A Goddess leaves us

Around the world today, those of us who tat and appreciate fine needle-arts – and each other – are pausing to remember Regina Brummett, also known as the “Tatting Goddess.” Whether she gave herself that name or it came from elsewhere, it was an accurate description of someone who tatted a great deal, accompanied by an immense curiosity for how things would work, how a pattern might be adapted, put to good use in a variety of needlework projects or gift-giving opportunities.

In her talented hands, a motif might become a bookmark, a bookmark an edging- and virtually anything could be improved with the addition of tatting. I greatly appreciated her support of my designs and I loved seeing her interpretations and the final outcome.

Gina came to our regional tatting conferences as a participant and as a teacher, always sharing the fun of the occasion with everyone around her. She was thoughtful, smart, generous with sharing, but never gossiped nor had an unkind word to say of anyone.

It can be a cliché to call someone a good person, and after all, who are we to make that sort of judgment? But it’s easy to see when there’s someone one can admire, whose company is treasured, and whose absence leaves a hole. It’s indisputably true there’s no one like her, and Gina will be very greatly missed.

Take a last look at Gina at http://threadsofatattinggoddess.blogspot.com.
You’ll see a vibrant, interested-in-life, beautiful woman and understand why, for those of us who knew her, our lives are dimmed by her passing.

The winter has a harvest too - and here are some of the first fruits. It took a while – a lot longer than I expected – to get the two tatting books (Button Abecedarius and Bouquet of Bookmarks) in the shape I wanted them to be, off to the printer and then back. the sampler in the center between the books is the back cover of the Button book. For weeks there was a LOT of tatting going on – for those and for the February 2012 Tatting Times. None of it was the work of a moment. And with the exception of a special quilt, there wasn't much else going on. No housekeeping. As little cooking as possible. No work on taxes. No shop inventory. When someone came in to look at knitting yarn, I showed them tatting instead.



so... about Kathy’s quilt. Which is also, in its way, about tatting. Quilt squares, mostly from tatters, kept coming in from all over – England, Germany, across the U.S. One tatter wrote something like, “Every tatter is either already my friend or would be my friend if we met.” While only about half those contributing squares know Kathy (so far), they are all gorgeous and made with love. I was able to deliver the quilt to Kathy today, the first time I’ve seen her in about five weeks. Back then, she was in the hospital, not yet in re-hab. (And the evening after we drove up to Rochester to visit, Bill became seriously ill with pneumonia, so circumstances kept me away for a while.) Kathy is now living with her granddaughter, Sonja, as her recovery proceeds. She’s mostly walking without a cane, working on continuing her recuperation – though she’s done so well, her therapists discharged her and told her to keep up the good work.

What a difference! The improvement is marked and wonderful. There’s still a lot of healing going on, but with so many good vibes in a healing blanket, made with love by so many hands, how can she do anything other than continue onwards and upwards?



Standing to the right of the quilt - there's Kathy. She's even using her right hand... way to go!