It's been a busy day so far! I was up early (for a Saturday) to go to the Fairgrounds to collect my entries. It didn't take long at all and I expressed my concern about the booties being out in the open unprotected. Nicely. But next year I will be calling before I even preregister to find out what they have in mind.

On a brighter note, I collected $40 for the two big ribbons I won. Since it's my birthday, I also promptly spent it on the following:

We had Tatting Guild in Greenfield today. I haven't been there for at least three months and completely missed that Kaye Judt has published a new book! I had second thoughts about purchasing it since I have tatted almost every single one of the 24 projects in the book. But - that's part of the title - "projects for my tatting guild". There are a few I missed. So - for all those people who have emailed me about the apple and pumpkin corner bookmarks shown on my blog a few years ago...it's in the book!

Today we tatted a 3D acorn. I still have the cap to finish but it's part of a larger project so I won't be showing it until it's complete. I missed last month's beginning of the project so I'll have to catch up with that too.

I also missed that Iris has completed and published the book she's been taunting us about but it was there, at The Tatting Corner, so I bought it. This one is edgings and insertions. ELABORATE edgings and insertions. I kept going through it and wondering, "will I really ever tat these?" but you know, chances are I'll tackle the challenge one of these days. If I wait til then to buy the book, it might not be available.

And then there was this one, the Japanese one. I think I've looked at this one a few times and couldn't make myself buy it. Pattern books from overseas tend to be so expensive - but hey - it's my birthday! And I had $40 to spend. That didn't cover half the cost of all three, but it sure did help. I can't believe I've bought FOUR pattern books this month, counting Marilee's! All these books are at The Tatting Corner if you want to buy in the US.

Now...it just happened that going to pick up my Fair entries made me about 45 minutes early when I got as far as Pendleton, so I stopped and checked out a few of the antique stores (and ended up being late to guild!) I collect ceramic "sachets" or potpourri holders. Most of them hang but I found these that sit on a flat surface and couldn't pass them up. I did pass up one that didn't have a stopper. I was only going to get one bird but it turned out they were half price so I went back and got the other one.

So...I think I'll take a nap. Family will be out tomorrow as we get ready for the BIG Family Summer Birthday ce;ebration next weekend. Bonfire, grilling, campout for the teenagers, good times for all!

Tatting Tea Tuesday 6-22-10

I was updating my wish list on half.com and decided to check the price of a book on Amazon while I was thinking of it. While there, I saw this title by Lyn Morton. Hmmm....we haven't heard much from Lyn on this side of the pond for a l-o-o-o-o-n-g time. And then I see it isn't even released yet but you can preorder from here with a nice savings. So, consider this a heads up if you didn't already know. Looks like there will be several new books making an appearance this fall!

Martha Ess, Marilee Rockley, Sharon Briggs, and I'm sure there are more.......better start putting your $$ away for them right now!

Me...I have no room on my bookshelves. In fact, I have piles of books sitting on the floor and in a box and a closet shelf. This is after getting rid of 2 boxes of books last winter. I was thinking today....what if I put bookshelves all across one wall, floor to ceiling, in the spare bedroom? Then I could get rid of all the other smaller bookshelves. I'm sure that would work! Don't you think????

Well..the tatting was yesterday but I drank tea today AND yesterday so that should count, right? I tend to alternate flavoring my tea with spearmint and with orange/spice or chai, but when it's really hot like it's been lately, just plain ordinary iced tea is the best! One day I added a ginger flavored bag and that was perfect too.

When I started this post I figured I would mix tea, tatting, and books altogether. I'm more than halfway through The Lace Reader. It's just about perfect for me right now. It's holding my interest but not so deep that my brain hurts in trying to follow it. I think there will be a little twist or turn in the mystery, just enough to be satisfying. I guess it's a nice escape. I have plenty of thought-provoking books so reading something just for entertainment is a nice change of pace. I was reading a biography about Lillian Gish before this (still reading it....slow) but it isn't as entertaining as I thought it would be.

I'm playing with some vintage motifs that I'm tatting from a publication I printed from the Antique Pattern Library. I think I printed this one out before. It has several motifs I want to tat. It's intriguing that they are throwing rings off of chains although they don't call it that. They use two shuttles and specify using the right hand or left hand shuttle. They don't say to make a chain though. You sort of have to figure that if they aren't making a ring, then it must be a chain. LOL! Last night I tried to convert one into something that could be tatted all in one pass but I can tell it will be disjointed. It will have to be in two rounds but that is still less than the way it is described. I managed to make the first motif all in one pass without having to cut and tie. The original was done in four rounds and you had to cut & tie after each round. The pictures are very clear which helps tremendously.

Well....better post this while it's still Tuesday!