Tatting Tea Tuesday 11/24/09

My sister and I visited a gift shop during our trip to Bloomington. We stepped into LadyBugs Gifts & Decor innocently, oblivious to the enchantment contained within.

The door is located on the right side of the store and I guess you just habitually wander in the same direction that you arrive. Very quickly my sister spotted Hallmark ornaments on sale 50% off. I didn't think there were any she didn't have, but obviously there are a few. As she pawed her way through the basket, I meandered around, glancing here and there, seeing some lovely bric-a-brac that I knew I didn't have room for. I was making my way around the room and was now facing the wall on our left.

OMIGAWD! And I really didn't see that this entire wall was teapots and teacups at first.

I was looking downward and my eyes settled on this lovely set on the left, with the two cups on a single oblong plate. Oh, I was admiring the different cups and saucers but it really took awhile for it all to sink in. And then I started getting really excited!

As my eyes traveled upward and I fumbled to get my camera ready, I saw there were several paintings, prints really, of tea-themed scenarios. I started snapping photos quickly, hoping the cashier wouldn't come over and order me OUT. Some places don't allow you to take photographs.

If you go back to the very first photo, in the upper left hand corner, you can see the sign that says their English and French pieces are shipped to them through an antique dealer. I didn't see that either until I downloaded the photos onto my computer. I might not have been picking things up so gingerly if I had! I'd already passed up some tea-for-ones in another store, deciding they really weren't quite unique enough for me to buy. I can't display what I have so I've gotten really picky.

Well, just about this time, my sister made her way over to where I was. That's when I saw the display of teas and tea accessories. Sigh.....so many things I DO NOT HAVE! I was good though, I think, given the temptation. I bought this teapin, something I've never seen before.

It comes with several empty bags which you fill with the tea of your choice, thread the teapin through the holes, and then pour your steaming hot water over as it rests on the teacup. I haven't tried it yet. I'll save that for another tatting tea Tuesday!

I also bought some loose tea, this bag of ginger-lemon flavored tea. There were samples in jars and I opened them all and sniffed them. This one smelled best to me. There was a Christmas Spice one I thought about but it didn't smell as good as I thought Christmas Spice should smell. LOL!

I also bought a tea magazine and 2 tea-themed cards and a little ornament. It was such a delightful surprise! I'll go back. And in between all this, we saw the most gorgeous stained glass window ornaments! Sorry...no pics there. My hands were full of tea stuff by then.

After my spending spree on Saturday, I stayed home Sunday and eventually cut up apples given to me by a coworker who has been making apple cider, apple butter, and probably a few other apple thingies. I think she is getting tired of it as she was quite eager to give me some apples when I mentioned I had just opened my very last jar of apple butter. We won't say how old it is.

First I had to go buy some jars since it appears I gave away all my small ones. I was sure I'd kept a dozen pint jars but they are no where to be seen. When I got back, I prepared the apples and put them in the crockpot, letting them cook until Monday morning. Monday night I finished the preps and ended up with 11 half-pints! Yummy and just in time for Thanksgiving. I hope to make some spiced pumpkin butter before the week is over too.

I had to take a pic of some last minute blooms. It's unbelievable that some flowers are still blooming this late in November!

I don't remember what this bluish purple flower is but I had to zoom in on the center.

I don't know if these will open up. They are hibiscus buds from the bush coworkers gave me for my birthday last summer. I figured it was worth a try. This one sure is trying hard.

I'm posting this before I go to work so I can't say if I'm tatting at all today but I expect to this evening. Tat and drink ginger-lemon tea and nibble on some chocolate, I will!

There's a wonderful giveaway going on over at Brynwood Needleworks if you like embroidery and other needleworks. I actually got there from another site that I'd been sent to about an embroidery idea I have but can't post about just now. You know...secrets, santa, all that stuff!

