Tatbeads and Palmetto!

Something else that I found when unpacking - a new branch of the Tatbead family!

A week or so before Palmetto Tat Days I remembered that my branch of the family was still with Karey Solomon and I decided that I'd better email her to remind her to bring them to SC. Well, as anybody who knows me will realise, my memory is poor (always has been) and I forgot!!!
Met Karey and had a good natter shortly after she arrived at the White Oaks Conference Centre and again forgot to ask after them!! Duh!!!!
Imagine my surprise when their arrival was announced at the banquet!!! Not only that but another branch had come with them - see below. The one at the top left with the green walking aids is Karey herself (love her hairdo!!). With them came a book signed by all the people they'd met up with in America. Each person on the picture is named in the book. To say I was overcome was to understate my feelings.
Thanks, Karey, for organising this and also for the pin and thimble also in the package.

How can you ever?

How can you ever say a big enough thank you?
I'm spending the morning unpacking all my tatting treasures from the Palmetto Tat Days and remembering so fondly the fun of those days. Everybody, but everybody was so generous.
Below is a heart which Mark Myers gave me. It's incredibly beautiful. It measures three and a half inches across by two inches high.
Right, back to the dreaming and unpacking!!!

Tatting a cartoon

The missing suitcases are in the U.K.!!! You can now track them online which is a great help. How things change in two years since the last time mine went AWOL. They should be delivered sometime today!

Right, back home and back to tatting seriously. I remembered yesterday that I'd never shared a 'design' that I did a few months ago.
When SueH was going through a rough time with her flat renovations I decided to do something to cheer her up. I took Mark Myers cartoon of her on her soapbox which is on the front page of Here-Be-Tatters and decided to 'tat' it. Mark and a few others know about this. When it was all done I sent it to Sue as a surprise!!!

Here's the progression in pictures!! First of all I drew it on the computer.

I tatted this up but it really was a 'bad hat day' and the coat was way too big too. I wasn't happy with the colouring or the arms either.

Next a re-draw.

Followed by another 'tat'!!!!

Duh! Who forgot to change the hat? I did change the coat and this made the whole thing a lot better. I then decided that I'd have to change the colouring a bit for 'design purposes' (whatever THAT means!!).
Now that looks better and the hat's a great improvement too.

Finally the 'extras' which was the fun bit - decorations for the hat, hair, soapbox, shuttle and tatting. Next task was mounting it and framing it.
The final results are below.

Home - but!!!

Home and tired to face a load of mail (some of them bills too).
I'm home, Nick's home but my two suitcases are not!!! Nick's arrived on the carousel - his is bright pink with lurid spots on (don't ask)!!! Mine are somewhere between Newark and Birmingham. This has happened before but with another airline and another airport - my suitcase last time too!!! ALL my special things from Palmetto are in the one and I'm so hoping that they both turn up tomorrow. The certificates I won in the competition, my pattern CD (and one for the witch in London!!), the threads and other goodies I bought for myself (and the witch in London!), beads etc, etc and worst of all - the gifts I was given.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll be picking up a shuttle to start a new project.

On the way home tomorrow

Well we're all packed and ready for the long haul across the pond tomorrow. We leave here at around lunchtime to go to the airport where we have a three hour check in. There's a forty five minute stopover in Newark which is a bit worrying as we'd originally booked with two hours to get from one hub to t'other. Still, we'll keep our fingers crossed that the first plane is on time.
It occurs to me (and I can't be bothered to go back and read it all) that in my Palmetto report I didn't mention the fact that the Palmetto 'gals' had run a competition to design the logo with the teachers being invited to submit ideas. I thought about doing a design but in the end 'threw' a wheelbarrow and some flowers on the scanner and sent that. I picked the 'bits' up a few days later and popped them in a plastic container and promptly forgot about the whole thing. Much to my delight - followed by consternation - I was told a month or two later that I'd won. The consternation came about as I realised that I'd no idea where the 'bits' of the logo were!! A frenzied hunt round the house found the plastic box in a corner under a table.
It was really great to see 'my' logo being worn by people at tat days. Thank you to all the Palmetto gals for the compliment.
Right, tat's it from the USA - back to blogging when I'm in the UK!!!