Yesterday I had lunch at Sgt. Preston's with my cousin Deb (left) and my sister Linda (right). Both are talented craftsters. Deb had made a photo album for her son of her late father and his family and I was getting a sneak preview. It was beautiful and I loved seeing old photos of people who were part of my childhood. Her dad's family actually grew up on a farm very close to where I lived. In fact, her mother and another sister of my mom, married brothers in that family so they are all near and dear to my heart. It was the first time I'd seen such early (aka YOUNG) photos of her grandparents and aunts and uncles. It feels funny to be way older than any of them were in those photos.

After my last post, I decided I NEEDED to tat! So I threw all my pinks and reds into one bag with the intention of tatting hearts with my Valentine colored stash. I started out emptying a shuttle with red thread and got almost done before running out of thread. I'll get back to it later. It was late and I didn't want to try to figure out how much thread to put on the shuttle to finish it.

Then last night I got home later too, but sat down and wound a few shuttles and tatted this sweet little heart basket. The pattern is by Witt Wittman and you can contact her from her website to purchase the pattern. It used to come with one of her books but I think she sold it separately too. I forgot to put a tassle on this one but it's nice even without it. I tatted it in Oren Bayan, size 12 perle, and in color 99.

I hope to tat a few more from favorite patterns over the next week. This little heart basket is a favorite,as well as Mary Konior's Queen of Hearts, Sue Fuller's Heart's Desire, and Irene Woo's Heart of the Butterfly. I also love the Daisy Heart from Workbasket, a heart basket by Rosemarie Peel, and Martha Ess's entire book of hearts, Tat's Amore! Those are my absolute favorites. There are a few I haven't tried that I want to try yet, but these are the ones I keep coming back to.

Watch for more valentines as the days progress!