The Countdown!




I started another Irish Crochet bag,this one in white. It has a bigger rose and leaves,more like the traditional 3D but I don't think it really is. The 1st 26 rows are the same....they will go fast but it's not too engaging for the mind so I can watch TV or listen to a CD or something at the same time.















I'm still tatting the yellow bag. I don't think I can "soften" it but a strong contrast, like a black or dark brown liner, will create a different effect. I wish now I had added beads but what color? These bags are a good size for a bar of soap. They would also hold a cell phone, now that I think about it, or - gasp - a shuttle and a few small balls of thread! hmmmm.....that thought racheted up the brain waves......I need to check out my Secret partner's preferences.



The 25 Motif challenge is still going strong. I love looking at all the motifs! And the ideas - whoo whee! I made up a list of url's that still aren't on my blog...I don't know - there's a bunch of them. Not sure I have room for all of them. LOL!

I'm also thinking about what to add to the current mask I'm working on the RPL mask I plan to make too. The full face mask fits my eyes perfectly so that's the one I'll put the most effort into but the others are for playing and practicing and should be able to stand on their own as examples.

I started this days ago and then when I tried to upload photos, it wouldn't let me, so I left it for another day or two......old news now.

I started a tax course last night - 2 weeks after it started so this coming week will be a crunch while I catch up.

I was surfing one of my crochet lists today, Antique Threadwork, when I saw a link to the Ferosah Crochet Design Studio. The online book shown on the left is crochet tatted lace. Ferosah also has online pdf files showing you how to do crochet tatting and a motif is included. She also had a free filet crochet fairy chart which I adore and hope to do one of these days soon. I thought the doily on the cover looked especially nice - a combination look of Irish crochet and tatting. Come payday next week, I just might get it!









I love this beaded button....unfortunately, I can't find the website I got it from but it's by Amy Clarke, one of the authors of Beaded Embellishment by Amy C. Clarke and Robin Atkins. It was a tutorial for this specific button! It's not about the embroidery stitches, which are in the book, but it's about preparing and finishing off the button.



And here is the drawstring bag I've started. Quite YELLOW, isn't it? The pattern is in Old-Time Crochet, Autumn 1992, page 30 by Rebecca Hollenbaugh. There is also a tatted yoke. I like the motif for the yoke but probably won't do the yoke itself. I'm on my 2nd set of fully loaded shuttles and haven't even finished the front side. I'm using size 20 Manuela. The pattern called for size 10 crochet cotton, but the finished size is approximately 7" x 7" and I wanted it a bit smaller. Doesn't look like it will be any smaller though. I haven't decided what color of fabric to line it with yet. Or what I will do with it when it is done.

I was just browsing Consumer Report's ShopSmart, a quick and easy quarterly guide to shopping. Credit cards are turning into a nightmare, IMO. If you are one of the fortunate ones who can pay off your card every month, the deadline for doing so has shrunk...down to 20 days in some cases. You have to read the fine print in every one of those annoying mailings to be aware of interest hikes and deadline changes. Late payment fees are as high as $39 now. So what is convenient about having a credit card now? Even online payments might not be credited for 3 days. I think the credit card companies (banks) have become so greedy that they are going to crash. No one will be able to afford them.

Oh, an article on Scooba, the robotic floor cleaner. The $14 mop and bucket beat it out, hands down. Save your money.

I posted all the previous stuff yesterday but didn't come back to finish it ....I was too busy working on this bag. It turned out nicely. I love it. My sister commented that it would hold a bar of soap perfectly. I carted it off to Charlotte today who is setting up a display from my lace guild at the West Lafayette Library this weekend for the month of November. My elephant and garden doily will be there...had to borrow them back from my daughter and sister. I can't find the baby bonnet I have tatted.

Today I got an Old Time Crochet that I won on Ebay. It mentioned some tatting patterns and the cover didn't look like any I have. There are quite a few in there and I'm working on a drawstring bag from it now. In bright yellow. I wanted to work in color after working with ecru for so long but the yellow almost seems gaudy now. I'll have to find a way to soften it. I managed to bridge out of the first few rounds with split rings and chains but I finally had to end off and start the next round independently. The author never says to RW....so I ended up retrotatting a section because the ring was going the wrong way, I think. I stopped because it's not clear where things are to join. I need to read it again when it's not so late.

