Snow Angel Poetry WINNER!

HO HO HO! Here's the prize!

Thank you for all the inspired entries for this contest! You all did SO GREAT at filling in the last line of poetry. Talk about tapping into creative energies and taking charge of a challenge! You rocked it in ways I never considered.

I wish I could award prizes to each and every one of you, but as they say in Hollywood, "There can be only one" so. . . *drumroll*

The winner of the Snow Angel Poetry Challenge is....Crazy Mom.

She followed up Fox's playful entry (which was spot on for expressing frustration) with a sly rhyme. Both were terribly clever and made me laugh out loud.

Does anyone else see the humor in the photo? I stuffed the prizes into Santa's pants! (But seriously, what a cute gift bag, eh?)

Thank you for helping me celebrate my 300th post! And a hearty HO HO HO with mistletoe and lots of tatting joy for the remainder of 2011 and into 2012.

Edging Closer to Motif 9

The other day I read a comment sewmuchfun4 made in 2010 about "feeling less than tranquil" with tatting. It brought a knowing smile to my lips. Haven't we all felt like this at one time or another?

Sometimes putting your tools down and taking your mind off the setback will allow your creative muse to recharge. That is precisely what happened when I was playing around with Crazy Mom's Hearts Afire Cross.

I knew I wanted to expand the cross into a heart. Designing my own heart edging was a decidedly "less than tranquil" experience. And research into heart edgings available online left me stumped.

But the pattern book "Tatted Bookmarks - Needle & Shuttle" (edited by Barbara Foster of Handy Hands, Inc.) stoked my muse. On page 8 was an edging by Dee Powell^‡, simply called "Hearts."

Cindy from A Happy Bluebird tatted "Hearts" in February, 2010. Her pretty Valentine Bookmark proved perfect for satisfying my crafty muse.

See how pretty this edging looks adapted into a heart? It takes a curve so beautifully.

^‡Delores "Dee" Powell, 75, of Kansas, died in 2008 of cancer. Barbara Foster (Handy Hands, Inc.) has given permission to Georgia Seitz to post one of Dee' s patterns from the book "Tatted Bookmarks - Needle & Shuttle" online.  Georgia will create an "In Memory Of" page for Dee.

Almost Motif 9 - Cross Your Heart
This heart-in-progress is adapted from Hearts Afire Cross © 2011 by Crazy Mom and Hearts © 2001 by Dee Powell. It is tatted in Lizbeth^® 20 Victorian Red #670 and will measure 4 inches by 4 inches (10.2 cm by 10.2 cm) when complete.

What a tatting journey this experiment has led me on so far! Crazy Mom's cross fueled the fire for a heart. Taking a "less than tranquil" design path led to an existing source for a lovely edging. From there the creative spark ignited again to combine two lovely designs into a dainty new heart.

Or it will be once I finish...

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!

Tatting Tea Tuesday - In the Zone

Juggling multiple projects can frazzle the nerves but this past week I was in the zone. Let's credit the adrenaline rush from registering for Palmetto Tat Days online. I'm getting excited!

My tea for today is a tall glass of iced pomegranate apple green tea. It goes down smooth and easy on hot summer days.

Beginning Tatting - Level 1 Kit

This week:

• I wound 12 floss cards with tatting thread samples, loaded 6 Pony shuttles and assembled 6 new (beginner level) tatting kits for my class that starts tomorrow night.

Fleur de Lis Motif Sample

• I tatted a new sample in Lizbeth^® 20 #642 Lilac Medium. The rings on the sides are floating free to test a hypothesis fueled by Jane Eborall's awesome Diamond Mat. How will the Fleur de Lis motif look joined together into larger shapes?

A quick-n-dirty, not-pretty-enough-for-prime-time pattern is available for any brave soul wishing to test tat. Email me at the address listed in the "About Me" widget on the right navigation panel above. (Look for the red-headed cartoon girl.)

Heart's Honor © Wanda Salmans 2011

• Wanda Salmans' Heart's Honor bookmark is closer to completion. I'm half way through round two.

This is my "on the go" tatting project. It is great for tatting in the car or while DH watches TV shows I don't care for. This design is eminently preferable to "Mansquito" or Sasquatch or Ghost Hunter TV. (Apologies to fans of these shows. They are just not my cup of tea.)

Lizbeth^® 40 Peacock Blues is the thread I am using for Wanda's lovely bookmark. It looks pretty to me, but sometimes I am not a good judge of a variegated thread overpowering a design. Do tell: do you think Wanda's design is getting lost?

Flying Minor Norwegian Dragon © 2008 Anne Bruvold

• I began a test tat of Anne Bruvold's Flying Minor Norwegian Dragon in pastel-colored quilting cotton blended with a sample of YLI red-gold variegated thread CrazyMom sent me.Thanks, CrazyMom, I have been so anxious to try the sparkly threads you sent.
• As I mentioned, I registered for Palmetto Tat Days online.  Wheeee! 
• I registered The Sprout for his second year of preschool. Where has this summer gone?

