One week until the Finger Lakes Tatting Conference in Lodi. Our theme is stars! Last week I finished sewing stars from across the U.S. and Canada on the quilt and quilting around them. When I was almost done, an envelope with more stars appeared. Here is our Starry Night quilt – you can see almost all the stars. It’s hard to count them all, but Bill and I estimated there’s about 135 tatted stars on the quilt – that’s a rough estimate. Could be a lot more or a few less. I'm sorry that you'll have to tilt your head to see the quilt properly - the strip of sky which should be at the top is the clue you're looking for. Can you see the Big Dipper? The quilt will be auctioned off Saturday, April 13 at 7 pm. There’s a reserve of $250 on it, and we are accepting good-faith bids from outside our group – contact me with your phone number where you can be reached if you want to join the bidding at the time – or you can put in your high bid and you just might win! All the money from the quilt will go into our scholarship fund, to enable more tatters to attend the conference in the next and following years. Wish you could be with us! actually, we could probably fit about six more people though shhh! don't tell our registrar - she's already done a lot of hard work on the event and she thinks we already have a good number of participants. But we all know there's always room for another...

It’s snowing again. How can this be when the ground temperature is actually well above freezing? Bill explained this to me and it makes sense, sort of. “Upstairs” is colder. This does not explain to my satisfaction why the white stuff is actually sticking, but… whatever. Indoors, there’s a whole lot of tatting going on. Unfortunately, the camera’s focus is a little dicey, but for a rough idea, here’s the scholarship quilt in progress. Ten days ago, on a Saturday, we had a mini-quilting bee. The picture is blurry, but the real quilt which, thank goodness, is currently in the hands of our best quilter, is gorgeous and getting gorgeouser as more tatting is added. So I went back to work on tatting samples for various classes I’ll be teaching later this year. This is the continuous Catherine Wheel Star for the Finger Lakes Tatting Seminars in Lodi in April. Then in late May, more stars are coming to Spring Fling in Michigan. Even more stars than you can see in the photo. And then, in August at IOLI, there will be a sampler class. The beehive at the top is because the sponsoring guild is the Beehive Lacers… and there are a few little tatted bees among the flowers. For re-tatting, I’m thinking of using some size 150 cordonnet -I’d have to dye it first in small bits, but the idea of making a mini-sampler is appealing… I’ve got one more set of samples to do for these classes. Ideas are drawn out, they just need tatting. There were two spinning meetings in the past two months. So I’ve done a little handspun, but I haven’t yet had time to do anything with it. On the left is the most recent project, handspinning beaded yarn; on the right is the handspun plied with an interesting nylon novelty yarn. Once I get my plumbing straightened out – oh yes, there are two minor plumbing crises, one a particular problem because it involves the potty, which has not responded to conventional treatments, and in this small house, when it’s snowing, alternatives are not easily come by – then some dyeing will happen. Until then, life will be just a bit more complicated. It’s not a great time for this to happen – but I was trying to imagine a good time for plumbing issues to occur and frankly, I was drawing a blank on this.

Just over 10 days ago, despite winter, a group of lacemakers warmed Saturday and Sunday with thoughts of lace. I traveled to the Lost Art Lacemakers weekend in Lafayette NJ to stay with a wonderful lacer and beader (I wish I’d taken some photos of her bead work, it’s truly spectacular) spent a day vending and another day teaching a class. Before I went, I did some thread-dyeing – these are the new colors before being skeined and sorted into individual bags. The class was oodles of fun. Nidia tatted for the first time that day – a fast study who progressed from “How do I wind the shuttle?” to “How do I read the pattern?” in a matter of hours. In fact, before the class was over, she’d progressed onto her second UFO – with promises, of course, to finish the first one. Dorothy and Linda looked like they were getting to be friends and changed seats to better chat while they were tatting; Barbara looked entirely happy. You can’t see two other class members or me, but then again, I was taking the photos. Drove home through what started as snow squalls and ended as an astonishing, though localized, blizzard. The week had a few more flakes in store for us – and a thankfully minor medical emergency (apparently un-diagnosable, but now somewhat better), both of which led to a lot of time spent tatting. Here is the Lodi Star, which I’ll be teaching in April at the Finger Lakes Tatting Group’s Tatting Seminars in a 3 hour class. The one we’ll do has the blue beads which make a strange pattern of their own; it uses my wandering wheel technique of continuous Catherine Wheels. This is the first prototype of the Field of Flowers tatted purse, a beaded bag attached to a cute metal frame. The one we’ll do will also be just a little smaller. The “we” in this instance is those taking the workshop the first weekend in May, when I’ll be teaching in May for the Amherst Museum Lace Guild, near Amherst, which is a really pretty suburb of Buffalo, NY. Just a note here: the first time I went was a year when the Buffalo winter had held a lot of snow… this winter has not (thus far) been quite that snowy, but I’m betting the result will be the same – one of the most brilliantly green spring seasons ever seen. Now back to the Valentine sock marathon, before returning to the tatting factory.

