest, most lace-lovin' best!

Karin West's sister Shari is always the life of any tatting gathering and she hopped off the elevator and into the photo-palooza.  She is such fun!

I love this photo of Sharren  Morgan and her husband David. Of course, I had to jump in, but my backside refused to stay hidden (hee hee).  Ignore that and focus on the lovely couple!

Tatting Rocks!
This year my local lace guild made the centerpiece decorations for the Friday night banquet and we decided it was a great time to jump on the painted rock bandwagon and share our love of tatting with our friends and outsider guests at the Baptist Conference Center.  These are a few of my favorites from the ones I painted.

Note: The Baptist Conference Center served as an Emergency Shelter/Safe Haven for folks fleeing the path of Hurricane Irma.  We had several groups of "refugees" on site.  Dining with them and hearing their stories was a privilege.

I let the rocks whisper to me what they wanted to be.

This one said, "I am a leaf on the wind; watch how I soar,"

Others started out as lacy lovelies but ended up as an olive branch, a paisley and a negative space motif.  All rather pretty!

I love how the bumble bee turned out!

Of course, the "dorky duck" had so much personality it got snapped up before the banquet even started.  The "bunch o' grapes" rock was great fun to paint and I am sure someone kept it.

I think JB Locke told me that she claimed "froggy doodle" from her banquet table. It begged to be taken home.

So simple and so much fun!  I had a hard time parting with the olive rock.

The teaching talent was tremendous as always.  I didn't get photos of every teacher.  But I really like the ones I managed to get.  Anita Barry!

 Georgia Seitz!

 Wally Sosa!

A group shot from one of the classes taught by Bonnie Swank.  Lots of happy faces!

 Isn't Wally wonderful?

Tatters Gonna Tat
We tatters will find ways to make our favorite lace even during banquet festivities. Even if it means wearing a mining lamp on our heads to see the fine, delicate stitches clearly. File this away under "Something You Don't See Every Day."  (Shari, you go girl!)

Of course much camaraderie was made in the gathering room. Some tatted, some chatted.  All had a wonderful time.

Even one of the photographers got in on the tatting action.

Last but never least, Shawna Wachs from Sharren Morgan's Eternity Angel class. Look at all those angels she tatted!  She said the pattern was great fun and she just kept on making them.

In all fairness, I agree wholeheartedly about the fun-factor of this pattern. It's darling and sweet and more than one teacher at my son's school is getting one at Christmas time.