I received an info-crochet newsletter last night with a link to these darling yorkies done in needle felting, a technique I've never heard of. Unfortunately there are several pop-up ads on the page, but if you can get past them, you'll oooh and aaaaahh over them.

And whaddya know? Ebay has groups...not just seller's and users groups, but collectors groups. hmmmm....I joined a jewelry-making group. Not that I've made any but it's one my UFO ambitions, to create wire wrapped jewelry. UFO ambition - not quite the right word...unfulfilled ambition is what I mean, but I was thinking of my UFO's, unfinished objects.

Later...I find that Altavista.com has a search engine that includes a search for graphics, like google does. I finally figured out that an ISP that was showing up on almost all of my blogs was actually a "spider"....sent to index those sites for exactly what google and altavista do. It was quite interesting...I saw images of my tatting I'd forgotten all about. LOL! One of my "to-do" things this weekend is to copy my folders from the tatting goddess blog archive to a disk. It's my only paid-for site so it's also the only site that has everything archived where I can get to it easily. I just never go there, but now, with over 2 years of constantly changing material, I would like to back it up somewhere. I had no idea I would stay with it this long - it was a toy in the beginning.

I dropped one of the decorated shuttles this morning as I showed it off (blush) and a stone came off, along with paint, so I have to do that one over tonight. I've been tatting on the cord for my class at Palmettos - which is also a second necklace project I started way last winter. I'd like to finish it up soon so I can work on the motif that will go with it and then the smaller samples. But first....gotta get lace day out of the way. I really don't see any way I can tat something to enter at Palmettos. Unless I get my exchange quilt block done early....ROTFL!

One of the things I enjoy about seeing other tatters' work is how they use color and/or beads differently in the same motif. Here is a nice example of color play. If you go to her main page, you can see the effect with several motifs together as a doily. The designer is Irina Astatenko and this is from the Ankars website. I still haven't made the pattern I purchased there.

Tea's Tatting Memo has a lovely example of pearl tatting. You have to scroll down to the August 22, 2003 entry to see it but you'll have plenty of eyecandy to oogle on the way. I really do wish I could read the writing there. She does such exquisite work!

Well.....I'm off to tat.

I've been tatting these Pam Palmer hobby horses for friends with new babies - this one is going to a friend in Australia. I used a much smaller thread than I did a few years ago. Pam has you attaching an eye afterward, but I like to tat the beads in. It took me 3 tries to remember how I did it before. If it's joined in the wrong place, then there is a big gap so I join in a different spot than the pattern. Then I have to adapt the joins after too, but only one or two. The critter is almost done by that point.




Here's a shuttle I won on ebay recently. It looks quite old, but the points are in good shape. A delightful surprise!

The newest issue of CQMagOnline is now ready for viewing. Click on Current Issue to see the latest. I love this site!

There's an article about dying with Kool-Aid which we talked about last weekend at tatting guild. I love the articles about the beaded dragonfly and pansies and paisleys and Victorian pincushions and.....well, everything really. There is even a teapot embellished with silk ribbon flowers - and I'm reminded of the Pam Palmer teapot that I've tatted before and someone at tatting guild was working on Saturday too. Wouldn't that be pretty on a quilt block? A tatted teapot with tatted posies coming out of it?

Dragonfly done!

Maybe glue wasn't such a good idea? LOL!

I wasn't done with the dragonfly when I went to tatting guild this morning but I was halfway through the outer wings by then. We all brought show and tell from our Hector experience. Kaye's pics turned out better than mine but it reminded me that I should put a few on here.


Kaye & Mary Nina & Hubby Classroom
L to R and around: Shirley, Gale, ?, Ginny, ?, ?, Rita Jacquie Teal in center with plum blouse

And here is some eyecandy by friends:

Quilts by Estefania from Argentina



Painted shuttles by Sherry Townsend



I know I owe a couple of emails but my eyeballs are slamming shut on me. I'll get to them in the morning.

Launchpad done!

I finished the dragonfly launching/landing pad tonight and it's on the blocking board now drying. If I can finish the dragonfly tomorrow night, I'll have them for Greenfield on Saturday.

I also finished up decorating the shuttles for our lace day raffle. Which is rapidly approaching. Two weeks from Saturday!




The blue one has some tiny tatted rings but they are blue and impossible to see. I put wingtips on the gold one. I'm kinda wanting to keep them now. LOL!

And I even have organdy bags for them! Bought those on clearance once at Michael's.



I'm off to bed now. Was yawning mightily as I ended the launch pad. My roll stitch didn't seem to turn out very well. The split chain was a bit different from what I've done before. I took the thread to a picot where the chain joined and then again to the last join and worked my way back. When I got to the middle join, it also joined to a p on a SCMR and then I kept going back to where I ended. It definitely took some focus.