I’ve done something I’m not exactly proud of… because I was otherwise good. And because it was time. After finishing the doily book, which will be picked up from the publisher tomorrow – and in the process, learning a huge amount about the differences between tatting cotton of various brands and ages… (Shameless plug here – I’m really pleased with the way the doily book came out. If anyone wants a copy of the doily book, please email me at threads@empacc.net – cost is $10 plus $1 shipping… and yes, I do take paypal.) This below was the raw material for the cover.

And finishing projects I’m teaching next weekend for the Lost Art Lacers – please note, the background color is really black, not brown, and the thread is a beautiful vivid variegated green/blue that got totally washed out by the flash, but these are five original hearts, a few of them as-yet unpublished…

and realizing, partly thanks to concentrating on all those tatted hearts that Valentine’s Day is coming, I started yet another pair of socks. Those are the ones in brown that have a couple of wooden needles in them. They’re actually brown and blue. This is the fourth pair in progress. My only excuses are that they’re not for me – and it’s kind of an experiment, making socks for Bill that aren’t red. I’m trying to broaden his horizons a bit. The one that’s just a footling was begun about a year ago; the sparkly ones were begun about 9 months ago, and the one that’s just a blob of blue was begun last month because I was trying to show someone Dani Rotach’s hybrid innovation of beginning socks at the ankle with a provisional cast-on, knitting the foot and finishing with the leg. All the socks in the photo are done that way. I should be soooo ashamed. I’m not.

You’re never prepared for snow. Cold, blowing, piling-up, coming-down-in-sheets old-fashioned blizzard-style – well, that’s what winter is supposed to be about, right? That was the woodpile a few days ago, already significantly reduced from September, but before I took a broom and snow-shovel to the question of how I'd get more wood indoors. And winter is at least partly why we gardened like crazy all summer, laid in supplies of everything we could run out of (of course, forgetting tea and oatmeal) made pots of soup and made sure there were plenty of wound shuttles, projects-in-progress… oh, excuse me, that’s me. All Bill really needed was his Kindle with the wireless connection so he could get his online edition of the New York Times, which he seems to read in entirety.

Diligent tatting, interspersed with some knitting brought the doily count up to five finished ones before 2012 ended…. A sixth was finished today. And two dishcloths, which I really like and are quick and fun to knit (the pattern can be found here) http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/2012/12/knitted-honeycomb-dishcloth-1.html

Six more to go – that’s doilies, not dishcloths – until I’ve got enough for the booklet… though I’m not sure how many will actually fit. I’ve got three more in progress, including a small one I began today. Ginny’s got one and Kathy’s got one. And there’s a good supply of books on tape for the repetitive parts. For the third year in a row, Bill was sick on New Year’s Eve. This year he shared a touch of flu with me too. We were probably the only people under nine who were asleep last night before 9:30. Despite missing a much-looked-forward-to party, a lot of sleep seems to have helped. As for New Year’s resolutions, I’m happy to report that I made only one last year – that of putting my house on a diet – and kept it. Not so you’d notice, but I do. I’m not saying what my resolutions are for this year – this year there are three – but this time next year we’ll know if I kept them too.

After Christmas...

