October 7th arrival

What a surprise. This actually came in on Friday but it's taken me until today to get it up and running - whoops, I mean swimming. This came from Stephanie who says:

118. "Apparently she’s a very slow swimmer. She was finished the week the last ‘instalment’ of the 2018 TIAS was released, but between needing to see the hairdresser, then swimming the width of that rather large pond to get to you, it took her a while. 

The mermaid is tatted with Lizbeth 20 (Girly Girl, I think was the color name). Hair is a thin metallic made by Superior Threads. I used more than 1 strand of metallic per picot, since it is such a thin thread compared to size 20 Lizbeth cotton. 

Monday August 27th

I'm very, very pleased to give you this link to Axa's blog post about her finished mermaid. This will be number 117 as you can see. This is the translation to her post.

117. "This year, I started a little late this challenge, but he is not left out. :) sample vessel made of lace technique Jane Eborall plans every year and makes up the steps of the sample blog just next instalment. Thanks for that, again this year. 

While together with us busy completed in several parts of the world, trying to figure out just what it is. Mostly he used to be a nice figure, and in most cases we can be sure it is the last step with what we started to prepare. 

Everyone can send the current portion of Jane, who places it on the blog so you can track where you are from, what they think, what will be the sample, and most of what people can just play with us."

April 3rd

Well between us - Martha forgetting an attachment and me not noticing when she had we've finally got her mermaid into the TIAS blog!!!

115. "Oops, I kept forgetting about the mermaid."

Next to arrive is Grace.  Somehow I didn't get her earlier messages but thankfully she realised and has sent them in now.  She's sent days 13, 14 and 15.

116. 

April 2nd

Today I'm pleased to welcome Claire's mermaid along with this comment from her:

113. "Hello Jane and fellow tatters, 

I am sad to see the end of this TIAS, and I tried to make it last as long as possible but here is my finished mermaid. 

I forgot to take a picture of my day 14, so here is only one picture of the finished TIAS, and the corresponding blog post: https://oclairedelune.wordpress.com/2018/04/01/tias-2018-jours-days-14-15-la-fin-the-end/

My mermaid was made using Lizbeth thread in size 20, in the colorway « Autumn Apple Pie » (#169). 

A big thank you to Jane for creating another great pattern, and sharing it as a fun game every year. It was great to see tatters from all over the world participating to the game, and creating so many beautiful little mermaids. 

Happy International Tatting Day to all."

Well here's another lovely surprise. This mermaid has come from Sandra who has this to say:

114. "Dear Jane, after many things hitting the fan here, I have finally been able to spend some time tatting and finish on April Fool’s Day (in the US, at least) – go figure! I’m so happy to have your precious mermaid, even though I thought for sure it might be a centipede, a pin the tail on the donkey game, or an ant eater, or a fox sawing logs –whew!! I do believe she is on her way to a party."

March 23rd

Well a lovely surprise yet again. This time the mermaid comes from Brenda in Canada and this is what she says:

112. "Dear Jane,

This mermaid was created by a group of friends. Thanks to Fran for the photo, Suzanne for mounting the mermaid on blue material and framing it, Barbara for the yellow perle cotton and especially to you for the T.I.A.S. pattern. I just did the tatting. It was a wonderful project for our craft group.

Thank you,

Brenda (Ontario, Canada)"

March 15th

Another day, another mermaid or two or three!!! 

Today I have Phyllis's mermaid which has just arrived. She says:

112. "Well my mermaid took the long way to you as it has been swimming across the pond. Thanks for another wonderful TIAS this year. Perhaps BC3 will change its mind and do another next year. Phyllis in GA USA"

Next to arrive is a merman!!! This is from Isdihara who sent in two messages!!! What a hoot:

113. "This is my first TIAS a Merman. I think his name must be Herman the Merman since Google keeps autocorrecting my typing, LOL."

Her second message is:

"OMG, now it must be Herman the German Merman-- you must be SO confused! So many autocorrecting. Go home, Google, you're drunk!"

Ummm, that's worrying a drunken google!!!

Back overnight is Isdihara again with the following two pictures and this comment:

"My very purple mermaid #1 is finished. She has big, brown eyes and her name is Serena. She is friends with Herman.

Serena is tatted with Lizbeth 20 #165 Grape Splash. Strands of Elderberry Jam #177, Lilac Medium #642 and a variegated brown sewing thread make up her hair.

