Last night I strung 320 beads and wound 2 shuttles CTM. I'm going to have a go at that set stitch amulet bag of Dianna Stevens in It's In The Bag. The crocus is on hold til I at least try this. It's more beads than tatting and I thought it probably took longer to string the beads than it will to tat. These are purple/blue beads I bought at the Blue Moon in Ireland. It was a little bead shop just down from where I was staying on Bachelor's Walk. I think these are the ones that the color washes out of when they get wet - hugely disappointing.

I have some stuff ready to send to someone in Singapore, but didn't get the box addressed today. I have a conference over the next few days but I think I can still leave early enough to make it to the post office. I also have 6 overdue books for the library. Had a voice message yesterday that I needed to contact the library about my severely overdue books. They are ONE WEEK overdue. Yesterday. I'll drop them off tomorrow.

My son got his car back today. Seems Pep Boys gave him the wrong alternator and that's why it still wasn't running right. My oldest son was here when I got home this evening - he & Bailey had been mushroom hunting and had about 8 or so, 1 very very tall one! Bailey found 2 box turtles and they frightened a squirrel that practically flew across the creek.

Maybe I'll get to tat a bit tonight.

.
I'm so tired. Must be that outdoor air effect. I was out mowing on my new mower this afternoon - I love to mow. My son was tilling the ground for my garden so maybe I'll get that planted next weekend. TOMATOES!!!!!

Found 10 mushrooms yesterday and 34 today. Feast tomorrow!

Tatting.............not much done this weekend. I spent a lot of time looking for specific patterns or trying to remember exactly what I did have. I started tatting a crocus from Sharon Brigg's newsletter. This is the first opportunity I've had to try something from it. So far, I've got TWO petals done. and yeah, that's pathetic. The plan was to make some flowers for the secretarys at work because I neglected to get them something for Secretary's Day which was last Wednesday. I don't think I want to wait 2 weeks to give them something though, so I'm looking for something fast and easy now. I think I already gave one a bookmark last year. The other one is new so it wouldn't matter. Those crocuses sure look pretty though - so maybe mom's day gifts for my daughter and daughter-in-law.

For now, I think I might try for an early night

I was just telling someone about the filet crochet I had done in the past.

"I once did several blocks with different animals or baby items but they were out of different Workbaskets, not even in the same year, so they didn't match up. I still have the individual blocks around somewhere. Then I once did a very large panel of a cherub holding a basket of flowers above the head and fastened it to a fabric covered stretcher frame. I eventually took it down and off the frame. One corner has come apart and needs repaired. I have some pictures somewhere of it on the wall. Then there was the top I made for myself that had a filet crochet yoke - it was all crocheted, but the top had some kind of pattern. It was a "smock" top, back in the 70's when those were popular. Dang heavy too! Unfortunately, once I washed it (cheap cotton thread - only thing I knew of back then) it shrunk. So then my daughter, who was 5 or 6 at the time, wore it as a dress once or twice. Then my granddaughter wore it when she was 4 or 5 - so it's sort of an unintentional heirloom."

I'll have to find some photos.

I made a large number of gifts over the years. So many things I couldn't begin to list them. I've had the embarrassment of commenting on an item in someone's home, only to be reminded that I made it for them! I think that's why I like the ofoto albums. I scan what I make and have a record of it. Most of my tatting belongs to someone else - very few of them family members. So I've decided to back off from the exchanges for the next year and focus on tatting some things for family. The bonnet I'm recreating will end up going in one of my unmarried sons chests for his future child. There is another bonnet I started a year or two ago - very close to being done and I lost the thread - but found it now. It will go to the other son. Perhaps I'll tat them some booties too. I crocheted sweaters and blankets for my other grandkids, the youngest of which is 7 now. I've also made all of them tooth fairy pillows of some kind - except the 2 youngest who are now losing teeth without my contribution! But I still have time and in fact, I came across a pattern that I think will suit the boys well recently. My granddaughter has a crocheted tooth fairy doll, which turned out quite nice. That one was a big project - the doll is over 12" tall and on a stand. I think I made my niece's the crocheted tooth fairy pillows with a little bag when they were young. Those are so lacy and delicate looking for the ease in the making.