My sister & I planned to go to the Bloomington Handmade Market in Bloomington, Indiana for weeks and made it there Saturday. It was held at the John Waldron Arts Center downtown and our handy dandy gps system took us right there. The first thing we noticed when we went in were the Christmas decorations! I saw on Facebook where some people were complaining about how soon decorations were going up. I wonder if they realize that Christmas is barely 4 weeks away???? This Santa was huge, probably 8 feet tall!

We loved this cozy spot too.

My sister next to this very creative tree.

I loved the teddy bear pulling down the tip of this tree! My sister liked the Santa mailbox.

I bought some organic healing salve and lip balm at the market. My sister got some adorable miniature handbound book pendants and a few other things. We both got lots of ideas! We then toured the art galleries in the building, had lunch and visited a few other stores. I'll post about one of them for Tatting Tea Tuesday.

I got to sew a bit this past week. The back on this chair had ripped to the point of no repair and I debated on whether to just get rid of it or redo it. I realized I had a piece of canvas that would work perfectly so I decided to keep it. This is the new back. I have the seat done now too but forgot to take photos! The fabric only cost me $1.00!!!

This was a crochet pattern I wanted to try out and needed to do something mindlessly the other night. It was the same pattern every row so it was easy. It still didn't turn out the way I expected and appears to be newborn or preemie size. I thought that was what the fine yarn was for. I thought this one would be bigger. Oh well...my son gave it to a friend with a 3 or 4 month old baby.

I couldn't believe that I got to the VERY END before I knew that I had started out with too many picots in the center! What can you do? it was that very first ring....

I wasn't about to pitch it, so I chained a loop and added a metal split ring. I can stiffen it for a pendant or ornament or even a gift tag. The pattern is from Denise Munoz, a book of snowflakes with rosette centers. It is tatted in Aida size 20 and I used size 11 seed beads.

If you have a chance, go see what Chris over at http://www.dantelezenn.com/ has done with one of the ricrac motifs in my pattern gallery. You can see it started HERE! Chris translated this one into French. She has added beads and used some gold, black and red so far. I love seeing how different people interpret a pattern differently!

Tatting Tea Tuesday 11-17-09

A little tea humor....



Go to Calm-a-Sutra to see the runners-up.

I'm glad I had this in drafts. I completely forgot it was TTT. Too much on my mind in other areas.

I'm drinking iced tea with some added orange spice tea. It's cold and rainy and drizzly out so this would probably be better hot, but I'm fine with cold. I have not tatted at all, but since I'm going to the gym tonight, I won't feel like doing anything when I get home so I will probably tat something!

BIG Tatted Butterfly!

Can you believe this?

I took this photo from Vintage Fashions, February 1992. It was in an article about Floral Waters (scented water) by Catherine Baker-Anderson. No mention was made of the mat the waters are displayed on. Is that not the biggest tatted butterfly you've ever seen????

I've made crochet ones almost that big and I have some fairly large tatted butterflies that measure about 6" - 8" across but I'd say this one is at least 12" from wingtip to wingtip. The thread looks pretty big too.

I'd love to know more about this pattern! If anyone recognizes it, please contact me. ginab6@yahoo.com

Shuttle Endings

This looks pretty puny for all those shuttles, doesn't it? You can see it better if you click on the scan and enlarge it. I had already put them in a baggie before I edited the photo and thought the purple background a bit too dark. I thought I had a backup white background photo but my scanner broke that image up into pieces and it wasn't usable after all. I still have six shuttles left to empty. I did use some of the thread to practice some T.A.T. techniques but I was still surprised to see how little came of it all. If there are two colors involved, it also used up two shuttles so when I count all the separate colors, I come up with 18. That's the number of shuttles in the pile I posted but I found several more after that.

You can tell on the purple and green edging that one thread ran into another...I had attached a second thread to the shuttle at some point, probably not wanting to take the time to empty a shuttle when I needed one. I think someone mentioned that in the comments of the last post - about finding another thread underneath the one you think is on the shuttle!

I used edgings from one of Mary Konior's books, some motifs from Tatting Collage, and the bottom center flowers on a stem came from a Japanese book.

