A Lazy Saturday - Link to Knotless Tatting Technique

Just a lazy day with heat on my neck when I not doing the exercises to correct my posture and relieve some of the pressure on the nerve going down my right arm. DH is home for a week ... the longest since I went to my niece's wedding in July. He's been criss-crossing the southwest, midwest and west coast. I've not be able to keep up with my schedule, much less his. LOL!

I've been doing a lot of catching up with the various on-line newsgroups and forums that I've sorely neglected for a long time. It's been fun to catch up with everyone since my situation with the pinched nerve has adversely affected my own ability sit for more than ten minutes to tat. I've also been putting together some jewelry for Palmetto Tatters to sell at craft shows and fairs after the SC State Fair. That has also been rather slow going as the arm takes a bit of punishment when I manipulate jewelry pliers.

There is always discussion on the use of the Magic Thread to hid ends in our Tatting. The link here
Shuttle Brothers Knotless Technique is the result of a lesson Gina Butler and I received several years ago from the Master himself, Mr. Gary Houtz. I asked and received permission from Gary and Randy to edit a couple of handouts that they used at Camp WannaTat. They've also seen and approved the final edit presented in the link. Gina did a wonderful job with the photographs and Randy's diagrams are pretty easy to follow. Hope you enjoy the information in the technique.

PTG TatDays 2011

Save the Dates: Friday and Saturday, September 23-24, 2011

We'll be back in the beautiful Georgia mountains at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center which is just outside Toccoa. Registration, class rooms, vending, and sleeping (what? who sleeps at TatDays?) rooms are all in the same building with the Dining Hall just a short walk. The Dining Hall overlooks a beautiful little lake; here's a picture GBCC Dining Hall.

There are a number of small sitting areas throughout the building that were certainly well used this year. I'm sure they will be well-used in 2011. The theme is "Tatting in a Winter Wonderland" so I hope everyone will submit their logo ideas whenever the call for the logo contest is put out on the official website: Palmetto Tatters Guild.

There will also be a call for teachers on the website. Certainly hope to see you there.

Items from 2010 PTG TatDays

I wasn't happy with the Garnets & Grapes pendant after I had redone the earrings so I re-tatted the pendant and mounted it to small pin-back. Final steaming is yet to occur but I'm better pleased with these results.

I've ordered more garnet rounds with one of my sisters in mind since her birthday is also in January. Nina's designs are so lovely and appear to be really difficult but they are quite easy once you study the unique terminology she uses for some of the component descriptions.

I've also completed over the past week the Half Ring Braid Bracelet kit from Martha Ess. It was fun to work this piece of jewelery as well. I ran out of thread in Martha's kit to complete a pair of Patti Duff's easy earrings and sent Martha an SOS very late one evening. She was still up and answered me very quickly. I checked my thread inventory and l had that manufacturer color and size in my stash. Then I had to check some of my extraneous beads because I was 20 short (ten for each earring) for the pattern I wanted to use (didn't want to make a design change at this point). I found some very similarly finished beads in my miscellaneous bottle of beads but I managed to get this set completed.

Nina's Garnets & Grapes

I worked on the Pendant from Nina Libin's Garnets & Grapes pattern this week as I was able. It hasn't been steamed yet to really complete the piece. I will also need to determine whether I will wear it as a brooch or as a pendant from a chain around my neck. The picture was not taken with my better camera but it will be a pretty piece when I finish it. I also need to re-tat the accompanying earrings ... maybe over the long weekend.

TatDays 2010 - Fall Into Tatting into the books

These never seem long enough. It was so much fun to see everyone again this year and to meet new tatting friends. Took Nina Libin's Garnets & Grapes class. She is such a wonderful teacher and I had a good time although I wasn't the best student. My pinched nerve prevented me from being able to fully pay attention. I'll need to remake the earrings and the pendant is under "construction." It too will be added to my UFOs but I hope to finish more of them as the year goes forward.

So enjoyed working with The Lacemaker again this year. They are so much fun and personable. I wasn't going to buy any thread this year but that Tracy (the "evilly" smart businesswoman) knows my weaknesses. She had some Anchor thread and I picked up several hand fulls. The Lizbeth 80 was in and of course I had to have some of that. Adding that to my thread inventory will also take several hours to complete and put away. Karey Solomon had also brought some size 15 Rocaille beads in the colors she knows I love so I just had to give them a home. 

The quilt drawing took place and DonnaT (the newly installed Guild president) called the lucky winner. He was very surprised and said that his wife had told him he had to purchase a chance. She, like all of us, is also a fiber/craft junky. There were also several wall hangings that were created from the extra blocks that were sent into Georgia. These were auctioned off in a very-lively and fun time. Several other items were also auctioned including Ruth Scharf's "Neue Blätter" (which I won!! yeah, a prized and often hunted addition for my personal library) and some nifty items from the 3rd Season of the History Channel's Ice Road Truckers. 

The 3rd Season of Ice Road Truckers moved out of Canada and to Alaska's Dalton Highway. The trucker who retired at the end of the season, George Spears, is the "little" brother of our own Georgia Seitz. A short bio can be found at http://www.history.com/shows/ice-road-truckers/bios/season-3-truckers#slide-5. 

