Off to the Races!

We were invited to go with my husband’s family to a local Catholic school auction fundraiser this last Saturday. It’s a pretty big deal and they go all out for it. The theme was ‘Off to the Races’, as in, the horse races.

Off to the races on wandasknottythoughts
Off to the races, ready for the crowd

You don’t have to dress up with the theme, but where’s the fun if you don’t?

Jack and I all dressed for the races on wandasknottythoughts
Jack and I all dressed for the races

When I think of horse racing I think of the Kentucky Derby, where I’ve seen (in pictures and on TV) the ladies dress up in fancy hats and outfits, and the guys wear bowties. For us ladies, my sister-in-law and I went to my mother’s house where she graciously allowed us to choose from her many hats. We chose a couple of hats and one for her friend that was also going to be there. We had a lot of fun, almost like playing dress-up just choosing them.

That was the easy part. Now for the bowties. My mother had one bow tie, a clip-on, that my husband wore, but I needed four more (I volunteered). I had hoped that it being prom season there would be someplace local that would have inexpensive (cheap) bowties, but I couldn’t find any place at all that carried any bow ties. My next choice was to make some. I checked out Pinterest and found a few places that had patterns and ideas, so it was off to the store for some material and the findings I’d need.

I chose to get materials in black and white with a mix of small patterns. I know I can use leftovers for other things, at some point. I had a list of items I thought I needed, so that was quick. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized I was getting too complicated. I’d be lucky if the guys would put them on in the first place, let alone wear them the entire evening. I ended up just folding the material, ironing it to shape, and hand stitching a few stitches to hold them together.

Bow ties in black and white on wandasknottythoughts
Bow ties in black and white

I didn’t find any of the clips to hold them to the collars so I used black strips of material with velcro on the ends. I ironed interfacing to the material and folded the edges in. By the time Saturday came around and I needed to finish them, I realized the band around the neck would be hidden so they didn’t have to be that finished. I think they came out very well.

Two guys in bow ties on wandasknottythoughts
Two guys in bow ties

My husband’s brother came to the dinner in a Hawaiin shirt, shorts, and sandals but he let me help him put on one of the ties. He wore it all night! My husband was the only one of the five guys at our table who even tried to dress up for the theme, but all of them wore the bow ties all night. I was very surprised – and pleased. They didn’t even put up much of a fight, LOL.

Family in hats and bow ties on wandasknottythoughts
Family in hat and bow tie

There were some people, men and women, that really got into dressing up. There were others, like us, that kind of dressed up, and a few that didn’t. It was a lot of fun watching the crowd.

The school has done fundraising auctions every year for years, with a different theme each year. This is the first time my husband and I have gone. The school had both a silent auction, which was online before dinner and a live auction after dinner. I won several items in the silent auction I didn’t expect to. We didn’t even try to win anything in the live auction, the items were bid up pretty high pretty fast. It was fun to watch, though.

Besides making the bow ties for the dinner this last week was very busy, with no time to tat. The grandkids have had several track meets each and I’ve helped at my mom’s house. I’m hoping this week is a bit quieter.

We’ve also had some severe weather close by in the last few days. Friday was the first time I’d ever gotten a dust storm warning. When the cold front came through there was a dramatic drop in temperature and with it came the dust. Down the road visibility dropped to zero due to dust.

Dust storm on wandasknottythoughts
Dust storm

The camera cleaned up this picture a bit, it was much worse than it shows. If you were outside it immediately became harder to breathe. The front carried this dust a long way. We didn’t have a tornado, but you may have heard that the town of Anderdover was hit by one the same day we had the dust storm. That is south of us, and just east of my daughter’s house. The threat of severe weather was close enough that we stayed ready to head for the storm shelter all evening but the wind and the dust were the worst we experienced that night.

We have threats of severe weather again tonight. For the next several hours we’ll be watching the weather, ready for whatever comes – or doesn’t. But what should I expect, I live in Kansas and it’s spring.

Thank you to everyone that expressed their condolences about my family. It is greatly appreciated.

“To its devotees the bowtie suggests iconoclasm of an Old World sort, a fusty adherence to a contrarian point of view. The bowtie hints at intellectualism, real or feigned, and sometimes suggests technical acumen, perhaps because it is so hard to tie. BowTies are worn by magicians, country doctors, lawyers and professors and by people hoping to look like the above. But perhaps most of all, wearing a bow tie is a way of broadcasting an aggressive lack of concern for what other people think.” Warren St. John

Actual tatting was done!

Looky, looky, there be tatting!  For the first time in almost two weeks, I was able to sit down Sunday and tat.  I didn’t get as far as I would have liked, but that I got anything done is amazing! 
The edging is made with size 20 Lizbeth #115 “Springtime”.  I just started tatting with an idea of what I wanted and I think it is coming along nicely. Hopefully it won’t take me two weeks to finish it : -)
Some of the reason I haven’t had time to tat is family visiting, which is a good reason not to have gotten anything done.  Having two 3-year-olds and a 10 month old around for several days makes it interesting to get anything done except enjoying and playing with them.  And who would want to do anything else?  Certainly not Grandma (me)!
I did get tatting out to the public a week ago.  The senior center that my mother volunteers at, and is a member of, had a show-and-tell day to share their hobbies with the community.  Mom wanted to share a table with my sister and I – my sister embroiders and my mother collects (and wears) hats.  The local paper even did an article on my mom when they were doing a write-up about the day.  She brought 37 hats in and it was decided to give her, and my sister and I, the quilting/sewing room to accommodate them. 
My mom and a few of her tats.
This is a picture of my mother (on the left) and her two sisters in their hats at the show-and-tell.  Mom was very excited to share all of her hats. 
I had been planning on this day for about a month and even had some ideas to make a few cute and quick things for it.  Unfortunately I had been working some very long days and weeks so had to settle for things I already had on hand.  I was supposed to be there at least by nine on Saturday,  bringing both my tatting and my sister’s things as she had to work.  My daughter from Nebraska decided to come down that weekend as well, which is great. Then Friday night she went out for the evening with her cousins and I was home with both of her children and my other daughter’s little boy, alone, as my husband had to work (I had taken a day of vacation). The kids were all great, but they were kids and I didn’t get much sleep. When I finally did I overslept. I didn’t get up to the senior center until almost 9:30 a.m. and the doors were to open at 10:00 a.m.  It was a case of lay out the table cloth and start putting out our things as fast as possible.  
My sister has been giving classes on scrap-booking at the senior center so had some pages and books for that as well as her embroidery.  Good thing they gave Mom the whole room, the table was crowded with just my sister and my hobbies, and the hats take up a lot of room. 
I found I had more tatted items at home than I thought I did.
I had quite a few opportunities to share my love of tatting with others.  This woman’s mother had tatted but she had never done it herself. She had a lot of questions about it so I demonstrated how to do a chain with two colors.  Throughout the day there were a lot of the usual comments about tatting being a ‘lost’ art, so this was a great chance to let them see it’s not lost completely and has been ‘found’ by quite a few people.  Several people expressed interest in taking classes if they were offered, so I might have the chance to share it with more.  This would be as a volunteer to mostly older people (so speaks a grandmother!) but I think it would be a lot of fun. 
I’m back on ‘regular’ nine hour days at work again, so I’m looking forward to having more time to tat again. Which is good because I just got Sherry’s new book in the mail yesterday *happy dance*. This book looks great and I’m really looking forward to making the items in this book and learning this technique.  
“Grab your coat, and get your hat, Leave your worry on the doorstep. Just direct your feet, To the sunny side of the street.”
Dorothy Fields