Here are Celine and Elise from Tatted Butterflys by Adelheid Dangela. Celine is done in size 80 DMC tatting thread - it's a variegated gold/brown. Elise is also in size 80, a variegated pastel and a deep rose for the body and rings. I thought one lower wing was noticeably smaller than the other, but when I pinch them together, they are the same size, but still the tension is tighter on one. I think the way the color changes adds an illusion in size too. The brown/gold reminds me of moths you see in late summer/early autumn. I think that thread would be good for leaves - also the red varigated - then you would have the spectacular fall foliage we have here.

Now I need to do my changes on the Dorcas bonnet and I have a couple of people I'm looking for patterns for that I need to attend to. And then I can PLAY! The county fair is in July and I'm not sure what I want to enter. I may enter the fan I've already done and perhaps some earrings in the handmade jewelry category. I'd also like to try a necklace, but if I try to have them done for the fair - then I get stressed. That reminds me, I still have the table topper I started in Ireland that I'd meant to enter last year...........still not done. There is also a card case I started and it's probably 3/4 done that I want to complete. That one is an antique pattern from an old Needlecraft. I have a crocheted one too that is done and I wanted to compare the two.

But before I get too entrenched in anything, I want to finish the organizing I started months ago! My riding mower is supposed to come in this weekend and if it does and we get it picked up - lots of yard work to do. And Andy (son) might get the garden tilled so I can plant! I'll have to plant some butterfly attracting plants this year so I can have real flutters all over the place!

I bought a bunny in a cabbage patch tea for one yesterday at Cracker Barrel. 50% off since it was an Easter item which means I only paid $5.30 with tax! It's precious! Here are what Tea-for-One pots look like. I collect them - don't have either of these.

Last night I finished "Elise" from Adelheid Dangela's Tatted Butterflys pattern book. Then I wet and blocked it, hoping to balance the lower wings with the pinning. This morning, I could still tell the one side was tighter than the other. Looks a bit lopsided.
I used size 70 or 80 tatting thread, something I don't normally do. It didn't look as tiny as it used to, believe it or not! But my tension is considerably tighter on the 2nd wing. I'm not sure.............it's for a RR. I think I'll keep it for myself and do a better one for the recipient. The colors didn't match the way it looked they would to begin with anyway.

I did go ahead and start a completely different flutter last night, just because these are so small, I feel a need to include a second flutter to compensate for size.

This is my LAST tat for the roundrobins I'm involved in. Gotta finish up some other stuff before I get into any more.

ReadyMade

Can you imagine mowing this?

What about chiggers?

Can you substitute clover for grass?

Just enjoyed reading the comments on the foot flip-flop issue at Not Martha . I was amazed at how many comments there were! We used to have those all the time growing up - those rubber thong shoes. As a child, they didn't bug me too bad, but I hate them now. I used to keep some for the creek or a quick put-on to go get the mail, but they tend to slide sideways on my feet and then my toes are pulling on the thong painfully and my heels are still in the gravel as I gamely limp down the drive. I think that's why I never even tried thong panties or lingerie. Knowing how much those toe thongs hurt...........no way am I gonna brutalize such delicate skin!

Not a minute to tat last night.

