Daniela Cadamosti from Italy left a nice comment about something I tatted months ago from "Chiacchierino" magazine. Unfortunately, the comment feature doesn't give a reply email, so thanks to Dani - and if you email me at ginab6 at yahoo.com, I can respond to you!

Bette sent me this link showing some tape lace being made. She was wondering about Dickel Lace but after looking at the photo and googling, I think Dickel Lace is the name of the pattern company, not the type of lace. There are 2 types of tape being used by the maker in this pattern which I find interesting. This is from Patra's Place, an Aussie with tons of beautiful embroidered linens! She also has a blog devoted to embroidered peacocks. You can find the link from her original site.

Here's half the eyemask I tatted from Helen Bailey's pattern - just to see how it would go. It tats up easily. I used size 20 thread so it comes out a bit smaller than Helen's motif, but I wanted to see how it would work up in that size thread. To actually use it as a mask, I would have to modify something around the eyehole - it's a bit small to actually see out of, but I loved working with those faceted beads for this. I will probably be playing with various mask projects over the next several months.


I continue to work on the edging for the baby bonnet. I keep getting interupted and I wonder if the hanky I've chosen is too small. I guess I will need to take the hanky to the baby and measure the wee one's head! Or maybe I should just make a little dress for her and add the lace to it......mmmmm...no, not at the rate I'm going. She'll outgrow it before I get it done. Better to just pick a bigger hanky. But the last one I made was on the large side which turned out well because she wore it for a christening and was nearly a year old by that time. Okay...I'll stick with the smaller one.


I went to see my favorite motivational speaker yesterday. I did take along my TAT phase 2 project but ...gee, I started this rings only doily for my lace guild on Sunday and wanted to finish it, so I worked on it during the workshop and last night and hope to finish it by tomorrow so I can get back to other stuff! I was looking for a small rings only doily to put in our sale items at the Feast in a few weeks. People ask about doilies but to price them for what they are worth - we don't generally offer them. I thought I could find something small and not so time consuming to tat...seem to have misplaced Mark's book which has several ring only projects (rings only because of the time era - mid to late 1700's). I don't think tatted doilies were common either but we're fudging just a bit. I'd also like to make a few motifs that could be sewn on clothing or pincusions. This doily is from Cathy Bryant's Tatting. A dear friend gifted me with an extra copy of the book. So far it measures about 5 1/2 inches. It's supposed to be 7 1/2 inches completed but I think it will be over 8 inches. Larger than what I intended to work on, but that's okay.

I'm off all week.

I’ve been reading the September issue of Threads. I don’t buy it very often, though it always has good stuff in it, because it’s kind of expensive for no more than I actually use it. It inspired a few ideas so I bought it.

The Ribbon Jar was started by Amber Lee after searching for ribbon she saw in magazines and not being able to find it anywhere by the yard. Frustrated she decided to take matters into her own hands, and began The Ribbon Jar. Check out “ideas” in the Navigation menu on the left.

Looking for something to attach your tatting to? Perhaps some fine linens or infant apparel? Embroider This has some lovely “blanks”. It’s for embroidery but I think you could put a tatted appliqué on there just as easily.

I was tempted to replace my cutting/craft table when I saw all the drawers on these sewing tables, but the price seemed ridiculously high. I’ll stick with my current table, thank you. It did get me to thinking though….and measuring. I’ve got 12” on each side of my table about 27” high that is wasted space. I am pretty sure I could find some storage towers at Walmart or another store that would fit in there quite nicely. AND – I believe I could attach a slide-out drawer in the middle. This table was a garage-sale find a few years ago. I love it. I also have it completely covered with a sewing machine and serger and patterns and books and ….stuff. I just recently (TODAY) decided I will be painting this room the colors I was going to paint the bathroom but haven’t gotten around to doing yet and my mind is going bananas with ideas! I have fabric for the curtains…plus I’ve been wanting to make one of those curtains with pockets to keep some things handy. I’m excited now.

Plus….now I can paint the bathroom a different color to go with my new pretty shower curtain!

Yessiree….lots of painting in my future.

