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.

Elephant canvas progress.

I hit milestones yesterday:

One month since I last played the organ for people to listen to.

One month since I last taught a lesson in person.

I finished “lesson 1” on the Elephant canvas. It looks more like an elephant now.

I have emerged from the “in shock” phase of this new reality. I have wrapped my brain around what I must do each day to take care. I need to revamp my daily life to work towards my big goals. I need to work for a future for myself and for those I love. I can do this!

I look forward to hearing what each of you are doing to find a new future for yourself and those you love.

Tatting by Zoom

That sounds like credits at the end of a vintage tv show. The Tatting Study Group met this week using Zoom. It’s a very popular app right now. It was fun to see everyone.

On a sadder note, the workshop in Sunnyvale is postponed. We’re talking about an online component that will be a much different format. More as that progresses.

I decided to start the Challenge doily over. I made several mistakes in the first few rounds. I’m liking the way it looks now. Picture as I finish the next round.

Happy International Tatting Day!

Tatting in public may not be possible, but I wish everyone happy tatting anyway!

Tat on!!

Time out

I took time out yesterday. The sky looked so gorgeous I couldn’t sit inside! 

The picture doesn’t do it justice, but the water looked like Hawaii. The bay was clear. You could see fish swimming in the kelp. And the air was clear. We could actually see buildings in Capitola/Santa Cruz. That’s about 25 miles as the crow flies. After weeks of cloudy/misty skies, I just couldn’t help but walk down and linger looking and recharge my soul.

Shuttlebirds cancelled Lace Museum still on tentatively

We spent yesterday discovering what the flooring was like under the carpet in a bedroom. All things considered, it is in pretty good shape.

That took my mind off the fact that Shuttlebirds will be postponing their Tat Days until April 2021. I will plan to teach and enjoy getting to know them in a year.

The Lace Museum in Sunnyvale is still operating, so I hope that we can still hold that workshop. We’ll see what the government decides.

In the meantime, I’m making progress on the Elephant canvas. I think by this time we were to be stitching the final section. I’m just finishing lesson 1. Hope to share a picture soon!

Challenge with vintage

While most of the world is in Shelter in Place mode, I can’t just sit and not create something. I’m like the kid that can’t sit still; I can’t not create. So, when I saw a post about Tat-a-Renda’s Challenge design, I decided to join in. But, what thread to use?

Her design is starting out like a vintage doily. So, when I spied this bit of vintage thread, I thought perfect!

This is what it looks like so far:

Remember the vintage shuttles I picked up on this trip? Well, this one is labelled Justrite. I do like working with it. I normally don’t like the feel of a metal shuttle. I prefer wood. But, this one is balanced better and almost feels like my ivory shuttle. Since it twists apart to fill, I wondered if it is the inspiration for the Moonlit shuttle. Incidentally, today is the last day to pre-order from Handy Hands. I ordered my bag in blue!