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UPDATE ARCHIVE for 2015

December 11th, 2016:

I've donated my first PDF to Antique Pattern Library ! Becky Clark has also uploaded the file to the www.archive.org/ . It's a very interesting book from April 1867. Here's the review page: Madam Elise's "Ladies' Book of the Month" . I've also gifted it to Georgia Seitz to add to www.BellaOnline.com as a free download. I'm very pleased with all the work that has gotten done this year, and hope to get even more done in the new year.

Thanks to Karen Cabrera for some great sleuthing on a Spanish series of tatting books I've found by Maria Rosa Ramos (Folqué). I have the first two of the series, and am still looking for the third. Copies of these have also been uploaded to www.archive.org/

November 29th, 2016:

This year is in its last lap, and I'm frantically trying to do three things at once, as usual. It is nice to stop every once in a while, take a deep breath, and take stock of what I've accomplished and what still needs to be done. The tatting bibliography page has become ginormous, with over 1,000(and fast approaching 1,100) reviews. I've gotten tons of scanning done, and hope to get more of the antique books scanned in the coming year. I've gotten help from so many different people, with helpful suggestions, links to new sites and books I wasn't aware of, questions - lots of questions - and so many little bits of information that make the bibliography project better and better every day. I am deeply grateful for all the help and support I've gotten. Thank you all.

For those with an interest in the history of fiber arts, I've converted two of my 1840's original editions: "The Ladies' Handbook of Embroidery on Muslin, Lacework, and Tatting"(HC:1844), and "The Ladies' Work-Table Book"(HC:1843) into one comb-bound edition, printed on good paper with the covers laminated to protect the book from coffee rings, mysterious chocolate-flavored smudges and sticky little fingers. I'm selling this combined edition for the low price of $21. It comes with an introduction, and a bibliography of other works from that decade, as well as scholarly papers on the subject of tatting before Mlle. Riego! I'll be adding other quality reprints of antique books in the coming year, so keep checking back. There's a new button at the top of the page that will take you to the list of reprints available from my site. And of course, all proceeds go to supporting the website and buying materials needed for it's upkeep.

October 11th, 2016:

I've been busy busy busy proofreading the main bib pages, and my brain hurts. How do so many typos and broken links sneak past me?! I swear I proofread a page when I've finished it. Thanks again to Becky Clark, for substantially helping with this noisome task. If you run across anything yourselves, PLEASE let me know. I hate passing on bad information, and a misspelled word makes me look illiterate. I hate it when I trip over them in other people's work - I'm the person who sees a misspelled word on a sign in a bathroom stall and awkwardly corrects it with whatever writing implement I have on hand. I've stopped going to a local gas station because their thank you script on the pump scroll says, "Thank you for shopping with use."(shudder)

QUOTE FOR THIS MONTH: "Heirloom is code for 'This pattern is so difficult you would consider death a relief.'" - shared with Tri-Tatters by Carolyn Kotlas! MY COROLLARY: "I've always thought that 'Quick and Easy' was code for 'We spent 10 minutes throwing this pattern together so we didn't have to pay a real designer to come up with something original...'"

September 11th, 2016:

Massive upload is done - I've been working continuously on building the database, but the work I've gotten done hasn't been uploaded since August 2015 because of various issues with my computer, the batch loader glitching and my host. My apologies. I still don't have all the broken links fixed, so individual reviews may still be missing. I'm working on proofreading as fast as I can. If it's something you must have now, e-mail me and I'll move it to the top of the priority list. Thanks for your patience, and all your kind words. I'm glad the site has been so useful to such a wide variety of people! The feedback really helps me to decide what to focus on next.

August 21st, 2016:

THERE ARE NOW OVER 1,000 REVIEWS ON THE TATTING BILBIOGRAPHY PAGE!!! Did you ever imagine there were that many books and magazine titles that were devoted to tatting?! It's TRUE!!! I am so geeking out right now. You are going to find broken links and missing scans this time around - the move to a new computer has not gone smoothly, and stuff has fallen through the cracks. I'll be doing a proofreading of the entire site over the next couple of months, and fixing things as quickly as I can...