OH, Threads has a nice article about “Fitting to Flatter the Midsection”. “Whatever your size, a full-abdomen body type is a special fitting challenge. Here’s how to do it right.” That’s me all right. Even at my skinniest, my weight was in my belly. I’ve always had a thick waist, even at 101 pounds. It’s my build. So I’ve learned to compensate in the style of dress I wear – no tightly-cinched waists for me. I’ll have to read this article. I don’t make my clothes any more, but this might be incentive to start again.

For those who are into folkwear or authentic clothing, try Birch Street Folkwear patterns. There’s the Caravan/Ethnic Collection, the Asian/Oriental Collection, the Prairie/Frontier Collection, the Old Europe Collectionm, the Vintage/Romantic Colleciton, the Americas Collection, the Retro/Glamour Collection, and the Children’s Collection of much of the above.



Aren’t these lovely and lavish tea bags? Tea Forte I bought 2 tins, one of ginger and one of citrus mint, each with 2 bags in it, from Interior Objects at the weekend. They are quite expensive ($4.95 each tin) so I will save it for an OCCASION.


I've been tatting this edging for the fairy baby. I think I will put it on a hanky bonnet. I'm not overly fond of pink thread so I try not to buy a lot of it. This size 60 vintage thread was only ten cents when it was purchased! I tested it's strength and it seems fine. I used to have a soft pink size 30 thread, but apparently I used it all. Everything else I have is too big or a not-baby pink. I think I get to see her Wednesday. Guess I better tat faster!

I'm finally done tracing the bolero pattern on muslin. It will take approximately 34 yards of cord in size 10. I'd prefer size 20 but that means I'll do the fillig stitches in size 20. I think it will be awhile before I have that much cord crocheted up. I might change my mind about the design in the meantime. Maybe I will do a small segment for practice.


I bought this Coats & Clark machine embroidery thread at JoAnn Fabrics over the weekend. I tatted a small segment of curds & whey to see how it tatted. I tried to remember to tat loose but wasn't always successful. The thread is fairly strong but I'm pretty sure it would break at some point if I weren't careful. Such a pretty color!










Today I was in Michael's and bought these sew-on Swarovski crystals with my 40% off coupon. It's hard to tell but there are 2 holes on opposite sides of the outer circle. There were also some with holes in the inner circle, like buttons. Lots of ideas dancing around in my head about this.




All of these links are from CQ Mag Online:

Crazy Quilting with tatting
CQ with buttons
With tatting & buttons
Red, white & blue CQ

Crocheted thimble pouch

Brazilian embroidery

Day 3 - "talking about what you want and why you want it is at the purest form of your vibration"....it's not permitted to talk about why you think you can't have it. In other words, you can't say, " I want to win the lottery, but fat chance that will ever happen, The odds are 1 in millions" because then your focus is saying it won't happen. Yes means yes and no means yes to the Universe. If you focus on negativity, that's what you get, somehow. Anyway, one of the things I want is to follow through more with my tatting. And other crafts. Why? Because I love the way it feels to complete something beautiful. Usefulness is besides the point. Some things are simply nice to look at and they will always serve a function in some way. I can use it for our lace displays to show a technique. I can frame some things for home decor and I can give away others as gifts. Lots of the little bits and pieces will end up on a crazy quilt that has been in my head since I was 22 years old. oh...I digress....

Last night I demonstrated tatting at Global Fest. I managed to get this much curds and whey done while I was there. I came early enough to get a bite to eat and look around a little bit at the other displays. I found a poncho that I loved - circles of leather had been cut into quarters and then the quarters were crocheted together and then the circles crocheted together. It had a turtleneck and fringe in a gorgeous brown/taupe thread. She wanted $78 for it, which really was a steal but beyond my budget. It's easy to think "I could do that", but the reality is that I probably will not take the time to do it.

