Guess what? I didn't go out last night. I just couldn't make myself venture out in the dark with icky rain. So I'll finish it all up tonight.

Instead, I finished up these earrings requested by a friend for her granddaughter. The pattern is from Free Tatting.com. I love doing this pattern. It's easy, fast and a real eyecatcher. These are tatted in brown Flora size 20 and turquoise Altin Basak size 50. The beads are seed beads and either size 10 or 11. I think a more solid brown bead might have looked better but these were all I had.

So then I found this DMC Infusions Sparklers thread, actually meant for embroidery rather than tatting, but it's just SOOOOO pretty! I think I bought this in Ohio when I met up with Gail and Jane. You can find them online HERE. It's art.cisp09 - E131 Gold Blend, 5 yd/4.6 m, and $2.99 from the place I purchased it. Oh...maybe it was from The Needle's Point in Rensselaer now that I think about it.

Anyway, I tatted the entire earring in this thread instead of two colors and with gold beads. You should see the sparkle! I'll try to finish the other one up tonight. A pretty New Year's party earring, I think. The design is more striking with two colors but I think it still has appeal in a single color. I separated the thread so that I had 2 strands on each floss holder. Each strand was 2 ply. The pattern only takes about a yard of each color so that would be 2 yards of one color. That means I would get about 8 pairs of earrings out of this skein if I wanted to make that many pairs alike.

I always feel just a bit let-down at this time right before the holidays because I didn't get nearly as much done for gifting and food fun as I wanted. Actually, about nothing, zero, zilch this year, except for the two exchanges I was in. Time just gets away from me like water through a sieve. So many seemingly great ideas buried under other committments!

But I have the next 10 days off and I'm so looking forward to catching up at home. I really have made a lot of progress this year but haven't had much time to enjoy it.

I'll probably post again tomorrow, just because getting on the computer makes me take a break from other things, like gift-wrapping, that feels overwhelming sometimes unless I break it up into small segments. Actually, it's the cleaning part that I'm going to need breaks from. LOL! Yep.....last minute Lucy here!

Hmmm....I wonder how many of the last month's new designs I can tat over those 10 days? That would put me ahead for NEXT Christmas, wouldn't it?