I sadly share news of the passing of my beloved tatting teacher.
I have been thinking for a week about what I could say or express that could even begin to express what I feel but I can't. So please forgive the long and rambling post that may follow.
I met her more than 10 years ago (I don't quite remember when but it would appear that I met her in 2004? 2005?) quite by chance, walking through the local craft store.
I had recently lost my mother and had been aimlessly wandering I think. And I happened to pass by "lesson table" covered with lovely lace. I stopped to take a look and she invited me to sit with her and that was it.
I still remember that my first shuttles were "training" shuttles from the UK and that my first project was made from thread bought from the local "thrift store". Her logic being if I didn't like it, I did not have to buy the shuttles from her and that I would not have spent a bundle trying it out since the thread cost me the grand sum of $2. That was how nice she was =).
I cannot really recall how I felt at the time - I think I have subconsciously blocked it out - but I do remember that I found sanctuary making the almost daily trips to the craft store to sit with her, tat and learn. I spent many many many hours sitting there and tatting with her and my local teacher.
Initially she traveled to Singapore yearly (from her home in England). Looking at her, I told myself that I wanted to be like her - being able to travel independently on long flights! She was also perfectly capable of navigating the local public transport system - I dare say she was more adapt at navigating the system than many locals! She was also brave and open to try the local cuisine. She liked roasted duck, prawns, Ding Tai Fung (a taiwanese restaurant/cafe type place that has branches in Singapore), sweet and sour pork and egg tarts from KFC.
On one of her visits she also taught me the basics of bobbin lace and even helped me get lace pillows (which I've NEVER seen sold locally) and the tools involved...
We'd still keep in touch of course. I'd send her "care packages" with craft bits and findings for her (from what I gathered it was not easy for her to get bits and findings at home) and well as souvenirs from what travels I had, toys and souvenirs for her grandchildren and golf ball markers for one of her sons (he collected them). She in turn would also send "care packages", mostly with craft bits and sometimes even shuttles that were not easily available here. At one point she even sent over a jar of whisky marmalade for my sister (who loved whisky marmalade but was not able to buy it here).
She was always generous with what she had, be it tools. supplies, time. Every time she visited, she invariably came with little gifts for us - sometimes it was shuttles, sometimes it was bits of thread, needle books, hooks, lace bobbins... She was like the the English grandmother that I never had. She would share tales of life in England (like what a Rhubarb was and how it tasted) and of farm life (like the pet chickens and goats and horses). Listening to her tales was lie reliving (for REAL) all the Enid Blyton books that I had read when I was younger.
Her trips eventually became less frequent.
A trip a year became a trip every 2 years or sometimes even more.
The last I saw her was in 2014. The last I communicated with her was before Christmas last year.
I have so many fond memories of her and I can't even organise my thoughts to get everything out nicely in one post. I don't know where to start or where to end.
I haven't tatted in a while - life has caught up with me... but I took out my shuttles and wound them to tat a new doily pattern I found online. She always found doilies boring (she was much more interested in doing modern things like jewellery or trying out interesting patterns and techniques... she, for example, really liked Yarnplayer's work). I never liked doing doilies myself - my tension control is not doily friendly. But somehow I had the urge to try one - I did try something new though, I'm determined to do different colours for different rounds - something I'm usually too lazy and apprehensive to do (in case my colour choices come out gaudy).
Stay tuned for the progress of the doily.
Missing you already, Sheila. Rest in peace.
