I will be taking part as a vendor at the upcoming IOLI (International Organization of Lace) UnCon21 virtual convention.

I was supposed to be teaching at the real/physical convention that was going to be in Reno, Nevada, but it was canceled early in 2021 due to Covid concerns. That’s the bad news.

The good news—the IOLI committee/board did a fantastic job of organizing an ‘Un’ ‘Convention’ which is a virtual/Zoom approach to allowing lacemakers from around the world to ‘gather’, if not physically, but virtually via the computer. The UnCon21 is the last week of July.

There are over 600 participants registered. There are many classes (all full) with teachers from around the world. I myself am registered to attend a Teneriffe Lace class with Elizabeth Horta Corea from Brazil. Elizabeth is a big promoter of Teneriffe/Sol Lace and is teaching how to use ‘slotted looms’ to create the lace and then how to stitch/sew the motifs together to create the lace.

All throughout UnCon21, registered participants have the opportunity to ‘Zoom’ into many scheduled talks about lace topics. Every morning, there will be a museum tour of lace collections from museums around the world.

Another addition to UnCon21 is the ‘Virtual Vendor Hall’. I am participating as a virtual vendor and have a ‘Trunk Show’ on Tuesday, July 27, 6:30 to 7:30 PDT. During my trunk show I will show my wares: my Fun with Split Ring Tatting series of books (9 to this point) as well as my glass/enameled tatting shuttles and thread holders. I will also be debuting my latest/future direction of Teneriffe/Sol Lace Kits. I have some very cool future looms to launch in the future….but come by my Trunk Show to catch a sneak peak of what I’m doing.

All these activities are available free of charge to all IOLI members who have registered for the week-long UnCon21.

The above YouTube video was produced to help me participate in the UnCon21 Virtual Vendor Hall. I’m pretty happy with how it came out.

I want to inform those of you who read this blog WHY you can’t submit comments. The reason is, that in the past, I have gotten hundreds (if not thousands) of inappropriate ‘comments’ from people that have no interest in tatting, lace or anything that I post.

If anyone knows of a way I can change this (I’m not at all social media savvy), let me know—I would love to hear from others.

As of June 1st I am officially retired from my career as an Electron Microscopy Technologist (with side jobs as an Neuropathology Technologist). I started my career at Creighton University (Omaha, NE) and was there for 27 years until it was obvious that my job wouldn’t be viable for much longer. So I ‘jumped ship’ to Nebraska Medicine/Univ. of Nebraska Medical Center where I worked for almost 12 years. My wonderful husband suggested that I retire early. I was planning on retiring at the end of the year, but Jerry encouraged me to bump up the date. So for 2+ months I was feverishly training my successor. It appears that she is the perfect candidate for the job and is excited about making it a career for herself.

To celebrate my retirement, Jerry and I immediately left for a 2500+ mile trip on our new (to us in 2020) motorcycles. We traveled down the Mississippi River Valley from Iowa to Louisiana where we explored the bayou/cajun region. Jerry ‘worked-from-home’ there for one week. We enjoyed the swamps, marsh, bayous, and the food (Cajun and seafood). I choose Louisiana to travel to because it WAS the only state that I had not motorcycled in. Now I can say that I have ridden a motorcycle in all fifty states!

In the small town that is my original hometown (Wisner, Nebraska) is an antique store in one of the main street storefronts. Every so often I stop in on my way to visit my parents, if/when it is open and I have the time. This particular antique store has some very good pieces and the proprietor usually has some thread spool cabinets. I really want to buy one but am waiting for ‘just the right one’—which hopefully will have the name of a thread that I know and love.

On March 20 of this year I published the ‘cool table that I wished I had bought’. I had been into the same store a couple of more times and it was gone. Two weekends ago, I went back into that store and it was there! My wonderful husband bought it for me.

It seems to be quite sturdy and features two doors that open up to allow items to be placed into it.

I will post photos when I move my tatting treasures into it.

This weekend I was in my hometown (Wisner, NE) antique store and found & bought this J&P Coats Tatting thread store display. It came with the 22 threads pictured above.

It is damaged–the glass door/lid is broken. Only the top hinge & the door frame on the right side is present. I think that I am going to take off the broken door pieces .

The following two photos are of my size 80 tatting thread collection. I am hoping to (when I have a bit more time) go through my threads and find the J&P Coats balls and put them in my display case.

For years I have been enamored and entertained by the lace poems created by Noelene Lafferty and shared to lace and tatting list serves (yes, I go back that far!). I especially remember her ‘Tatting in my pocket’ series. So when I learned that she had compiled her poetry into a book, I immediately HAD to buy it. Noelene self-published it through a service/company called Blurb which has a branch company in the US to print and ship it to me domestically. Total price for the book and shipping: $11.60—worth every single penny!

I found these three dessert plates in a thrift store in Denver, Colorado several years ago when shopping with my daughter. We were looking for a few items to outfit her new apartment. She was just starting her master’s degree in counseling. I actually have four plates, thinking I had the complete set. But it turns out, I have two of one plate (the last one pictured). I did a search for my plates and found a picture of all four on ebay (price: $15), which is less than I paid for my four!!!