When I got to my place at the tables, Cathy had outdone herself setting up a beautiful display of our laces and my shuttle collection and her bobbin collection. One woman sat down long enough for me to show her how to finger tat. One young woman was from Romania and said her mother taught her "that" (meaning the tatting I was doing) when she was a child, but as we talked, she said that was different (the shuttle) and pointed to the tiny crochet hook attached to my dress front and said that was what she used and then went on to describe Romanian Point lace. LOL! So I took her over to the table and showed her my meager examples. She recognized it then and pointed to a tatted doily and said they made RPL like that all the time, meaning in the size of the doily. She said her mother had started a tablecloth when she was born but was only able to get it finished for her 21st birthday. It's nice to know that good intentions like that happens all over the world!


I've been tracing the template for this RPL bolero in the August 1990 issue of Anna for what seems forever. I finally got a paper copy done. I was going to do 2 of them, one for me and one for Bette, but I decided to give Bette the paper copy. The idea of making another paper copy and then transferring it to muslin was daunting, so I decided to transfer to the muslin directly. Oddly enough, it's going much faster. It's only half the pattern, - you flip it and transfer the other side for the muslin, and I've already got one half done and I'm well into the other half. It's for a 34 1/2" bust. I'll have a better idea if it will fit after it's all transfered and I seam the shoulders together.

(OH, here's a item for Day 3: I want to lose weight because I want to wear that fabulous RPL vest I'm going to be putting a lot of time and effort into!) LOL! I'm not concerned about the front - it's a bolero - but it does need to be comfortable across the back.

Today I'm off to paint my colleague's office. It's actually a multi-use room and I'm one of the users and I want it to look nice so I volunteered to paint it.

Tomorrow is free!!!!!

Another 30 Day Program

I start another 30 day program September 1 - this one is based on a favorite motivational speaker. There are over 60 of us participating and part of the draw on this is the communal energy. I know group energy works tremendously well. I have another list on an entirely different subject from tatting. We've been meeting on Friday nights for the last 3 months to do online meditations. In that group, we are focused on developing our inner senses. Developing the inner senses helps me become more aware of my creative potential, among other things. The process I'm starting tomorrow will help me follow through with those creative ideas.

TAT update - I started the first edging but made my picots too large. Most are joined, but not all. It's hard to keep track of which are the joining picots and the directions do not mention a preferred size or even that there are decorative and joining picots both - it's not the object of that project, so I've decided to make them all on the small side. The second attempt is looking better.

I taught another tatter! Yay! Yesterday I met up with a woman who works in my son-in-law's department. He had let me know she was interested in tatting. She said she had needled tatted some and she also does micro-macrame. I saw her work yesterday - lovely! We met for lunch and after eating, I pulled out my red and blue cords and we did a little finger tatting with them. BINGO! The only thing she had not been able to understand from the books was the flip, like most of us, and once she saw that - she was ready to take off on her own. She's planning on joining my lace guild too so I was glad I had taken the time to get in touch with her and then meet.

I was at my daughter's until after 9 last night so I didn't get any tatting done. I've been digging here and there to get stuff for display at Global Fest on Saturday. Today I discovered my butterfly necklace in another container....I've really got to get more organized here. I have shuttles all over the place.

I printed out the pattern from Annie's Attic today - I already have yarn that will go perfectly in my living room (if I can find it) and my new sofa needs an afghan in the worst way. ....oh....errr......after I get T.A.T. done, of course...and my son's quilt.

Whelp...there's my button sampler, version 2. I had something upside down the first time but it worked out easily the second time. Now I'm getting into edgings and attaching them to fabric.



I visited an antique store over the weekend and found this casket box. It's about 15" long, 9" high and 7" across. Wooden handles on each side and fabric hinges.


Here you see it closed....and it was only $6.00!!! I haven't decided what I will keep in it yet. Maybe I'll just fill it up with linens for a pretty show.


On top of that, there was a cigar box in the back room where I got this but it had no price on it. When I took it to the counter, she said she'd take $1 for it. Yeehaw! Mine now!

I still haven't started tatting for the fairy baby. I walked the treadmill tonight - trying to get back into that habit. Then I scrubbed the tub and loaded the dishwasher and cleaned out the kitchen sink. There are not enough hours in the day. I had to wait until late afternoon yesterday to mow because the grass was so wet. I still have some trim work to do but I guess it will wait. I've got too many irons in the fire!

