I mentioned in my last post, that I was TRYING to finish my latest tatting book titled Block Alphabets in Split Ring Tatting but the truth is, I’m not that inspired to go the final stretch right now.  The problem is that the ‘fun’ part is is done—the designing and tatting, and what is left to be done is the computer work.   Plus, in the meantime I have been given the ‘excuse’ to go in a totally new tatting direction….one that I really have been having fun with!!!! 

The new design concept is Quilt-Inspired Split Ring Tatting. 

This (& another tatting technique concept that I will introduce at a later point in time) is what I will be working on for the next year because I have been contracted to teach at the 2015 IOLI Convention in Iowa!!!  I am soooooo excited!!!  I have been having soo much fun turning quilt-inspired designs into tatting in the last couple of weeks.  Now I am starting to tat them up.

The photo in this post is ‘a work in progress’.  I have one motif to go and thread ends to finish but I decided to post it anyway.  I seem to never have tatted pieces in the right (finished) stage to include in my blog posts, so I decided to just post what I have, where I’m at in the process.

This design is based upon diamonds, a common ‘block’ in quilted designs.  I have a whole bunch of designs created in my ‘Diamonds’ category.  This is just one.

Right now, I have 4 different ‘styles’ of Quilt-Inspired Split Ring Tatting designs worked up (many still on paper).  In the next couple of weeks, I will be striving to tat up at least one example of each style for inclusion in the IOLI website advertising the classes for next August’s convention.  Unless I get criticism from the IOLI Convention Committee, I will give you peeks at what I’m doing here on this blog.

In the meantime, I’m having alot of fun designing and tatting up my new creations.   I love order in my life and the repetition of tatting and of quilt blocks has been very soothing to me.

A note about my work-in-progress:  I have one more motif to tat.  You can see thread ends woven through the finished motifs and exiting out of the the left side of the piece….my working ‘strategy’ is to work a row (in this case top to bottom) and then finish threads ends either at the end of a row or when the piece is completely finished.  To keep the ends from annoying me all the time while tatting the piece, I ‘weave’ the ends through the body towards a side away from where I am still working.

I HAVE been busy with Tatting related stuff…honestly, even though I haven’t been posting here.  Sometimes I get bogged-down thinking that I ‘have’ to have a photo of something to be able to post to my blog.  That thinking is what constrains me from posting.  It’s not always easy to have a picture of something available to go along with a post concept.

Since I got back from Palmetto Tat Days (over a month ago) I have been busy trying to get my third tatting book ready to go to print.  The title is:  Block Alphabets in Split Ring Tatting.  It features 2 alphabets and their corresponding letters in different ‘fonts’.  There are also ‘frame’ patterns to go around the letters/numbers.  I am trying to keep the number of pages down in this book to make it cheaper to purchase.  I’m shooting for the $15 range.  I have all the patterns illustrated and have several designs tatted up to show how the letters and numbers can be used.  However, my hold-up is writing the guide to my illustratrated pattern-writing style….the how-to of reading and using my illustrated patterns.  I am confident that once the tatter understands how to read and use my patterns they will come to appreciate how much information is there to guide them easily through what looks like an intricate pattern.  I pack alot on information into my illustrated patterns:  which shuttle to use to tat various rings and parts of the ring, which part of a split ring to tat first/last to be able to effectively use regular joins and create Take-Off Rings, how to work your way through a patterns in one round without ‘tatting yourself into a corner’.

However, I get easily side-tracked from completing this book because I have so much fun creating new designs and physically creating a piece by tatting them into thread.

New post, I will tell you about my direction for my next tatting book:  Quilt-Inspired Split Ring Tatting Designs!!!

This is my latest ‘impulse buy’ from Ebay.  I also study, make, and teach Teneriffe/Sol/Nanduti Lace.  This kit was sold under the name of Polka Spider Web Lace but it creates Teneriffe/Sol Lace.  I have two books by the same title and this was the kit to create the lace.

