Gone Tattin'

Image source: http://www.airplane-blog.com

Going dark, y'all. Time to pack up the laptop for travel. In 12 hours I will be in Cornelia, GA, settling in to a hotel and preparing to take in my first Tat Days conference in nearby Toccoa, GA.

This is gonna be good!

Gettin' Back to Bee?

Having heard of quilting, spelling and even JuJu bees, I have often wondered if the day would ever come when tatting would get a bee of its own.

A bee is essentially a gathering, to make an otherwise unwieldy task or project more manageable.

Wikipedia explains 'bee' this way:

"...a gathering of peers to accomplish a task or to hold a competition. Especially in the past, the tasks were often major jobs, such as clearing a field of timber or raising a barn, that would be difficult to carry out alone. It was often both a social and utilitarian event. Jobs like corn husking or sewing, could be done as a group to allow socialization during an otherwise tedious chore. Such bees often included refreshments and entertainment provided by the group."

Of course it is immediately plain why bees aren't common in tatting. Typically there haven't been enough of us living in close proximity to gather.

Tatters are the control group, the experts, the epitome of the "think global, craft local" movement.

Are Tats Days the new Bees?

Consider the Palmetto Tatting Guild, the Fringe Element Tatters, the Finger Lakes or Shuttlebirds tatting guilds. They each have enough members to organize an annual Tat Days conference.

Then there are the Mad Tatters and Oklahoma Shuttle Bugs in Tennessee, Mobile Tatters in Alabama, and the Timp Tatters in Utah, among many other lace guilds that include tatters in their ranks.

And last but never least, the Danish Tatting Guild, the Ring of Tatters in the UK and the Tatting Guild of New South Wales in Australia just to name a few of the global guilds!

Might it be time for larger tatting groups to get their bee on?

Dare I dream of a trickle down effect to smaller groups should such an idea take root?


It certainly seems to me that a large project, such as the crazy quilt project Georgia Seitz and others organized as a 2010 Palmetto Tat Days fund-raiser, would be an ideal bee project.

While I'm ruminating on the subject, why aren't "sheep to shawl" competitions lumped into the bee category? They certainly fit the bill.

Should working bees, like the once popular barn-raising, corn-husking, cider pressing and quilting gatherings of yore, continue to keep company with other ghosts of our American heritage?

I leave you to gather your thoughts with this poem I found on the Internet. It is written for quilters but applies to tatters equally well. Substitute "quilting" with "tatting" and you'll see what I mean:

THE QUILTIN’ TIMES ARE A-CHANGING
by CindyThury Smith 1999

For our Great-Great Grandmothers,
 in quilting times past—
A frugal quilter had to scrimp, make every scrap last—
 Today wasting fabric is not such a crime—
Today what’s scarce is a quilter’s TIME.
Patterns used to travel with pioneers going west—
Now we swap and share instantly on the Internet—
Once templates were traced, fabric carefully scissored—
Now we slice multiple layers, we’re all Olfa wizards.

At one time a two fabric quilt was a sign of status—
Now Watercolor quilts have hundreds of prints comin’ at us—

Quilters used to gather at small local quilting bees—
Now we congregate at conferences, national teachers to see.

Like our Great-Great Grandmothers our lives are busy, we’re stressed—
But with the beauty of our quilts, we feel we are blessed—

As with Great-Great Grandmother, our quilting serves many goals—
To give warmth, grace our homes, and feed our souls.

Queen of Hearts Three Ways

My color study continues somewhat circuitously with Mary Konior's "Queen of Hearts."

Mary Konior's Queen of Hearts
All threads are size 40 Lizbeth
All three hearts are charming in their own right. And yet...

My July 27th post stated I wasn't sure how shoe-lace-tricking my way right-and-left-grand style through the rings affected the color flow.

Let's take a closer look.

Switching threads to alternate rings mixed things up in an intriguing way, but the effect got lost. You really have to scrutinize to see that every other ring is a solid orange.