My Phoenix shuttle arrived yesterday! It's so highly polished that it reflected the light from the scanner back at the tips. I tried using a different background but it didn't make any difference. I have a particular fondness for phoenix birds. One of the earliest books I read by myself was David and the Phoenix. I finally tracked down a copy a few years ago after my childhood copy turned up missing. Now I see it's being reprinted!

Last night I was frustrated with the button sampler from T.A.T. Apparently I'm dyslexic. I got the 1st button attached nicely in spite of the awkward placement and I moved on to the next part, the chain curving nicely, the blossoms forming perfectly and I secured the second button......took a look at the picture in the instructions and realized it was upside down. When it said DNRW, I did not reverse work! What happened? ....sigh.....anyway, I cut it off and decided to tat the thread off the shuttle. I grabbed Elivia Nicholls book and sort of opened it at random, finding an edging for a hanky. Now...I don't do hankies, but the edging looked sweet in the drawing and I do tat towel edgings so I decided to test it.
I have to admit I do not like it. It's not nearly as impressive tatted up. I wondered if a smaller thread would look better? I was using size 20. It will probably be a nice touch for someone's crazy quilt so it won't go to waste.

We're having an interesting discussion on the list groups. Someone asked the question, "How do you count joins?" It seems most people, or the ones who responded anyway, count the join as the 1st half of the ds and then follow the join with the 2nd half of the ds and it is also the 1st stitch of the next sequence of ds's. I do not count a join as anything. To me, it corresponds with the picot it joins to. Riet suggested a pattern for me to test it with: R 12-2-2-2-2, clr. Ch 10, R 2+2+2+2+12, clr. Try it with and without counting the join as the 1st half stitch.

So this is my sample. The one on the left is without counting the join and the one on the right counts the join as a half stitch and is followed by the 2nd half. For me, I see no difference. If anything, the 2nd ring on the 2nd sample is slightly smaller BUT.....that could be explained by tension. I tat the 2nd and all subsequent rings larger than the first, almost without fail and much to my dismay. I'm sure it's because I relax once I get that 1st ring out of the way. So I took special pains to make sure I snugged all of these up equally.....Truly, I can't see any significant difference. I can tell where one picot was a bit too large in comparison to the others but the ring itself doesn't impress me as being different.

When I folded the rings over each other, the second sample seemed definitely smaller in the 2nd ring to me...but again...not enough to matter. I could ease the ring to fit the first easily.

So...as far as I'm concerned, however you tat it is A-OKAY with me! I'll continue to count in the way that works for me and remain blissfully ignorant. LOL!

When I teach, I do try to remember to tell students about alternative methods and encourage them to try them for themselves, depending on how far along they are and how they're getting along. Sometimes an alternative method works for them better.

I'm making up for lost tatting time! The shuttle bag is a variation of Judi Banashek's mignonette shuttle bag. The original is in Advanced Tatting Patterns by Judi but you'll have to take the T.A.T. proficiency course to get the variation. I tatted the bag while in Australia - yes, I had one or two afternoons or evenings to play. I used the AIDA thread I purchased from Crochet Australia. One is a soft sage green and the other is a muted dusty rose. I really love the way that thread works up - I wish it came in size 30 or 40!

I realized yesterday that I still hadn't sent my heart in to The Fringe Element Tatters, a Canadian based tatting group. When you check out the link, you'll see another link to their Tat Day, Fall Into Tatting! I wanted to make a pretty but simple heart and pulled out this Coates Upholstery thread that I bought on clearance sometime in the distant past and this Kreinik Metallic braid, also a former clearance item. I was quite pleased with the result. Scans don't show the sparkle but this looks like spun sugar. The braid is rather thick so it tatted up larger - almost like size 10. I used the upholstery thread to give it stability though I probably did not need to. The pattern is from Gloria's Tatting, her hearts and flowers edging. The booklet has long been out of print but you can sometimes find it in a clearance rack or on ebay or ...a garage sale. I just might have to make another one for myself!

My next project in T.A.T. is a button sampler. I'm really not fond of tatting with buttons so this will probably be another TWO sample session.