In Teneriffe Lace, individual motifs are created and then sewn together to make a bigger piece.

The brown, round things are the ‘forms’ upon which the lace was made.  How the forms were ‘laced up’  allowed you to either make round (the big circle) or square motifs (seen on the little form).  The cool part about having the books and now the forms is that there are patterns to follow to create pieces easily–no math involved.

The other interesting thing about owning these forms is that they came with Teneriffe Lace piece completed and motifs in progress.  I learned that two motifs can be completed at the same time…one on the front of the form and one on the back at the same time.  When both pieces are completed (stitched) the lacing threads are cut, allowing the lace motif to disingage from the form and be a free-standing piece of lace.  The lacing threads are the darker threads seen on the edges of the big, round form.  The small form uses white lacing threads to form the base for the square motif.

The pattern can be found on my homepage menu under “Free Patterns”

I have published another historical, Anne Orr Split Ring Tatting Pattern that I have illustrated in modern form.

See it in my website pages under:  Anne Orr Historical Split Ring Tatting Patterns

Then click on:  The ShuttleSmith Illustrated Historical SRT Patterns

The pattern is in PDF format.

Enjoy.

Just outside of Taccoa, GA where Tat Days was held was Taccoa Falls, located on a college campus. I walked the short path (photo 1) to view the Falls, which were quite impressive.

As I was leaving Taccoa Falls entrance, I passed Wanda Tripp and Randy Houtz entering and we waved at each other.  A short time later we remet at a marvelous little place called Tallulah Falls Gorge Overlook in Georgia.  There was a gift shop selling unique soft drinks in an old cooler that I just had to try–Cheerwine and Dr. Enuf.  This unique stop also featured boiled peanuts, a gorge overlook (on the lower level) and a BBQ restaurant on the upper level (also a gorge overlook).

As Wanda, Randy and I were chatting on the lower level gorge overlook, the kid (in this picture below) hung the sign he is holding down from the upper level overlook, advertising the restaurant.  We thought it was sooo funny and decided to reward this kid’s ingenuity in marketing by patronizing the restaurant.  We were NOT disappointed.  As we entered he gave us samples of muscatine (grapes?) that he had just picked alongside the roadside.  They were good and quite a treat.

We had “BBQ Sundae’s”—Pulled pork at the bottom, a layer of purple beans, and then coleslaw.   It was delicious!!!!  Pictured in the food picture is the unique softdrinks (‘Pop’ in my lingo) that we drank.  I’ve never seen these sold anywhere else.

The chef (seen talking to Randy Houtz in the picture below) said that the BBQ Sundae was how his Cherokee-heritage family ate BBQ.

The view from the restaurant was just georgeous.  There was a ‘big ditch’ behind us that was impossible to photograph to do the depth of the gorge justice.  The three of us must have spent at least 2 hours talking, enjoying the conversation (tatting of course), the view, and the weather (which was perfect).

The only other pictures that I have of my trip home was of my stop in Hannibal, Missouri.  This is the Mississippi River town made famous by Mark Twain.  Downtown Hannibal was a fun stop.  I only went into two shops but both were very unique.

In this post you will see all the pictures I snapped at Palmetto Tat Days 2014 in Taccoa, GA held a week and a half ago.

IT WAS A GREEEAAAATTTT TIME!!!!!

I started my trip to Tat Days in Taccoa, Georgia on Saturday, August 30th from Omaha, Nebraska.  I had bought concert tickets (something I rarely do!) to see Journey but the concert was on Sunday and didn’t want to wait two days to leave on my adventure…so I sold the tickets.