Look again - variegated rings are surrounded by solid chains and vice verse. This is an appealing effect, but two solid colors are needed to really show it off. 

See how the stripes leap off the screen? The contrasting waves of color make this a winner.

Heart 3 surrounds colorful rings with solid chains. To me, the variegated rings add more visual interest than solid ones. (Not that there is anything wrong with solid ones.) The purple chains hug the graceful curves of the design and compliment the Fruit Fizz.

Does this create a stained glass effect?

Not quite, because the dark chains do not completely outline the bright rings. They Allemande Left around the rings instead.

Last but not least is Heart 2. Tatted with Fruit Fizz on two continuously-wound shuttles and tatted according to pattern specs. It might not be as flashy as the previous two, but it is so pretty!

If the color distracts from the design (some would say yes, some would say no), I would still choose to tat this again and again.

For folks who like to know:

	Shuttle 1	Shuttle 2
Heart 1	#139 Fruit Fizz	#696 Autumn Orange medium
Heart 2	#139 Fruit Fizz	#139 Fruit Fizz
Heart 3	#139 Fruit Fizz	#633 Purple Dark
Heart 4	#696 Autumn Orange medium	#633 Purple Dark

My three-way analysis turned into a four-way analysis. And in answering my first questions I came up with a few more. But look at all that I learned (and you too) from this little experiment with color.

Thank you to Mary Konior, God rest her soul, for designing this versatile and always lovely heart.

This will be my last post before leaving on Thursday morning (before the sun rises) to catch a plane to Toccoa, GA, for Tat Days. But I am taking my camera and laptop so I can (cross your fingers) deliver at least one live update from there.

Gotta start packing!

Tatting in Piecework, Sept./Oct. issue

My issue of Piecework magazine just arrived via post and I ran to the laptop to share my glee over the theme and the tatting.

This issue is dedicated to needlework in literature and I couldn't be happier. I am so glad I didn't miss this issue!

You all need to know that I don't get any compensation from Interweave Press. I just really like their mags.

As I turned the pages, however, I began to get worried that this issue might not include any tatting.

Outside of a random mention of the word "tat" (which was actually referencing knotting) in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, I do not know of any fiction books containing tatting references. Do you?

I shouldn't have been worried. You'll be happy to know that on page 44 there is a large cover photo of various lace handkerchiefs, the top two of which sport dainty tatted edgings. Hurray!

The Ladies of Missalonghi

According to the lovely article, Australian novelist Colleen McCullough (who wrote The Thorn Birds among others) includes tatting in her novel The Ladies of Missalonghi. My library loan has already been processed online. A copy awaits pick-up tomorrow. ツ

It gets better! The follow-up article is titled, "A Tray Cloth to Hemstitch" by Mary Polityka Bush. It shows Ms. Bush's' tray cloth edged with vintage tatted lace and includes a sidebar on how to miter a corner. The photo even includes a fine bone china teacup filled with a tempting brew.

This Tuesday (August 24) my tatting and tea will be in homage to the ladies of Missalonghi and those superb editorial souls at Piecework magazine for creating this marvelous issue. There will be tea and butterfly cakes. And I invite you all to join in the fun.

Just a day or two later I board a plane to Toccoa, GA to attend Tat Days. Hope to see you there!

P.S. Last fall I wrote an article for my lace guild's newsletter (Winter 2009 issue) on the origins of tatting. If you happen to click over to read it, please sign the guest book!

Oh, and how could I forget to mention the ad from LACIS? (See? My thoughts are scattered all higgilty-piggilty today.) They have brought back the plastic Boye shuttles in an impressive range of colors. These affordable shuttles ($3 each) hold more thread than the plastic Clovers, so I will be giving them a test run. Will you?

Holy Schemoley! Shuttle Search Solved

Sorry to all who came looking for a Tatting Tea Tuesday post last week. I had a doctor's appointment so I published the Zoo Flakes post instead.

Later that day I checked other TTT posts and saw that the sweltering heat in the US kept more than a few tatters indoors with their laces.