I had to start moderating new members on my list several months ago. Spammers manage to jump in when you least expect it. The other morning I woke up to a notice that a new member had joined and posted and I had to approve the post. The new member was bikerboy6390 and he was looking for a ride partner - and inviting us to check out his bike. ROTFL! I resisted the temptation but this one sure gave me a laugh.

OH! Just found this wonderful blog while following a link from someone else! ART TEA LIFE . I didn't see tatting but there is chocolate, tea, lace, literature, art, embroidery....need I say more? Exceptionally well written too, btw.

Yay! I finished the retat of my T.A.T. picot project! Now I can get on with the fun stuff!


Here's my first version of Jane's celtic motif. I was patting myself on the back, feeling I had done well with the color joins and even did front side tatting when I didn't have to....but the thread size required was size 20. The orange was Coates size 20 and the other two were Altin Basak size 50 which tats up between 20 and 30. When I got to looking at the motif, I decided the 20 really did look larger than the Altin Basak...so then on to attempt #2!





I didn't have as much color choice in size 20. I have a lot of variegated, which isn't permitted for these projects, or white or ecru or dark colors. So pastel it became! It went a little faster since I'd already done it once. Here is Jane's Celtic Motif. You get lots of practice with SCMR - self closing mock rings.




Here's the motif I made last weekend and lost. It's the first motif in Wally's Tat Along You can also access the same material en Español aquí. I found it on the living room carpet - it must have traveled on a paper or something that I carried in there.

Well! Moving along on T.A.T......my next project is a mignonette shuttle bag which I actually tatted while I was in Australia last October. I had a problem with the trim and got that information straightened out with my mentor - but I've only taken the trim off - haven't put it back on yet! I made another shuttle bag even before I tackled that one and I can't say I'm enthused about making another yet. I'll probably wait until the weekend to focus on it. Seems I have to do everything twice!

There's a 25 Motif Challenge going on. Check the guidelines here! One fun thing about the challenge is that participants must create a blog to show their work on so watch for even more tatting blogs to show up. I love it! Just in time too, because I'm going to be overly busy for a few weeks now and won't have much time to tat, let alone post in here.

I'm challenged to return to the T.A.T. project myself so I'm not taking on anything new for now. Then I am finishing my son's quilt. Plus working on several things in relation to my lace guild. Our Lace Day is April 14, 2007. Theme: Lacers Unmasked

Bette and I have been having way too much fun finding lace masks and just plain masks on the web. I don't think I'll be able to just make ONE!

I finished knitting the froggie socks and cap. I believe I'll give these to my great-grandson, although the cap looks really small. I still have to put the eyes and mouth on.

The fairy baby arrived! She is a girl so now I get to tat something frilly for her! Doesn't she have the most beautiful head of hair?

oooohhhhhhh....the list of tatting blogs grows....I just added 2 more - Gail Owens and Pam Myers have new blogs!

I tatted Wally's tat-along motif, but can't find it now. And oh! Gotta add Wally's tat-along blog too.

Later...I have to get ready for work right now.

Some days are just too weird! Blogger wouldn't let me load the scans in the small size but it would allow the medium.

I wanted to cry when I turned my knitting over. How, oh HOW, did I do this? I had to skip a whole needle. Why would it lay so smooth that I didn't even know it? Do I really have to take everything out and redo it? YUP! Well. at least back to the ribbing so it's only 4 rows but that's a lotta rows when they're divvied up like this. sigh....the shower is next Friday so I have time. The froggie socks are done.


Now, would you look at this? I thought I bought yet another pretty spool of quilting thread....but when I scanned it to put here, it looked suspiciously familiar. I can't find the other spool though I suspect it is in the box of everything I took off the end tables when I moved things around my new sofa and chair but I did find the shuttle that still had some thread in it that I was test tatting with. Sure looks the same to me. I might have to give this new one away now. What kind of challenge can I terrorize everyone with? hehehehehehehehe..........


And here are some teensy buttons that will work perfectly for the teensy thread bear that is waiting on me to return to.....along with half a dozen other projects!

Including TAT 2!

