Leprechaun Visit

Danny was surprised by a visit from Feargal and Miss Scarlett. They had timed their visit so they could travel with Danny to Palmetto TatDays. "You are going to have so much fun!" he said. Since they were tired from the journey, at first they just sat and talked. Danny enjoyed hearing all about their Grand Tour and getting news of his cousins. (Miss Scarlett noticed how he especially perked up when they were talking of Maebh, but she didn't say anything.)

Then Feargal was ready to unpack and show off his skateboard. Danny tried hard not to look envious. Then he showed them around the apartment, and suddenly Feargal stopped and said, "What is That?"

"That's the book stapler," said Danny. "You have to jump on it real hard to staple a book. I can do it, but it may be too difficult for you." (Leprechauns are naturally competitive, if you hadn't noticed.)

But Feargal's eyes took on a strange gleam. "That's not a stapler, that's a skateboard ramp! I can skate down that, turn a flip in the air, and land."





"Oh wow! I've got to see that," said Danny, now obviously awed by his elder cousin.

"You musn't," said Miss Scarlett. "It's too dangerous!"

"It will be great!" said Danny.

"I can't look," said Miss Scarlett.

"Here goes!" said Feargal.



Feargal skated down the ramp at great speed, but what came next wasn't exactly a flip in the air. In fact, it was nothing like a flip. Suffice it to say, it's a good thing he is a magical being, so he was not injured in the fall.

Danny said, "That was awesome! Can you teach me how?"

Boys will be boys....

Is your leprechaun coming to Palmetto TatDays? Let me know, so I can add them to the list of "Who's Coming".

Updates & Events

CORRECTION: I previously said Palmetto registration was open through Aug 15, but the correct date is Aug 11.

Time is getting close for the Palmetto TatDays, August 27-28 in Toccoa, GA. Registration is open through August 11th, so there's still time to sign up. I've got so much to do to get ready!

Meanwhile, our northern cousins, the Fringe Element Tatters are having their fifth annual tatting convention September 24-25 in Cambridge, Ontario. This even sounds like a winner too! Click here for information.

Since I last mentioned it, the Palmetto Quilt drawing has posted pictures here of LOTS of tatting embellished quilt squares. A donation to the Palmetto scholarship fund will enter you into the drawing.

I hope to see lots of you soon in Toccoa!

Whooo Can't Count?

Erm, that would be me.

Keep in mind that a digest size booklet is made of letter size paper folded in half so each sheet of paper makes 4 pages. So a booklet needs a multiple-of-four pages. A while back, I thought I had a book's worth of patterns, but when I pasted them together, I counted 29 pages. Rather than cut out one page, I thought I had plenty of time to make up three more patterns for a 32 page book. I went merrily on my way until last weekend when I did the book layout again, and came up with.....31 pages! One short! What went wrong?

I bet some of you see where this is going. In a booklet, that first sheet of paper with the title page also has the final page on it as well. On my first layout, "Page 29" was supposed to be the other half of the first sheet, but I forgot to move it there. I really should know better.

I had to turn out one more pattern. The process went something like this:


While I feel a bit silly that I couldn't count my pages right, those last four patterns were the fox, koala, weiner dog, and owl, so I'm glad it worked out that way.

By the way, that thread is Lizbeth Mocha Brown Dark. A lovely, warm brown perfect for bears, puppies, etc. I got a sample through the Thread Exchange Blog. I'm definitely going to get myself my own ball of this thread.

Win a Quilt!

Lots of tatters from around the globe contributed tatting embellished quilt squares to make this stunning quilt. And it can by YOURS! In exchange for a $5 donation to the Palmetto TatDays Scholarship fund, your name will be entered into a drawing for this quilt or a similar wall hanging. No limit to the number of times you may enter, and do not have to be present to win :)

For more details go to the Quilt Info Page.

For some sample quilt squares, go here and here and here and here and here and here and here.

Good luck to you all!

Just 36 more days until TatDays in beautiful Toccoa.

Palmetto Registration Is Open

Registration is now open for the Palmetto TatDays convention. Click HERE for more information. This event is always the high point of my year. These wonderful people always put together a splendid meeting with lots of activities. It is a great time to get together in person with plenty of your internet friends.

One thing I admire about their group is that they are always trying new things to make it a better experience. In the early years at the little college, I was just so happy to be there that I did not mind the dorm rooms. But then they moved to the White Oak convention center, and that was sooo much better. So now, I am looking forward to seeing what they have in store for us at the new location, in Toccoa, GA this year. Another new thing they are trying this year is to have three class periods on both Friday and Saturday. Before, when there were four classes on Saturday, that was a great day, but we were so exhausted by the end.

Here are a few pictures from last year.



Just imaging being in a room with this many people tatting.



While there are many classes and organized events, just hanging out in the commons area is one of my favorite parts.

You can shop to your heart's content.

You never can tell when a leprechaun might show up.

Another 12 Yards from the Thread Exchange

I got this green thread from Fox and it is the actual sample from the header picture of the Thread Exchange blog. I'm not sure what it is, but it feels like a size 10.

I made two of my new hummingbirds from the upcoming book. I was trying out a different way to work the pattern, but decided it looked better the first way.

There was more that 12 yards on the floss winder, and I actually made a third hummingbird, but it seems to have flown away....

The Thread Exchange (Motif 19)

The Thread Exchange-Or-What Can You Do With 12 Yards?

Lately I've been sharing the fun on The Thread Exchange Blog. Fox from Tat-ology set this up as a place to swap samples of thread. Each person posts a list or picture of what they have to trade, and then others offer to make a deal. This is a no-frills exchange, just thread samples that fit in an average envelope. It's a good way to try out a type of thread to see if it is something you would like to buy.

The suggested amount to trade is 12 yards (11 meters). That gives rise to the question, how much can you do with that much thread? Quite a lot, actually.

One of the samples I have received so far is some size 50 Pear Glace' HDT made by Lady Shuttle Maker. I can tell you this is very nice thread and I recommend it. The picture doesn't do it justice. This is very pale, delicate shades of green and yellow. I wanted to make the most of this thread without wasting any, so I hunted around till I found this two shuttle insertion pattern in the book Tatting by Cathy Bryant. You switch shuttles regularly, so an equal amount of thread is used from each one, which meant there was no guesswork how much to allow for each one. I finished this bookmark with only a few inches of thread to spare. Not counting the tail, it's 4 inches by 1.5 inches. I like my bookmarks on the small side, so I'm very happy with this.

I've been neglecting my 25 Motif Challenge lately. This time around, I'm only counting patterns by other people, so I can claim this as Motif #19.