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

Kokeshi & More

Knit Kokeshi Doll by Igoya
My twin sister Igoya is so talented. She knit this sweet little doll for a friend who recently had her first child and asked permission to name the baby after her daughter.

Igoya's Kokeshi doll still needs a few facial details, but even without a pouty mouth, two dark eyes and a hint of blush on her cheeks, she's just too cute.

Here is a link to a lovely Kokeshi Doll-shaped Card download. (Sorry, it's not free.)

Hanky from LLL Diane's Giveaway
with Ciarrán and canine pals

Scalloped Hanky
This delicately scalloped, wildflower-embroidered handkerchief was a gift from Lace-lovin' Librarian Diane. It arrived on May 24th. I have been horribly remiss in posting the photos. This may sound odd, but each time I pick it up I want to go pick wildflowers. Thank you for this sweet inspiration, Diane!

Ciarrán brought both crazy salt shakers into the picture this time. That lep is one incorrigible (and adorable) attention hound. Could it have anything to do with me saying that men who keep pets attract women? (Hmmm, I may be onto something.)

♥ from Postie
Yesterday my mail carrier slipped a fat, padded envelope inside my storm door from CrazyMom. Just look at all the goodies she sent!

See that heart-shaped basket? See the size 15/0 Miyuki Rocailles in two to-die-for colors? See all that thread? Two crisply starched hankies? Shuttle bling paper? The plump, pink pig with googly eyes? (Googly eyes are very popular with The Sprout.) AND a tin? Here is what I found inside the tin.

Contents of Mint Tin

One more treasure was packed in this trove of goodies - a music mix CD for The Sprout. It has been playing almost nonstop since yesterday. Lots and lots of songs a four-year-old can love!

Last night he particularly identified with track 15 - Mama's Soup Surprise by Bruce Springsteen. I found myself singing along with "The Marvelous Toy" by Peter, Paul & Mary. But the one that got stuck in my head and won't come out is "Ha Ha This a Way" by Leadbelly. Thanks for all the catchy songs, CrazyMom!

As for tea, I'm sipping Jack Frost - a caffeine-free herbal blend of African red bush, vanilla, peppermint and spearmint. Hoping it will help dispel the sweltering heat and humidity that plagues my corner of Tat Land.

Stay cool in your corner(s) of Tat Land. Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful. See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!

In Memory of Doretha Albee

Doretha Albee (1935 - 2011)

On Saturday, April 16, 2011, Tat Land lost a treasured rose. I never had the pleasure of meeting Doretha Albee, but her contributions to the tatting community were generous and many. For that I am forever grateful.

Georgia Seitz was fortunate to know her and has published this memorial on BellaOnline. Shared here with permission.

Doretha Albee's "Rose Medallion" first appeared in "Tatting Online, The Official 1999 Tat Chat Pattern Book," published 1999 and edited by Georgia Seitz. Shared here by permission of the editor in memory of Doretha.

In January 2000, Carol Lawecki tatted this lovely multi-colored "Rose Medallion" by Doretha Albee and has kindly granted me permission to share her photo here. Thank you, Carol!

Did you know that Mrs. Albee designed a Pineapple Doily? Yessirree! Designed in 1997, it is called Pineapple Heaven.

CrazyMom is tatting this lovely doily. You can follow her progress here: Doily Progress

"Tatting Knots and Notes Revisited, Book 1"

Doretha's only published book to which I can find any reference is the newsletter compilation, "Tatting Knots and Notes Revisited, Book 1." A copy of it, I am told, is available through the I.O.L.I. Lending Library.

I'm not an I.O.L.I. member. However, PLG of VA tatter Anita Barry shared 4 issues of "Tatting Knots and Notes" from 1999 that she had saved in her library. Was I excited!

The tone of the newsletters was intimate and genial. I immediately felt as if I were sitting with Doretha tatting and chatting over tea. Few bloggers, including me, achieve this level of warmth in their writings. Once I had devoured them all I was left wanting more.

Doretha shared anecdotes, patterns from turn-of-the-century needlework magazines, tatting news and original designs.

She wrote of hating to cut and tie ends (Don't we all!) and often reworked antique patterns to make use of modern techniques. Clear photos of her own samples rounded out the pattern sections.

Doretha's window on the tatting world was filled with warmth and charm.
Let's all encourage "Tatting Knots and Notes Revisited, Book 1" to be reprinted.

Never having known her, I feel sure that I would have liked her immensely. Thank you, Doretha Albee, for continuing to publish this newsletter after Pat Perry died in 1991.

Thank you also for leaving a legacy of tatting companionship that will grow and flourish for generations to come.