This year, it was announced that the generosity of the tatting community enabled us to fund seven full scholarships for tatters to attend TatDays 2010 and two partial scholarships. The funds raised this year between the beautiful large quilt, the live auction on Friday night and the silent auction which completed it's run on Saturday afternoon probably raised more than $4,000. This will go a long way in allowing the Guild to help more tatters attend our next event who otherwise would be unable to do so.

The banquet entertainment brought Connor O'Doul to see us. He is a magical creature captured by Veronica Moore. He is a really nice and funny guy and sings in a falsetto contralto voice. The facilities were really quite nice at the new site. This year found us in the Georgia mountains just outside Toccoa. The Georgia Baptist Conference Center is really a nice place and treated us well. Registration, vending and classrooms were all on the same floor. All the "sleeping" rooms were in the same building and there were two elevators to take all of us and our 'stuff' up and down. Everyone seemed to like the facilities. There were lots of areas, inside and outside, where small groups of us would gather to chat and tat. 

Hope and Lori did a wonderful job scheduling the entire event. There was scheduled free time so that everyone could take a breather and just have time to finish a class project, ask a teacher about a specific technique, shop or just clear their mind for the next class. It was good to see Wally and Sue as we hadn't seem either in a couple of years. It was good to meet new faces and put names to faces for those who we knew from online, whether in the online classes or some of the various online forums/news groups. That's all for now ... pictures of UFO's and other stuff later although I didn't take my own camera out of the case all weekend.

Five Days and counting down

Getting all the final chores completed before loading out and heading to Toccoa on Thursday for Palmetto Tatters annual Tat Days. DH will be heading out before me on his motorcycle. He's already made the trip down there three times as he doesn't like riding the Interstates.

He knows the important landmarks for us. Distance and time to the nearest Walmart and the nearest hospital (which we certainly hope we don't need!). Driving time for me, according to Google maps is just under three hours so I'll head down I-85 around 9:00 AM to meet up with the lunch-bunch at the Cornerstone.

Looking forward to seeing everyone that I haven't seen since last year or before. I also look forward to meeting some of the folks who will have their first trip to our party this year!

I didn't get a real chance to look, but Hope and Lori have accumulated some really interesting items that went into the goody bags. Can't wait to get mine at registration and see EVERYTHING! Just hope I get a decent report from PT on Wednesday as the doctor's test last Friday didn't give me the results I was hoping to hear. Having a pinched nerve has really cut into my tatting time.

Another Week Gone

PTG 2010 TatDays - "Fall Into Tatting" is fast approaching. I did an inventory of my thread before going to Montana in June and decided that I needed to get some tatting done before I buy anymore. I'm sure though that The Lacemaker (our key vendor again this year) will have plenty of items to tempt me. On-line registration closes Wednesday, August 11 PTG 2010 TatDays Registration. Closing registration gives the Guild the best opportunity to have everyone's registration packet complete. The registration packet includes each individual registrant's class schedule and the class notes for those classes. The schedule this year includes blocks of time that each registrant can use to catch their breath and clear their mind for the next class ... or go shopping in the vending room, or catchup with tatting friends they haven't seen since last TatDays attended.

The highlight of the year (well actually several) will culminate in a drawing to receive a Crazy Quilt. This effort was been "ram-rodded" by AKTATTER (alias Georgia Seitz) and is open to all. Tickets are $5.00 each and all proceeds benefit the Palmetto Tatters Guild Scholarship Funds. Additional information about the project and tickets can be found here: Crazy Quilt.

Another week has gone by and I'm back in my new 'permanent' digs at the office. Still have to unpack the boxes that I had unpacked back in March when I moved from my previous cubicle to the new digs. I must say, it is really nice to have the new paint color on the walls. The color is a very relaxing, slightly greyed, robin's egg blue. The carpeting consists of 24" color squares in a charcoal grey. There are slightly patterning in the squares and they are laid at 90 degrees to one another. The creates a cross-hatching type appearance. I've considered using carpeting squares in one of spare bedrooms at home but that's just another upgrade we haven't gotten 'roundto.

Scissors protectors

I've been doing a little tatting although with a pinched nerve, I haven't tackled anything of significance because I can only tat about ten minutes at a time before I need to put down the project and ease the nerve. These little projects are really great for that. Thanks to Gary and Randy Houtz (the Shuttle Brothers) for the idea and for sharing. The tubing which scissors are inserted is in this case oxygen tubing and the technique used is Bauble Tatting by Bobbie Demmer. The technique is shown and discussed, with Bobbie's permission, on JaneE's site at Demmer Bauble Technique. There is also an additional information showing the two ways to do Bauble Tatting here: Bauble 2Ways. The scissors protectors start with a ring in which the stabilizing threads are incorporated into the core of the first ring. Each is unique and incorporates a charm at some point. the ends not shown have a largish ring that is used to attach the protector to scissors. I used Josephine chains, lock-stitch chains, single-shuttle splits rings (ala Matthew Takeda) between the bauble portion and the end ring, again each one different. They are fun and I'm looking forward to doing more.