I got the picot project done in TAT. I can't show you the instructions but you can see the finished work. Now I'm ready to do Jane's celtic motif. I can see a challenge there....not the celtic part though. It's the part where you make a join and don't show or minimize the color change.

Tonight I'm knitting again, working on the froggie cap and socks. Same designer but different techniques so I'm challenged again! I'm learning lots about purling this time.




When I was shopping the other night, I found lots more clearance bargains - this time in Hobby Lobby. BTW, HL had those Linea kits on clearance for $4-$6 and they only had a few left. They are completely gone at Michael's. Back to new bargains....I got 2 of the knifty knitter looms, except it was a different company (Attic), a package of 2, for $4.24 instead of the listed $25. Even the 3 pack by KK is almost $12. I also got this fun fur on clearance. I've been looking at those miniature crocheted bears. I found a pattern online by Edith Molina, which I'm currently crocheting in size 10 Cebelia. Gotta find some way to use up that "rope" from the TAT program! Once I've made it, if I'm happy with it, I'll try using this fun fur. I also have a bunny pattern from somewhere....not sure it's on the printout and I don't have it with me at the moment.

So....what's that? Three projects? And 2 potentials? .....and there's that gold RPL angel in process of being couched down............sigh.......

I got 'er done! Washed and dried too - in fact, they are wrapped and ready to slip on the expectant mother's desk sometime this week. My first thought was they were a bit big....but they aren't for a newborn. Preemie was the first size and then small and large. I made the small because I figured it won't be cold enough to wear them until November or December and it will be a few months old by then. I'm anxious to start the frog one now!





I've been wondering when the next issue of Tatting Times would be out and whaddaya know? It came Saturday! There are some summer beaded earrings, a split ring bookmark, a round motif by Mary Maynard, a funky wild-haired lady bookmark, and Bev Dillon's split ring lucky penny pattern. Karey also enclosed a skein of DMC craft thread to inspire us. It's too big for me to feel comfortable tatting with but I'll find a good home for it.




While I was in Michael's at the weekend, I found these Linea kits on clearance for $1 and $2 each! Originally up to $14.99. The thread that is used for the thread stenciling technique was only $.50 for the package. I couldn't resist! The kits were door hangers ( little fabric bags ), a drawstring bag, scarves, and some other kinds of bags. At that price, I got more than a few and when we meet up at my sister's next winter, it will be a fun project. I'm also considering how I can add tatting to them, of course. The pattern is already on the fabric so I may have to use the thread to embroider it anyway, but in some cases, I may be able to applique a tatted motif.

I started working on my TAT phase 2 project tonight. Messed up immediately which tells me not to start something so late at night. The first project involves all the different kinds of picots. I was doing fine until the 3rd one when I realized I wasn't following directions. There are points for following directions! I was making the chain part too long, matching the ring in pattern when that wasn't the pattern. It was easy enough to pick out but I'm glad I hadn't done the whole 30+ motifs yet.

Well, off to bed.

Cameron Lee - my daughter (his Grandma) is holding him and talking to him. Isn't that the most precious grin?

One of my tatting friends emailed me a few months ago with the link to an ebay item - lampworked teapot beads. I think it was Sue. I was going to bid and then I saw the seller had more in her store so I decided instead to put it on my wish list for my kids since my birthday was coming up. And then I forgot about them! My youngest son, Jesse, didn't. He contacted the seller and ended up buying 2 of them....in case I want to make earrings out of them...or something...he said. LOL! I'm not sure what I will do with them. I was thinking of a scissors fob for the scissors in my kitchen. I could still do that and have a necklace too! Oh wow - here are all kinds of teapot beads!


