N. C. Mountain State Fair, 2026

It's been a very long time since I have had entries for the Mountain State Fair.  This past year has been sufficiently filled with tatting to have several entities.  It is hard to choose from the tatting that I have created over the past 18 months or so.  Nevertheless I found a few pieces that I am particularly proud of and placed them into the competition.

Basically any resident of the state can put an entry into any of the regional fairs.  The largest and most prestigeous is the State Fair in our state capitol, Raleigh, NC.  There are about 5 regional competitions that incorporate several counties in addition to the individual counties of which there are about 100.  Our region is served by the NC Mountain State Fair held in September in Asheville, NC, the largest town in our 16 county area.  Tatting is considered a Heritage Craft.  As such it is not as common as it once was - particularly in the years from about 1890 through 1950.   One of my collegues, who regularly volunteers at this event, urged me and anyone I know that is a tatter to enter the competition this year especially to keep this catagory viable for the future.  My entries included: 

3 copies of this tatted cardinal (our state bird) attached to a white, satin wrapped hanging ornament;

this tree-top angel from Tatsy tatting patterns, circa 1980;

and this pendant which is a creation of my own tatted with silver Lizbeth metallic thread, a crystal teardrop finding and some glass 11/0 black beads.  This one netted me a blue ribbon, the first I have ever won at a fair.  

But the biggest surprise was winning "Judge's Choice" for a Yule ornament that I almost did not enter.

The pattern is an adaptation of Frau Eleanor Endrucks' Pattern number 19 in her 1920 tatting pattern work written in German and the basis for the Endrucks 1920 Project in which I and others have been participating for several years.  The thread is Lizbeth gold metallic with gold bugle beads between the motifs and with a circular motif around the hanger and another one at the base that are threaded to the center tatting.  

My biggest take away from all this is that modern judges seem to be looking for more unusual applications for tatting and very likely any crafting presented.  "Out with the Old and In with the New!"

Tatting for the Fair

 Last fall, my friend served as a volunteer at the Mountain State Fair in Asheville, an event that I have submitted entries for the Tatting competition in years past.  She indicated that there were so few entries in the “Tatting"  catagory of Arts and Crafts that she feared that category would so go away in the not very distant future.  She encouraged me to find something that I could enter in the fair next year.  So I set about it.  

Over the years, I have collected tatting pattern books by various authors.  One such author is Ineke Kuiperij, a lady in the Netherlands whose books came across the Atlantic with my friend and tatting colleague Riet Surtel-Smeulders when she would journey to the US from her home in the Netherlands to visit family, attend Palmetto Tatters Guild’s Tat Days and other area events.  Sadly, Riet passed away in 2025 and the world has lost another grand master of the craft.

I looked through Ineke’s books and found one particular pattern that I felt would challenge my skills and be an appropriate entry into the competition this coming fall.  It is in this book and an image of my chosen ornament is shown on the cover in the upper right hand corner.  

The piece is complex and created in 4 panels.  Each panel has 5 independent sections which are joined as the piece is tatted along.  Beads are added at intervals.  I chose Liz Metalic in size 20 and the color 313 (SandDollar) with Hemitite beads size 4 mm and black onxy beads size 6 mm.  The pattern was written for size 80 thread and I knew this finished piece would be larger, but it was one I wanted to showcase.  

Judging how much to wind onto my shuttles can be a challenge as well and on the 4th section of the 1st panel, I cut it so close that I had to make the last ring a Split Ring even though the pattern did not call for it:

Thank goodness for crochet hooks and split rings!

Christmas is a-coming!

 With Yuletide upon us, creating gifts, tags and other things for the holiday has taken on a sense of urgency.   From my perspective, a hand-made gift holds special meaning.  The person who created it was thinking of the recipients especially and putting their personal energy into that special item while it was being made.  It is almost as if the item holds a blessing for the person for which it is intended.  

Even Christmas items hold a special feeling when they have been created by the home-owner. Our wreath this year began with a base of artificial greenery on a wire frame to which I added some apple wood branches from an apple tree felled during our encounter with Tropical Storm Helene when it came through her 16 months ago.  I added pine cones found locally and decorated with glitter paint, wild, dried flower stalks that I think are from the artemisia family and bits of lichens that I found on fallen limbs from a nearby silver maple.  

The gold mini-poinsettia flowers were artificial, but added some sparkle that was more muted on the pine cones.  The red ornaments were given to me by friend Sharon Tabor, a fellow-tatter and who created the tatting on them.  The bow has both burlap and acetate ribbon.   Hanging on the south side of our main entry, it will bless the house all all who enter by it.

