I was very lucky to be able to take a Milanese Bobbinlace class taught by Louise Colgan. My children pitched in a made it possible to go to Amherst which is a suburb of Buffalo, New York. Amherst, New YOrk is a little more that two hours from me. It is mostly thruway driving. I was nervous about driving up there since I have done it in years. The last time I was there was for a guild meeting and Pat Pike did a mini class on making Romanian Point lace. The project was an Easter Egg. I am always fearful of driving somewhere that I am not familar with I also had my daughter's car. Since the drive one way is so far away I spent the night in a hotel.

Saturday evening we went to Sean Patrick's Restaurant I think it was called. I had salmon on a bed of greens. When my plate came my eyes got very wide for there was enough food for a few people on my plate...and here I was not able to get a doggie bag of food for lunch the next day as I would have if I was here in my hometown. I also had some Potatoe Soup which was very good. I mean really good. The other surprise was I could have sworn I was waited on by Sandra Bullock ...of coarse it wasn't her and I should have gotten her picture...I told her she looked like Sandra Bullock and she told me I was the third person that day that told her that.Kinda funny huh??

The only damper to the weekend was the fact ...I thought I left my glasses at the restaurant. When I got to the hotel to register...I couldn't find my glasses anywhere. I called Joan Sulkei for help and I called the restaurant...though they couldn't find my glasses they did find some cards under the table that belonged to some of the other diners at our table. ....but here now is the funny part of this story...while going by Chrystal's car to look in the car again for the 10th time to find my glasses I just happened to look at the spoiler on the back of the car...and would you believe there was my glasses. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw them. I think my hotel was about 10 miles from the restaurant and this was going on expressways...with swerving and blowing on my car and the glasses didn't dislodge and fall off the car. Anyhow...I was so glad to have my glasses.

Now back to the class. I had chose to make the Milanese Seahorse...one of Lousie's designs. This evening I am on the tip of the tail. Tomorrow I will lay bobbins in to start the belly of the seahorse. I saw many of Louise's finished designs with my own eyes including the Milanese Poppy that is shown in this month's "Piecework Magazine" ( which I have already ordered. It is the only one I get now..the May Lace issue)...

I found Louise to be a really good teacher. She really knows her stuff...is very relaxed, charming and knows each part of her designs I think by heart. I found I learned alot from her. She does have an easy way of talking to her and she does have a sense of humor.

I also had two very good lunches that was part of the registration money. I really felt this event was a good deal price wise.

There were many vendors too...Holly and Gerry, Kirschners, Karey, and someone with period lace were selling lots of tempting stuff.

The speaker we had also gave a lecture on the history of lace in woman's clothes. She also had some with her that she showed. I am going to put those pictures up here on my blog for you all to see at a later date...for now I am going to show you the pictures from the restaurant, and a couple pictures of Louise Colgan.

There was also a very nice collection of lace shoes or shoes with lace. I bet Ms. Erin Holloway would love to see some funky and cool looking shoes. There was also a box where you could pick out your favorite lace shoes. It was a contest. I will also show pictures of those in another post.

Lastly I would like to thank the Ladies of Amherst Lace Guild for the event. I was so happy to be able to take Louise's class. The one person you see in all of these pictures is Louise Colgan.

How sad is it that CNN didn't mention the death of Johnathan Frid who died April 14th of natural causes. He was 87 years old. I know that Johnathan is suppose to be cameoed in the new Depp Dark Shadows movie and it is to be released in May I believe. How sad Johnathan didn't live long enough to see the movie hit the theatres. I will say that from looking at the trailers of the upcoming movie I am ...not impressed. I might by pass seeing this movie with Tim Burton touch or not. My parents were poor and worked in a restaurant but my Dad new how much I loved "Dark Shadows" and would surprise me every once in awhile with a Dark Shadows paperback book. Here is a picture of my books my Dad got for me which as you can see since they were so special to me I still have them. I also purchased the "Dark Shadows Compaion" book you see in the middle. It has Kathryn Leigh Scott's autograph in that one. I am really saddened by his lost to our world. Rest in Peace Johnathan.