Boy, I've been artsy craftsy this year. Teneriffe, bobbin lace, Romanian Point Lace, crocheting and now....knitting! I still have the hat to do but aren't these duck feet socks adorable? And what a challenge. It's been awhile....a long while, since I've knitted anything that wasn't straightforward. I was working with 4 needles, turning heels, doing increases and decreases and picking up stitches and doing fancy "new Improved" SSKs. LOL! The first one took me, oh.....4 or 5 days. The second one took 2 evenings! This one is a gift for our secretary. heheheheh....I've been leaving small gifts on her desk anonymously. Everyone thinks it's me even though I'm loudly denying it! That's okay even if they think it's me, they aren't sure until I confess and I'm having fun. I hope to have the hat and socks both done for a Monday morning surprise. I plan to make another set for my great grandson too. There is one larger size - he's only 3 months old right now but I think these would barely fit him so it's definitely going to take a bigger size for him. I've tried 3 times to upload his picture and blogger won't take it so I guess it will be the next entry.

I really hate DST. It feels like it's only 6:00 p.m. and I'm exhausted and frustrated and feeling guilty because it feels so early in the day. In reality, it's 8:30 p.m. But it's like broad daylight out there. sigh....

Anyway...I found links to these precious baby hats and socks. Our Russian secretary is due next month and she still has next to nothing. Patti Pierce Stone has made dozens of these patterns available, primarily for charity use, but also personal use. What a lovely gift to give!

So...my knitting is rusty. Specifically, knitting with multiple double pointed needles. After several beginnings, I finally got the hang of it - got to the point to add the other color and realized the colors were backwards. I thought MC was the white and CC was contrasting color - and so it is, but on the socks, they are turned around in the directions. It is correct on the hat, but not the socks. So...rip out...thankfully knitting is easy to rip out. I decided to take a break before I begin again.

In tatting guild this morning, Kaye has a pattern for a watermelon bookmark. She only had 3 repeats but I thought I would add a few more. Normally I don't like beads on bookmarks but I thought this would work for a cookbook. I'd probably put it in a plastic sleeve too. I think this will be in book #2. Eventually. LOL!

I popped into the fairgrounds today. It was my tatted sampler that got reserve sweepstakes, not the angel. I have to admit I was disturbed when I looked at the lace display. There were 10 entries. I had 5. Bette had 1 (and the sweepstakes!!!) and there were 3 other entrants, one who had 2 entries. That means I had half the entries. Everything was on the top shelf of a 2 shelf glass display and 1/3 of that was an afghan. My tatted sampler was in a different case full of afghans because it was too tall for the lace one and had nothing to hang on the wall with. What if I don't enter? Will they end up dropping lace altogether as a category if there aren't a minimum number of entries? Maybe it was just a bad year, but I'm concerned. I'm not stretching myself any further. I've already concluded I have too many pots brewing as it is.

hmmmm....well, I guess handmade lace will just become even more valuable.

Okay....do I dare try the duck sock again?

I wanted to post an adorable photo by Iris Cabin but I couldn't find a link to email her and get permission - not any time soon anyway. So go to her blog and scroll down to see the kitty napping in the thyme! If you click on the photo, it will take you to her Flickr photo spot and you can see some tatting on crazy quilt pieces.

I had a phone message about my fair entries. I got reserve sweepstakes for my shawl and reserve sweepstakes in lace, but I don't know which lace piece. I'm not sure I'll have time to stop in there tomorrow before I come home, but I'll try. Otherwise, I won't know until Saturday afternoon. Greenfield tatting guild is in the morning.

The I.O.L.I. Bulletin arrived a few days ago. There is a beaded hatband by Nina Libin in Bobbie Demmer's column, Thoughts on Tatting. I've been organizing my beads so I've been thinking about new ways to use them.

I was in a second-hand store today and saw a plastic box under the counter. I couldn't see exactly what was in it but I was hoping there was a small hairpin lace fork. There wasn't, but there was a size 16 crochet hook! Also some yarn bobbins, stitch holders,stitch markers, a cable needle, a J hook knitting needle that I've never seen before, and some yarn needles and a size 4 crochet hook. Both hooks had metal caps too. hmmm....I better start using my reading glasses. The size 16 hook now says size 13. LOL! Oh well...for $2, I still got a deal.

