I have to tell you about the visit we made to Betty Magill, called Mrs. Betty, and the wonderfull day we spent there. Pam Freck drove her car with Riet Surtel in it, and I was in Joannie Culverhouse's car. Fortunately - for me - Pam didn't remember well the way, so we crossed a lot of countryside and I had the opportunity to admire this wonderful sorroundings, but I was a bit surprised to see a lot of poor people living in very old and sometimes ruined houses. After a lot of driving around we got to Betty Magill's home.
Betty Magill and her husband live in Kinards, SC which is between Newberry and Clinton, SC. She is surrounded by fields of cotton, corn and soybeans. There are many dairy farms in that area also.
Mrs. Betty has been corresponding for over 50 years with people from all over the world in regard to tatting, crocheting and notecard making. Dorah Orr was one of those ladies. She test tatted many patterns including the ones for Myrtle Hamilton. Another lady she corresponded with in Florida was Joanie Culverhouse who was delighted to get to meet Mrs. Betty in person.
Betty was in her own little world until the SC State Fair in 2000. Mr. Robert, her husband, was watching TV early one morning and saw the Palmetto Tatters on TV and he told Mrs. Betty to come watch. She was beside herself and found their very next meeting. She has done a lot of the PTG Guild correspondance through the years like thank you notes for the butterflies and makes bookmarks to give away at Tat Days. Due to her health issues she has not been able to attend either the State Fairs or the Guild Meetings for the last 2 years. That is why the Palmetto tatters try to take the lessons and the folks to her.
We sat a lot of hours together tatting, showing our tatting works and speaking. I admired Mrs. Betty's framed tattingworks on the walls and a shuttle collection under glas in a table. She gave us some handmade booksmarks and other gifts. She also had invited a yournalist from the local paper "The Newberry Observer" to join us, who made a lot of questions and took pictures and stayed also hours together with us. She wrote a very big article on that newspaper about tatting, a whole page with text and photos. Pam Freck was so kind and sent me a copy of that paper. Evening arrived and Mrs Betty invited us to remain for dinner, but Joannie had to return home to prepair dinner for her husband, so we greeted Mrs. Betty and went home. It was really a wonderful and unforgettable day.
Showing posts with label Palmetto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palmetto. Show all posts
Saturday, 15 December 2007
Sunday, 21 October 2007
My trip to South Carolina - part 2
One of my students of the doily class was Sherry Townsend. I had noticed her the first moment she arrived, because she wore a big purple, very beautiful tatted hat. She is a very communicative and eccentric lady, with long wild hair and eccentric clothes. Her enthusiasm is infecting. She made me a lot of compliments and wanted my permission to photograph my items, which I gave her. Unfortunately she had not brought her items for the exhibition room, but she showed me some of her three-dimensional tattings which are amazing, especially a dinosaur with his kid dinosaur. She has already finished the doily of my doily class, showing it on her site.
After my Sunday morning class, which was the design class, and before attending Nina Libbins class, I had the conference class. So I went to the place, which was near the vending room, with sofas and chairs near big windows, from where you could see the green surroundings with lots of trees, und from which the bright light came in. Here I found Ruth Perry, the celtic tatting master. I imagined her as a delicate lady, like her tiny, beautiful, intricate lace and her name Rozella Linden, instead I met a strong, big, a bit masculine but beautiful lady, which was sitting there teaching her wonderful art in the middle of a group of arthungry ladies gathered around her. I sat the nearest possible to her, looking, absorbing and admiring.
On the floor there was sitting Martha Ess, making something with beads, which she charged with a hook in a very fast way on the thread. With her red hair and the white tatted hat, her slim body and shy character she seems to me the tatting fairy. I saw her always tatting something and smiling gently. Her little items in block tatting were amazing.
While I was sitting there, waiting for someone to ask me something, which did not happen with Ruth Perry around there, a lady named Hegla came and hugged me and made me a lot of compliments, and then gave me as a gift an old, free tatting book from Therese Dillmont she had loaded down from the internet. I was so surprised and happy about this.
Unfortunately I missed the tatting speed competition, where I didn’t arrive in time. So I could not win against Mark Myers, who won again.