Hector (part 2)

Karey Solomon's Class with the Dragonfly and Launching Pad



The launching pad was actually a skills-building class. It involved block tatting and beads and though Karey doesn't agree with the term, a SCMR (since everyone will recognize what I mean when I say that) and there might be another technique that isn't coming to mind right now. I didn't get the pad done yet. I need to finish this round and one more, I think. The dragonfly body was tatted in a spiral stitch with one of the threads being fishing line and the other was regular tatting thread. I started the wings but haven't been able to get back to them. I'd like to finish it before I go to tatting guild on Saturday though. It turned out that Kaye and Mary took different classes from me so we all have different projects to show.



This little tin arrived near the end of the weekend as a sort of final surprise. It had a pattern in it for a butterfly as well as a few beads for the center and a clover shuttle already wound with thread. I tatted the butterfly Sunday night in my room along with a few other things I was trying out. The pattern is from Rita Cochran. The tin was courtesy of her and Linda VanScoy and Jeanne Zukowski. Lovely tatted motfi on top too.




I bought this rayon thread from Gale, along with 3 other colors. I tatted a little sample of curds & whey (Konior). As you can see, it's tiny. The very first ring ended with a snapped thread when I tried to close it. LOL! I went at it a little more gently after that. She let me try a sample of the metallic thread she carries which is super strong but tats up very nicely.




And here is some of what I tatted while traveling! I was emptying shuttles so I would have enough for class. Well, I tried the little bud fragment on page 83 of Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns and added a bit more to the stem. I'd brought a few small frames with me because my intention was to tat a little something for our Lace Day Raffle. So there you are....

Almost got the shuttles decorated too. Sneak peek in a few days.....




I decided to try out the variegated Altin Basik thread I bought on the way home too just to see how the colors played out. The Bell Flower on page 46 of Mary's book was my target this time. The first section turned out so nicely, I decided to make the whole flower and pass it on to one of the secretarys at work next week. I got all the little bells done AND and little florets to use in the center, all on the way home - just need to put it together now. Then make another for the other secretary. I also need to get 3 of Pam Palmer's hobby horses done for new parents in the next week or so. Then maybe I can tat something for Palmettos. HA!

I plan to download my pics sometime this evening. I realized later that I didn't have the camera setting on "auto" so I'm not sure yet how they turned out. When I don't use auto, they tend to be fuzzy. I didn't get around to taking pics on Saturday so I missed some of the people who were not there on Sunday.

I might get some stuff put away tonight - and then again, maybe not.

Back from Hector! (part 1)

We took off Thursday evening. I drove from Lafayette to Greenfield and was delayed time and again on I65 by crawling traffic. It was never clear what was slowing it but I was about a half hour later than I expected at Zig Zag Corner Quilt Shop where I met Kaye Judt and Mary Harris. We immediately left there and found even more traffic slow downs until we were well into Ohio. We stopped and ate at a Bob Evans and finally stopped for the night shortly after that.

The next day we were up bright and early and headed towards Hector. The drive was bright and sunny and we listened to Enya and tatted and chatted. We arrived at our hotel, Chatel Leon, around 4:30 p.m., early enough to drive back into Watkins Glen and try to make it to the antique store we saw on our way....but it was closed. So we made our way to the Fire Hall for the carry in dinner on Friday night. Jacquie Teal was sitting there tatting and as I spoke with her, I realized she was British and figured out she was the guest instructor. Her friend, Fiona, also sat there doing some exquisite embroidery, red on red. We talked a bit with Karey and then sat and watched others come in. Later, as we ate, we talked with a few more who were regulars. One I talked with was Ginny Weathers, who brought the tatted bag Nell had made for her in an exchange. It was so cool to see it up close - much much smaller than I had imagined and in a very fine thread.

It takes a while to get your bearings when you're in a new place. You try to match names and faces but they don't always make sense at first. For one - when Ginny said her name was Ginny...I thought it was Jenny and that didn't click with me til I saw the bag from Nell. LOL! So, instead of connecting names and faces, I began connecting names and tatting!

The next morning we arrived plenty early to complete registration. We got a printout of the activities and a plastic box of goodies. I'll try to scan the contents before I publish this.




Gale's class with the Square Ring Flower Pot and Pico Pico Fly

My morning class was with Gale Marshall tatting the square ring flowerpot and pico pico fly. Obviously, I don't have the fly done yet, but I plan to work on that soon. I got part of it done and ran out of thread...so I either add more thread or start over and I think I'll start over because I'm going to run out of thread for the wings too.