My son's car keeps dying so he made arrangements to have it checked today and decided we would take it there last evening. But he also worked until 9:00 p.m. so I had to pick him up from work first and come home. I didn't even get out of the car while he put some gas in his car from the lawnmower gas can - he was almost on empty! Then we jumpstarted it and let it charge up a bit. And down the highway we go. We are approximately 9 or so miles from this business. Three miles down the road, he is failing and pulls into a side road. He is so far ahead of me that I didn't see it til I passed and it took awhile to find a turn-around. We briefly jumpstart and only charge a few minutes as we are blocking the road, even if it is a side road. One person pulled around us in the grass. This time we didn't even get a mile down the road so we charged a bit longer. I said "tell me where you are going because it's dark and once your car dies and there are no lights - I can't see you" So he says there is a main road ahead and he takes off. I lose him, it's dark, it's a back road I'm not familiar with altho I could find my way in the daylight. I am nearly to Dayton, a train is on the track and I know I didn't pass him and I know he likely didn't make it this far, so I turn around and go back, hoping I am covering the same ground. I am close to our original take off point and he is no where in sight. I turn around and head out again - and finally come to a point where I think he may have taken a turn. And yes, a mile or so down this road, there he is, pulled into a business drive. I almost miss him because it is so dark. We charge even longer this time, discussing what will happen if he can't get through the light at the highway before stalling again. He takes off like a bat out of hell again, thinking the faster he goes, the sooner he will get to his destination before it dies again. sigh.................at this point, I give it to the Universe.......He made it through the highway light and we are zooming down 38 when I get stopped at a light. I lose track of him again and there is considerable traffic on this road. I make my way down the highway, watching intently - and I don't see him anywhere. I go all the way to Raisor Pontiac, which is where I think he is going. No where. So much freakin' traffic and I'm trying to go slow and watch for him. A moonless night too. I backtrack all the way back to the light I was stopped at and turn around. This time I go even slower and I am almost at Kmart again, where he works part-time, scanning the lots all along the way - when it dawns on me that he goes to the Raisor's FORD place, right across from Kmart, to get his car worked on usually. Sigh..............I turn into this Raisor's and I'm creeping along in the lot, looking for any sign of him and here he comes sprinting! He made it there without stalling, watching in frustration as I passed by once, twice.............finally turning in. His cell phone was dead and so he hadn't brought it with him and we had no way to communicate ..................arrrrggghhh

We shoulda just had the damn thing towed.

We had a very late dinner. I checked some email and went to bed. No tatting!

Sand in the Gears - Archives

If you have children, you will love these stories of parenting! Other good writing too. I've only poked around a little bit.

But if you go to the tribute he wrote about his young daughter who died from a brain tumor, be prepared to weep. I was just there, not knowing.................now you know.

Two bookmarks and 4 flutters! The thread is Altin Basak - both the variegated and solid, size 50. The motifs were both from the Japanese book that I don't have with me to name.
Both motifs were experimental. The oval one was originally a motif with only 3 center motifs that I expanded to 5 to make it long enough for a bookmark. The rectangular one was a single motif and I made 3, joining as I went. The tail is a new idea. I felt a single tassel in the center wouldn't look as nice as 2 in the corners but if they were in the corners, they needed to come together farther down. I like the way the it turned out. I really like the way the variegated worked up in this one too.


These earrings were tatted in some size 50 altin basak - plain black thread with multicolored beads. The pattern was given to me by Carol Amich - her own design! Thank you Carol!

They did work up very nicely with the beads and didn't take all that long. I completed one before I went to my daughter's for Easter and completed the 2nd one while at her house waiting on the last minute dinner fixings. I also painted some stiffener on the thread of these - hoping it will protect the thread from wear and tear and exposure.

Just a quickie!

Beautiful day - sun shining after raining all night and morning. Went to my daugher's for early dinner and had a pleasant visit with everyone.

I finished the 2nd bookmark with that very pretty thread yesterday. I'll post a scan tomorrow. Also tatted some earrings today from Carol Amich's design. I still need to finish the ends and attach to ear wires - then will post those too.

Then, when time permits, I need to rework the Dorcas bonnet backside. One more butterfly for RR. A coupla more bookmarks to do, I think. And then back to Penelope or maybe start a peacock!

But for now, I gotta go get J. from work - his car is dying all the time so Mom is to the rescue. Poor fella is winding up the semester projects and preparing for finals too.

Wow! Easter snuck up on me!

Here's a bunny edging I designed a few years ago.



Bunnies in a Row

Wind 2 shuttles CTM (continuous thread method). You might only want a couple yards on each shuttle until you try it out.

I use a paper clip or safety pin to anchor that first chain stitch. I’ll remove it when I join there.

VSP – very small picot. Used for joining only, no decorative value.
BP – big picot. Used for bunny feet in this case – I make them ½ - ¾ inch in length.
VBP – very big picot. Used for bunny ears – I make them 1 – 1 ¼ inch in length.
RW – reverse work

Ch 2ds, vsp, 10 ds. rw

R 11 ds, j to place where safety pin or paper clip was in the first ch (in subsequent bunnies, this will be a vsp join), 2 ds, BP, 2 ds, BP, 2 ds, VSP, 11 ds, clr, rw

Using ch shuttle for the ring, R 7 ds, VBP, 3 ds, VBP, 7 ds, clr, do NOT rw.

