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