In Remembrence of Gina

I spent the evening thinking of Gina and all the wonderful things I remember about her.  My heart is sad that she is gone. I started to draw out all the feelings I had.  I will miss you Gina!

Remembering Gina - The Tatting Goddess

It is with a heavy heart that I write this blog post. This week the tatting community lost a very sweet and kind lady, Gina Brummett. You will be sadly missed Gina!

I think Gina was a friend to all tatters and I always enjoyed being involved in the Secret Santa exchanges that she put together for many years. In 2005 the person who was given my name had to back out at the last minute due to personal reasons and Gina didn't want me to be without a partner, so she quickly put together a package for me. It was a very special package that included a thread winders that she hand painted herself, a kangaroo cutout that she got in Australia. It is the cutest thing ever. Another thread winder and matching shuttle decorated with a Santa sticker, all put inside a sachet bag that she made with a tatted holly leaf and berries. She really outdid herself and I truly appreciated her thoughtfulness!!

Thank you for the e-mails and encouragement over the years and all the kind comments you left on my blog. I Will Miss You!!

My thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends!

Tatting for Christmas

I have been busy tatting for Christmas.  I always seem to wait until the last possibly time to start on items I want to tat before Christmas and this year was no exception.  I did manage to get quite a bit done though.  With all the new Lizbeth threads, I had a hard time deciding what to use first.  I wasn't sure how I felt about the color - Blue River Glades, but after I tatted with it, it has become one of my favorite colors.  The blues and greens are so rich in color, I just love how this motif and earrings turned out.  The motif  that I made into a pendant is a pattern by Mark Myers, Shuttle Motif.  The earrings are by Jennifer Williams.  Click on her name and then go to patterns and here is the direct link to the earrings. 

These Tatted Christmas Tree Earrings are a favorite of mine to tat.  I tat at my Library on Thursdays.  There is a crochet group that meets on Thursday afternoon and I asked if I could come tat while they crocheted.  Then a knitter asked if she could come, so we keep growing in size.  Anyway, I had been tatting these tree earrings and three of the ladies asked if they could buy a pair of the earrings.  They are quick and easy to tat. The Christmas tree earrings are a pattern by Brenda Bonilla and the pattern was in an old Knots Newsletter.

I normally tat these in the solid green color, but this year I tried the very pretty variegated Lizbeth thread Christmas Green Mix 152.  I'm not sure which color I like more now.  The solid or the variegated???

Last but not least is a pendant set made in another new Lizbeth thread, Autumn Spice -136.   This is such an awesome color and Yarnplayer's Tatted Leaf pattern looks great in this thread. The Celtic Motif I tatted as the pendant is a pattern by Rosemarie Peel "Tatting for Pleasure."  I have gotten many compliments on this set when I wear it.

Front Side           Back Side

I still have more tatting to show, but I'll save it for another post.

Happy Holidays!



Twilight Tatting & Feargal and William's Whirlwind Tour Around the World In Just One Afternoon

My dear friend Rayanna had a birthday over the summer and I knew she was reading the Twilight series, so my gift to her was the book "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" by Stephanie Myer.  I wanted to tat a special bookmark for her, so I came up with a Twilight themed bookmark.  The Apple and Bat are patterns by Mark Myers.  

Now onto Feargal and  William's whirlwind tour around the world in just an afternoon.  The Vandergrift Library, where I work, had a summer reading program that took the children around the world.  Miss Scarlett made all the arrangements for Feargal and  William  to visit many countries around the world. 

First we departed from Vandergrift International Airport and flew to the Cayman Islands.  Feargal and William had fun at the beach and can even be found climbing palm trees.



Then we stopped in Costa Rica where they played with the monkeys and were swinging from the vines.

A quick stop in Antarctica to see the penguins and they were off again.  It was too cold to stay long in Antarctica.

SSHHHH.....Feargal didn't let his Mum know he was stopping in Ireland for a quick visit. He just wanted to check on his pot of gold.

Africa was fun!  They got to ride on the giraffes and lions.

Here they can be seen visiting with the Koala bear in Australia.

The last stop on the tour was China where they learned about Chinese culture and they also learned  how to use chopsticks.   





I sure had fun with these little guys.  But it was time for Feargal to move on.  He is now in a new location visiting with another Leprechaun relative of his.  I'm sure you will hear more of Feargal's Leprechanu adventures soon.





Demonstrating Tatting at the Vicary Mansion

I was finally able to make it to the Vicary  Mansion in Freedom, PA, when they had one of their historical events.  Each year the town of Freedom and the Vicary Mansion celebrate Freedom/Vicary Day. The town has parades, food, games and entertainment, while the Mansion hosts historic crafters demonstrating Quilting, Bobbin Lace, Paper Quilling, Scherenschnitt, and Tatting, along with  giving tours and explaining the history of the mansion.

