A Group Close to Home!

Hello, Lovely Tatters!  It has been quite a couple of weeks.  More surgery (just minor), lots of pattern planning and testing, writing and re-writing, and then finding testers.  Finding testers is a difficult process, because you want someone that knows what they're talking about and can be honest enough to tell you want needs changing  in a way that is constructive, yet still able to think like a new tatter.  If the newest lace-makers can make something beautiful as you have designed it, then it can be something special for everyone.

On top of the absence for the little surgery, I'm coming off one of the worst 'flu bugs I've ever had that had me flat on my back in bed for almost a week.  It is two weeks on and i'm still not 100%, but I'm back to work.  Good thing, too, because I have a tatting habit to support!

I wish everyone reading this a very Happy Easter Weekend.  This weekend is an important marker in the Christian calendar and while I don't fully embrace any religion, I do respect the beliefs of others.  I hope you find the sense of joy, peace and renewal this celebration is intended to bring.

I have yet another contact for you folks, and this time I have one for you so much closer to home!  This kind lady is in Saskatchewan, about 2 hours north of me!  She is the contact person for the Social Stitchers, who meet at the Grenfell Library in Grenfell, Saskatchewan. Cheryl Bieber is an absolutely lovely lady who was the very first other Canadian tatter that I met face to face just a few years ago.  It was so nice to finally meet another person who did what I do!  I honestly thought I was the only Canadian that did this.  Boy was I wrong!  Since meeting her I have discovered a whole community of Canadian folks who enjoy this art form as much, if not more, than I do!

If you'd like to attend their next meeting, drop by the library in Grenfell on Wednesday, May 8 2019 about 7:00 pm.  Bring your tatting and ask for Cheryl.  Tell her Shelley sent you!

The other nice thing about Cheryl is that she has offered her talents as a mentor!  You can reach her at tatterca@yahoo.ca, and she is even willing to do video chat to help you with your questions.  I've seen her work, folks.  She knows her stuff!

To everyone that is on my list of mentors, thank you!  I'm so very pleased to offer this list and I can only hope that more and more of us reach out to each other so we can continue.

That's about it for now, my lovelies.  Gotta go get ready for work tomorrow morning.  Like I said, someone has to pay for my habit!

Happy tatting, Everyone!

Canadian Lacemakers' Gazette

Hello again, Lovely Tatters.  Another day, another post.  I'm here in Saskatchewan and looking out my window this morning I saw...snow.  Yes, it's April 2, and we have snow on the ground and falling from the sky.  Spring, where are you??

On the home front, I'm on day two of my days off and spending them indoors with a nasty malady requiring antibiotics.  I'm feeling better, so I'll be back to work tomorrow.  Gotta support my tatting habits somehow!

I have another resource, folks!!  This is the Canadian Lacemaker Gazette, "Lacemakers coast to coast and beyond", as they claim. They've been providing resources to Canadian Tatters since 1984, and is currently being published in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Their purpose is "to promote and encourage interest and excellence in the art of lacemaking". They currently have 38 groups in their directory, so here's hoping there's something in there to be of assistance to a new tatter.  They have a list of groups in each Canadian Province, the only things missing are Northwest Territories and Nunavut, but that can change in a heartbeat.  They even have a LIST of areas with lacemakers.  Saskatchewan has only four registered, but I know for a fact there are far more than that.

If you're reading this and you've not listed, put yourself out there.  Canadian tatters are very scattered in this country, and we need to be able to connect and support each other.  It's a big country, and I know from personal experience that I thought I was alone until I met a lady from Regina who had been tatting for years about 5-6 years ago.  Bless her heart, she was so sweet and accommodating.  I've come to learn that most lacemakers are just good people.

So, give the Canadian Lacemaker Gazette a look, add your location to the list of communities under the map project and be a representative if you haven't already. 

 

How cool is this??? It's a lace map of Canada!  This has to be one of the best efforts at cooperation between lacemaking types I've ever seen.  

Please check them out. Support the gazette. Add your name to connect with other tatters.  WE NEED THIS!

Happy tatting!