Karen/IsDihara from Woodbridge, VA, USA"

March 13th

Today I'm happy to show you Alicja's mermaid. This one has had a long way to come - from Poland. This is the comment that came with it.

111. "Hello Jane,I know, it's late. Now I finished the mermaid. I'm late, but happy. Thank you for the fun!

I used DMC Babylo thread.

Alicja Wolska"

WOW, Alicja - those colours are amazing.  

Sunday 11th March

Another two mermaids (or, rather three!) have wandered or swum into my inbox today. 

First of all I have Fiona's days 14 and then the finished (day 15) mermaid. She says:

109. "Dear Jane

Well, I finally got back to this lovely girl and finished off her tail and tresses. 

Thanks for the fun this year, and for your hard work and efforts too. Seeing this build each year to include translations into different languages and unite tatters all over the world has been a privilege. Your support for beginner and experienced tatters alike is commendable. 

Thanks for continuing to be such a pivotal part of the online tatting community!

Kind regards

Fiona T 

onemadtatter.wordpress.com "

Thanks for the kind words, Fiona.

Now I have two mermaids from Barbara. I love the golden hair, Barbara.

Here's what she has to say:

110. "Dear Jane,

Here, finally, are my two mermaids. I’ve really enjoyed participating in this year’s TIAS. 

The mermaid on the left was tatted with size 20 Lizbeth Green Coral Sea #171. I used size 80 Lizbeth Cream tatting thread for the hair with a couple of thin gold metallic threads mixed in. 

The mermaid on the right was made with size 20 Lizbeth Island Breeze #130. I used “Glamour” in gold by Madeira (that I’ve had for a long time) for the hair. I gave her some fringe (bangs in American English) because she had such a high forehead ;-)

I used size 11/0 seed beads by Toho for eyes.

Thank you for all the time and energy you’ve put providing fun TIAS’ for us to tat. 

Many blessings!

Barbara from Northern California, USA"

Tuesday 6th March

This morning I have one more mermaid in my inbox and this has come from Cheryl who says:

109. "I had seen Bev of south Australia's wonderful idea of making a pretty ocean for her mermaid. 

I painted a ceramic tile with alcohol ink and then made her cute starfish and fish. Getting it glued

to a ceramic tile is fiddly and takes lots of patience."

But well, well worth the effort, Cheryl.

Fifth March

Having finally understood that Jolimama's lovely picture with all the Hungarian mermaids was a gathering of all those sent in already I went back and numbered the following ones on the blog. I have checked it against the numbering I've got in iCloud (TIAS Day 15) I'm on track again. So here's another new one in today and just as I'm heading towards bed!!

This mermaid has come from Sharon who says:

108. "Hi Jane,

After a few interruptions, I have finished my mermaid. Thanks for the TIAS and all the fun. So sad to see it go away.

Thanks again for all your hard work.

Sharon Albers - Iowa, USA."

March 2nd

Well it'll soon be my bedtime and I thought there would be no mermaids today - I was wrong. I have JB's which has just arrived and this is what she says:

107. "Hi Jane,

Please see my mermaid from Satsuma, Alabama. I used hdt color Summer Rainbow from AlenAleaDesign for the body and Lizbeth Lemon Yellow for the hair.

Thanks again for another great TIAS.

JB Locke"

You're welcome, JB and thanks for sending in your mermaid.

First March

First today I have Cindy's mermaid which has now arrived very gracefully into the TIAS blog. She says:

105. "Good Morning Jane,

I was waiting for a sunny day to try to work away the thread ends. Unfortunately this became the longest dreary period Texas has known in a long, long time… I have had to turn on the lights during the day, just about every day! So, today I decided to try it with my daylight lamp. I think the result is not completely awful. I clearly could learn a bit more about finishing techniques in tatting. My little mermaid received a hairdo in the same color as her body. My selection of thread is not huge yet, and it seemed as good a color as any. But the hair tie is a piece of seaweed…. LOL I used Lizbeth size 20, color 127, Butterfly Breeze. The hair tie is Perle Iris size 8, color 5062, a variegated green, of which I literally had just that little piece left over. I live in the Dallas area, in Texas, USA. Thank you for giving us the best reason to look forward to the new year. :D I loved playing the game, even if the last couple of days I got hopelessly behind. The rest of life had apparently no respect for my desire to tat…"

Next in today is a batch of mermaids from Katie!!! Here's what she says along with her husband's rhyme too!!

