Wonderful Weekend

Well. I am still flying on cloud nine after my wonderful weekend. I was in Chantilly, VA for a craft show. I wouldn't normally say this, but thank goodness it was a little slow (crowd wise) at this show, so I had time to visit with everyone who came to see me.

That's right, I had some special visitors. In Chantilly, people still know what tatting is - and some of them have even actually done it! I met quite a few fellow tatters, which I will get to in just a little bit...first I want to say that when a fellow lace-maker, especially a tatter, buys one of my pieces, I consider that an extremely high compliment. That they think highly enough of my tatting to want to own a piece of it - well, it just makes my day, I can't really even express it in words. It is just pure joy!

So I met some tatters this weekend. One of them was a lovely girl who drove all the way from Richmond, VA to see my work in person. She had been on my website and on the blog, but when she heard I would be "nearby" she decided to take a trip, and I'm so glad she did! She was wearing some of her own tatted jewelry, a lovely black pendant and earring set - just beautiful! It looked great on her. My mom and I invited her into the back of my booth and we visited and talked shop for a while - such fun! She went home with one of my necklaces in Yarnplayer's "Watermelon Tourmaline" thread (great choice!), and the pin pictured here - I call it "Flora Victoria." I sure hope she starts her own blog to share her work with us. I never get tired of browsing blogs - how about you?

I also met a fellow tatter who has just about convinced me to organize all of my ideas and jewelry in book form, even if I don't publish right away. She talked to me for quite a while about wanting to preserve what I have spent the last fifteen years of my life on while I am still really involved in it. Of course, first I have to figure out those darn drawing programs...

There were other tatters, too - all of whom shared stories and talked shop with me. I never get tired of talking about tatting, and apparently, neither do other tatters! :-)

But when Kathy Nicklewicz walked into my booth on Friday afternoon, I could not believe my eyes. She held up a bag with a "Mercer, PA Victorian Days" logo on it and I knew immediately who she was. For those of you who might not know about Kathy, please see Sharon's blog post called "The Tatting of Kathy Niklewicz" from February 21, 2008. I had met this lovely lady back in the late 90s at a show out in western PA, which I mentioned in my comment on Sharon's blog. Little did I know that Kathy has internet access and has been paying attention to all things tatting on the net, and also remembered me from that same show! She made up her mind she was going to come and see me at a show and she and her husband traveled all the way from western PA to come and see me in Chantilly. It was soooooo wonderful to see her again! I felt like I was visiting with a long lost friend.

She brought pictures and stories and we talked and talked about the internet and all the wonderful things that are happening in tatting these days, as well as sharing life and family stories. I am so hoping she decides to start her own blog so she can get out her own life and tatting stories to share with everyone - and Kathy, if you are reading this - you better e-mail me with any questions so we can get you up and running in blog-world!! :-) I am hoping she will also decide to write a book and preserve her tatting legacy for all of us. She is a talented designer and master tatter and we don't want to lose her work and her lovely, unusual patterns.

You can see why I am still flying high! Thanks to all you tatters who made this such a wonderful weekend for me!