Got 'er done! And this time, I got the eyes in the right place and twisted the picot ears before blocking, like I was supposed to! Hmmm...can't remember the thread but it is size 20 and had some beads already strung from some other project. My guess is Lizbeth but I'm not sure since I'm not home. I think I got this and another solid to work with a variegated all at the same time. The beads weren't exactly planned out so I forgot to put them in a few places. Still...I'm happy with it!

If you haven't already noticed, I've added/changed some of my patterns to direct links. You do have to sign up at the site (free) to access them. The others that are in Esnips will eventually be changed to direct links too but this was all I had time for last night. I also plan to review/retat every pattern and make a diagram for it. Obviously that is going to take some time. I'll also make them all pdf files. I didn't realize so many were word documents. So..if you have or do tat one and find issues, please email me privately and I'll attach them to the pattern at home so I can address them when I redo it. I know Jeff had a problem with the gingerbread boy and someone else made some adaptations, which might have been personal preference or might have been a result of a problem. Anyway, I would like to know about them. Some are quite old now and need to be updated and it's very possible my wording or order of doing things could be improved.

I had a chiropractic adjustment yesterday (which is helping my hip issues greatly!) but I was done a bit too early to take things to the fair so I came home instead. In fact, I thought I'd wait until this morning to take my fair items in, but after eating dinner and catching up elsewhere, I realized I still had plenty of time to take the stuff in so I did. It pays to wait, I guess. Not a person in line! It was no problem to substitute the booties for the dragon. I'm really anxious now to see what else is entered but I'll have to wait for the weekend for that.

So on my way home, I was in the mood to wander Goodwill. There is a nice clean one on my way and so I stopped. Besides, Wednesday's are senior citizen discount day (one discount I do take advantage of). I don't need a stitch of clothing but I have sort of been on the lookout for a simple summer dress to wear at home. I have one that I love but it gets dirty and has to be laundered. LOL! Dresses are sometimes cooler than shorts and tops. But it has to be loose and comfortable and with pockets.

I did find one and it also had a red tag which meant it was 50%off. Then I found another dress, in linen, that I'll never wear but it was also red-tagged and for that, I couldn't pass up the fabric. I've got one book about linen crafts and some of the embroidered bags in another frequently use linen. There's plenty of fabric for that! I'll admit I buy an awful lot at goodwill just for the fabric or buttons or trim. When it's 50% off plus the senior citizen 30% off - well, hey, I'm smiling all the way home! That linen fabric only cost me about $1.75!

I also got this little bird pulling a basket wagon. I've been trying to figure out what to put in the wagon. Make it a pincushion? Dried moss and miniature flowers? Pretty buttons (or beads)? Chocolate? So many choices!

I spent Friday and Saturday in a workshop to get my CEAS, a certification that is not currently required but probably will be in the next few years. At any rate, it's helpful for my job. I have been doing ergonomics, mostly office ergonomics, for nearly a decade now. I was pleased to find there was only one new thing I learned about office ergonomics and it was more of a personal experience advice thing. I did learn a little more about Labor ergonomics, which is the weak area in our department for the simple reason that there is not enough manpower and resources to focus on it pro-actively. It's in the works though.

I brought way too much with me to do. I didn't feel good after sitting in a freezing room all day and my back has been hurting from something I did while mowing (???) and the conference room chairs were far from comfortable. I tried knitting and it looked like a 6 year old had done it so I abandoned that. I looked through some beading magazines I brought with me because I wanted to try some simple projects but couldn't bring myself to pull anything out of the bag and sort. I didn't even feel like tatting. So I read. The night before I had finished up a book, High on Arrival, by Mackenzie Phillips,a disturbing memoir. When we're young, we often dramatize the events in our lives because they ARE high drama to us, but reading about someone else's life and drama certainly puts it in perspective and makes one grateful for the simpler challenges in life.



So my next book (can't believe I'm getting to read this much!) is one I picked up at the Half-Price Bookstore a few weeks ago. It caught my eye with the title The Lace Reader. It was fiction so I knew it wasn't a how-to book. The website says it was on the bestseller list but obviously I never knew that. LOL! The character reads lace like some people read tea leaves. Now for those who think it's all woo-woo stuff, I've always viewed tea leaves, candles, bones, stones and such simply as tools of focus. The Rosary in Catholicism serves the same purpose, as does prayer and meditation. It's a way to focus inward and connect. Prayer has been called the state of asking and meditation the state of receiving an answer. Many people are able to do both but you can never do both at the same time. You can't be in a state of asking and receiving at the same time. One will follow the other and often very quickly, seeming instantaneous, but there is a gap between one and the other. So...I'd never heard of "lace-reading" though the overall concept is familiar to me and I found it intriguing. I've only started the book. In 2003, I made a trip to the East Coast, meeting and visiting friends I'd met online. Near the end, I stayed with a friend in Cape Ann (mentioned in the book) and one day we drove through Salem on the way to his doctor appointment. My friend was a wealth of information about the "witch" town as well as Cape Ann's former glory days so I'm finding the location exciting in this book too. The lace seems to be bobbin lace and already I'm learning new stuff about that. I wonder if the author makes lace herself? Well, it turns out she made up "lace-reading" but really...think about it....how many AHA! moments or wonderful insights have you received while making your lace? I think I'll enjoy this book much more than Phillips' "High" book.

I got home last night, still not feeling 100%, but I wanted to do something besides unpack. LOL! For a long time, I've been wanting to go on a dragon rampage. A tatted dragon rampage. Anne's pattern sort of popped up in front of me last night so ...why not? I tatted a dragon. Started it anyway. When I realized it was after midnight, I stopped and left the rest for today.

I don't know why I keep trying to put eyes in the ears of these dragons! When I was done, I realized my beads were in the ears or head of the dragon so they weren't eyes at all. So...it just means this is a female dragon and those are earrings! She's got all the fluffy picots so that means she's a girl, right? You can find the pattern on Anne's blog! I hope to make more soon but I have other commitments still in the works.