A Little Breathing Room

Back at home for a few weeks. Spent a long weekend in July in Amarillo, TX at a niece's wedding. It was a great party and the bride was absolutely lovely. A wonderful time was had by all.

Quick move at the office while they finish painting and installing the new carpeting in my area. TatDays 2010 is fast approaching. New venue this year is at the Baptist Convention Center at Toccoa, GA (which is just across the South Carolina/Georgia border north of I-85). Registration is still open if you can attend but haven't registered TatDays 2010 Registraton. I'm planning to take one of Nina's classes and am really looking for to that ... 'course, that's only if DH will handle the oversight in vending during class time. I'm sure he will; I'll just need to be sure we both know everything we're supposed to do! LOL

Last night in Montana

Tonight is my last night in Montana for 2010. I've stopped in Livingston, MT which is at the intersection of I-90 and US-89. If I were to continue south on US-89 instead of going east on I-90, I would go into Yellowstone National Park (the NE entrance just past Gardiner, MT).
This picture is taken from the hotel parking lot looking southward toward Yellowstone which I believe is beyond this mountain range.

I really had a great time at Camp WannaTat again this year. It was really neat to see everyone I hadn't seen in at least a year's time. Shuttle Brother #1 had a hip replacement in February and is getting around wonderfully well. He and Shuttle Brother#2 brought #1's daughter-in-law with them. She is a wonderful young lady and does beautiful tatting as well.

I did finish three of the four projects presented by the teachers. Irene from Yukon, OK presented a pearl-tatted bracelet (Picture to the left). The Shuttle Brothers presented a scissor protector (shown below on the right) that uses the bauble-tatting concept and starts with a ring and is tatted to fit a piece of tubing. I purchased a number of charms and was given a bunch of tubing. I plan to make a number of these and will probably donate for Palmetto Tatters (door prizes anyone ... not the scissors though LOL) TatDays 2010 which is fast approaching. The ones that will be used for door prizes will have charms, beads and other embellishments added.

Karen from Snohomish, WA presented an earring pattern that I need to look at the actual construction bit closer when I return home. I know the concept but wasn't happy with my results so it went into the tin for a later do over.

Deb with DS9Designs presented a Patti Duff earring pattern that is really quick and easy but looks so much more difficult. Lots of possibilities for the individual to play with different styles of beads. I didn't keep the pair I completed but donated to the Guild in Thompson Falls for their sale later in the fall. Didn't even get a picture but they are so quick and easy ... I'll probably add several different thread colors/bead combinations into my personnel tatted jewelry.

My drive tomorrow will take me out of the Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota mountains and onto the rolling prairie land of southern South Dakota ... all on I-90 East. Tata for now.

Mitchell, SD

Stopped for the night in Mitchell, SD. Whenever DH and I drive this, we usually stop at the HUGE Cabella's shop in Mitchell. I believe it to be as big as any Bass Pro Shop. Not too much rain but the roads were a bit wet this morning when I left Peoria. Every where we go it seems that there is road construction. The interstate system in the US is really showing its age and all the wear and tear. There is always construction in the summertime along I-90 through South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. Winter weather, I'm sure, is especially rough. Going to grab some dinner and hit the sack early.

It's out West I go!

It's been quite a well since I posted but I've been asked to keep my guild members posted on my current travels. We had a very good Guild meeting on Saturday the 19th at the Lexington County Museum. What a great place to meet. Although we have to bring in a number of Ott or other day-light type lamps, the atmosphere is really great. The staff always sets up the tables for us. After we left from eating supper together, I drive as far as Hendersonville, NC where I stayed Saturday night.

Yesterday morning I hit the road about 7:30 AM and drove to Peoria, IL. Had a good rest but have woken up to a thunderstorm. Looks like my drive today will be in and out of thunderstorms so I may not get as far as yesterday. It's very tiring to drive through heavy rain and varying wind speeds. Will also need to keep a weather-eye out for potential severe thunderstorms. Will post more when I stop tonight as I need to get onto the road.

A New Year

I cannot believe that it has been nearly four months since I last posted. I haven't been lazy ... I've started working on Ineke Kuiperij's Trainset and Station. I've completed the tatting for the station and the locomotive but haven't stiffened the pieces yet so that I can put the roofs onto the station and put the locomotive pieces together.

The station is was done in six stages (not counting the frames for the windows and door and the door itself). Ineke's designs are really nice to work up. Using a translator in conjunction with her wonderful diagrams, it was pretty easy to follow.

The locomotive steam boiler I tatted in a single, 3-D piece by starting at the concave portion on the front and then completed the boiler by using split rings. I have the coal tender about 75% completed and will be very glad not to have black, size 80 thread all the time.

I wouldn't same the this is my very best tatting, from a technical standpoint, but I am having fun with the project. I'll get some pictures shortly (need to charge the batteries for the camera) and post. I think I'll do a before and after for the locomotive pieces.

For those of you in the northern tier of the US and the UK and northern Europe, I hope you stay warm and well. The weather has been very cold and snowy, more so than usual (although with weather how do we really know what is normal?). For those in the Southern Hemisphere, I hope your summer is pleasant and not terribly hot.