Jacquie's class with the Beaded Tennis Bracelet
The afternoon class for everyone was Jacquie Teal's tennis bracelet. The big beads and the clasp were in our goodie box. We provided the smaller beads that went around it. It really was easy once you got going, but as usual, there are bugs to work out, usually having to do with how we each interpret the pattern. Jacquie has a soft voice so she spent a lot of time going around and helping everyone. It was fascinating to see everyone's bracelet turn out a bit differently. I still don't have the clasp on mine, but will finish it soon.



In the meantime, I visited the vendors and bought some shuttles and thread and a couple of small hemostats and more thread and some fish "shuttles" and a seahorse shuttle and fansticks and I think that was pretty much it. I also bought some raffle tickets and put them in the bags and then went over and admired the show and tell. I talked with Sherry for awhile and she brought out her wire bag and a few other wire motifs that she and Mark Myers will be teaching at Palmettos. Ruth Perry had an assortment of celtic tatted items. I didn't take her class but the snail pattern was in our packet. I'll eventually get to that.

I also admired Sherry's painted shuttles which were part of the raffle. Several of my lace guild members have admired the painted shuttle Sue Hanson sent me as part of our exchange and ...ahem...talked me into painting a few for our raffle on Lace Day. So I listened up as Sherry told me how she painted and decorated the shuttles and that's part of what I'm doing tonight. This is really fun! And I just had this wild thought....Gail Owens has been tweaking my "Goddess" image/logo....we'll see what it looks like when it's done, but I know there are ways to make stickers out of an image. Wouldn't that be cool on a shuttle???? Of course I think so!


My son wants to use the computer pretty soon and it's been a long day....so I'll finish the rest of the story tomorrow!

Buttons4u.com I can't vouch for it since I only just found it and haven't ordered, but the site looks intriguing. I did a search for 3-hole buttons but they didn't have any.

ummm....well...that started me on a buttons-by-Google search. Right away I learnt you enter craft buttons unless you want to see html buttons.

Junus Galleries just happens to be in Australia, 62 km from Brisbane where I'll be in October. There are numerous shops and galleries there so I think I just might have to go there.

On the Fringe includes projects on their site. I was looking at their couching project and admiring the little bag on there when I started wondering how tatting would look couched on a crazy quilt block. Like maybe a 2 color lockstitch chain couched with a metallic thread.....or a regular stitch chain in black couched in red? You could shape it any way you wanted. OR.....a row of rings only attached with decorative embroidery. I'll have to get my book of victorian embroidery for crazy quilts out. Some of those stitches are very simple and would set off tatting dramatically.

JHB buttons - I've bought a lot of those at JoAnn Fabrics. They have a craft link too.

Buttons are used in scrapbooking too and some are very tiny or thin to work better with the pages. Now wouldn't a smattering of those glued on a shuttle be unique?

Here are some celtic-themed buttons. They have beads and toggles too!

Really serious button business!

Another Exchange Done!

She finally got it! I was beginning to wonder and emailed only to learn it arrived today.



You definitely have to click on the bag to see the larger version. This is the bag I made for Mary. I had such fun! I found a napkin from my stash of garage sale finds that had "M" embroidered on it as well as some other embroidery. Whoo-hoo! Then I tatted an edging that is a combination of Mary Konior's Celandine and the butterfly edging from Rita Weiss's book. I think it is much prettier up close and personal. The thread is a vintage thread too - not sure if I remembered to tell her that or not. It's a size 30 Coats Clark thread, which I can't get anywhere around here. I'm not sure where I got it, to be honest.

Mary says today that she collects antique linens so I made the right move there. She also said she'll bring it with her at Palmettos and I'll get to see it again!

In the meantime, I've been tatting a false plait cord in red and green - yep, Christmas colors. Not that I'm that foresighted....I started it before Christmas for a different project and then changed my mind. I was originally going to use it as the cord in the Christmas goodie bag I made for Sue's exchange, but decided I was running out of time and used something else instead. So now I'm tatting the cord until my thread runs out and THEN I'll decided what to do with it. I do have an idea or two in mind.

Tonight I'm going to start my packing. I don't know whether to take clothes for warm weather or cool weather, but I'm thinking there is a good chance it will be on the cool side. I also need to figure out what supplies to take. I still don't have a supply list so I'll just take lots of shuttles and thread. And some beads.... And a few favorite books...... And a thread winder...... And some paper clips..... Some floss holders..... Some baggies...... I never know what color thread to bring and bring too many.

I'm determined to limit myself this time.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS!!!!!!

While following a side link on a discussion list, I found this flat shuttle. Looks like they make a Lady Hoare shuttle too. I don't like to use the flat shuttles myself because my sweaty palms would make the thread all icky, but I have a few in my collection.