Still using ch shuttle but as the ball thread now, Ch 10ds, vsp, 2 ds, j to p on last r

At this point, you are ready to start a 2nd bunny. If not, just cut, tie & hide ends. Turn up the p for the bunny feet so they are pointing loop up, like the ears.

If you are going on, leave a space of about ¼ inch and make a lock stitch. Repeat from beginning, but at the very first vsp in the ch, j to last bunny ch instead.

I finished the motif this morning - just need to hide my thread and block and decide what I'm going to do with it. I'm pleased with the colors. I had made a square motif out of the multicolored thread - think I may add a few more and make a bookmark.

Another sunny day! I had to serve at a grievance process early this afternoon, so now that I'm home and checking my mail, I'm having a little trouble getting motivated to do anything else.

Last night we moved the treadmill to the basement and the entertainment center to the sewing room. I still have one corner in there to sort through and stuff from the living room to go to the basement. Then I can start getting some work done.

Got my seahorse shuttles from The Shuttleshop today! Yesterday, I received a metal shuttle from an ebay win. I'm trying to remember if I have one like it. It has a pointed tip, no hook - no stamping on it anywhere. I think it's chrome plated.

Don't rememeber if I mentioned it but I've been using the wooden shuttle with a hook that I bought from The Lacemaker on Lace Day. It holds a lot of thread and I like that particular hook on the end, but it's a pain to wind. I think as I use it more, the slots that the thread goes through will wear smoother. Size 70 or 80 thread wouldn't be a problem, but the thicker threads don't slide through as slick. I like the shape of it too - squarish and flat. I'd seen one that someone else had - a stranger to me, so I couldn't examine it closely, and admired the look of it then. There were 2 sizes and I bought the smaller one - which feels a little bigger in my hand than the shuttles I typically use. I don't think I would like the bigger one.

Well, I have to sort out some tatting stuff - some to send off, some to describe, and take care of other matters too. (like dishes!)
Maybe more later.

LOL! Hobbes makes you dizzy if you watch him very long!

I'm still tatting the motif from the Japanese book. I made it longer and will probably make it a bookmark - but I may frame it if I find a suitable frame. My son says rain is in the forecast so I may have more indoor time to work on it in a day or so.

Today I went shopping! Planned shopping, for the most part. I got a riding mower with a bagger........mine has been barely usable for several years now - in fact, my neighbors have mowed the big part in return for permission to hunt over the hill. But Scott & Tammy were divorced last year and he had his nephew mow and one of my other neighbors - but I really prefer to mow it myself - so I'm back in business again. We can't get the push mower started yet either. sigh.............

I also got a wheelbarrow. So much brush and twigs to clean up around here.

Then, I went to Big Lots and bought some make up to play with. Cheeep. I didn't really need anything but wanted to play around with a few colors. Already tried some out! Also got some nail polish, which I don't usually wear as my nails are short and tend to break - but it's toenail showing time!

I haven't been home much to do anything today.......so I'm gonna get off here and do some chores and catch up on other stuff. Then perhaps I will have time to tat!

I tatted a good part of the morning and played Mousetrap with my grandson before taking him to the bus stop - and briefly this afternoon. Most of the time I was raking leaves though. So I'm starting to ache here and there, but avoided blisters. Beautiful sunny day out and I think it hit 80ºF! Couldn't get the mower started but son Jesse said he'd try tomorrow. I've never had this problem with the pull start before - only this mower. Makes me feel like a weakling. Well, I'm off to bed so I can be like Hobbes tomorrow!

I definitely need to learn how to do thumbnails and also a sidebar with links.
This is my birthday roundrobin tat for Dolly and also the final part in it. It's been fun - wish more had participated as I love the creativity and resourcefulness of these groups.

In work now to redo the display window. It has taken me longer than I expected and I'm not sure the packing tape will hold everything, but it's done. I think it will be enjoyed.

Now to go back home and clean and tat!

