Phantasy

That’s what I’m leaning towards for the name of this year’sBach Festival Art Auction donation. I try to come up with a specific art piece based on a specific composition. This year, I’m inspired by Phantasy by RalphVaughan Williams. The background for his inspiration is intriguing. He composed it as a challenge to himself. That's what artists do. Challenge themselves to create art. How successful each artist is will always be discussed and even argued about. For this piece, I’m using a traditional embellishment technique for the background behind the tatted piece. The Bach Festival does a fabulous job pulling together programs that help us understand how and why the music has been composed and performed. I hope my piece is successful in expressing this grounding in the past while creating something new. I’m excited to pull all these separate facets together.

We're still Sheltering in Place. I feel so fortunate that we are where we are. Not that we're trying to keep from getting sick. Just that we have the resources to live comfortably while keeping out of harm's way. I'm old enough to remember drills for Armegeddan in small fallout shelters. We have it much better right now.

In the meantime, I'm designing and tatting and redesigning and retatting. For breaks, I’ve learned two more stitches for the Elephant canvas; now to finish that part of the stitching. I’ve dusted off some music that I imagine will be needed for services in the next few months. Jon Yusoff has named her Challenge Doily Thread that Binds. I’m starting Round 5 of my second attempt. I didn’t pay close enough attention the first time I tatted Round 3 and 4. I’ll post a picture soon. We’re progressing on our Spring Cleaning to End All Spring Cleaning. And of course our walks.

What I learned this summer

I learned a lot this summer. 

• My energy is not unlimited, even with a boost from coffee or tea. 
• I really do know how to tat. 
• I really do know how to play the organ. 
• I need to improve both skills. 
• I also need to improve my writing skill. 

Over the last few months, I’ve been very busy using all those skills creating and supporting those who create.

Inverted Snowflake by Martha Ess

I was thrilled to take a class from Martha Ess at Tat Days. I’ve enjoyed tatting her patterns for years. Here’s what we focused on in class:

I tatted this in vintage thread. I figured I’d need to learn the technique of the joins in the long picot arms. I hope to tat one in better thread next week.