Wow....all this time and not much tatting to show for it. I've been busy though. I got my bag for the exchange done and sent out and I also worked on the game board for Lace Jeopardy. Finding a glue that works on laminated paper is turning into a challenge. Hot glue didn't do it. I just bought something in a yellow bottle today that said it worked for plastic, fabric, and paper....all of the materials involved, but it didn't. I found some fabric glue I had stashed away and it's in the test mode right now. I have to glue velcro pieces to the back of the laminated paper which is the $$$ amounts and the categories that are on the board. I need to be able to take them off and on.

Everyone had great fun doing the test run! I just taped the afore-mentioned laminated cards to the white board in the room. I need to work on the questions though. Some were too hard or vague. But that's why we tested it. The questions cover all kinds of lace,not just tatting, because we are a "lace" group, chartered by I.O.L.I.



I finished both of these motifs today. I only had the one on the left done when I started this. The scan made me think this might be a nice study on thread qualities. The one on the left is done with Pastelles embroidery thread - 2 strands. It's very limp and soft. The motif on the right is done in Olympus #40. I don't know what size the thread is. It says #40 on it, but it's bigger than size 40 thread so I don't know what that is about. The only other number on it is the weight in grams. I love this little motif. It's #13 in The Tatted Artistry of Teiko Fujito, a Lacis publication. I like the lines of it, but it is so easy to remember that I don't really need the diagram in front of me all the time along with my handy-dandy post-its! It's a little bigger and a little stiffer in the second thread. Neither is blocked yet. I just finger pressed and shaped them before scanning. It's a good practice piece for working on chain tension. I especially worked on snugging the chains up and shaping each ring before moving on with the second motif, but you can still see the discrepencies. I'm not sure how well blocking will eliminate that. I suspect it will look very nice in a size 12 DMC thread.

I've been looking for small but visually appealing and unusual motifs to put in small frames. They don't always work out the way you expect them to. LOL!

My latest test glue doesn't seem to be working right either....though better than the one before. I also think I figured out a chain sequence a friend told me about and I want to go test that "theory" too.

It's beautiful out and I should be outside, but I'm also incredibly tired. I really want to go take a nap.

Oh hey! I'm tired because I got up extra early to go get weighed and measured at Curves. Lost 4 pounds and 3 1/2 inches. Of course, I gained 5 inches last month, so that part doesn't impress me. The girls were quite different in their measurement methods and my clothes were significantly different too. But the weight loss did make me happy. I know I'm gaining muscle which weighs more than fat and I know the seemingly small changes are really significant, but I haven't seen a difference in the way my clothes fit either. That's what I'm looking for!

After the end of this month, I'm going to let it go for the summer. I have other things I would rather be doing. I may pick it back up in the fall, depending on what kind of changes I see during this month.

Bead Frenzy!

As I was cleaning off my table this weekend, I found all these beads....in different bags...THREE different bags. All from this week. sigh....clearance in Walmart, Michael's and JoAnn Fabrics....just couldn't resist. I ended up putting them all in the bag Mary gave me.

I've been quite productive this weekend. I try to sleep in but for some reason, I was awake between 6 and 7 every day. I gave up trying to get back to sleep around 7:30 or 8.

I've got the tatting part done on my bag exchange. (whisper....show ya later)

Got the Lace Jeopardy board painted. White on white....the lace strips looked fine. But put a little paint on there and every crooked corner shows up! LOL! No matter....they will be covered by $$ amounts and categories most of the time.

I was out raking again today. My chest is tight from inhaling woodsmoke on Friday and I have a dry, very dry cough. I can't remember the last time I had a cough like this. I've been drinking a lot, hoping to loosen it up, but not much luck so far.



I had these hats on my bed when I moved them to find something else and thought to myself, these hats look naked. I've been meaning to tat a hatband for a long time. Maybe we should have an exchange. Measure the hat you want a band for and let your partner tat it. That might be fun.

Well..stuff to finish up...

Happy International Tat Day!!!!!

Today I traveled to Eastern Indiana to inspect a farm with 2 colleagues. Of course I took my tatting with me - you didn't think I would forget, did you? LOL!

But I tatted very little. I dozed most of the way there and back.

The edging above is from Rita Weiss's book, Tatting Doilies & Edgings, edging #6 on page 38. I call it the butterfly edging because I think it looks like butterflies! I worked on it a bit this evening, but I was getting too sleepy so I stopped.

I'm sleepy because I spent 2 1/2 hours traipsing around in the cold (my fault for not wearing something heavier) and climbing up and down tractors and barn lofts. THEN when I got home, I decided to rake some more....and I raked and I raked and I started a burn pile, started burning, and raked and raked.....oh my...I am so sore.


I hope every single tatter has taken some time out today to tat something just for the sheer pleasure of it.