In the evening there was the banquet, where Georgia Seitz made such an interesting speech about the tatting history. I gained a lot of new information. Thank you Georgia for all your efforts in keeping tatting alive and lively. She is our tatting mother, I loved her the first moment I saw her. She asked me to teach one of my earrings in the online class, which is a great honour for me, and I’m now preparing the lesson.
I have to speak about Mary Donahue. She didn’t wore our Palmetto t-shirt, but had a special t-shirt with her flower garden stamped on it, and everybody admired that stamp. She had organized the food, so that we could eat healthy and simple food, and I appreciated that a lot and I liked the food very much. She is also a very communicative lady, speaking with everybody and making you immediately feel at home, and she is also a great teacher. We participated, together with Pam Essberg, another interesting tatting teacher, and another lady, I don’t remember well if it was Katie Verna, at the tatted card competition, sure to win. We didn’t win, the group of Geogia Seitz won and I must admit that their cards were better that ours.
In the evening, when everything was over, I sat together with Marie Smith. This was an important moment for me: she taught me how to teach tatting to children and how to make the split chain in a very easy way. She also gave me some tatting tools for gift and I will never forget this moments I passed with her. I didn’t yet have the time to teach my 6 year old granddaughter, because she has started school and is also very busy, but soon it will be winter and I will have plenty of time to teach her.
I have to say a big thank you to the organizers. All the ladies were constantly present, ready to help you for everything, smiling always and making you feeling at home and important. I saw them exhausted and sweating, but still smiling. They stayed hours and hours in the exposition room to judge the pieces, some of them sat the whole days in the vending room to sell our pieces, they organized plays for us in the evening, when they were much more tired than us, they tried to meet all our requests and make us comfortable. Everything was perfectly organized. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
After the Palmetto Tat days I stayed some other days with Jane Henson, and then I was hosted by Joanie Culverhouse. Joanie is a very special lady. She is one of the group of organizers. At her home all is organized for tatting, knitting, crocheting, beading. She does not look television, at least she looks at her birds in front of her kitchen window. We were so united in our love for crafts, that we did nothing else than tatting and looking at her tools and materials. And... we went to the crafts shops at the malls to purchase beads and other things for tatting. She let me enter her craft sanctuary in the FROG (I learned that this means free room over garage), where she had all her craft materials. She gave me a lot of things as gift: findings for jewellery, beads, and a lot of special tools for tatting, I never could think of. She is constantly collecting all sort of things and containers, imagining a use for craft purposes. As they had organized another class for me for their Palmetto meeting, where I had to teach my butterfly, Joanie and I worked together at that butterfly and made some spare bodies for those who would not have been able to make the body at home or to finish it in class, so that they could try to make the wings. Also in Joanie’s house there was a cat, a very nasty cat, which would have killed me, if she could. I always tried to remember to close my room, because I was not sure if the cat would try to destroy some of my things. On the Saturday morning of the butterfly class, we stood up early to be there in time: distances are always great in America, we cannot imagine that in Europe. We arrived at the library, where there was the class room and prepared everything. A lot of woman attended the class, also Riet Surtel, and at the end nearly all of them had made part of the butterfly to be able to finish it at home. The spare bodies I had prepared with Joanie’s help, had been distributed and had been very useful. This class was a great experience.
On Sunday morning I prepared my luggage, trying to put in all my gifts and purchases in a safe position, and then, in the early afternoon we went to the mall, where some ladies meet every Sunday for tatting. So I had the opportunity to see them for the last time before my departure and greet them. Then Joanie and Jane Henson accompanied me to the airport to return to Canada, to my sister. They waited with me a lot of time, because we were early, and then we greeted us with a lot of hugs and I went behind the passport and luggage control to the gate.
After my Sunday morning class, which was the design class, and before attending Nina Libbins class, I had the conference class. So I went to the place, which was near the vending room, with sofas and chairs near big windows, from where you could see the green surroundings with lots of trees, und from which the bright light came in. Here I found Ruth Perry, the celtic tatting master. I imagined her as a delicate lady, like her tiny, beautiful, intricate lace and her name Rozella Linden, instead I met a strong, big, a bit masculine but beautiful lady, which was sitting there teaching her wonderful art in the middle of a group of arthungry ladies gathered around her. I sat the nearest possible to her, looking, absorbing and admiring.