I tried tatting that motif from the Japanese book at our lace meeting this morning and kept screwing up. I had done it the hard way the first time so I wanted to try the easier way........kept forgetting a short chain with everyone talking. So I worked on it this evening and it turned out - like the thread too. Now, I'm doing an oval motif from the same book and thread - will make it into a bookmark, using the variegated for the center and will use the solid for the outside. I will try to do my last flutter this weekend too and then I will be done with roundrobins.

In these motifs - where it tells you to start is not necessarily the best place to start. I realized in the 2nd try, that I could've bridged out to the final row if I'd caught it early enough. I'm doing split rings on the middle rings of this motif - and then the outer part is all alternating rings. Easy tat.

Chris wanted me to help her with the 2nd half of her ds - she wasn't doing something right. It's just as hard to watch someone who is doing something wrong as something right. LOL! She was going so fast I couldn't tell if she was going under or over the shuttle thread when returning. I thought it was under so helped her see that and then it was looking a little neater. I think she was just making the 1st st unknowingly, over and over, yet it wasn't making the set stitch really.

I said I didn't really want to be secretary again.

Color is such a KEY to any kind of art, including tatting. I bought several of these little frames that are basically a backing, glass and corner clips. The corner clips are different pastel colors. I changed the color I was using for the frame to more closely match the dominant color of the motif, added a couple of flutters in the same thread of the motif - and it all came together. I'll post the scan when I resize it.

I finished a little fan that I started on Lace Day this evening, mostly because I wanted the shuttle empty. And it worked out perfectly, emptying the shuttle on the last join. I still have thread on the chain shuttle, but that's ok - I only needed one for the moment, which I promptly wound with a thread that I also purchased on Lace Day. I'm looking at a Japanese tatting book, Tatting, by Yusai Shakoin, which has so many pretty things in it. There is a little drawstring bag that I'm particularly attracted to, but it's a bigger project than I want to tackle right now while I still have some other obligations to finish up. I think I will just make a small motif from the book to test the thread and the book diagrams at the same time. Variegated threads are always a challenge. They look so pretty on the ball but I think there must be an art to knowing just what kind of piece to tat with them. Bookmarks usually look good. Hearts too. If the motif is too small, the colors don't balance out, seeming too concentrated without the hint of the others showing strongly enough. They look like a mistake, no matter how perfectly tatted. And then some large pieces look too busy with solid variegated. The larger pieces tend to look better if the variegated is alternated or used with a solid color. Sometimes the lesser used color in the variegated is the one that should be matched with a solid and sometimes the more dominant color should be matched. I'm reluctant to use a variegated in a large project because it's a lot of tatting time and effort that doesn't always pull it off. You can almost be certain that a solid color will look good in a large project. I do prefer using color most of the time, but that drawstring bag is probably going to be white when I make it. The cloth bag underneath will provide the color. Or.............I could use a white cloth bag and make the tatted part the color. Oh sheesh! Now I'm going to have to make TWO bags - no way around it!

No problem - tatting is never wasted. I can think of at least 3 people to give an extra bag to if I can bear to part with it. LOL!

Ummm, just remembered I want to scan Hopie's ice crystals before sending on.

Last night I bought some of those Altoids breath strips in the tiny, tiny tin! It will be a perfect container for a little bit of beads on the go. It measures 1" x 1 3/4". I bought cinnamon and they had peppermint there. I'd like to find ginger too.

I'm not sure whether to take some tatting with me to my DIL's today or not. I think I'll be busy most of the time that I am there today. It's a beautifully sunny day already. So much I want to get done here too.

I finished the motif last night which turned out nicely, but doesn't look right in the frame. I tried a different frame. Still not right. It's not the motif - it's the proportions of everything. It doesn't resonate with my sense of balance somehow. I think it may be a bit too delicate for the way I have it displayed. I may need more of something similar. I'm tired of separating floss though. Maybe I will do something else.

Last evening I continued with a motif I had started a week or so ago with 2 strands of multicolored cotton floss. It's an old pattern - a rose framed in tatted loops/rings. It took me awhile to find the book the pattern was in. Originally, I wanted to find a green to make the flower stand out but then I decided to continue with the same color. I have a plan for this motif but I'm also playing with the thread - testing to see how it works out. If it's not quite right for the project, it's not a big loss in time.

