Whooopppeee! Palmetto Coming

As Jane said, "Whooopppeee!" The Palmetto folks have announced their teachers for this year. I'll be there, and so will Jane, and lots of others I can't wait to see.

This fairy is one of my class projects. And if you click here you can see pictures of all the other classes. Don't you just love Erin's cat, and Jane's doodle critters, and Kaye's acorn, and well, just everything? I wonder which class I will get to take.

Remember how there used to be an amazing display where folks could show off the things they had made? There has been less of that in recent years, but they would like to bring that back. A full scale competition would be simply too demanding, but there could be a display area. (And perhaps some prizes?) They would love someone to volunteer to be in charge of organizing this, or volunteer just to help. For more information on that, write to Donna at tatdays@palmettotatters.org

Guy Stuff Day -- Army Heritage Center

On our previous whirlwind trips to New York, we would be barrelling down the highway, and all of a sudden, there would be this HELICOPTER by the side of the road. And we would say "WHAT was THAT?" as it quickly faded into the distance. So for our most recent trip to the Finger Lakes Tatting meet, DH said to me, "Find me that helicopter by the side of the road. I think it was in Pennsylvania." He is usually very patient about being dragged to tatting events, so I am glad to schedule a "guy stuff" day on our trips when I can. (Just our term, and not trying to be a female chauvanist. It is perfectly OK for girls to like this too.)

Surprisingly enough, "helicopter by the road in Pennsylvania" did not produce any useful links in Google. But with a little perseverence, I found the Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, PA.

Their Heritage Trail has plenty of exhibits, from the French Indian War up to present day Afghanistan.  Here is a reconstruction of a redoubt from the Battle of Yorktown...

and some Civil War cabins...

... a World War I trench...

and,er, more tanks and stuff.

Even I had a good time walking around.  In fact, we spent so much time walking outside that we didnt even go inside the building.  Something else for another trip, I guess.

More Finger Lakes Tatting

I promised you more about the Finger Lakes Tatting convention.  Here Dani is teaching her Celtic Claddagh Heart Pattern.  I can usually tell how a pattern is constructed, but this one had me stumped for a while.  I love a challenge, and I promise to finish the class project once I get a few deadlines taken care of.  You can see other teachers Ginny and K in the background.

Here is Vicki with her class.

I also took Carolyn's class with a heart worked around a wooden ring. I wondered how she got the chains to wrap around the ring since the opening was way too small to fit a shuttle through.  The answer was simple, elegant, and something I would have never thought of.  I did finish that class project, but I guess I forgot to take a picture. Something else to show you later. 

I somehow managed to come away with no pictures of Karey, except this one as she turned away.

Here is Celtic Dream Weaver saying Hi!

This little darling was Kaye Judt's class project. This, too, is on my to-do list.

I got to visit with some old friends and make some new ones.  So much fun and over so quickly.

Fun at Finger Lakes

I haven't posted for such a long time, and I'm very sleepy and Blogger seems to be mad at me.  Here are some pictures of happy people tatting and shopping at the Finger Lakes Tatting meet to hold you over until next time.

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse

I recently got to attend the annual reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. I had wanted to do this for a long time, but it never seemed to be convenient before. Since we moved last year, it is now very close to home, hooray!

Though these men (and women) are wearing red coats, they are Americans. They explained that in the 1st Maryland regiment, the fife and drum corps wore the opposite uniform colors so that the officers could find them in a hurry. They were used to give signals during battle as well as for music.

Walking up the road through the park, I came across this company of soldiers on their way to the battle site. They soon left the road and melted into the woods. I heard someone say they were Hessians, so though they are wearing blue, they are the enemy. During the battle, the cavalry of both sides were dressed in green. It's not always obvious who's who.

Traditional British red coats, in .... red coats!

It's a two day event, and I went on Sunday, only to discover that day they were performing the smaller, southern section of the battle. If I had gone on Saturday, I would have seen the main battle with more soldiers and cannons. It was still fun, and I know to go on Saturday next year. Besides the battle itself, there were several army camps, craftsmen and suttlers, plenty to see all day.

Sorry, no tatting today!

Tischband

Here is my completed Tischband motif for Umi&Tsuru's Tat Along. Several of the other participants said they had trouble getting the pieces to fit together. I had wondered if the way they were joining the flower chains to the round below instead of to the base of the center rings altered the size of the flowers and threw off the proportions, but no, that wasn't it. I hoped to have better luck with the way I had made my joins, but as I added in the leaves, my motif also was too crowded. (It looks better now after blocking and ironing.) The flowers might have fit better if I had joined to the picots next to the middle ones instead. I looked back at the book's photograph to see if I had misunderstood where to join. My conclusion? Though the pattern for "Blute 1" has 6 rounds, in this design, the photo seems to show flowers of only 5 rounds! Will someone else look at their book to check if I am imagining this? No wonder the pieces won't fit.

Anyway, I've admired the Scharf leaf motif for years, and I'm glad I've finally worked some. I think I will claim the leaves as another motif for my 25 Motif Challenge. This books still calls to me to make some of the doilies some day.

Heart Nouveau- Motif # 8

I actually made a motif from one of those unused books on the shelf! How did that happen? Probably because I have lots of other things I am supposed to be working on :)

This is "Heart Nouveau" from Karey's Hearts Belong to Tatting, and make in some of Karey's hand painted thread. I thought this pattern was interesting because of the way the long rings just below the center are made to curve.