I was getting a little frantic this morning as I hunted for my tatting box. It's a purple pencil box that I've been using for some time but lately I haven't needed anything in it so hadn't kept track of it. I also couldn't find my containers of beads. There are probably 8 or 10 of them with 20 or so vials of beads in each. I know I had all this when I went to Canada. Where have I put them?

I finally found all of it in a box I had checked before, but the box has some folders and magazines on top hiding the bead containers and my tatting box. What a relief! Don't you hate it when you can't find something you know you have?

I only have two projects left for my T.A.T. course. I will probably do them this weekend but I also want to get started on my Secret Santa gift. I also plan to take several samples to my lace guild at the December meeting to get some input on what the members want for programs next year. That means I need to get busy! Some birthdays are coming up. I also plan to empty the living room this weekend so that I can put up the tree in a few weeks. I took two boxes to charity this week. Box by box I'm opening up space!

Tomorrow I'm going to a granddaughter's musical at school. I have a long list of things I think I'm going to get done this weekend. HA! I may have to go take a nap first. I'm just back from lace guild only about an hour and already worn out!

I've Hit the Wall

I had a realization last night. It had been creeping up on me but I ignored it, not wanting to admit what I perceived as "defeat". I've hit a wall when it comes to the design-tat class. I can't seem to make myself get back to it.

We started learning the graphics part of it just when my work plunged into some intense annual inspections along with other first semester surges. I felt overwhelmed and tired and then I got sick too. No problem...I'll catch up later. I will too, but for now, I just can't seem to get my head pointed that way.

I guess the good news is that I'm back to working on T.A.T. I expect to finish the tatting part of it this coming week and then I'll prepare the documentation and packaging so it can sit until I send it out in January. LOL! When the projects are patterns that are already online, I show them but we're really not supposed to - which makes no sense to me. People like to know what they're getting into before they invest time and money. The patterns are clearly copyrighted. Most of what I'm working on now is not seen elsewhere so I won't post it.

I've also hit a wall about lining that bag. It sits there, in plain sight, to remind me. I try not to feel bad about what I'm behind on. It just means I'm not ready to finish it and I learned a long time ago that if I push myself in the wrong way, I ruin it. So I'll wait til the time is right, but it is mildly frustrating to me.

So I have no tatting to show but I do have some inspiration here. I think I picked up these wooden shapes (12 to a package) in the scrapbooking section someplace, but don't really remember for sure. It says on the label "swaps" so I'm guessing they are popular for another use, but of course, my first thought was....how can I embellish this with tatting? The hole is predrilled so it could be an ornament, a pendant, a gift tag....maybe even more. Each package also has the same number of safety pins in it. Maybe you pin them together? It also says on the label "decorate and trade with your friends". Hmmm...well, maybe the recipient of my Secret Santa exchange will find out what I come up with.

I felt a slight panic last night as I realized Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away and Christmas slides up so fast behind Thanksgiving that it's here before you know it! I still have boxes piled up in my living room from when my son moved in, even though he is down in the basement now. A few boxes are for charity, that's ongoing. A few things are there for repair or rennovation and a few things just need to find a home elsewhere in the house. I'm making good progress but it seems neverending! I really want it all cleared out within the next few weeks so I can get my tree up. I didn't get a tree up last year - first time ever for me - and I WILL get it up this year!

Wishing you lots of tatting inspiration today!

OH - and Happy Veteran's Day to all our Service Men & Women! Bless you for your service and contribution to our great country!

Tatting Tea Tuesday 11/10/09

Last week I was following links related to my interest in embroidery. I know I've mentioned a few times that I was itchin' to sew or to embroider. I'm not sure why as I'm not particularly skilled at embroidery but I SO want to be!

I had followed a link on Needlework News at Craft Gossip to Mimi Kirchner's doll blog. She featured a post about Salley Mavor and her stitched illustrations which are beautifully done. What led me to explore more on Mimi's blog was that I just happened to catch sight of her "tiny worlds", miniature landscapes in a teacup!

