A New Endeavor

I learned to tat from my mom about two years ago when William and I flew to California for a visit with her.  Since then I've been practicing it off an on, and have slowly gotten better at it, more confident in taking on new projects.  Last year I managed to knock out several Celtic flowers which I framed and gave to my girlfriends as Christmas gifts. 

After a long stretch of not tatting, I picked up the shuttles again and began working on a new piece, quite bit larger and more ambitious than I have done before - a table topper.  I have it in mind for a small, round table with a dark finish, and think the colors will be lovely.

Table Topper - only needs about a dozen more medallions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier this year, David met one of the founders of Heirloom Living Market, and started selling his fresh-roasted coffee through their "LocallyGrown.Net" website market.  If you don't know about LocallyGrown.net, you can read about them here.  Basically, each market serves its local area by providing a way for customers to find and purchase produce and other goods produced by local farmers and artisans.  It is an on-line market system whereby you order the stuff you want, and then go pick it up on Pick Up Day.  It's the easiest way to get hold of local, fresh foods that are raised without chemicals, pesticides, etc., and support your local farmers and artisans.  The Heirloom Girls (as they are known) currently run four markets in our larger area.  They are very busy.

Soooooo, I told you those two stories to tell you this story. ;)

Shortly after I had started on the table topper, I was dropping off a coffee order at The Market, and I was introduced to the "Artisan of the Week" as she was setting up her display.  Heirloom regularly sets up a "Farmer/Artisan/Producer of the Week" during pick-up hours, so customers can meet the folks who raise/produce the stuff they are buying.  David has been Producer of the Week a few times, and that week's Artisan was a nice lady who sews aprons, pillow cases, etc.

Once I got home, I plopped down and started working on the table topper, and suddenly thought, "Huh, I didn't know they carried non-food items."  I pulled up the Market website to see what kinds of non-food stuff was there, and, lo and behold, they have an entire category for hand-crafted items.  So, I shot a note to the Heirloom Girls asking if they thought their customers would be interested in tatted items.

They were very enthusiastic.  They actually knew what tatting is, and wanted me to offer pieces through the Market.  They even wanted me to teach classes over the winter when the Market slows down a bit.

So, for the past couple of months, I've been busily tatting away, mostly finding and modifying patterns to turn into earrings.  I'll post pictures and links tomorrow....