I've been slowly gathering my books and putting them on a bookshelf that was meant to go in my bedroom...........but - I never tat in my bedroom, so why am I storing my tatting supplies in there??? It would be helpful if I put my treadmill elsewhere.......like the basement. Okay - weekend project is to clean up that room more - since J. has almost everything out that he wants........'cept it's s'posed to be 80º F out! I have soooo much to do outside - and we have a lace group meeting Sat. morning.

Oh, I'm off all week to help at my son's - but I'll only be there half days so ..............

Copter Fun Got this from Spinning Jennie's site. How frustrating! I did manage to get past the 1st obstacle once.

It's getting nice out - really looking forward to good weather!

These flutters go fast! I'd like to make the body part a little more stable - a larger thread might help too. The white body was a bigger thread and it seems easier to work with. I figured out by the 3rd one to do less ds between the chains joining the upper and lower wing picots. It defines the wing shape better. I think it calls for 3 ds and 2 worked better - I might only do 1 next time I try it. I'm not real sure I like the bead in the head part either - it's kind of big in comparison to the rest of the body.

I keep forgetting about the online tatting class! I wish the chat window enlarged. I don't like that dinky little spot to keep track of the conversation. I keep scrolling up to see what I've missed when I turn my head and it automatically goes to the bottom whenever anyone posts which they do one after the other in that class. It's frustrating so it's almost better to just get the log later. The problem is that you don't have the opportunity to ask questions that way.

It's cold this week so that is helpful in the sense that I stay in and can catch up on my tatting. Once it warms up, I'll be outside trying to get the yard in shape and planting the garden.

Last night I started a new flutter for my RR. It's a butterfly in profile with beads, pattern by Rosemarie Peel. First, I had to convert the picot length to inches - it was given in millimeters (((GGGG))). I really need to make some picot gauges to fit those measurements now, but being in a hurry, I just drew a line and measured off with my fingers and thread when the long picots were called for. This really is a very simple butterfly.

I got to the part where you add the beads onto the picots..........and it was bedtime already. My crochet hook wouldn't fit in the bead. The beading needle did very fit nicely but I had to use a loop of thread through that and then the picot thread and it was too thick! I think now I could find a way with the two threads, but I decided to call it a night at that point.

I looked desperately for my size 16 hook this morning.........no where so I grabbed my container of metal hooks, hoping I had stuck it in there. I worked on it during lunch. I had another size 14 hook in the container that did go through some of the beads so I proceeded on. Spilled the beads TWICE! But I kept tatting on.............It's only chaining from picot to picot and the beads are added to the long picots. It took me longer to add the beads than it did to tat.

It's DONE! Cutie too, but now, the pink variegated thread looks more lavender than pink - especially with the multicolored pink beads - which I thought would add zing to the thread! LOL! The flutter is much smaller than the photo suggested (see the book Migrating Butterflies for a photo) so I will need to make a flock of flutters for the next recipient!


I was searching for something else in my pattern books last night, which I never found, and came across so many other tatted projects I want to do. I found the knitted lace hood pattern I want to make and since I have the needles now and had the thread/yarn for some time, I could be working on that before it gets too hot. How many tenses did I just use in that sentence???? Ha! It says what I want it to say so I'm stickin' to it!

I was going to use a really bright pink thread on that butterfly and then I decided it was too dark for the beads. I think I'll try it now and see if it works better than the pale pink variegated. I would like a little bigger black thread too. The size 50 altin basak is smaller than the other size 50 AB that I have.

sigh...........other issues waiting on me..............

Aren't these just the sweetest?

I got them from here but the site is whacky - won't let me click on links because it moves them around.

I changed my settings to only show 10 posts........I noticed it was taking some time to load, even with the fast server I have at work. You can always go to the archives to see what was in the past!

Here's the beautiful butterfly I got from Gail!


And here is my finished fan:

Sigh..................
Busy weekend.

Lace Day went well - I took photos and will have them developed soon. I was too lazy to go into town today. I have a gorgeous butterfly from Gail - I'll post it tomorrow. And a new earring pattern from Carol A. - I'll post those as soon as I make 'em. Spent lots of money! Got 3 shuttles, 4 counting my commemorative shuttle, a picot gauge, 8 new balls of thread, some 0000 knitting needles, and 2 new tatting books. It's amazing how that all adds up!

