Gifts

(full disclosure: long post without pictures ahead.....and a question at the end for you to comment on)

I’ve begun to start each day by writing down 3 things I’m grateful for. First on the list is Family and Friends. I try to pause and think about who I will be talking with that day. That usually helps me from chewing on shoe leather until after I’m tired. I wish my feet didn’t end up in my mouth so often. I really need them to stand and walk! Another entry is usually focused on a gift of mine I plan to use that day. Again, it’s a focus thing. I could do so much, I need to do so much, I’m asked to do so much, if I don’t focus I fail big time!

So, where does tatting fit in? Sometimes I make a decision then and there to wear something I’ve tatted. Sometimes I remember to get tatting to someone else. Sometimes I remember that I should send an email or make a phone call or wrap a gift. Sometimes I figure out when I’ll be able to sit down with my shuttles and do that tricky part of the pattern I’m working on. Sometimes It’s at that moment I remember I have accomplished learning to tat and enjoy it. ‘nuf said!

So, what are your grateful thoughts? Does tatting end up on your list?

Oh, and my friends I’ve made through this blog are included in my first item. Thank you for your friendship!

Anticipating......

I’m anticipating a very busy December! This year, I find most of my activities on the calendar are things I truly enjoy doing! There is an advantage to getting older! You can say “no” more often, you can say “yes” when you want to, and you can instigate fun activities!

Dazzling Debut by Marilee Rockley with added beads

To finish off November, I plan to wear my new earrings, celebrate Thanksgiving, and finish off the handful of gifts I’m making.

Orange is happy

Orange is not a color I have gravitated to. I grew up when orange was usually used in psychedelic prints. I also grew up stopping on the way home from school to practice in churches. I didn’t have time to change, so I had to wear “church appropriate” clothes those days. Given my pale Germanic skin and dirty-blond hair, orange wasn’t in my closet much.

As I’ve gotten more familiar with color theory, I’ve dipped my toe into orange. Blue works nicely with orange, there’s lots of blue around here (sky, ocean), so my shuttles have been wound with different orange thread. Taking inspiration from my surroundings has led me to work with all those colors.

I’m getting used to it. It does make me happy to sit down with my shuttles wound in cheery thread!

I’ll snap a picture of Joy in orange after I snack on an orange from our tree. Promise!

Application for Shuttlebirds Tatting Workshop and Retreat is in

I’ve stepped off the edge AGAIN!

I turned in my application to teach at Shuttlebirds in Idaho next May. That will make the spring very busy. What have I committed to?

Singing/playing during Lent (Holy week in 2020 is April 5-11)

Teaching at the Lace Museum in Sunnyvale (April 18-19, 2020)

Walking 5K in the Big Sur Marathon (April 26, 2020)

With the Workshop/Retreat in Idaho (April 30-May 3, 2020), that will make those weeks quite a flurry of activity! Truth be told, I just couldn’t resist a Carnival!

So, if you want to get away right after Easter for an in depth weekend looking at Sonata, contact Kim at the Museum.

If you want to walk or run along the edge of the Pacific, register now!

If my application is chosen, I’d be pleased to meet up in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest for a tatting party. Just bookmark here and watch for registration to open.

Grab those shuttles and join in the fun! Mmmmm maybe I should have something on the shuttles I can tat while walking in April………

Planning

I get nothing done without planning. I can putter all day and accomplish absolutely nothing! I know, everyone needs a day like that every once in a while. But I’m not someone to sit still and I just have to create things!

So, I pick up a pencil or pen regularly with the sole purpose to plan what I could do. Inspiration usually strikes and I end up getting knee deep in scores or thread or books. That’s been happening a lot. I have lots of words on paper, but little in thread. Not even a lot tucked away in computer files!

That should change today. I’ll follow through on some of those plans today. Pictures should follow on Thursday’s post.

After a walk…….

HIT

HIT – Historically Informed Tatting (today’s a bit of a rant)

I am doubly motivated to pursue designing in tatting that is historically informed.

1. I am the Queen of Repurpose. If I can find another use for something, I will. This leads to boxes and boxes of bits of thread, pieces of paper, pretty bags and boxes, etc. Mighty convenient I live in a Historic home.

2. I look to the past in my music. Those who do not consider how music has been written/performed/composed in the past are doomed to repeat mistakes. Unlike several of my older colleagues, I do not pursue historic performance for the sake of historic performance. I am content to play using current instruments with current knowledge. I just like to fill the air with beautiful sound.

So, when I design in tatting, I spend a good deal of time trying to find out what others have done with the kernel of idea that I came up with. How have tatters created lace based on 8 repeating rings or motifs? I am constantly asking tatters who have extensive libraries if a design idea I’m working on has appeared before. And, I’m always trying to recreate lace I see in pictures or museums or antique shops.

(Here’s the primary rant)

HIT is important. We must honor those who have tatted before us with the respect as graciously as possible. Innovation is important. But, how many of us twitch and have wide open eyes in surprise when an instrument other than a clarinet opens our favorite Gershwin tune?

All this is my way of following in Jane’s footsteps, Georgia’s footsteps, and others; justifying why I don’t have a ton of designs posted, or pictures every single day; spending hours in museums and looking through books; innovating in (I hope) a historically respectful, creative way.

‘nuff said. I’ll go to the corner and pick up my shuttles.

After a cuppa. Join me? There’s enough hot water here for a ton of people.

It's turned in.......

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....my application to teach next May at the Shuttlebirds Tat Days.

I’m excited to be jumping in on this adventure of teaching about and around. If you have enjoyed tatting in the North West, let me know. I hope to meet more tatters I’ve been following, and who have followed me, online.