Wouldn't it be fun to think up tatted embellishments for a teacup landscape? I can imagine Martha's little tatted teaset fitting on this perfectly, can't you?


Aren't they adorable? You can see more of her work in her Etsy shop which is here!

I forgot I bought this cup & saucer with a gold spoon a few weeks ago! I'd just posted a TTT post and thought I would save it for the following week and then I forgot! Yep, it's a thrift shop find and I got 15% off to boot because I'm a "senior". LOL! I never remember to ask for a discount but the lady before me did so I asked how old you have to be to get it. She said she thought it was 57 and before she even said the number I told her I was 60. Her eyes got big and she said, "You look good!" Well, that certainly perked up my day! I don't generally talk much about age because I think we condition ourselves to believe in aging in detrimental ways so I just avoid the conversations.

Well, time to find some scones and sit back and tat!

Tatter's Nightmare

What is a tatter's biggest nightmare (other than not having any shuttles, needles, thread or patterns)? Can you guess? Have you been there yourself?

NO EMPTY SHUTTLES!

I've been working on T.A.T. this weekend and finished 4 of the remaining 7 projects I had left. I said I had 9 left in my last entry but it's only 7 and now only 3. The one I was working on today required several different threads and that's usually not a problem since I try to only put enough thread on the shuttle so that there isn't much to take off. Imagine my chagrin when I needed a second shuttle today and every single one I picked up had thread on it. I checked one of my containers and found more shuttles - all wound with thread to one degree or another. I checked the bag I usually carry them in and finally found an empty one. So I threw all of the shuttles that needed to be emptied in a pile and took this photo. There are EIGHTEEN shuttles there! On top of that, I found yet another little bag on my table that had 4 more shuttles, also with thread, in it!

This always happens. I recognized the projects I had been working on. Some were in progress when I went to Ohio to kidnap Jane with Gail. Some were from my trip to Canada, where I had emptied 8 or 10 shuttles to take with me and they somehow magically filled up again. Some were from tat guild in Greenfield. Some....this is almost irrational to me....were from my trip to Hector TWO years ago.

I don't mind pulling off the thread of one or two but eighteen? No way...I'll forget about the thread and it will be wasted. So I guess I'll sit down and do some serious shuttle emptying!

(postscript ~ I emptied FIVE so far!)

This is my last attempt at this snowflake. It's closer to the original, but it shouldn't have been this hard to achieve a duplicate!

LOL! I just realized - usually, I purposely make a change along the way to suit my tastes more but this time I wanted it to look exactly like the picture!

The only thing I changed this time was the way the inner chains were made. The directions call for the tiny picots to have two ds between each picot. I changed it to only one stitch and I made the picot itself almost negligible, a bare bump in the road, so to speak. I did pull the center ring of the clover out a bit when blocking but I pin from the inside of the ring, not the picot. In the designer's version, it's clear the pinning was done in the center picot of the center ring. That would definitely give it a pointier look. My center laid flat because I left a little space between rings. The thread is size 20 Lizbeth.

My next snowflake will be either Jane's newest one, the Snowsettia, or one from Jan Stawasz. There are 3 or 4 in his book that I love and they turn out the same!

Look how close I was to running out of thread before I was done! I had another shuttle wound but I really didn't want to have to add a new thread in at the very end. I was very happy to make it to the end without doing that, but I admit I did some fancy shuttle switching from time to time.

I've already hidden the ends. I haven't found anything for the lining yet but haven't looked either. I needed a break. I'll try to find something this weekend and wrap it up though. I'd like to take it to the guild meeting next week and see if it might be considered for the exhibit.

Here's a close up of the front tab closure. I have some rhinestone buttons that might fit in with this theme of shiny silver beads. It might depend on what I use for the lining too.