I was a little disappointed that only Chris from our group had another fan, a bobbin lace fan, still on the pillow. Oh well.......I could have fair entries done already! I don't think I'll enter the fans in tatting though - perhaps make up a display that could be used for home decor instead.

When I got home Saturday, I had an ebay win in the mail. I'd bid on an antique pincushion - a porcelain woman with the pincushion skirt. The doll part is in good shape, but the cloth leaves a lot to be desired - which is good - I wanted to recreate the skirt part and now I won't feel guilty about taking off a perfectly good one! There was also a crocheted heart pincushion - obviously ancient - and it looked like the thread at the top had been cut or come loose, but now that I look at it, I don't think so. Oh, wait, yes - I was pulling the wrong thread. I hadn't really wanted it, but since I've got it, I may try to repair it. I've made one similar to this, but it had scallops on the outside edge and this is just a chain. Very plain.

I won the shuttle bid too, that I mentioned in a recent entry. I have to send payment for this one so it will take a little longer to get. I think the sewing machine part is a shuttle mechanism too - but not anything I can use. Both these auctions included pins and buttons and snaps - stuff I don't need and already have to get rid of myself.

I'm anxious to have time to organize my stuff now. Tatting spread throughout the house and I don't know where half of it is.

I've got several thank-you bookmarks to make. But I still have 2 RR flutters and a birthday RR to finish. Rework the Dorcas bonnet and maybe get back to the elephant. I also have some book reviews to finish...........

And it's almost mushroom hunting season!

I should check in my needlework kits to see if there is something my DIL would like to try while she is laid up. Maybe she would like to try some crochet? It's fairly easy. She doesn't have a lot of patience so I think tatting is out for the moment. I picked up a RX at the pharmacy last night before I went over - she's having nausea from the painkiller again. She could use a distraction, I think.

Well, what shall I tat first????? Use new threads????? I got some BRIGHT colors. BRILLIANT hues. CHEERY!

I saw on Compulsively Crafty that she had painted a bathroom in shocking pink! I rather like it, you know? Debating on the bathroom here.............I like those bright colors. My bedroom is purple and it is my favorite room at the moment. The bathroom is a deep blue - and yes it looks good. Dark colors are not bad - it's balanced with plenty of white so it's not overpowering. I'm kinda drawn to that pink though. Don't think my son would like it - (GGG) I'll wait til he moves out.

Hot diggity! Somehow I finished the fan last night. I went to my daughter's right after work to babysit. They were going to a Dave Matthews concert. I thought I brought everything I needed with me................NOT! We ended up making a run home so I could get my beads and another floss card of thread that I thought I had picked up and didn't. I had to separate a skein of floss - which is time consuming, but rayon is slick so it really isn't too bad. Then I had to wind it on a shuttle, attach a new thread..............oh, I had some ends to hide on the last few blossoms too and even after my trip home, I didn't have a very good hook for that. I use my size 14 hook most of the time and the one on my neck is a size 14, but the hook is shaped differently and it just doesn't slip under the ds waistband like my other one does. Plus it was quite warm yesterday and the chair I was sitting in felt hot. I was sweating. My granddaughter was sweating. When the kids got home, they agreed those particular chairs are hot in warm in weather. They hold the heat in - which is great in the winter.

It was so late last night that I didn't have time to block the fan - I'll do it tonight - along with getting Bailey's birthday present and other last minute chores. This has been a very busy week. Amiee got home from the hospital yesterday so I didn't have Bailey to take to the babysitter this morning. Her mom will be there to help today.

I brought some variegated cotton floss with me last night and separated 2 strands of that out and made a little rose. I didn't have a suitable thread with me to do the remainder of the motif..........but I brought it with me today and might give it a go during lunch. This particular floss is DMC and they have a larger size - size 8 I think - that matches. I would like to do a little more Hardanger when time permits. Also want to work with some of the needle laces. I got an Anna this week. I usually just order the May issue for the tatting feature, but I decided to go ahead and try 6 months of it since I like other needlecrafts too. They had a white table runner this time with needlelace insertion. Not the prettiest I've seen, but it reminded me that I wanted to try it. There was also one photo on the back previewing the next issue - well, more than one photo, but one of tatting - it looks like a light green coaster. Quite a bit of solid in the middle and the usual clover variation around. I'm not sure how it's so solid unless it is all chain work - it was too small to really see.

