I've been back for three days but working and catching up with other things meant blogging had to wait. I didn't think I really had any pictures to share but once I got some on here, I decided I had too many and removed some for another day!

We went to Winona Lake, a town originally inhabited by the Potawatomi but later developed by various religious organizations, including evangelist Billy Sunday. Wikipedia speaks very kindly of him but the literature in Winona mentions his bigotry and prejudices in a less than flattering light. The town has now been restored and developed under a new vision and houses artisans of all sorts. We lunched at the Boathouse Restaurant, which is located right next/on the lake. If you sit outside, you could stick your feet in the water. It was too hot for that so we ate inside.

Since we got there on Monday which was celebrated as the holiday because the 4th was actually on Sunday, many of the establishments were closed by the time we got there. I'll talk about the B&B at another time. One of the places we scouted during a walk on Monday was an ice cream shop that had a gift shop above - but it was closed so we came back on Tuesday. We were not disappointed.

My sister and I went from room to room, ooohing and aahhhing over everything while my brother-in-law sat down in the ice cream shop and enjoyed a cold soda.

This was a RED section. LOL! I was snapping photos right and left of teapots and birdcages and lots of shabby chic stuff all over.

My camera battery gave out after this one......but look at the bottom of the photo! LOL! My sister and I are reflected in the mirror. I had no idea of it until I downloaded the pics.

My sister and brother-in-law the evening before when we were out walking and scouting out the attractions.

I'll tell you about the antique stores in Pierceton and other places we went to and the B&B in another post. Don't let me forget to tell you about the gorgeous tatting that I do not have a photo of since my battery was dead.

So...back at home...and I've tatted a bit of Mary Konior's "leaves". Actually I took this with me and tatted most of it during the car ride back. I'm surprised I tatted so little during the trip. At night I was reading about Martha Washington's life and was just about to the part of the Revolution (which is what July 4th is about) when I went to bed that night.

I was only tatting about 5" of this edging to put around this package. Ribbon goes through the "leaves" very nicely. On another one that I'd finished before I left, I added a button, threading the ribbon through it and tying it all together. Such a simple closure but very pretty.

I have two more motifs for our charity tree to tat and want to give them to the organizer at our meeting on Saturday so I started one last night. I thought sure I had the same thread but see how it's bigger than the one already completed? I was puzzled because I know my tension doesn't vary that much. Then I got to thinking this morning and can vaguely remember using almost all of a small ball of thread this very color. My guess is that I used size 80 for the first motif since this thread is size 70. Same color and seemingly so close in size it wouldn't matter, but clearly it does. The pattern is from Lene Bjorn's 24 Snowflakes in Tatting. The first one was almost too big for the size limits we have for this miniature tree so do I continue with a 3rd one or not (we tat groups of 3 of each design) or do I look for something smaller???? My self-imposed deadline was July 1st and I have all but this group done. Since the meeting is tomorrow and I have bobbins I want to prepare for the program, I probably won't get them done! But it's okay. It's only MY deadline. I can extend it another week. LOL!

Oh...just remembered...fair registration deadline is tomorrow!