106. "Hi, Jane,

here are five of my six sweet mermaids--one swam away at the sight of the others' hairdos! Never been good at "styling" hair! Also, may redo these as I like to applique' tatting figures to quilts or my jeans jacket. Floating hair might be a bit much. Actually, I gave the wayward swimmer to a friend from Tri-tatters who thought her daughter would LOVE one! Her job is to be hair stylist for that mermaid, hehe!

Your TIAS projects have all been marvelous as have been the responses of tatters around the world! In your honor, my poetic husband wrote a limerick for this perhaps final occasion:

Adieu, TIAS. Thanks to Jane,

I have tatted a rooster, a plane,

a fat hippo, a goat,

a mermaid, a sail boat,

a rabbit... The joy will remain. 

Well, Jane, that's seven of the ten! 

big, big tatty hugs, 

Katie Verna in NC USA (near Raleigh)"

Oh, Katie I love all the different hairstyles.  The blue one on the bottom left has a particularly interesting hairstyle.  Please tell your husband that I think he must be a descendent of one of our local men - William Shakespeare!!!!

28th February

I have a new mermaid in this morning from The Netherlands. This has been sent to me by Riet who translated the TIAS 2018 into Dutch for the tatters in her country. This is what Riet says:

101. "Hi Jane,

a mermaid for you from Marian de leng

She said I am so glad that this year I can mail the mermaid It is not without a mistake but 

I mail it she also is feeling sad that this is the last one I told her to become a member of your blog and she can find all kind of patterns.

Greetings

Riet the B-engel"

Thank you, Marian and thank you, Riet too.

I also have two gorgeous mermaids from Janet who says:

102. "I did manage your mermaids, I need to block them but I hopefully shall try and attach them, to this email. Really enjoying getting back to my favourite hobby. (I was quite a sickly child so I used to do lots of handicrafts. In Sheffield hospital when I was 7 yrs, A patient Ann Overend used to tat round handkerchief it was beautiful, I could crochet but never got the hang of tatting. Couldn’t flip the thread. I was at work before I met Alice and we sat in a cafe and she taught me to flip the knot.)"

Mary is next to arrive with her mermaid and she says:

103. "Thanks for another TIAS. Here's my mermaid she swam up the Grand Union Canal to you."

Next to arrive is Claire who tells us of others doing the TIAS too. She says:

104. "I think there have been quite a number of us who have done your TIAS this year and past years who don't take pictures on a daily basis, but who enjoy doing it. This was the first one my friend ever did. Ruby's is on the left and she used size 10 thread. She has struggled with following patterns in the past, but she did this all on her own. I've been doing it every year since 2011. I truly hope this wasn't the last year. When did you do the first TIAS and how can we get the directions for the earliest ones? I used Lizabeth size 20 thread , color #105--Confetti and the hair was size 10 thread. I have been struggling to make the twisted chain for a long time, so I decided to practice after l made the ring to hold her hair. Now I have a loop to hang her from the lamp shade. 

I have two other friends who did the TIAS this year who have not shared their work with you either. All four of us live in Washington state, not Washington DC. Thank you for all of your hard work developing these TIAS's all these years. I hope all of us around the world will be able to do this again for many years to come. Claire"

Thank you, Claire and please say thank you to Ruby too.

February 27th mermaids

Well as you've probably read in my last post - I've given up numbering the mermaids as I had a huge influx from Hungary!! Thank you to the Hungarian tatters. 

Today's finished mermaids come from Lelia who says:

"Dear Jane:

Photos of my 2018 TIAS mermaids are attached.

Thank you for this and past TIAS games. I looked forward to seeing all those participating during the tatting game. 

I, too, have enjoyed participating.

Always, Carol 

Northwest Indiana, USA

blogging as Lelia at Stitches of Life II

https://lelia-stitchesoflife.blogspot.com/ "

Next to arrive is Mary who has sent in her slow swimmer!!! She says:

"My thread was # 20. Color. Number disappearedThank you Jane for all the work you did for us

The reason I’m so late my son had open heart surgery and I was gone for a week. Icu. 5 days. He’s home. Doing great. God is good"

Monday's mermaids

When I've added this morning's 'overnighter' I will have 99 mermaids in the 'pond'!!!! I wonder who will send in the 100th?!!?? I wonder if there will be even more? Who knows!!!

Well I think that Ginny's mermaid gets the prize for the longest hair!!!! That's if there was a prize, of course!!!! This is what Ginny says:

99. "Here she is all finished!!!"