On the floor there was sitting Martha Ess, making something with beads, which she charged with a hook in a very fast way on the thread. With her red hair and the white tatted hat, her slim body and shy character she seems to me the tatting fairy. I saw her always tatting something and smiling gently. Her little items in block tatting were amazing.
While I was sitting there, waiting for someone to ask me something, which did not happen with Ruth Perry around there, a lady named Hegla came and hugged me and made me a lot of compliments, and then gave me as a gift an old, free tatting book from Therese Dillmont she had loaded down from the internet. I was so surprised and happy about this.
Unfortunately I missed the tatting speed competition, where I didn’t arrive in time. So I could not win against Mark Myers, who won again.
In the evening there was the banquet, where Georgia Seitz made such an interesting speech about the tatting history. I gained a lot of new information. Thank you Georgia for all your efforts in keeping tatting alive and lively. She is our tatting mother, I loved her the first moment I saw her. She asked me to teach one of my earrings in the online class, which is a great honour for me, and I’m now preparing the lesson.
I have to speak about Mary Donahue. She didn’t wore our Palmetto t-shirt, but had a special t-shirt with her flower garden stamped on it, and everybody admired that stamp. She had organized the food, so that we could eat healthy and simple food, and I appreciated that a lot and I liked the food very much. She is also a very communicative lady, speaking with everybody and making you immediately feel at home, and she is also a great teacher. We participated, together with Pam Essberg, another interesting tatting teacher, and another lady, I don’t remember well if it was Katie Verna, at the tatted card competition, sure to win. We didn’t win, the group of Geogia Seitz won and I must admit that their cards were better that ours.
In the evening, when everything was over, I sat together with Marie Smith. This was an important moment for me: she taught me how to teach tatting to children and how to make the split chain in a very easy way. She also gave me some tatting tools for gift and I will never forget this moments I passed with her. I didn’t yet have the time to teach my 6 year old granddaughter, because she has started school and is also very busy, but soon it will be winter and I will have plenty of time to teach her.
I have to say a big thank you to the organizers. All the ladies were constantly present, ready to help you for everything, smiling always and making you feeling at home and important. I saw them exhausted and sweating, but still smiling. They stayed hours and hours in the exposition room to judge the pieces, some of them sat the whole days in the vending room to sell our pieces, they organized plays for us in the evening, when they were much more tired than us, they tried to meet all our requests and make us comfortable. Everything was perfectly organized. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
After the Palmetto Tat days I stayed some other days with Jane Henson, and then I was hosted by Joanie Culverhouse. Joanie is a very special lady. She is one of the group of organizers. At her home all is organized for tatting, knitting, crocheting, beading. She does not look television, at least she looks at her birds in front of her kitchen window. We were so united in our love for crafts, that we did nothing else than tatting and looking at her tools and materials. And... we went to the crafts shops at the malls to purchase beads and other things for tatting. She let me enter her craft sanctuary in the FROG (I learned that this means free room over garage), where she had all her craft materials. She gave me a lot of things as gift: findings for jewellery, beads, and a lot of special tools for tatting, I never could think of. She is constantly collecting all sort of things and containers, imagining a use for craft purposes. As they had organized another class for me for their Palmetto meeting, where I had to teach my butterfly, Joanie and I worked together at that butterfly and made some spare bodies for those who would not have been able to make the body at home or to finish it in class, so that they could try to make the wings. Also in Joanie’s house there was a cat, a very nasty cat, which would have killed me, if she could. I always tried to remember to close my room, because I was not sure if the cat would try to destroy some of my things. On the Saturday morning of the butterfly class, we stood up early to be there in time: distances are always great in America, we cannot imagine that in Europe. We arrived at the library, where there was the class room and prepared everything. A lot of woman attended the class, also Riet Surtel, and at the end nearly all of them had made part of the butterfly to be able to finish it at home. The spare bodies I had prepared with Joanie’s help, had been distributed and had been very useful. This class was a great experience.
On Sunday morning I prepared my luggage, trying to put in all my gifts and purchases in a safe position, and then, in the early afternoon we went to the mall, where some ladies meet every Sunday for tatting. So I had the opportunity to see them for the last time before my departure and greet them. Then Joanie and Jane Henson accompanied me to the airport to return to Canada, to my sister. They waited with me a lot of time, because we were early, and then we greeted us with a lot of hugs and I went behind the passport and luggage control to the gate.
Sunday, 14 October 2007
My trip to South Carolina - Part 1
This is Part 1 of my report from Palmetto Tat Days.
I'm finally returned to Italy from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, with a trip of more than 18 hours and it took me a while to recover from the stress.
Today is Saturday and I'm alone at home, so I have time to tell you all about my trip to South Carolina. This is not an easy task, because there is so much to tell and I hope you will comprehend, that not every person I met, can be mentioned.
I arrived at Columbia the afternoon on Tuesday, the 3rd of September, and Jane Henson, a slim and very beautiful lady with white hair, which seems an actress from the fifties, took me from the airport to her beautiful home, where she hosted me for several days. She let me take part of her way of life, which is the American way of life. She drove me around with her big car and her soft driving manner for hours to go shopping in different malls and shops. In the evenings we sat together tatting, with her 3 cats looking at me with suspect and then running away disgusted.
On Thursday Jane took me to a small village, where we were invited at a restaurant to have a teacher meeting. Here I came together for the first time with most of the teachers and organizers of this years Palmetto event: Jane Eborall, Hope Green, Mimi Dillman, Riet Surtel, Joanie Culverhouse, Teresa Woods, my teaching assistant Barbara Hevener, and others from whom I don't remember the names. I'm a bit shy and speaking in english is not so easy, so I listened and memorized.
On Wednesday morning Jane Henson took me to the White Oak Center. While we were waiting for the keys of our rooms, we sat together tatting and talking and I didn't miss the opportunity to put my hands in Jane Eborall's tatting bag and touch all her colored tatting treasures: earrings, broaches, bracelets, flowers, etc. She is such a sunny and creative person, exactly the same as she appears on her blog and it seemed to me to know her since ever, and she is very English, with the English accent and above all the English humour. Her jacket and her handbag, all was covered with colored tatted animals and flowers. Her love for colors is amazing and "infecting". It's a pity that I live so far away from her... for european distances, about two hours of airplane.
Then I also met Riet Surtel, which I already knew from our German Tatting Exhibition Event in Horstmar. She is like a Tatting-mother to us, and inspires a lot of love. During her lessons she invites her American students to sing canons in … dutch. I’m very honoured that she took my butterfly class the week after Palmetto Tat days. She told me, that if we want to hold the interest in tatting high, we have to use colors. I agree with her, because also in Italy there is nobody, who makes some laces for the household objects anymore, like it used to be only a generation ago.
Naturally I got together with my teaching assistant, Barbara Hevener, which had helped me so much to make all the descriptions for the Palmetto doily slice, which I would not have been able to do without her. She is a very discrete lady, with white hair, who does not speak very much, but listens. After the Palmetto Tat Days she invited me, together with Joanie, to a restaurant, where they serve traditional homelike meals, which I liked very much and which was the best I eat in a restaurant in all the days I stayed in America and Canada. She had also thought about where to bring me to see something special, so after the restaurant we went to see the zoo of Columbia. This is a very special zoo, where all the animals where held in spaces, which recreate the surroundings of their natural life, so a lot of animals where not easy visible, because they where camouflaged by the surrounding colors. We passed a great day there together.
There were not many students, but important ones, at my two classes, the doily class and the design class, and all expressed their satisfaction and made me a lot of compliments. Especially the design class was a great success and I’m very satisfied of the result. I hope to be soon able to show you here the realisations of my students designs.
On Saturday afternoon I attended Nina Libbins beaded necklace class. I was surprised by the simplicity of her pattern to obtain a great design. Nina Libbin is a very patient and friendly teacher and I enjoyed it a lot to know her personally and to learn from her.
Between the classes I had also the opportunity to take a look at Mark Myers tatting sample book. I cannot tell how I’m impressed to see those tiny, lacy, beautiful works, made with the thinnest thread. Every time I went into the exhibition room, I admired his gorgeous new white angel and other work. We did not speak a lot together, because time table was stressing and also Mark is a bit shy, like me, but having him met in person is great for me.
One of my students was Katie Verna. Her name was already familiar to me because of her beautiful works on the roundrobin doilies of Maus’s roundrobin site. She spoke to me in perfect Italian, though not of Italian origin. I don’t know if Riet met somebody who could speak to her in... perfect dutch LOL.