It's been such an incredibly busy week! We barely got through the Feast of the Hunter's Moon when Pam Myers and hubby, Alan, made it into West Lafayette. They arrived just as my work day ended and I rode over to their motel with them so they could find it faster, and then we came back to West Lafayette and browsed in Von's for awhile, drooling over beads. Bette met up with us there and after much looking and a little buying, we walked over to The Parthenon, a Greek restaurant in the Village
After a delicious meal, we sat and talked tatting. Bette is on the left and Pam is on the right. I don't have a clue what we were laughing about but the white tatting in my hand is what Pam had tatted of Mark's bobbinlace-look-alike bookmark. It just dawned on me that I'm so red because I got a little sun at the Feast. I'd forgotten about that!

Pam and Alan were a pleaure to meet. I wish my week hadn't been so crammed and that I was leaving on Thursday. I would have enjoyed showing them around but we had a great evening! She's convinced me that I need to go to Ireland again!

Thursday I left for Kerrville, Texas with my sister and her husband. Our flight landed in San Antonio and we rented a car there and drove the rest of the way, a little over an hour's drive. We got there in time to see the deer that come up from the woods behind to get a daily corn snack from my uncle. This was a routine we watched every day during our visit with sometimes as many as 25 or more deer. My sister got all the good pics of the deer - my camera acted up when I snapped photos. We went to Fredricksburg on Friday and darted in and out of stores like monkeys! I found a parasol in one store, took it down off the mantle to look at the lace covering closer and discovered it was TATTED! And an antique at that! In fact, it was falling apart, so I quickly put it back on the mantle. I don't know why I didn't think to take a photo. I was so stunned to find it there, in a dress shop, and then I was afraid I'd damage it - I left it pretty quickly! I bought a tea-for-one in one of the shops but remembering I didn't have any room in my luggage, I kept purchases to a minimum. No thread or beads or such to tempt me here.

The next day we went to Wildseed Farm. They sell all kinds of wildflower seeds and herbs and gardening supplies. They also had a tea shop, which my sister and I love to go to, so we managed to secure a place inside the busy cottage that had just seated a busload and expected a wedding party later. We were lucky to get in. We had a wonderful meal there. My Uncle Ray is on the left, me, Aunt Mary, Rich & Linda. Ray's salad had flower buds in it and our dessert had edible flowers garnishing it too. The host was exceptionally pleasant considering how frazzled he was with all the unexpected business. He also kindly took our picture for us!



They also have a beautiful butterfly garden there. It was raining so they said the flutters weren't flying. We went in anyway and found some activity. Here are 2 beautiful ones!


I tatted a small doily for Aunt Mary while I was there, but didn't take a photo of it before I gave it to her. It's been so hectic catching up since I got home that I haven't done much else. This evening I finished up this motif that is part of an Irish Crochet bag. I will crochet the other side and then put them together. I'm looking forward to seeing how it ends up. It has a fring on the bottom and a floral strip along the top.

And it looks like it's bedtime already. The days seem to get shorter and shorter!

Pig Poop
Very clever advertising!

Oh, this is fun! Go to The Pink of Perfection and click on the video to watch how to reupholster a 50's style vinyl chair. Not that I want one....at least not a RED one! LOL! But they make it look so easy!

Scroll on down on their site to see more crafty videos. I might have to add them as a link!

I started this entry several days ago - life got busy and I got sidetracked. As I've mentioned elsewhere in this blog, my lace group demonstrates at the annual Feast of the Hunter's Moon, which was last weekend, and a good deal of my free time was spent in relation to that or working around it getting other things done. Just the normal stuff - and trying to make arrangements (cats, mail) before I leave for Kerrville, TX on Thursday for a long weekend visit with an aunt and uncle. I got a stupid Crafter's Choice package that I had to return today. They would save a whole lot of money if they'd only send a selection if you requested it. That reminded me to go online and decline my current choices before they send me yet another package. The post office has told me time and again that it's a scam and they get umpteen packages to return - as long as you don't open it, it's CC's cost to return. I do like to browse through their selections and I might even be more inclined to order from them if they didn't operate the way they do. I can usually find the books cheaper elsewhere.