You might remember that while I was sick earlier this week, I had my good moments. This was one of them. I've lived in my house since 1977. Actually it was in November when I closed on it, so it's exactly 32 years ago that I moved in, a 28 year old widow with an 8 year old daughter and a 6 year old son. This 70's style contact paper was already on the floor of the cabinet. I always hated it but it was the least of my house issues over the years and since it was mostly covered up, I forgot about it. On Monday I was feeling really good later in the morning and I took everything out of the cabinet for the sole purpose of pulling up that horrid contact paper! It was so full I was too embarrassed to take a photo then, so I waited until I had everything out.

Do you know how hard it is to get 30+ year old contact paper up? It's like chipping away at stone. And then....I got the brainy idea of using my hairdryer to warm it up. I thought it would make the adhesive more pliable and it did! I think I had the whole thing stripped of contact paper within 10 minutes!

Then came the hard part - what to put back in? This is a bottom cabinet, quite spacious, but it really needs pull out bins. Some lucky homeowner will no doubt do that in the future, but I'll make do with what I have. I got most of my skillets and pans off of the stove now and I have two boxes in the living full of goodies to go to charity. I bought a 3-drawer crate to put the tools in - I keep a minimum in the house but it seemed like we could never find the right screwdriver so hopefully this will solve that. I have a storage tub in the pantry full of baking pans and cookie cutters. I only use them once a year usually so there's no point in stuffing them in the cabinets. My next goal is to clean out the upper cabinets and say goodbye to some dishes. My house is too small for family gatherings so I might as well dispose of the extra china. Maybe....some things are hard to let go of.

Sometimes I am amazed that I raised four kids in this little house! One year my cousin, who is my daughter's age, also lived with us and a couple of my sons had friends who lived with us from time to time when things got rough. I may not have had much in the way of material goods, but it was a lively and good life. I wouldn't trade those years for anything!

Last night while I looked for snowflake patterns to measure up against yesterday's frustration, I pulled out my phase TWO T.A.T. binder and decided I will finish that up now too. I have lots to do this weekend but I want to work on my diagramming for the design-tat class and get back to work on this segment of T.A.T. I got stuck at the part where you attach edgings, not because it is hard to do, but it is time-consuming and I didn't want to rush through it. I have nine projects left. Most are very easy so it's time to get it done. There is another tat proficiency program I want to complete too....all I need to do is gather my documentation and email it. I hear it will be nice out this weekend so I also plan to paint the primer on the basement exterior door and the replaced overhang to the roof. Nothing like doing it at the last minute before winter sets in!

Do you ever feel frustrated when a pattern does not work out the way you thought it would?

This snowflake design by Luella Rossow is shown here in a
Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publications, Christmas Ideas, magazine from around 1992, I think. I love the way it looks.

And here are MY attempts at the same pattern! Can you see the difference? The centers are almost completely filled in with the first two. I tatted the third one differently.

The directions say to use size 20 thread. There was a ball of white thread on the table next to me without a label but I thought it was size 20. When I saw how closely the chains came to the center, my first thought was that I must have a ball of size 10 thread instead. So I tatted it again, this time in size 30 thread which is the middle motif in the second scan. Same result.

See the negative space in this one, a cropped motif from the original photo, where the center is separated from the outer round chains? I happen to really like that bit of negative space and I want it in the one I tat for me.

I started another one making the chains differently and with the outer rings of the clover one stitch bigger on each side. I was using the thread left on the shuttle and only got through three repeats but I could tell the effect was not what I wanted.

So I tried this one with fewer picots on the clovers and also fewer picots on the chains with more stitches between picots. It did lay flatter before blocking than the other two, and there is a bit more negative space, but it doesn't look like the original. I'm not sure that adding back the extra picots at the clovers will make a difference. I think the problem is actually with the chains but I can't figure out what to do. The original had 3 tiny picots with 2 stitches between. For this one, I made 2 tiny picots with 3 stitches between. I'm going to try one more, maybe 3 tiny picots with only 1 stitch between. That will shorten the chains and possibly open up more negative space.

What do you think????