I've been busy lately. Did I mention my sofa arrived on Saturday? I still have a big mess everywhere. Last night I mowed when I got home and then started couching down the gold lame cord RPL angel. It was already getting late so I didn't do too much of that. This evening I got home and decided to try a nap on that brand-spanking-new couch. It works. LOL! When I woke up, I remembered I had meant to get some scrapbook paper to back one of the projects for my fair entry so I went into town and found some light green vellum AND some white patterned sparkly vellum. I love the effect of layering the two. Since I've been home, that's what I've been working on - layering the paper and arranging the tatting on it.


This wasn't what I was originally going to do. I pre-registered and you have to list what the items are. Everything was something I already had but I also wanted another item so I wrote down "tatted sampler", thinking I would take several pieces and put them in one frame. I was thinking of pieces I had started tatting to hang in my living room. The problem was that I only had 3 pieces in that thread and nothing else I've made worked well with them. As I was going through my little sample books, I noticed I had a lot of Christmas pieces so I started pulling them out and playing with them. I had a couple of different frames and settled on this one. Since last night, I've removed some pieces and added others to come up with this arrangement. I had to do something that will make everyone cringe, I know. The pieces were sliding....I made one attempt to sew a piece on and abandoned that idea quickly. I tried some tape....no...tacky, tacky! So I did the unthinkable....glue....yep, school gel washable glue. I don't think it washes out once it dries but I really don't plan to remove these pieces anyway. After I thought about it....this can be a permanent display. Much better than sticking them in a little photo album and never knowing where they are...and they fall out and get lost.

When I do get around to making the sampler that will hang in my living room, I can hang this one in its place during the holiday season.

I take my entries in tomorrow evening or Thursday morning. I can't wait to see what everyone else enters. It's so much fun to see what others dream up. I know Bette is entering a bobbinlace motif and it will be beautiful. Everything she makes is perfect.

I'm thinking when I get my shawl back that I might add a row or two of knotting on the fringe. It's an idea anyway.

Blogger apparently quits downloading after a certain amount so I had to wait on this part. Also in the antique store, the owner was clearing out jewelry and selling it for $1/bag. Most of it is junk costume jewelry but I go for unusual shapes and beads. I will take it apart and use it elsewhere.




It's just fun to look at and imagine what to do with each piece.




Here's a close-up of this one which is my favorite. See the gold filigree encasing the bigger beads? And there were some swirly beads and other different shaped beads all in one piece. I also liked the bars that holds the strands together. What a fascinating necklace!

I'm tempted to go back and get more.

The sun is shining after several days of rain! It's still sweltering hot, but it's bright and sunny outside.



I got the pig done the other day! I gave up on the onion rings. They went well until the 4th round so I thought I'd do chains instead but I think the onion rings look better. I used pink wings instead of white because all the flying pigs I've seen had pink wings. I suppose if they were meant to be angels, then they should be white.






Then I tried emptying some shuttles and testing some motifs at the same time. The big flower is just using a pencil as a picot gauge. The diamond motif is from Patti Duff's book, Mini-Tats. The other thing is from Tatted Samplers - the beginning of the ribbon sampler. I just wanted to see how well the instructions worked out. They are very precise but one sentence is after the other, making it hard to follow even with a post-it, so I'm going to type them out, line by line.





Sometimes it's dangerous to let me out shopping. LOL! I met my two youngest sons downtown to for dinner to celebrate my middle son's birthday. I was about a half hour early so I walked up to the next block to see what was there because I very seldom shop downtown. I walked into an antique store....found these McCall's Needlecraft magazines. I have several, but these are from some early years that I don't have very many of so I looked through the stack and picked five. Only $2.50 each which is cheaper than what I've found on Ebay.







On top of that, 4 of the 5 had tatting in them, something unheard of in their later issues. This luncheon set is probably very similar to what was in most pattern books at the time. I think this issue is 1950-51.










I had to giggle over this bra ad. See the pointy cups? Now you know why my generation burned bras when we came of age. I refrained from scanning the girdle ads.













These edgings seem to be different from the norm. This issue was 1960. I was 11 years old.









From 1953....when you click on the image and read the enlarged text, you will find they have been trying to make crochet look like tatting for over a half-century now. This piece is very nice.














I'm tempted to try the booties some time. I'm partial to Lenore English's bootie pattern, but I should enlarge my pattern base too.