Okay...now to the good stuff! It was largely last minute all the way around. I found out Pam M. from Cork, Ireland (a fellow tatter) was going to be in Chicago with her husband at a symposium last weekend but I only found out a few days before she was to leave so there was a flurry of last minute emails about how we might get in touch. I didn't know my Feast hours at the time and she wasn't sure where she would be when so it was hard to preplan anything. Then I got so busy that I kept forgetting to try to call her. Turns out my calling card would not process calls to their cell phone. And there was a problem using their wireless laptop so until they got access to the hotel public computer, we weren't in touch. I found out Sunday night that they were coming Monday. On Monday, they had lots of mix-ups about the rental car they hired...but eventually arrived here at 4:45 p.m.! Pam's blog shows the beautiful tatting and beading she did for her daughter's wedding and you can get an idea of her talent. I got to see 2 different pairs of earrings she has tatted from Nina Libin's patterns and the beginning of a bookmark she is tatting from Mark's pattern that resembles bobbinlace. Beautiful work! We went to Von's Beads in Chauncey Village and Bette, a lace group member, fellow tatter, AND employee of PU joined us there. Afterwards, after drooling over beads and feeling utter overwhelment over what to buy, we went to a Greek Restaurant, The Parthenon, nearby and had dinner and talked the rest of the evening away. We learned all sorts of stuff about geckos from Alan, Pam's husband, who is also a delight. I was so tired from the weekend and a poor night's sleep that I started flagging earlier than usual but I held out as long as possible. Pam gave me a booklet which highlights an award winning exhibit put together by her lace guild! I wanted to visit a lace museum in Cork during my last visit in 2002 but had to abandon it as we ran out of time. Obviously, I have to go back! And now that I know a tatter there, you better believe I will.

I am so pleased and honored that Pam and Alan went out of their way to come visit me. If I weren't leaving for TX on Thursday and already crunched for time, I would've tried taking a day off and showing them around more. I hope they enjoy the rest of their visit. Pam took lots of photos - or rather, Alan did - so look for them to show up eventually, either on her blog or here. (You were going to send me one, weren't you Pam?)

My house is such a wreck! I plan to spend a lot of time cleaning when I return from vacation. I haven't tatted hardly at all...not sure how much to take with me to TX. Oh...I was going to see how far away the Texas Bluebonnets were.

So..chances are....there won't be any entries til I return. Oh but hey - want to see my group at the Feast? A new member, Kelli, took some wonderful photos! Thank you Kelli! And yes, she caught me being a wanton woman by not wearing my head covering - I put it on afterwards. LOL!

I'm working on TAT 2 again. I'm doing the hanky edgings. One is tatted on and the other 2 are sewn on. I still have a curds & whey edging to tat for this and then attach and label the motif and I'll be done with this particular project.


My lace guild has invited members (and neighboring lace guilds who may attend our Lace Day on April 14, 2007) to a mask challenge. A mask that somehow fits on the face must be embellished however the maker wants and must include hand-made lace. I'm playing with several ideas and this one is mostly an example that can be used for the upcoming program on how to decorate a mask - what kind of materials work and what doesn't. I've used nail polish to paint this mask. The eye motif is Vida Sunderman's crystal teardrop ornament in Tatting for Tomorrow. I may make changes to it but for now, I'm pleased that it fits so nicely around the eyehole. I will need to bridge across the nose somehow when I make the second eyepiece. There will be lots of other embellishments too but I wanted to see how the tatting would fit.




I sewed these pillows while I was on vacation - they are upholstery remnants I bought at JoAnn Fabrics on clearance 2/$1. The colors fit so perfectly. I wouldn't mind drapes from the floral fabric...but it's discontinued so that's not going to happen.


I can think of better things to crochet than these bodysuits. I understand it's an artist's statement, but it's not one I would make.

It's been a busy week or two at work. This weekend is Feast of the Hunter's Moon plus I'm attending an auction at my 1st husband's mother's house. Next week I will be in TX from Thursday til Sunday so I've got a lot to get done between Monday and Wednesday.