Those on the mailing list knew this was coming...................



Nell told us about the lace she had just finished tatting and was attaching to her jean jacket! And black! I know myself how hard that is on the eyes to tat dark colors. Even if you lay a white cloth in your lap, it can be hard to see the individual stitches. She also stitched down every picot as well as places in the rings so she won't have to worry about pressing the picots down when it's washed. I think a round of applause is called for!


Remember my curiousity about how the painted doily was done? Well, Linda from Australia explained how to do it and it sounds like you could do this with tatting shuttles too. Anyway, she does with a tatting needle so there's gotta be a way. You use 3 strands of thread. Start out with 3 of color A and work a round or two, then go to 2 strands of color A with 1 strand of color B, then 1 strand of color A and 2 strands of color B, then 3 strands of color B. Repeat the process with the next color, replacing one thread out of the 3 to make the gradual change in color. Cool, huh? Now everyone go try it while I'm working on my elephant!

Why do such neat ideas come up when I'm knee deep in a project that I can't leave? Ever notice that? Nell has me motivated to put something on clothing too. Hope has made some gorgeous clothing embellished with tatting. It never occured to me to take photos when she was showing me everything. I was too busy touching and admiring and being in awe!

I finished one more motif on the elephant blanket. Actually 1 and 1/2. If it weren't for stringing the beads it would probably go a lot faster. Fortunately, I separated almost all of the embroidery floss last year so I don't have to mess with that. It took me forever! Kathy Lowe gave me some good tips about that butterfly wing - or rather the method of tatting in that book and it looks like I'll need to practice that technique a bit to get the effect that I want. I may change my mind.

This is another hectic week. A close friend of my sister passed away this week and I went to the funeral home this evening. The weather hasn't been pleasant either - cold and snowy and windy. I got home tonight and my mailbox had been hit. No mail, so it must've been hit before the mailman came. I wonder if I had any ebay wins in the mail? When I got in the house, there was a message from Airmail Express telling me the driver hit the mailbox as he backed out of the drive. I 'll call them tomorrow to see what they will do for damages. sigh.......................I replace a mailbox on a regular basis here. This will be my 3rd replacement in as many years.

Then I got a call from my ex-sister-in-law to let me know how many will attend my son's graduation celebration on Saturday and we talked for quite awhile. It will be nice to see all of them.

My car lease is up soon and I want to buy the next vehicle - yesterday I received a flyer saying my wanted car make will be featured in a midnight madness sale Friday and Saturday, so that's what I'll be doing Friday night even if it is frigid and packed with snow!

So the elephant is slow-going this week. Might help if I got off the computer though.