Wanda's post reminded me that I have this delicious Vanilla Rooibos tea just begging to be brewed. So today I am enjoying some iced Vanilla Rooibos and having a Tatting Tea Tuesday do-over.

But before I start tatting, I want to share some news.

♥ for Postie

Last Monday Postie brought a package from Lace Lovin' Librarian Diane.

Ciarrán got so excited he tore open the package and crawled out with the contents.

Holy Schemoley! She sent me one of her Diana Andra shuttles as a gift! See it here with my favorite rosewood shuttle? I have been on the look-out for the artisan of this model of shuttles for a number of years.

Here's the backstory: two weeks ago during one of my blog-crawls, I discovered this photo of Diane's. Eureka! Could it be?!?

LLL Diane shared where she bought hers and suggested I contact the artisan via Turn of the Century.

Unfortunately, Diana Andra had to stop making shuttles due to carpal tunnel syndrome. I shared this information with LLL Diane and she sent me one of her shuttles.

I am thrilled beyond description to be the recipient of such generosity and kindness. Thank you, Diane. I will treasure this shuttle forever!

Stop by again tomorrow for the tatting I meant to show you today. I've got to go try out the gorgeous new Diana Andra shuttle!

NEXT: Queen of Hearts Three Ways

Third Place Showing

~ Tea Time Tatting ~
My County Fair Entry

It's not easy posting my fair results -- a hope-dashing third place showing.

The photo has the misfortune of being taken through two panes of glass.

(Instead of being displayed with the other entries, mine was moved to a ground-level shelf in a cabinet 50-feet away. To give the organizers the benefit of the doubt, it could have been moved to safeguard the fragile-looking china.)

In spite of the unfortunate placement, I agree with the judge's ruling. Take a look at the first and second place ribbon-winners.

Sw4nkyL4c3r's Rose Baby
Bonnet with matching Booties 

Second Place Beaded Purse 
My entry looked a bit small and plain by comparison. And let's face facts, it could have been disqualified. So I should be relieved to receive a ribbon at all. Right?

Pardon the whining but I'm still disappointed to have come in third. There were only three entries.

I know it's unbecoming to wallow. Much better to be grateful for the wealth of experience and new-found community that I have gained.

(My twin told me that. Thanks, sis!)

I AM thrilled and delighted to call Sw4nkyL4c3r a friend. And I hope to meet the second-place ribbon-winner too.

Meeting my goal of entering tatting into the county fair competition and demonstrating at the fair are both big accomplishments. Plus, my entry "grew" the category. The judging was fair, even generous (considering the "one entry per category" rule). And there is always next year.

More on ceramic painting

For anyone who still may be scratching his or her head about the "ceramic painting" comments from my last post, here are two photos from that category of the competition.

The teacup did an admirable job of trying to qualify as ceramic painting, didn't it? Can't really blame the volunteers who jumped to that conclusion.

Ah well, live and learn.

County Fair Tatting

Quick update on the County Fair tatting — today I turned in my entry. Woo hoo!

Several of the registration volunteers were enthusiastic about seeing what I brought, but every single one said "what is it, ceramic painting?"

Ceramic painting?!?

OK. (Forgive me for not snapping a photo before I turned it in.) Since I had two glass mats, I decided to display them in a mirrored case so they would be considered together and not handled overly much, except by the judges.

I decorated the football-sized display case with a porcelain teacup and saucer that complimented the colors in the lace. Glass mats need glasses (or tea cups), right?

Well, everyone focused on the tea cup and ignored the lace. Oh no!

Plus, the ladies at the registration desk said, "Only one entry per category. The judges may disqualify this entry."

I explained that it was a set, and was displayed as such on purpose. I politely asked if I could fill out the description ticket to read "tea time coaster set."

The registration ladies declined to allow me to fill out the description card.

Elation turned to depression and I went home feeling dejected. My first entry may be rejected for not following the rules.

I will keep you all updated and be sure to include a photo of the display case once I bring it back home (Or maybe even from the Home Arts hall...)