Here is a bit of a tease. Today I borrowed my son's car and drove to Lodi, New YOrk to attend Tat Days there....here is one picture. I will try to add more to this blog tomorrow...in the meanwhile here is a picture of me and my good friend Martha Ess.

A Wee bit of a post here. In the two pictures I used Martha Ess's Broomstick Lace Snowflake pattern from her book "PLaying with Picots" and made the bookmark and the little doily. Both of these will have new homes soon. Just thought I would share my wee bit of tatting with you all. I really do love the snowflake pattern. I should see Martha tomorrow sometime. I am planning on crashing the Tatting event in Lodi, New York tomorrow.

I have to make another post...yeah...I know it is soon after the previous post...but Fergus Og and me got a surprise in the mail from Fergus's Mom. I love the Claddagh symbol and I have lots of jewelry that has that symbol. Anyhow...I just had a birthday on the 10 and it is St. Patrick's Day today...so I am looking at this as a combine surprise gift...and it really was a surprise for both Fergus and I. I opened the package up...and Fergus as you can see in the picture had to get right down to everything to check it all out. There is the really cool St. Patrick's card that is hand made...and take a look at the tatted bookmark too in greens. Of coarse Pam doesn't know this I think...but I am also a stamp collector so thank you also for the cool Irish Stamps. I have to say...I was completely surprised. This really made my day. Don't you just love surprises??? Thank you so much Pam Myers of Ireland for the really nice gift.

One more thing here...when I got this gift I thought again of our friend Gina. Gina I know was so lucky to meet Pam in person. I do hope that maybe someday if Pam is ever in New York State...we can meet. Now wouldn't that be just the luck of the Irish if that happened...? I would have to wear green for the rest of my life...but I do know that my Mom always said...You wouldn't have wanted Great Grandpa see you wearing the green on St. Patrick's day. We are suppose to be wearing the orange don't you know....LOL. That is what my Mother always said to me. Take a guess what is for dinner tonight...I dare you to guess....

Happy St. Patrick's Day from a girl that has mostly Irish blood running through her veins.

Also I just finished knitting this shawl. Back a few years ago when I was mentally sick my daughter Michelle bought this yarn for me for my birthday. The intent was to use it to make a shawl named Mystic Light designed by Anna Dalvi. With my sickness I lost interest in just about everything including my knitting. So the project got shelved for some years. Last month I got the pattern out and the yarn and got the shawl knitted up finally. Here are some pictures of it.

First of all I finally made the ornament from a kit that I won in a raffle at a Hector Tatting Event from a few years ago. Debbie Arnold is the one that donated the ornament to the raffle. As you can see in the picture this ornament has reindeer charms going around the bottom of the ornament. If you go to Debbie website you will see a whole lot of different charms and they are $1.00 for each so if you want to do an ornament like mine you would need just seven charms and of coarse the pattern from Debbie. All sold on her website here.

http://www.ds9designs.com/index.shtml

You can see that we have snow here in New York. It has been a funny Winter so far where we haven't hardly had any snow...but now that I have typed these words here....I probably just jinxed us.

Also I showed you all some of the snowflakes I have made. In the one picture is the pale blue and yellow flake. It was a flake from Martha's new tatting book. It is finished here inside a bangle. Makes a neat ornament. The thread is from Handy Hands here

http://www.handyhandstatting.com/index.html
The color is called Sea Island Citrus. I did the ornament in size 40 instead of the called for size 20 to make it smaller so it would fit inside the bangle.

Here are some snowflakes I have made. Two of the snowflake patterns are from Martha's new book called "Playing with Picots" book. I think the two snowflakes patterns in the book have got to me one of my favorite snowflakes. As you can see I have made a few of them. I have also made the snowflake by Miranda too. I love this snowflake.http://tattingfool.blogspot.com/ I think this is her blog. She has alot of beautiful things on here...check it out.

The one snowflake you see in the picture I am attaching it onto a bangle. It should be almost done. I will try to remember to show it here when I have it finished.

