I had many lovely birthday cards and emails and good wishes from many many friends, not only today but for the past week. I was tickled with this card from Heidi that arrived today. LOL! Thank you everyone. Your thoughtfulness is so appreciated!

I went to lunch with ladies from the office at Preston's and it was so beautiful outside today that we sat on the patio there and enjoyed the fresh air. I do work with a bunch of easy-to-get-along-with people.

This evening I met my sister and my brother-in-law for dinner at O'Charleys. I love the California Salad there with the strawberries and cranberries and pecans and blue cheese crumbles. The rolls are pretty darned good too! They had several sweet gifts for me but I wanted to show this goddess bowl here.

They bought it in Sedona, Arizona when vacationing last month. I already have it here next to my computer to catch odds and ends of tatting I tend to string out all over my desk.

When I only have little bits and pieces of time to tat, I don't like to work on important projects like the bridal hanky because I'm afraid my tension will be screwy by only working in short spurts. I'd rather tackle that when I've had a little time to warm up and can work long stretches at a time. So last night I decided to empty a shuttle and satisfy a tatting craving by tatting one of the motifs in 20 Tatted Motifs by Rosemarie Peel. It's no longer in print but a google search turned up one here and if you are a member of I.O.L.I., you can borrow it from their library too. My copy is a fairly recent addition from a used book store so just keep your eyes open for it.

Anyway, this is the primrose, one of several blossoms in the book. I chose it because of the different way it is tatted. As you can see, all the chains and rings are lined up on the safety pin with their picots.

And then you pull it all together by tatting a center ring last and joining in the picots. I thought that was a rather unique way of making it. The stem was not part of the original pattern; I just added it to see how it would look that way.

I think there is the potential to do even more with this by including beads and decorative picots but that will have to wait for another day.