It's a Long Weekend!

For those of us who grew up "back in the day," before the Monday Federal holidays were decreed, Labor Day was last Thursday.  I still think of September 2 as Labor Day...right after I think of my grandmother and wish her a happy birthday (she would have been 113 this year).  Tomorrow is just the day South Carolina closes the municipal, county, and state offices, not to mention the Federal offices, banks, and schools.

I have been working on the "Grapes" edging by Karey Solomon, and love it - but because I'm not zipping right through it, I might experiment with a simpler edging - or just a simpler version of the grapes on the vine.  As promised, as I now have a few inches done, here is a picture:

Can you hear it crying, "Block me!  Block me!"  Umm, not yet - you may be just the practice piece, so hush up.  Do please notice the lovely shuttles, which I bought at Tat Days - they were decorated by Shuttle Lab Trends (AKA Hope Bates).  She also offers hand-dyed thread, but it's been an incredibly busy summer and she didn't have any in vending this time. 

I'm also working on a star, which is now half done; I did most of it after church, waiting with some of the others for Cynthia to come cut her birthday cake.  She did (it was yummm) and we all decided my mom was right - "life is short, eat dessert first!"

Non-decorated shuttles this time; one is a Sew-Mate, the other a red Boye.  Tracy, co-owner of The Lacemaker of Cortland, Ohio, who were our key vendor at Tat Days, told me that Boye is bringing back these nifty plastic models - in six different colors!  They should be available later this fall.

The photography on both these pictures is lousy - my bad.  I will get a better picture of the star when it's completed, and the grapevine too (when I decide what I'm going to do).  The pattern for the grapevine, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is from Karey Solomon's book Tatting Elegant Edgings.  It is available from some booksellers (check suppliers for lacemaking supplies - if they carry books, they'll probably have it) or from Karey herself (threads at empacc dot net).  The star is available on the "Fall Into Tatting - Palmetto Tat Days 2010" pattern CD, available from www.palmettotatters.org/items/, along with pattern CDs dating back to 2006!

Have a lovely evening (or day, depending where you are)!