Does that background kinda blind you? LOL! It caught my eye because it was so summery but I think I'll find something more like a gentle summer breeze than a hot blast of heat! BUT - tomorrow IS the first day of Summer so it will stay til Monday.

It's been a very very busy week. My coworker was on vacation so I was doing double duty and it seemed I never got home before 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. most nights just from other things. I did get home earlier on Wednesday and Thursday than I expected but I went to bed early too. Last weekend just about wiped me out before a busy week and I'm making up for it. I slept in til 9:00 this morning and then took a 2 hour nap this afternoon! Even so, I got through a stack of crochet magazines I bought at a garage sale last weekend. The majority will go to my daughter but I still have a healthy stack to work from. I also finished up the last paw heart this morning and all three are ready to go now.


The pattern is from Heather Johnston that you can purchase from her Esty shop which you can find on her blog, The Tarnished Tatter.

I almost feel like this is a bereavement post because everything I've tatted here has been in relation to a loss.


This cross is from Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns, the small cross on page 88. I've done this one before....I think as a donation for my lace group's sale items at the Feast. I tatted it the same as the one in the book, in size 40 DMC special cordonnet. It's really quite simple although you do have to tat it in 2 rounds, cutting and hiding the ends in each round.

One of my cousins passed away two weeks ago in another state. I haven't seen him since we were children but I can still see his headful of white hair and bright blue eyes. All of my cousins are younger than me as I'm the oldest on both sides of my family so it's always unexpected when I hear one has passed on. I guess we're all getting there day by day.

I attached the cross to a card with some organza ribbon. For some reason, when I bought the card, I thought the lettering was blue and that the cross would complement it. The lettering is green instead, but it still looks like it belongs there. The card went to my aunt & uncle in Oregon, who are his parents.


A few weeks ago, I ordered Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith and signed up with an online blog group to play with it.

I haven't felt a particular need for this but from what I hear, Jamie Ridler is a great online coach, helping you reach for your creative potential, and it sounded like fun.
I've only started since my book didn't arrive until this week and I don't feel nearly as aggressive as the instructions want you to be, but it is a good way to recognize boundaries you have set and release them. Would YOU want to destroy a book, even as plain and ordinary looking as this one? And yet, we often have to tear down what we have built to be able to move on. I love this part on the back where you tape the book shut and mail it to yourself.

As many of you know, I've owned a couple of yahoo groups for several years. The first one was associated with this blog, meant to be a mailing list, but I set it up wrong and next thing you know....I had an active list! The other list was for tatting teachers, meant to help new teachers learn from the more seasoned ones and to help set some standards. I've enjoyed both lists and derived a great deal of personal satisfaction from them, but it was a responsibility that I've felt a need to let go of for a few years now. I was prepared to delete them and walk away, but fortunately, a member from each group offered to take ownership. Stephen Bowman, aka bluetattingman, took the teachers group, and Erin Holloway, from The Buhlawg, took Threadsfromatattinggoddessupdates. (yeah, what a long name for a group!) My deepest appreciation to them both.