#Bead Me Endrucks December Game

I do my best to participate in the challenges or games associated with the Facebook Group Endrucks 1920 Project each month.  Doing so makes me more aware of tatting fundamentals and helps stretch my tatting skills.  For December, the challenge was to add beading to one of the motifs that Elonore Endrucks-Leichtenstern published in 1920.  For more information about this group, visit 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1235560633606162

The pattern #32 was re-written by Carin Jansen with notations updated to more modern standards.  Frau Endrucks published her work using written instructions in German and in a font that is hard to read by today's standards.  She used her own style of notations making following her instructions challenging.  Photos of each piece are present throughout the publication, but sometimes the photographer placed the tatting upside down or backwards before capturing the image for print.  This adds a layer of complexity to the work as a whole.  Consequently, it was Carin's interpretation that was the one I followed for this creation.  Carin's pattern is creative enough to offer up 2 ways of carrying out the motif: one that creates a continuoum along one side of the motif at the end of which the tatter can round the end and return to the starting point along the other side; 

 

and the second method creates a motif of blocks that can be joined together to form a length of lace or can be fashioned into a larger square, rectangle or shape such as a cross for a bookmark, according to the wishes of the individual following the pattern. 

My goal was to complete this pattern in such a way that it would encircle a satin-wrapped styrofoam tree ornament with a circumference of approximately 8" (20.32 cm).  Beads would be added to the tatting thread when the shuttles were wound so they could be added to the outer chain as well as to certain free picots of rings along the way.  The pattern as Carin prepared it using the first method did allow for that sort of configuration.

The motif at the top was not in any way from the Endrucks 1920 Project.  The design was fairly simple and tied the central section to the entire piece.  The pattern follows below and may also be found here:

December #BeadMeEndrucks Christmas Ornament Cap

 © 2025 Sally M. Biggers

Abbreviations / Notations: 

R = ring                                          p = picot                                Ch = chain                             

lbp = long bead picot                    prev = previous                     dnrw = do not reverse work

lj = lock join                                   vsp = very small picot          SCMR = self-closing mock-ring                                                        

Links to tutorials:

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/p/tatting-resources.html

Basic Tatting Terms English-Italian https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_7DetVeL2rW7Y3GYkyjRdw7S6k8ZcWbh/view

Long Bead Picot technique by Jane Eborall   http://www.janeeborall.freeservers.com/AddBeadsNew.pdf

 

Materials:

Crochet hook                        20 15/0 seed beads                         10 6/0 seed beads

4 - 6 yards/meters Lizbeth thread size 40 or Olympus Lamé Metallic or similar thread

coiless safety pins

This pattern can be created with needle or shuttle

Instructions:

This small motif is made up of first a central beaded SCMR that alternates 5 long picots and 5 joining picots.  Over each of the long picots 4 15/0 seed beads are placed (lbp – 4 beads) and held temporarily by a coiless safety pin until it can be removed at the time they are lock joined by the chain in Round 1.  A 6/0 seed bead is slipped over each picot (lbp – 1 bead) in this round and likewise held in place by a coiless safety pin until the Round 2 chain connects these together. 

Wind about 1 M / yard of thread onto a shuttle without cutting it from the ball.  Using the diagram below, begin SCMR at point designated with the star and proceed as follows:

Central Ring:

SCMR: *3 ds, long lpb (4 beads), 3 ds, p *.  Repeat from * to * four times leaving off the final p. Close SCMR.  DNRW. 

Round 1:

Begin Ch with a vsp, * Ch 4 ds, lbp (1 bead), Ch 7 ds, lj to lbp of prev R leaving a small space, 7 ds, lbp (1 bead), 4 ds, lj to next p of prev R *.  Repeat from * to * 4 times leaving off the last p and lj to vsp that began the round.  Cut, tie and hide ends.

Round 2:

Re-wind shuttle with about 12 in / 30 cms of thread and do not cut from ball. Join to any vsp at the join of the lbp (4 beads) of the previous Round and begin chain.  *Ch 9 ds, p, 9 ds, lj simultaneously to both lbp’s of the previous Round, Ch 9 ds, p, 9 ds. Lj at top of lbp (4 beads) of previous round *.   Repeat from * to * 4 times, and lj the base of the first chain.  Cut, tie and hide threads.   

Finish:

Cut a length of thread measuring approximately 45 to 50 cms / 18 to 20 in.  Using a tapestry needle, thread one end of the length of thread and begin weaving it through the free picots alternating between the cap created by the above pattern and spaces between the chains on one of the sides of the Endrucks #32 motif around the widest portion of the ornament.  When all the spaces and picots have been threaded, adjust the tension between them to be neat and equal, then cut, tie and hide thread ends.

E32’s reworked pattern’s pdf is part of the Endrucks 1920 Project, please for any detail refer to the main Endrucks 1920 Project document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17LEVftXweztBIOWh4sL4BB7bX65ssoOsOn4oXIgCepY/view )

The pattern may be reproduced for personal use and tatted freely.  

Yuletide is rapidly approaching and while we don't think we will be in the new house by Christmas Day, preparing ornaments has been a priority.   We probably won't have a tree or any serious decorations this year, but I'll be ready for 2025!