This trip actually appealed to multiple facets of my life that I enjoy:

1. To travel on my motorcycle which allows me to think and pray.  I spend the first half of the trip letting go of the details of my life at home.  Then I spend the trip on my way home, contemplating what I need to do (mentally and physically) to go forward appropriately in my life.
2. Taking secondary roads (not interstate highways) and seeing ‘real’ America
3. Camping via motorcycle–the challenge of being comfortable and finding unique places to stop
4. Eating in local restaurants–finding new/different foods.  I really enjoy eating breakfasts in small town cafes on/near main streets.
5. Talking to new people (I really am my father’s daughter!).
6. Riding (that how motorcyclists travel) curvy/twisty roads
7. Going to Tat Days Tatting Conference.
8. Seeing old tatting friends from the past.
9. Meeting new tatting friends.
10. Getting re-energized in my love for tatting
11. Selling my tatting books.
12. Selling my leather and copper-enamelled tatting shuttles—seeing how well-received they were.

So I travelled on my motorcycle.  I had two luggage cases, one on each side, at the back.  On the seat I strapped down two water-resistant bags that held my camping gear.  One bag had my tent and a ground-cover to put under the tent.  The second bag held my bedding which includes a blow-up air mattress, a down-filled sleeping bag and a fleece sleeping bag.  This way, I am ready for either hot or cold sleeping conditions.  I should point out that I sleep VEEERRRY comfortably in my tent.

As I mentioned before, my MO is to ziz-zag my way to my destination, taking secondary (not interstate) roads.  Along the way I found and became a ‘Country Store’ Junkie!  I discovered some very quaint, old-time stores in the middle of nowhere–usually where 2 roads intersected.  Many of these stores sold gas, basic groceries, snacks, and sometime simple meals.  I didn’t mind paying higher prices for gas for my motorcycle to use as an excuse to stop at them and explore.

Just outside this same general store was a tobacco barn–a unique sight for a Nebraska Farm Girl.

One of the highlights for me as a motorcyclist (especially being from Nebraska–land of straight roads!) was traveling in the mountains and riding on curvy/twisty roads.  I spent alot of time in Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina, and northern Georgia enjoying the roads and exquisite scenery.  I went to the ‘motorcyclist’s mecca’–a road called “The Dragon’s Tail”.  It’s a  very unique road that boasts having 318 curves in 11 miles.  What you do is stop at a certain vista point and get off and interact with other motorcyclist, then ‘ride the dragon’ to the other end at a place called Deal’s Gap and get off and interact again with motorcyclists, looking a other’s motorcycles, eating, and buying t-shirt souvenirs.  At Deal’s Gap is the infamous ‘Tree of Shame” where motorcyclists who crashed on The Dragon’s Tail (happens alot!) hang broken parts of their motorcycles on it.

Next post will include Tat Days photos and memories.

I’m back (a little early) from Tat Days in Taccoa, GA.  I actually went to work today because I hate to waste vacation days.  I use my vacation days to get away from Omaha.

I had a great trip for the most part.  I spent 5 days traveling on my motorcycle to get to Taccoa, GA, camping every night along the way.   Yes, I did get rained on (mostly at night) and there was one day that the temperature was hot.

I spent the time going seeing everything I wanted to see which included some very scenic roads in Tennessee and North Carolina.  I had one minor mechanical problem with my motorcycle but an ‘angel’ came by and fabricated a solution to my problem.

I went directly home and should have gotten to Omaha on Tuesday but was caught in a major storm in NW Missouri, 100 miles from home.  I was smart enough to get a motel room and waited out the storm till the next morning.

I will post pictures of my trip and of Tat Days very soon—when I have the  pictures with me and the time to post them.

As always the Palmetto Tatters hosted a superb Tat Days happening.   If you get a chance to go….DO IT!!!!  I guarantee you will not be disappointed.  It is tatting overload….and you will love every minute of it!

I am realizing that i have a problem with ‘Comments’ on this Blog site.  I am getting some spam-type comments right now.  Luckily my comments are set up to be moderated and thus the junk ones are not showing up automatically on my blog page.  Please be patient with me as I strive to figure this stuff out.  It basically means that I have to approach my computer-genius husband about this problem.  (Hopefully he will read this reference to him and be inclined to help me when I do throw this problem at him.)

I’m going to be gone for two weeks on my motorcycle/tatting journey to/from Palmetto Tat Days.