Fall is in the Air !

- Pumpkin Pendant
- Fall Festival at Old Economy
‘Autumn Spice’ Pumpkin (size 20)
(MOTIF #10, Round 3)

Thanks to Frivole, I now have a cute ‘pumpkin’ to add to my collection of pendants.    Frivole used Mark Meyers’ Apple Pattern (her link below takes you to his PDF pattern) and by using Autumn Spice she made it into a pumpkin.    So I thought I’d give it a try, although I left off the outer picots and obviously, I didn’t do the leaf. That was too much for my brain to handle today!    I simply added a spiral chain and formed it into a stem.

http://leblogdefrivole.blogspot.ca/2012/10/small-pumpkin.html
 

ERNTEFEST AT OLD ECONOMY 
Harvest Festival, Sept. 29-30, 2012
http://www.oldeconomyvillage.org/

We had great weather for the Erntefest at Old Economy on Sept. 29-30. Fortunately the predicted rain held off on Sunday, and both days were sunny and a perfect temperature. Our tatting group has been participating in festivals at Old Economy for at least 25 years, and I’ve been attending for 22. Here’s a quick tour.
 
This is one of the 17 preserved historic buildings built between 1825-1830, of the Harmonist Society at their final home, named “Economy“ (now Ambridge, PA), north of Pittsburgh, PA, along the Ohio River

This building (known as the Mechanics Building) is a sentimental favorite of our tatting group, because the representative “School Room”, located in the corner section, 1^st floor (with the five windows shown here) was our ‘home’ for almost 20 years. and it was a perfect size room for our demonstrations and exhibits of our tatted lace. Around 2008 the school room was moved to another area, and ’our’ room was returned to its original purpose - the shoe shop. So we have had to move to other areas of the Village to set up our tables and displays. The original Harmonist printing press is also in this building and is a working press! Also of importance is the Wine Cellar, located in the basement. 

There are several long gravel paths in the Village. This one links the vegetable garden to the huge Feast Hall (only partly visible here), with flowers lining the path. I have no idea what these amazing red ‘snowball’ flowers are.

Looking to the left is another path leading to the stone structure in the circular Pavilion area, which contains a statue of the Greek Goddess Harmonia, holding a lyre. Five different paths radiate out from this pavilion area, and it is a popular spot for weddings.












This photo was taken down farther on the path in the area of the vegetable and herb gardens, again looking toward the Feast Hall, now far in the distance. The closer buildings (2 houses forming an “L” shape) contain 17 rooms, and are collectively called “The Great House”. They were the residences and offices for the leaders of the Harmonist Society for conducting business with the outside world. The Harmonists exported their wool, cotton, silk and wine to many countries. They also invested in the railroads, oil and real estate, and used steam to power their factories.

The 5-story Granary Building, (near the Feast Hall) with wood exterior, is where we were situated for this weekend's Festival. 

Evelyn and Peg (Carol Lawecki's mom) are in the background, at the large table.   Pam, our newest member (not shown here), joined us on Saturday.
 

The Erntefest is a quieter Festival, emphasizing the everyday lives of the Harmonists and is not a ’craft show’. We were flattered to be invited to participate, especially since there is no evidence that the Harmonists did any tatting. We have become popular with the visitors over the years, and we represent needlework of the Victorian Era, which is when the Village was active.

I hope you have a good weekend! 

Star Pendants

When Rachel Jackson (Pineywoods Tatter) generously posted her Pumpkin Pie pendant as a free pattern (see link below),  I was attracted to the star shape that is formed after Round 2 (of 3 rounds), which is worked over the basic 5 interlocking rings. 
http://pineywoodstatter.blogspot.com/2012/10/pumpkin-pie-pendant.html) 

Star motif, designed by Rachel Jackson. 
Lizbeth size 20, Autumn Spice
(a new favorite!) 
Motif #8, Third Round

As I had a new ball of Lizbeth Size 20, Autumn Spice, I just HAD to make this star!
I was pleased to see that it made a nice size pendant (about 2“ across), which, as usual, I mounted on a black velvet paper circle. Then I sewed on the beads and pulled the threads to the back of the black velvet paper, which makes it very convenient to hide the threads!
 I then attached the velvet disc to a larger copper pendant. (I used a powerful double-stick tape to do that.)

 









This is one of my favorite Fall jackets. When combined with a black turtleneck, it shows off the pendant nicely.












SMALL STAR MOTIF  (Motif #9, Third Round)



 
And just to prove to you that I CAN actually tat beads into my motifs, here are two easy  'star' motifs that I made up, where all the beads (except the center ones) are tatted in. 

I had to refer to Jane Eborall's excellent method of adding beads onto decorative (not joining) picots as you go, rather than stringing them onto the thread, and it works perfectly.  

Lizbeth size 20, spring garden
http://www.janeeborall.freeservers.com/AddBeadsNew.pdf I remember experimenting with this method awhile ago, but I had to refresh my memory.

I did sew the motif down through the beads on the points to hold the pendant onto the black paper disc. 


OLD ECONOMY ERNTEFEST

I will be doing a separate post of our tatting event at Old Economy (Sept. 29-30), as Blogger doesn't like me to post too many photos at one time! 

Hope you're enjoying some nice October weather.