I got an email that Handy Hands is having another sale so I thought I would share the info with you. So go and slurg and order yourself some pretty colored threads. Don't forget they now have really cool thread holders too.So here is the info....

TODAY is the first snow of the year here in Central IllinoisDISCOUNT - 10% off coupon code 117****The coupon Expires January 17th at Midnight Eastern Standard Time.***

RULES for Coupon 117:

1. Coupon has to be in the coupon field for discount to apply.

2. Coupon CAN NOT be combined with any other discount, just the shipping and handling if you are a newsletter subscriber.

3. This offer is only good for internet orders.

4. Discount does not apply to previous orders.

5. The discount does NOT apply to the newsletter, back issues of the newsletter or gift Certificates.

Our on going contest to win 25 balls of Lizbeth thread is always opened to suggestions. We keep ALL suggestions so anytime you have a color idea e-mail it us. Refer to the guidelines on our website.

We have just ordered our Spring 2012 colors,there are 11 new ones coming which include 6 multi and 5 solid colors. More information to come in about 45 days. Handy Hands, Inchttp://www.hhtatting.com/217-379-3802Hours Monday - Friday from 9-5 central time.

Until the next time I write keep looking for the golden ticket of labels that say MADE IN THE USA.

Also...Justice for Caylee. Please remember her and not her witch of a mother.

So how do you like my Christmas card. I thought it turned out kinda cool looking. It is a camera shaking, taken at night, but I love the way the Christmas lights did its own kinda cool thing. It is my Christmas tree all lite up. So here is my Christmas card to you all that come and visit my blog.

Do you all remember the awful tease I did with my Christmas Lace in progress picture...where here is two more pictures. One is the tape lace finished and the other is the tatted filling I did before I took the lace off my pillow.

I got a really nice Christmas Card of a really nice bobbinlaced ornament on it from Daphne Martin of England. She belongs on the lace list Arachne. Here is a picture of the Christmas card I recieved from her.

Here is another picture I took of some of my laces together that I have made in the past.

I usually make my four children a Christmas Ornament so they will have something made by their mother.This year for my children I decided to make them a tatted beaded chandelier covering for a glass ornament. I made four of them. I used a pattern from Deb Arnold from Colorado. Her is her url for 9designs if you would like to get a kit or the pattern for the covering.http://www.ds9designs.com/index.shtmlI used Lisbeth thread in size 20 in the colorway Christmas Delight. I am happy with the way they turned out.

This is it for now on this post unless I think of something else to write about.I am going to end it with another "Golden ticket" of something I found was made in theUSA. IT was our tree stand we bought for our tree...What about you...if you find something made in the USA...a Golden ticket"...post it on your blog and blog about it. We have got to have MADE IN THE USA everywhere again when shopping in a store. So I am ending with a scan of the label from my Golden Ticket.

If this blog is showing alot of gaping spaces...it is blogger's fault and not mine.

I am making a wee bit of Christmas fairy lace in pink and white. Here are a couple sneek previews. I am not keeping this lace so ....that is why I am just giving peeks of it. Also here are a few of my painted continental bobbins. I painted these years ago for a Russian Lace Class that I took with Holly Van Sciver. I wanted my bobbins to go all together but look different at the same time so I came up with painting cartoons on them. I know the cartoons are copywrited but I painted these bobbins for my own use and are not for sale. I did give away my Bugs and Taz bobbin years ago so sometime I will have to paint another one. I also have more of these bobbins and my intent is to paint even more cartoons on them. The bobbins are fun to look at. I am always thinking of some character I haven't painted yet. So do you all remember these cart0on characters? Are there any you don't recognize? Do they bring back memories? I am showing the front and back of the bobbins. Some of the bobbins have more than one character painted on them...so now it is back to the lace. Oh and the hankies are thank yous to Erin Holloway who always graces me with Halloweenie hankies.

Okay now....it is better late than never...I am going to share some of my very own Palmetto pictures with y'all...but first is this picture of a pretty variegated purple snowflake that went along with the purple tree that I donated to the silent auction. I believe Pam Freck won the tree along with this very pretty snowflake. Can any of the designers out there recognize this flake as your pattern...if not does anybody know who the pattern belongs to...please let me know...I HAVE GOT TO HAVE THAT pattern. It is so pretty. So here is that picture.