Below you see 5 ornament balls with their tatted covers.  From left to right, there is a black satin-wrapped styrophone ball covered with Olympus Lame Metallic thread color # 408 Bronze with added gold-ish bugle beads.  The pattern for the central motif was adapted from pattern 19 in Frau Endruck's Tatting / Schiffchen-Spitzen  publication of 1920.  The second ornament is actually a pale blue egg-shaped ornament addorned with white Lizbeth thread, size 20 and navy blue beads.  This was truly nothing fancy - simply 4 p 4 p 4 p 4 rings with the 11/0 seed beads covering what would be the chain thread and white tear-drop beads between the ring segments.  The third ornament is created using Joelle Paulson's 2012 "Flowering Quatrain Bookmark" (available on her blog) as the central wrap of the motif. It was created using the Italian thread "Master Metallic" in the color red/gold a personal favorite because it holds its shape so well when working up a pattern.  Not widely available Master Metallic is a special metallic thread unlike most of the others of that type. 

Number 4 is a pattern found in a photograph on Pinterest that I had to work out independently.  It is placed over a frosted green glass ornament.  The fifth ornament is again worked over a satin-wrapped styrofoam ornament.  The pattern is one I have lost track of but was carried out using another Master Metallic thread.  In each case, there is a basic pattern of either a simple ring with picots, a clover pattern or simple snowflake with the appropriate number of picots that would allow for weaving individual thread between top or top and bottom, joining these motifs to the central ring.  

I'm not going to post any patterns here at this time.  Much of the motifs used were simply ones that were just worked from memory or from basic tatting design principles.  

Getting Ready for Christmas, 2024

 Over the past 6 months, we have been waiting for the completion of our new residence in Haywood County. The time has been filled up by spending time with our grandchildren and their parents as well as reaching out to get to know our new community.  As a bridge player, seeking out a group of like-minded card players also became a way to integrate into our new surroundings. Like a similar group that I am a part of, the local Haywood County bridge group has an annual Christmas outing that includes gifting with small tokens.  Tatting is a perfect way to carry this out while passing time in one of my favorite activities.

In 2022, those of us who attended Tat Days organized by and carried out by the Palmetto Tatters Guild in South Carolina were presented with some small tokens from tatting great Georgia Seitz's collection of findings or trinkets that could be used in tatting or other crafts.  What I left with was in a small zipper bag with a label:

For the past couple of years I have not known what to do with these charms.  By virtue of the fact that the bail or connecting hole on the finding is present on both the top and the bottom of this particular set of pendants, they could be connected together into a bracelet or similar chain of findings.  As a result, there is now a challenge to create somethiing to gift my friends.  Using these presented itself as( an opportunity to take them and other findings that I already had) to create something unique.  

Metallic thread or more traditional cotton thread used side-by-side with metallic or sythetic fillament.  Usually I rely on Lisbeth cotton in the sizes 20 or 40.  Lisbeth also has a metallic thread that is of blended nylon composition.  Other simiular threads are found as Razzle-Dazzle, Olympic Lame, Oren Basak and the older (and for the most part no longer available) Candlelight threads.  There are also much older cotton and fillament blended threads that can be very fragile and difficult to work with.  

While it too some time to develop a plan to use these findings, I am happy with the final product:

These can be used on sweater or jacket pulls, to mark keys or on wallet or Bibpe zipper.  These are just simple trinkets to gift friends for use as they see fit.  In this case, I added a few beads as well as the lobster clasps tatted with a colorful quilting thread that has a bronze fillament thread wrapped onto the shuttle Ankars style

Getting ready another Tatted Tree for Deck the Trees, Black Mountain

 For the past 11 years, a group I have been a part of has participated in a fund-raiser called Deck the Trees.  It's a benefit for the fuel assistance fund sponsored by the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministries.  Held at the historic Monte Vista Hotel each year (except 2020 when Covid-19 was in its height), this benefit has raised in the vicinity of $100,000 to help families on the edge have enough fuel for our mountain winters.  The committee announced the theme for 2022 as "Let Heaven and Nature Sing" back in August, a theme that is bit more challenging than some have been in the past.  

I chose to acquire clear plastic ornaments that could be filled with not only tatting, but natural elements as well.  The journey to find the various elements began in September.  I first realized that the line "And Heaven and Nature sing" was from the Yuletide carol "Joy to the World" written in 1719 by Isaac Watts, an English Minister.  Locating the song in a hymnal was easy as was making copies that could be trimmed down to a reasonable size and used as a focal point inside the clear balls was a good place to begin.  One of the local charity shops had a hymnal lying on the counter the day I went in, and to my amazement, it was free for the asking.  I trimmed the copies down to the best size to fit the orbs and burnished the edges with a candle flame

The following weeks were spent looking for patterns that would create small snowflakes, musical notes and shapes that could also adorn the orbs.  Any that I couldn't find, I designed to the best of my ability.  Some time was spent looking around the neighborhood for acorns and pine cones that were small enough to fit into the ornamanets.  I also located lavender sprigs, hydrangea blossoms, moss and lichens to be used.  Here are some of the ornaments in various stages of completion: