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!!!!