To be continued.
I'm finally returned to Italy from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, with a trip of more than 18 hours and it took me a while to recover from the stress.
Today is Saturday and I'm alone at home, so I have time to tell you all about my trip to South Carolina. This is not an easy task, because there is so much to tell and I hope you will comprehend, that not every person I met, can be mentioned.
I arrived at Columbia the afternoon on Tuesday, the 3rd of September, and Jane Henson, a slim and very beautiful lady with white hair, which seems an actress from the fifties, took me from the airport to her beautiful home, where she hosted me for several days. She let me take part of her way of life, which is the American way of life. She drove me around with her big car and her soft driving manner for hours to go shopping in different malls and shops. In the evenings we sat together tatting, with her 3 cats looking at me with suspect and then running away disgusted.
On Thursday Jane took me to a small village, where we were invited at a restaurant to have a teacher meeting. Here I came together for the first time with most of the teachers and organizers of this years Palmetto event: Jane Eborall, Hope Green, Mimi Dillman, Riet Surtel, Joanie Culverhouse, Teresa Woods, my teaching assistant Barbara Hevener, and others from whom I don't remember the names. I'm a bit shy and speaking in english is not so easy, so I listened and memorized.
On Wednesday morning Jane Henson took me to the White Oak Center. While we were waiting for the keys of our rooms, we sat together tatting and talking and I didn't miss the opportunity to put my hands in Jane Eborall's tatting bag and touch all her colored tatting treasures: earrings, broaches, bracelets, flowers, etc. She is such a sunny and creative person, exactly the same as she appears on her blog and it seemed to me to know her since ever, and she is very English, with the English accent and above all the English humour. Her jacket and her handbag, all was covered with colored tatted animals and flowers. Her love for colors is amazing and "infecting". It's a pity that I live so far away from her... for european distances, about two hours of airplane.
Then I also met Riet Surtel, which I already knew from our German Tatting Exhibition Event in Horstmar. She is like a Tatting-mother to us, and inspires a lot of love. During her lessons she invites her American students to sing canons in … dutch. I’m very honoured that she took my butterfly class the week after Palmetto Tat days. She told me, that if we want to hold the interest in tatting high, we have to use colors. I agree with her, because also in Italy there is nobody, who makes some laces for the household objects anymore, like it used to be only a generation ago.
Naturally I got together with my teaching assistant, Barbara Hevener, which had helped me so much to make all the descriptions for the Palmetto doily slice, which I would not have been able to do without her. She is a very discrete lady, with white hair, who does not speak very much, but listens. After the Palmetto Tat Days she invited me, together with Joanie, to a restaurant, where they serve traditional homelike meals, which I liked very much and which was the best I eat in a restaurant in all the days I stayed in America and Canada. She had also thought about where to bring me to see something special, so after the restaurant we went to see the zoo of Columbia. This is a very special zoo, where all the animals where held in spaces, which recreate the surroundings of their natural life, so a lot of animals where not easy visible, because they where camouflaged by the surrounding colors. We passed a great day there together.
There were not many students, but important ones, at my two classes, the doily class and the design class, and all expressed their satisfaction and made me a lot of compliments. Especially the design class was a great success and I’m very satisfied of the result. I hope to be soon able to show you here the realisations of my students designs.
On Saturday afternoon I attended Nina Libbins beaded necklace class. I was surprised by the simplicity of her pattern to obtain a great design. Nina Libbin is a very patient and friendly teacher and I enjoyed it a lot to know her personally and to learn from her.
Between the classes I had also the opportunity to take a look at Mark Myers tatting sample book. I cannot tell how I’m impressed to see those tiny, lacy, beautiful works, made with the thinnest thread. Every time I went into the exhibition room, I admired his gorgeous new white angel and other work. We did not speak a lot together, because time table was stressing and also Mark is a bit shy, like me, but having him met in person is great for me.
One of my students was Katie Verna. Her name was already familiar to me because of her beautiful works on the roundrobin doilies of Maus’s roundrobin site. She spoke to me in perfect Italian, though not of Italian origin. I don’t know if Riet met somebody who could speak to her in... perfect dutch LOL.
To be continued.
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