Got word that Gail, from my Roundrobins, is coming to Lace Day! I love putting faces with names. I kinda thought Wilma from Cincy was coming - I've met her a few times, but I don't remember the others who came last time. They may have been bobbin lacers too.

It's amazing how many canvas tatting bags I've accumulated in the past year. I have one from Heirloom Corner, one from last year's Lace Day by Circle City people, and one made for me in the Xmas exchange. They are all about the same size, fairly small, but perfect for a single project. Then I bought this big canvas tote from Annette's site, Making it up as I go, with a butterfly mandala. It's much bigger so I've got stuff in it today, as well as one of the smaller bags that already had tatting stuff in it. No wonder I can't keep track of anything! LOL!

I also learned I've got a surprise coming to me in the mail. (((gggggg))) Can't wait!

Yesterday I emailed an ebay seller to ask for a closer look at a shuttle. His name is the same as my son-in-law which is also the name of a famous male diet guru. ((((gggg)))). The shuttle is supposedly a Boye, but it didn't look like it in the original photo and even in the bigger one, it didn't look like the typical boye metal one. So I bid - we'll see if I win if it is anything special. I still couldn't tell from the photo. And he included a scan of another part, which I believe is a sewing machine part. I'm not sure why he grouped them together.

Ah, other obligations call......

I've been enjoying this site off and on: Compulsively Crafty
I'm gonna have to figure out how to put links in the sidebar!

Here's the fan in progress! Not blocked - some of the petals on the blossoms were folded while scanning. It will look so pretty when it's done tho. Only 2 blossoms left to do. I was so tired last night that my eyelids were barely staying open. So I went to bed about 1/2 hour hearly. I didn't even hear my grandson arrive this morning. I want to go over and help get their house cleaned up tonight so A. can come home to a comfortable home tomorrow and not feel like she needs to get up and do something.

Oh, here is the other big fan that will be on display Saturday. And I'll have the little hairpin lace fans and hopefully a couple of split ring fans.


I don't think I have enough thread on my shuttle for 2 more blossoms - that means I'll have to separate another skein - aaaacck! If I hadn't screwed up the very first one, there would've been enough. 8 yards per skein, and I separated the 6 strands into 2 strands per floss holder and tat with the 2 strands. I get 4 blossoms out of every floss holder card - which comes out to 2 yards per blossom! And about 1/2 hour per blossom. If I weren't so tired and didn't stop to either get up and take care of something else or end up retro-tatting, I think it could be done in 20 minutes easy.

(((GG))) My grandson informed me this morning that if I hadn't gotten his birthday present yet and if I had $30, I could get him the Yugiho (sp?) deck from K-Mart. If he said it once, he said it 10 times within a half hour. Then he can beat Kyle at the game. (gggg!) His birthday is Saturday and he will be seven.

Bought one prize for the tat-off last night.

The sun is shining and it's expected to be very nice again! I still have leaves to rake - but I guess they will wait.

I was thinking last night what I want to look for from the vendors on Saturday. There is a beautiful set of picot gauges that the Lacemaker has - I wanted them so bad last time. I really don't need any thread, but I can't seem to resist bright new fresh colors - or a new variegated. There are a few brands that might be available there that I can't normally get. And books - I don't really need any more books- I have sooo many now.........but there is always that ONE new pattern of something! I don't need any more reference books, that's for sure.

This will be such a short weekend. Lace Day & Bailey's birthday all on Saturday and Sunday will be my chore day then.

Big projects take so long.....and this fan isn't really a BIG project. It's big compared to a little motif though.

If I start right now......I still won't finish. LOL! But I will be close!

Everyone wants to know where to find this:Heirloom Handkerchief Handout Even a beginning tatter can turn a simple edging into an heirloom. Somewhere, I have the old white handkerchiefs my dad used to carry. I should dye them in soft pinks and blues and tat an edging on them, making the baby bonnet, as a true heirloom in more than one way.