Santa’s workshop is closed. I’ve finished socks for Bill (my last outstanding knitting project for the year). Those who’ve visited Graceful Arts Fiber Studio could all sing out in unison why Bill’s Christmas socks always have to be red – it’s because red is WARMER! (According to Bill, anyway.) I recently realized that when Bill and I first got together, washable wool wasn’t an easy-to-find option. But now, thankfully, it is so his Christmas socks fit better and do better in the wash. There’s another good reason they need to be red – the one time I made blue ones, they got left behind in a hospital stay. Bill promises this wouldn’t happen again, so maybe (shhh!) for Valentine’s Day another color might be used. A lot of those early socks need replacement.

Socks might be in the air, so to speak. Last week, Shelly, of the Thursday knitting group, finished her socks. Her feet are now ready for dancing.

Instead of dancing, I’ve got my nose to the grindstone on the upcoming doily book. Here are ones finished and blocked so far. It’s a terrible photo, partly because they’re tatted in size 80 thread, and partly because we’re in the midst of a late afternoon blizzard, so the light isn’t great. Three down, about nine to go. Ginny and Kathy are each working one - and right now I've got no articles due - so I think it will be possible to finish in time. Big Thank Yous, ladies! Went to the store and the library earlier and stocked up on milk for Bill and books on tape for me. I’ve cleared a rocker near the fire and – even more importantly – within headphone reach of the CD player. We’ve gotten in wood, parked the snow shovel outside the door and talked to the snowplow guy. We’ve got tea and chocolate, so we’re ready for productive and well-nourished hibernation, if necessary. I won't say bring on the snow, because I'd very much prefer spring, summer or fall - but since we can't seem to stop it, I'll try to enjoy it in my own way.

I'm back!

Trying to catch up with a neglected blog is like trying to tell a long story. So here are a few photos of what I did this summer and fall.

A lot of gardening led to a great deal of canning. Full disclosure – Bill did much of the gardening - I helped and the result was tremendous. There were a few crop failures - the cucumbers came on so slowly we forgot about them, but the zucchini was apparently mis-labeled, because it all turned out to be yellow summer squash. Which is why we lost interest in it by August and forgot about it on purpose. But these were more compensated for by the tomatoes, which just never quit. For this we have to partly credit Bill’s trellis-work, an intricate Rube Goldberg-like device he builds each season out of a small mountain of saved string and recycled vineyard posts. And a little credit to me, too, for choosing a giant variety of paste tomato and starting a bunch of seeds in the house. Opalka tomatoes aren’t the tastiest on a sandwich, but they make great sauce. And do we have sauce! I had to buy another shelf system for the pantry, and it still left us with a large cardboard box in the kitchen, which holds another two dozen jars of sauce with peppers, eggplant, and garlic all also from our garden.

Working at my favorite theatre – the Old Havana Courthouse Theatre in Montour Falls. I took this photo backstage at our last production of “Wings of Fire.” On the left Elizabeth Hageman as Wendy Wingnut and Sarra Solomon as Poppy Rivets – the two played an all-girl aviation team. I had a very minor role as judge of the air contest and sheriff arresting the villain at the end of the show, but as they say, there are no minor parts, just minor actors. I’d judge myself a very minor actor but I had a great time anyway.

Sarra took this picture - you'll have to guess which one is me. The backstage area is about the size of a small bathroom (minus the plumbing) and when there were more than three people back there, it was definitely crowded. I was also box office manager and stage manager and I loved every minute of it.

Wood stacking – four cords’ worth. There was still about ¾ of a cord left that had to be re-stacked first; I managed to stack about a cord’s worth per day which allowed me to finish the job single-handedly in record time. Just me and my little bottle of ibuprofen.

Dyeing threads, because I’m totally in love with color

Kelly Dunn in Canada made this doily using up the last of my "Sunset on Seneca" colorway.

Teaching – these two projects were for the Fringe Element tatting group. And as always, they did a fabulous job and I had a wonderful time.

A little more traveling. I spent Thanksgiving week in Sweden visiting friends. Tatting and friends came together when I met a group of Swedish tatters at my friend Anita’s house in Stockholm. We had a wonderful afternoon of coffee and cake and sharing; I brought a new pattern and we tried it out. Now I’m tatting for next year’s teaching and a forthcoming doily book. Oh, and getting ready for the holidays.