A cultural dinner with tatting friends...

My girls wanted to know what I looked like with makeup on.....
I very RARELY wear makeup...maybe once or twice a year. I've always been a tomboy. So I said I would wear makeup if they would dress up too....and that turned into, "Let's have a party".
So long story short, I hosted an American/Korean dinner party at our residence.
The girls showed up in their traditional "Hanbok" dresses.
Aren't they gorgeous??
It was very special for them to do that for me because they may only wear these once a year.
I made them pasta and cheesecake and they brought Korean food and we had a really wonderful time. They also took time to teach me how to make Korean dumplings (YUM)!
This will remain a wonderful memory for the rest of my life.

Oh...and an update on our tatting group...last week they learned block tatting and this week they learned dimpled rings.

Brendan meets the gang

I took Brendan to "4 0'clock Rock" tatting group today. It was fun explaining what a leprechaun is....you know....how do you explain words like "mischievous" and "why do they come from Ireland"? Like I said, it was fun! Oh and since the Leps now have their very own blog, Brendan decided he should stitch a "B" on his hat so you could tell him apart from all the others.
Here he sits with Jinju's latest tatting creation: a cute bookmark. Jinju has her Josephine chain down to a science. Honestly, these girls are very capable tatters now and they don't need me anymore....snif snif.
Of course, I couldn't keep B still for long he had the whole shop to explore. It was like bringing a toddler to a candy store (or even worse....bringing ME to a candy store)....Sheesh! Here he is making friends with some handmade Korean Kitties.

I asked the girls if they had any folklore or such to share from their culture. Kyoung-Mi told me that a pair of birds are often presented as a wedding gift because the are representative of bringing together the earth and the sky. After she shared this story Brendan found just the pair!

....and he couldn't resist going for a ride on this dove....so he certainly had himself a grand ol time!

Tatting with beads

Today we learned how to tat with beads. And as usual my girls caught on very quickly! I think they are all some kind of tatting geniuses. LOL! At least they have learned tatting much faster than I ever did!

Kyoung-mi has surprised me with her designing/adapting skills. She is very creative!

She even tatted one of my butterflies from my tatting book...and mind you this is not a beginner pattern!

Hye-soon tatted this gorgeous bookmark from Mary Konior's "Black Magic" page 10 in Tatting with Visual Patterns..... And doesn't it look pretty in "Tropicana" HDT????

Jinju tatted this with "Middle Earth" hand dyed silk. It is sooo much lovelier in person.

Oh, by the way, Jinju translates to "Pearl", which is also the name of her little shop! In case I never mentioned it, all my girls are little shop owners.
And finally an update on my finger. You can see that it is well on its way to healing and it doesn't hurt as much anymore...but there is a way to go before I see a nail again.

Oh...and P.S.S.
I pretty much slept for the last five days. I tried to tat but made too many mistakes. Tatting with a fever is not a good plan! Today I feel much better and going to 4 O'clock Rock was the first time I have been out since last Thurs. It was nice to hang out with my happy friends! I gotta say though that I am pretty tired still and they could see it....they patted me on the shoulder and said, "Teacher, it is o.k. if you want to go home early."
They are so sweet!

Still Rock'n

I haven't blogged about our tatting group for the last two weeks but we have still been busy. I just forgot to bring my camera the last couple of times...but I brought it today! Last week I bought a giant American pizza from the base and brought it to the group to share. American pizza and Korean pizza are two different animals....so I thought I'd let them try "REAL" pizza LOL!
I am such a proud big sister! Kyoung-mi tatted these lovely gifts for a Christmas party....and do you recognize the HDT??? I think these guys are addicted now too ....(insert evil laugh)!

Hye-Soon and Kyoung-mi completed Ruth Perry's Celtic snowflakes. Next week we will go on to beads, then block tatting, then maybe clunies....ah...the fun never ends! If you click on their names you will be taken to their blogs....they are in Korean but you can still see their beautiful tatting!

Look at this beautiful Christmas card Kyoung-mi has made for her most special friends! She is playing shy in the photos....but she isn't shy...so don't be fooled.

I am so proud of them! Jinju was there too but was a little late and missed the photos. They are all really awesome students and friends!

Also, we may be getting another tatting student soon and she is an American......more on that later.

4 o'clock ROCK....still Rock'n

Since I am in China right now and we didn't want to miss our Monday tatting meeting, we decided to hold it last Thursday (a few days early). I won't get to see the girls for 10 days, so this way, instead of missing two meetings we only have to miss one.
I can't believe what fast learners my haksangs (students) are. They call me sonsangnim (teacher).
I decided to start teaching them with diagrams straight off so that they will be able to interpret modern tatting patterns with ease.
Check this out:

Hyesoon's work continues to be immaculate. Notice the tatting on her necklace? That was her previous homework assignment.
Even though it is only Jinju's 2nd day she is already catching up to the other girls.
Look how beautiful Kyoung-mi looks.

They were very happy when I pulled out the lovely array of threads from YarnPlayer. They wanted to pay for it so I thought to myself, "Hmmm I could definitely use some Won." But I didn't charge them Ha ha! Instead I sent them home with fresh spools of thread, a shuttle of their choice, diagram, and lots of homework. Thanks again Marilee!

I expect to see at least of couple yards of trim when I get back...hee hee!

Kyoung-mi took this picture and it makes me laugh.