For those that were at Palmetto the year that Erin (mostly Erin) and I made up a family of sock monkeys and gave them to Riet at the banquet dinner. WeeeeLLLL This year in my Halloween "Just Cross Stitch" issue was this sock monkey...and I saw it and Riet automatically popped into my head...I said...Celtic...you have got to do that cross stitch and give it to Riet...well I made the cross stitch pirate sock monkey and gave it to Riet at the banquet. I worked on it right up until I gave it to her almost. Riet also had the cutest Sock monkey earrings on that she showed me when I was giving here the cross stitch. So here is the stitch and here I am giving it to Riet.
Riet, if you are still reading this...I still need to tat you a bird for the "Polly , want a cracker".

Now of coarse when I go to Knoxville,Tenn. I get to visit with my best friend Erin Holloway. We always have such a good time together. We usually go to Macoroni Grill for dinner and we went this year too...Here we are already starting the fun...( this is what vacation is all about...FUN). We also always to go Lily's Beadbox store...you can never have too many beads you know.

And since I got there before Palmetto event I got to see the runner and so on that Erin was working on . She was a stitching mad woman trying to get the gizzillion flakes sewed onto the beautiful silk material. I believe the piece here that Erin is working on Raymond won for her at the auction...Can you imagine that...wow...what a man ...huh?? But doesn't Erin look like a stitching Diva in this picture??

Of coarse going to Georgia or South Carolina is always a most scenic trip. Here is a picture of the Smokey Mountains...Can you see where the name Smokey Mountains came from and I don't think it was from smoking too many Camel cigarettes. LOL

So how about some people pictures now... How many people can you name in these pictures. I see Arleen, Sharon Golden, Martha Ess, Erin of coarse, Kathy Berndt, Lenora F.,Donna, AK ( Georgia)Sharen Morgan, Nancy Clemmons and her husband, Connie Angeline, Leslie Deveaux-Christian

Here is a couple pictures of my roommate Sephanie Wilson wearing her cool tatted hat. Love the hat...she had the same problem I had with my purple hat...the humidity of the Southern States...wilts the hats.

And now for a couple flakes in closing that were on the quilt.

I hate blogging...I won't tell you how long it took me to do this...if it looks stupid...it is not my fault.

Hi everybody ...so here is one of my favorite days of the year and tomorrow will be my oldest daughter Chrystal's birthday. ...So many years ago this evening ,I was handing out the Halloween treats while I was in labor. Being I gave birth to my daughter just after midnight is one of reason I have always thought this was the best time of the year. I bet Chrystal always thought so when she was young. Halloween candy...candy...candy...the night before her birthday and cake and ice cream and lets not forget the presents on her birthday after a gluntiny of Halloween SUGAR RUSH...LOL

Now the other part of this story is I had to hurry and get out of the hospital for I wanted to be home for my oldest son's first birthday which is on Nov.5th. Yes, Shawn and Chrystal are less than a year apart and over the years when they were young we celebrated their birthdays together though I usually tried to have both of them have their very own Birthday Cakes. More SUGAR....lol

As I have mentioned to you before one of my favorite cross stitch designers died earlier this year in a horrific accident. After Lisa Roswell's death some of us stitcher in her honor and memory started stitching one of her designs. I just finished mine tonight. The design is called "Witches Nine". I love the verse of this design and it goes as follows.

In the town live witches nine:

Three in worsted, three in rags,

And three in velvet fine".

I do wonder where she got this verse or if she made it up. The only thing I have left to do to this stitching is to put my name on it and the year I stitched it.

Lastly I am going to share just a few Halloween pictures of my Chicklets. These were taken at a fun Trick or Treat event at Wegmans here in Canandaigua, New York.

Here is a picture of some pumpkins that the employees of Wegmans carved. There were more than these...but look at the talent here...Hope you all have a happy HALLOWEENIE;)
One last note....I HATE BLOGGER. My text and my pictures never seem to line up right..making me look dumb.