This is the "Bloomer" bracelet from Marilee's Boutique Tatting. The instructions call for 6mm beads....and the bigger beads I had said they were size 6 - I really didn't pay that close of attention but when I was done I kept thinking they certainly didn't take up as much space as they did in the picture in the book. LOL! Well, it helps if you pay attention to details. 6mm is NOT the same as size 6 bead. I don't generally have bigger beads but I did have some pearls that would have worked. Oh well..... she also has a hair ornament using this same pattern. I didn't know how much thread to put on the shuttles so I just filled them both full. By the end, one was pretty much empty and would have been if I hadn't switched shuttles, and the other was pretty full. That's because all most all of the rings are thrown off of the chain so it's really the chain shuttle getting the workout. You could probably almost overfill your chain shuttle and just have about a yard on the ring shuttle and it would work out perfectly.

I've been very busy taking care of personal business stuff that I'd been putting off. I had a crack in my windshield that started at the end of February and is now halfway across the window so I made arrangements to get that fixed tomorrow. I've got someone coming out to give me an estimate on harvesting my trees. I mostly want to harvest the fully mature ones up by the house so that no more fall ON the house. Trees fall around here all the time and that was the 2nd one that was near the house so it's time to do something. Timber is worth some money so I'm hoping I'll be able to make some much needed home improvements as a result.

I've been hitting the pool every other day so far. Slept like a baby last night!


I can't remember which blog - it wasn't a tatter's I don't think - but they said these flip camcorders were on sale at Amazon and they'd had one for 2 years and loved it. I've sort of eyed the smaller camcorders off and on but hadn't really looked into it. Anyway, I ordered it Tuesday and it arrived Wednesday. How fast is that??? So I played with it a bit last night. It only records 30 minutes (and they are currently on sale at Walmart for $49 - a better deal) but that's fine for just little bits. Better than using my digital camera which really eats up the memory card. I couldn't view it last night because the popout USB is in an awkward place and when I try to plug it in the front port of my computer, the camera is too fat to fit in that space. So today I ordered an extension "cord". First I went to Walmart on my lunch hour to see if they had any - no, but that's when I saw they had the camera on sale - and the popout USB on that one is at the top which WOULD work. So overall, it's probably cost me $20 more to do it this way but it's still way less than regular price new ones. I can also download the movie clips to youtube or a few other formats that I personally don't use. Very easy to use. (if it fits in your port!) You can edit it. You can put it on a tripod. You can capture "stills" from it. I don't think it would work well in darker environments. Anyway...it's my new toy. LOL!