We had four tatters demonstrating plus a special Guest who came all the way from Ireland on a world tour.  Feargal the leprechaun came to the Vicary Mansion along with his secretary, Miss Scarlet.  Feargal and my William had a grand time meeting the other tatters.  There was my mother Peg, Evalyn, and Kathy Nikalwicz of http://www.kathysvictoriantattedlace.blogspot.com.
This was such a fun and relaxing day for me, to sit and tat all day and talk with visitors when they came through the mansion.  Kathy and I had a lot to talk about too. 

                        Miss Scarlet, Feargal, and William (my leprechaun)

Kathy, Me, Peg, Evalyn

This tree full of beautiful tatting belongs to Kathy.

Vandergrift Arts Festival

My Local Library, Vandergrift Public Library, where I work, was involved in the Vandergrift Fine Arts Festival for the first time.  We had Fiber Arts displayed throughout the library and demonstrations going on as well.  There was embroidery, quilting, crochet, spinning and tatting demonstrations going on.  I was of course demonstrating tatting along with my Mother, Peg and my friend Rayanna was there for awhile too. 

I was talking to the lady who came in to demonstrate spinning and I realized that I had e-mailed with her before.  Misty joined one of the yahoo groups for tatting and I saw that she was from my area.  I had lost her e-mail address and lost contact with her until I realized when I was talking to her at the Library who she was.  What a small world.  So I hope to get together with her to tat somtime.

It was a very busy day in the Library with people in and out all day watching the various demonstrators and looking at our wonderful displays. This is my tatting display.

This is the quilter's display.

Each group that demonstrated donated an item for our raffle, which was a fundraiser for the library.  I tatted Yarnplayer's  Duchess necklace in Lizbeth thread, dusty rose, from her "Boutique Tatting" book and the earrings I tatted to go with the necklace was Yarnplayer's Carnival Earrings.  I made a bracelet to go with the set too, I just used a basic Rosette pattern. I was very pleased how it all turned out.

This event went over very well and our fundraising for the Library was a success.

Other interesting information about Vandergrift, Pa, if you have seen the movie that was at the theater 6 months ago, I Am Number Four", part of it was filmed in Vandergrift.  Here is a shot of the main character, Alex Pettyfer, in front of Grant Street Music, which is actually Trygar Music.  This is where my son, Cameron takes his guitar lessons.   My daughter, Katrina got to meet Alex and had her picture taken with him.  It was all very exciting to watch the movie being filmed in our home town.

Tatting Seahorses Again

I'm tatting Seahorses again.  I do love Jane Eborall's Seahorse patterns.  She has two sizes of sizes Seahorses.  I used the Medium size Seahorse this time. There is also a little Seahorse Earring pattern, which is adorable!!  Last year I was at a craft show and I saw a Seahorse pendant, it was made of metal and I thought I could tat a Seahorse pendant.  So here is my version of the Seahorse pendant.

I work at the Vandergrift Public Library and in March we held a birthday Party for Dr. Seuss.  My daughter dressed up in a costume, which was a "What is That", so the costume could be anything.  I made a mask for the outfit and added a little bit of a tatting around the edge.   

I also want to wish my son "Cameron" a Happy Birthday!!  He turned 16 in April.

 



Flurry Heartache and "The Plane, The Plane"

I know this tatted heart is a little late for Valentine's Day, but I finally finished it.  This is Jane Eborall's Flurry Heartache.  I think the design is brilliant, the way the pattern just flows and it makes a really nice shaped heart.  For the center bead, I used a 6mm heart bead, which fits the design perfectly.  I found the hearts at DS9 Design, and bought one of the multi colored packs of hearts, this way I can match the hearts to all the pretty colors of Lizbeth thread I have bought.

"The Plane, The Plane"  does anyone remember the show Fantasty Island from 1977 where Mr. Roarke's, little side kick, Tattoo would run up the main bell tower to ring the bell and shout "The plane! The plane!" to announce the arrival of a new set of guests at the beginning of each episode.  That's what the arrival of Jane's plane reminded me of. LOL!!  As I was tatting the pattern, I kept thinking it was a reptile of some sort.  Even up to Day 9, when every one was guessing an airplane, I thought maybe it's Godzilla or something like that.  LOL!  But here is my tatted plane.  Thank you Jane for another fun TIAS!!

Yesterday I received the Pop-O-Bobbin shuttle I ordered and I also bought one of Jane's magnet bookmarks.  Well, I'm very happy with the shuttle, I bought the Cocobolo Rosewood and the grain on the shuttle is beautiful.  I can't wait to load it up and give it a go.  And Jane's magnetic bookmark is just the cutest bookmark ever.  I bought a blue/green flower bookmark and  love it.  The magnets are so strong that it really does hold a lot of pages in between the magnets and stays in place. 

I am working on putting together a costume for a Dr. Seuss party at the library where I work.  The character that I am doing is called a "What is it", so it can be a combination of Seuss characters and I am decorating a plastic mask right now and I am going to add a little bit of tatting on the mask.  I'll show a picture of the mask when I'm finished.