We finished transferring the entire run of Karey Solomon's "TATTING TIMES" newsletter to pdf format, and she now has the first 20 years(!) available for sale on CD. She'll have 25 CDs with her at Palmetto Tatter's Tat Days(Sept. 9-10), and proceeds will go to the Fistula Foundation, a very worthy cause that provides medical equipment to hospitals in Kenya. Check it out and buy a CD if you're going to Tat Days. It's a very worthy cause that is alleviating the misery of women who have suffered injury during childbirth. We seldom realize how lucky we are to live where we do until we see the fixable problems in other parts of the world that have been ignored. This foundation makes a serious difference in the lives of many women.

July 1st, 2016:

New computer finally arrived and I'm busy trying to get all the software reloaded and running. I've still got to run the dead machine to my local computer shop and recover the scanning files. I do NOT want to have to redo all of that work. I will not make the mistake of upgrading to Windows 10 again! Windows 10, get off my lawn, and take your frisbee with you!

A friend sent this blog entry around, and I thought it was both funny and profound - and it applies to all crafters, not just knitters and crocheters: From now on, we tell the world its not easy!

JUNE 3rd, 2016:

I've been writing and working converting Karey Solomon's fantastic run of "Tatting Times" newsletters into a pdf format, so she can sell the back issues to all the late comers to the tatting party - for charity! I'm very excited about this project, and have been stealing what time I can from other things to get it done. I hope by the end of this year to have all 25 years of back issues done and ready to put onto CDs. Karey is awesome to do this, and you should consider picking up a set from her if you haven't been a subscriber...

I have finally been able to include in the tatting bibliography an original edition of Madlle. Riego de la Branchardiere's first tatting book! My copy is a third edition, of which 15,000 were printed. For those unfamiliar with tatting history, Miss Riego is considered the originator of modern tatting, which was transformed from discrete unrelated rings by the joining of picots, allowing the tatter to make larger motifs and edgings that didn't need to be tediously sewn together after being made. She had an exhibit in the Crystal Palace at the World Fair in London, thus spreading her new technique and her series of books to many countries. It's a little awe-inspiring to hold a book that is 166 years old in your hands and think about the revolution it caused in ladies' handwork. She was also well known for her crochet work, but it is in tatting that she is remembered and revered for her contributions to the discipline.

I have finally gotten ahold of the two workbook set of Lyn Alexander's "Make Doll Shoes!" - these are the bee's knees. There's one other doll shoe book I badly want, but these have been on the list for a good spell, and I'm thrilled to finally add them to the catalog!

If you need to contact me, use "akamoraih[at]gmail[dot]com" and you know to replace the "[at]" and "[dot]" with the appropriate symbols, right? Spammers look for those symbols when trolling for addresses to try - hence the dumb encryption. There's a mailing address on the contact page now, if you need to mail me stuff.

JANUARY 21st, 2016:

So much got accomplished in 2015 for the Bibliography Project that I don't think I'll ever be able to top it - but I'm off to a good start this year by completing two magazine catalogs for: Tower Press's "Pattern World" and for "Lace Crafts Quarterly" ! It isn't often I get to call a magazine page "done". Piecing together full runs of the issues for cataloging is both time consuming and can be rather costly. Since most magazines end up in landfills, it can also be rather daunting to find them. I keep slogging away at it, though, and the finished pages are slowly accumulating. Just remember that Murphy insists if there is an issue I'm missing from a run you are researching, that will be the one your article was in...

JANUARY 1st, 2016:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I'm taking a couple of weeks off to catch up on other things. I'll have nose to grindstone by the end of the month, though, and of course I always try to answer questions within 24 hours of receiving your e-mails. Warmest wishes in all your creative endeavors!

M. Leigh Martin

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