Another find

Most of my tatting projects are in the not-ready-for-camera-lens stage. My piece for the Carmel Bach Festival Art of Music fundraiser is at the framer’s. My hair bun lace is close to being done, but not quite. My booties are still in the 2^nd sock syndrome stage. I’m in the process of tatting the Revers piece in a smaller thread.

I spent some time recently looking through all my WIP and deciding which ones I needed to work on first. Then, I went on a hike and saw this:

We were on the trail at Ano Nuevo State Park. Yes, there were seals. Yes, there were small lizards sunning themselves and birds galore. At one point, we were watching a flock of brown pelicans. There must have been 50 or so in the meadow! There were turkey vultures doing their thing keeping the beach clear of carrion. It wasn’t until a friend trained his rather professional type of camera at the tree that we realized the bird in the picture above wasn’t a hawk or turkey vulture. Those white feathers really are that dramatic. Even against the foggy sky. We were thrilled to see a Bald Eagle up close! We were able to get within a few feet of the tree (staying on the trail) and were so in awe. You never know what you will see in our parks around here. It makes walking for exercise that much more thrilling!

I was able to finish the last of the stars I've been tatting for Starfish Fibers. Whew! What will today hold????

A Treasure completed

 This is a project the EGA chapter worked on. It’s taken me a while to get the stitching done. I think it was designed by Elizabeth Almond. I like her designs. Now I must decide how to finish it. I don’t think I’ll frame it. I think I’ll back it so that I can use it on a table. Some place that needs a bit of brightening.

Lacing time

 I’ve reached the point in my Melody in Mauve piece where I’m lacing the fabric around the foam core for framing. This is an easier task in my mind. I could ask the framing shop to do the lacing. But, I always fear the piece will end up upside down in the frame. Or the fabric will be pulled too tight for how I’ve tacked down around beads. 

So, I’m threading up my needle with a long, long, long length of thread that I’ll spend quite a bit of time adjusting before pronouncing it good. I may even leave things overnight to let the fabric settle.

I'm taking more time

 Sewing the beaded frame onto the fabric is taking longer than I thought. That’s OK because I want it to look good for a long time. I’ve also been working in walks each day. Yesterday’s walk was nice. Until I made it to the beach where the harbor seals pup. (NB This post shows a beach to the South of where I walk.) There were no seals. Odd. Then, I noticed there was a beached whale in the shallows. No wonder. I’m sad but understand such is way of nature.

I’ll finish the sewing today and get the piece to the framers.

I answered the call

 The siren call of the outdoors.

Yesterday I didn’t spend the day working on inside tasks. I spent most of the day outdoors. It wasn’t particularly sunny. I just decided I needed a day moving around the yard, walking by the sea, enjoying watching the waves.

Now back to work!

Still working

I finished the yellow star. I think. I’ve paused before hiding ends and clipping just to make sure there isn’t another mistake. In the light of a rainy day, I’ll take care of that.

I plan to spend a good bit of time sewing the frame onto my Melody in Mauve piece. I can’t wait to see the reaction at the show!

Stages of pattern familiarity

 When I’m teaching music, I do talk about stages of learning. I see several distinct stages to learning a piece well:

Mastering the technical demands of the composition.

Understanding how the piece fits into the literature and what the composer intended with the composition.

Polishing the piece for use in the future.

Performing the piece.

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The same consideration can be given to tatting.

To create lace, we must go through a similar process as musicians do with music. We must master a technique the designer, even if that’s ourselves, calls for. We must consider the use of the lace. We tat and finish the pattern to create lace.

Right now, I’ve made quite a few of these Star Snowflakes by Vida Sunderman. I can execute the individual techniques used in the pattern. I have a clear idea of how the finished lace will look and how I will use it. I’ve even tatted a couple of stars that turned out quite nice. I’m now in the phase of polishing the tatting.

This can be a frustrating phase. I make silly mistakes. My concentration lapses. I’ll often take twice as long tatting due to un-tatting every few rings or chains. I know I will get there. I just need to do the thing.

Without more mistakes, please!