Next to arrive is Lelia's day 14 - both mermaids!!! She says:
"Dear Jane:
Awwww ... so sweet!
Hope to finish the mermaid hair tomorrow : )
Always, Carol NW Indiana USA
blogging as Lelia at Stitches of Life II
https://lelia-stitchesoflife.blogspot.com/"

Well now I'm going to have to give up counting as Jolimama has sent this picture in and I don't know who's mermaids are on the blog already and which ones aren't!!!! It's been a real pleasure to have met with the Hungarian tatters and I'm so pleased that they obviously enjoyed the game too.  Here's what Jolimama has to say:

"Ezzel az idézettel és képpel köszönöm meg a munkádat, mert játszani jó :-) 

A Facebook Hajócsipke csoportjában 17-en kezdtük el a játékot Veled és 15-en be is fejeztük, és kíváncsian vártuk napról-napra a következő feladatot. Jó lenne még játszani, de Te érzed, hogy pihenésre van szükséged. További szép alkotást kívánok Neked. 

thank you for your work on this quote and image, they play good :-) 

The Facebook group of 17 en Boat Lace started the game with you and 15 of your well expressed, and eagerly waited every day on these tasks. It would be nice to play more, but you feel that you need to relax. I wish you a nice art."

Now I have another mermaid and this time from Sue who says:

100 "Good Morning from Michigan! I happened across your TIAS right before it started, and having not tatted in awhile decided to give it a try. At the time the only size 20 I had was white. I think she looks like she has short curly hair right now, so since mine is also short and somewhat curly, I may leave her with a short hairdo. Maybe she will grow it out later. Thank you for getting me back into tatting!"

I'm delighted to help any tatter who has fallen by the wayside to get back to the addiction.  Thanks for sending your mermaid in, Sue.

Sunday's mermaids

First in this morning has no name and I don't recognise the email address either!! Anyway, perhaps I'll find out later and then I'll add it to this lovely picture.

95. "Dear Jane,  
Thank you for your TIAS2018 pattern. this pattern is very cute to me. I am Jiamrat Supapol from Bangkok,Thailand
Beat regards,
Jiamrat Supapol"

Next to arrive is Clair with her days 12 and 13. This is her comment.

Hello Jane and fellow tatters, 

Here are the pictures for my days 12 and 13. I took the time to hide the ends before taking the last picture, but forgot to turn our character so it's showing the 'wrong' side on it. 

https://oclairedelune.wordpress.com/2018/02/24/tias-2018-jours-days-12-13/

Have a nice Sunday."

Next in today on a bitterly cold Sunday is Wendy with her finished mermaid. She says:

96. "Here she is. Obviously a mermaid with piggy eyes . I did wonder earlier because she had no legs. Good fun, thanks for organising this yet again.

Wendy x"

Ewa is next in to my inbox and she says:

97. "Hallo Jane! Thanks so much for TIAS 2018. My mermaid is tatted using Babylo 20. Best regards from Poland Ewa Szylewska"

Thank you, Ewa.

Anne has now sent in her finished mermaid and this is what she says:

98. "Hello Jane !! 

.thank you very much for this TIAS. M'y daughter is happy of her new friend thé mermaid :) 

Have a good day 

Anne "

Probably the last mermaid of the day is from Karen who has this to say:

99. "Hello again, Jane.

This little lady's name is Mikaela. She just swam in from Europe to make an appearance on the Red Carpet, and wouldn't you know it? Her hem came undone! Ah, but she was a trooper and carried it off with the greatest of elegance by channeling her inner Audrey Hepburn and captivating everyone with her wit and charm. She wears Azalea light and Stardate, and she had her hair dyed Mocha Brown for this appearance. I think she has charmed me as well. What about you?

Thank you for this, Jane. This started my year off on a good note. All the best to you. "

Saturday's mermaids

My thanks must go to Riet for sending in the ninetieth mermaid from Ankie. This is the message that came with it:

93. "Hello Jane,

Here is day 15 of Ankie Kaspers

She sais I'm sorry I'm late, but I had the flu

It is a pity that this is the last one but thanks for all the work you did

and this is also for Jane

hugs"

Finally (and secondly!!!) today I have Maria's completed mermaid. She says:

94. "Hi Jane! I have finally gooten my TIAS Mer-maid-genie completed.... that green alge hair really grows well down in the deep! 

Thanks for all the fun over the years, it will sorely be missed! 

MAR’L’A (aka Maria to you! LOL) 

aka IdahoCanuck, in Idaho, USA."