On this last Tatting Tea Tuesday of May 2011, I raise my teacup^* in tribute and bow my head in silence before picking up my shuttles.

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

^* Today's tea is an infusion of decaf green/pomegranate/raspberry/mint.

Photos from Tat Days, part 1

Waving Hi from Tat Days! What a marvelous, tat-in adventure it has been so far. Warm, southern-style welcomes, adding faces and names to dozens of online friends, incredible classes, shopping and more.

Photos are added. It is good to be home (*hugs.home.network*)

Georgia posing with Ciarrán.

Perhaps the most surprising thing was that I didn't fall down in a dead feint at meeting Georgia Seitz. In fact, when I introduced myself she gave me the biggest hug. Thank you, Georgia, for being even more wonderful in person than you are online.

If you click on the image to enlarge it and zoom in on Georgia's ID badge, you will see her thyme leaf warding off insidious microbes. It is not the clearest photo. The leaf is tatted in Lizbeth 40 #136 Autumn Spice and I thought it looked so pretty!

She got that leaf as a gift from me, since she was so busy during the conference. Couldn't leave Georgia's threads unprotected, no!

Tatters chatting in the lobby.

By my estimation, 75 lacers attended Tat Days.

Everyone I met is more wonderful than I could have ever imagined. Truly. Everyone.

First impressions

Southern hospitality rocks! What a luxury to find real feather pillows and a down comforter on the bed. The waitress at our first restaurant, a place called Ribeyes, went out of her way to suggest local attractions for The Sprout and never once let on that we talked funny.

The steaks and burgers were so tasty at Ribeyes that we ate there twice. It was always hoppin'-busy and the clientele raved to us about how much they loved the food.

The second night the same waitress greeted us warmly and said, "You came back!" Then she asked The Sprout if he saw the Zedonk at the zoo. As busy as that woman was both times, I was surprised she remembered us at all. That's hospitality, eh?

But back to Tat Days! So many tatters' faces that were familiar to me from photos are now personalized with conversations, shared classes and meals, games, activities and chats.

Martha Ess shows Krystledawne's mom Karieann (left) and me (right) how to tat her broomstick tatted bookmark.

Karrieann turned out to be sitting right next to me in my first Friday class. Crazy Mom was a few seats away. Pre-class conviviality turned many unfamiliar faces into new tatting friends.

CrazyMom, how did I manage to spend so much time with you and NOT get a photo of you?!? 
(Methinks you are crazy like a fox.)  I'm so envious that you took Nina's bead class! So many great classes and not enough hours in two days to take them all.

Photo kindly shared by HJ Hess (center)
John (left), me (center front) and Karriean (right)

Krystledawne, more proof that I met your marvelous mom!

Squeeee! Martha Ess taught my first class -- a broomstick tatted bookmark. This was the class I was most eager to take and it turned out to be the biggest challenge. *mumbles* (...still haven't completed it...) But I will!  It is such a brilliant pattern! FAB! Cross your fingers that I finish it tonight.

Crafty Tatting 2 class with Georgia Seitz and Bernie Cosell (another VA tatter) was so much fun! We learned how to make pop-up inserts on which to affix tatted motifs and these 3D paper holiday trees we then could decorate with tatting. Crafty goodness!

Bernie taught me Maltese Rings. It was so easy once I got over my mental block. Thanks, Bernie! Now I can tackle those teapots in Martha's "T is for Tatting" book that I have been longing to tat.

Wally posing with Ciarrán after class.

I took two classes on Saturday with Wally Sosa and oh my! Both Wally and her techniques are delightful. I danced out of her classroom on twinkle toes thinking of ways to add Schwarino Flying Rings and Rolled Picots to my projects.

It is so difficult not to break into peels of gleeful squeals over every tiny detail. I am trying to maintain a modicum of composure, but you all must realize that I was such a wide-eyed, first-timer!

I marveled at seeing more than one or two tatters in the same room, interacting and learning together. I was amazed at the silent auction items, the Mary Konior display (more on that later) and the display of tatted works people brought just to show and tell.

I was humbled by the gorgeous tatting people wore on their bodies and the laces flying off their shuttles.

Meeting Riet Surtel-Smeulders was such a treat! Riet was so sweet to share bars of Belgian chocolate with The Sprout (I got one too). YUM!

But the most humbling thing was how many people approached me and said how they knew me. Hegla, bless her heart, even described me as FAMOUS (What?) and like family.  But every sentiment and gesture touched my heart deeply.

'Cause you all don't realize how special it was for me to meet and spend time with all of YOU! The pleasure was entirely mine. I can't wait until I get to see you all again to make more Tat Days magic.

So -- anon, when I can share photos and tales of a leprechaun reunion, high jinks, a lep of unusual size (that Ciarrán quippingly called Gigantor) and the lovely Miss Scarlet!