And yes, I know a snowflake has 6 points. This one is described in the instructions as a snowflake, even though it has 7 points. I don't really care about the technical definition. I just want it to look the way I expected!

Tatting Tea Tuesday 11/3/09

I've been up and down for a several days with whatever flu virus is going around. It's sneaky - you don't even really know you've got it for a few days and then when you do, you might feel really good for a whole morning before it hits you again. I felt good most of yesterday until evening so I've stayed home one more day just to be sure. At the weekend I was berating myself for being so lazy and not getting anything done but sleeping! Today, feeling far more energetic than I have in days, I realize it was because I was sick. Pay attention to your body! It's trying to take care of you. If you feel tired, there's a reason!

So I don't have much to show for Tatting Tea Tuesday. Actually, this is the post I started last week before I found the ranchy rap song. I don't even like rap, but it was hilarious to me to find it. Anyway, the links below are some of my favorite tea sites. The feature I mention is what was going on that day. I haven't checked today to see what all has changed, but I'm sure you'll enjoy them.

I'm almost done with the tatting on the beaded bag. I'm at the tab and have only three more clovers to go! I decided not to add another row because I would actually have to add two more rows to have the right edge for the tab and then it would come down to nearly the bottom of the bag closed and that just didn't seem right. All I have to do (after the 3 clovers & hiding ends!) is make the lining. Linings can be tricky, especially in a smooth slick fabric. I'll take my time with this and get it right. It would be a shame after all this tatting to get sloppy with the lining.

Rosemary's Sampler featuring oven roasted garlic

Tea With Friends featuring a book about Tea Planting Pioneers

Tea & Talk featuring slow cooking chocolate pudding and an upcycled sweater tea cozy

Tea at Primrose Hill featuring slow cooked cider

Friendship Tea featuring tea parties

If I had more patience today, I'd send you to Mark's blog to check out his pumpkin pattern and to Elizabeth's blog to get in on her pumpkin earring givaway and to Sherry Pence's blog to send her healing wishes for her wrists and to.....well, gosh, that's why I have that blogroll over at the side! Check them out!

Unfortunately, I'm wide awake. Must be all those naps I took today. I haven't felt up to par, sapped of energy, aches, queasy, can't seem to warm up and have a headache. Finally figured out that I must be sick! I don't generally get deathly ill when I'm sick and I'm not now, but I was chiding myself for being so lazy and wanting to sleep all the time. Then my 3:00 lunch stayed in touch with my tummy til nearly midnight. So I sat and tatted when I couldn't sleep any longer.

You know how you get bored with a project that is long and monotonous? Well, this beaded bag is simply clover and chain, clover and chain, in the same color, for what seems like infinity, but I finally found the directions and realized it really was only for eight rows.

So that's where I am now, getting ready to tat the flap. Sharon had mentioned if she were to do it again, she would make the flap longer so that's what I'm going to do. It'll be the equivalent of two more rounds. Since I put my beads on differently, I have to give that some thought too. It's not blocked here and won't be until I have all the tatting done. I'll probably add an RPL cord for a handle. I wonder if I can make that with beads? Might be something to try.

Just to break the boredom, I used my editing program to frame this part. I've actually been playing with my scanner. This is the first time I've tried scanning in "photo" mode and I wasn't happy with it. It crops way too close for this venue. No edges to play with. I like a little space around my scans to frame the item.

I also haven't decided exactly what I will use to line the bag. I have white and ivory but I'm not sure I have blue in my stash. Probably, but I'm not up to searching for it right now.

These are some threads I bought at The Needle's Point in Rensselaer. Mettler threads with a silk finish. I expect I will have to double them up to use them and I have no idea what I'll try them on.

I bought these threads at the same place but I'll use them for embroidery. The gold is actually a cord that I thought would look so pretty couched down with the other thread.

I had all the threads on the scanner at once, which I often do when they are small items and then crop them out separately. When I scanned in "photo" mode, the scanner automatically separated them, but the resolution was not all that good. I don't like the depth resolution on this scanner either. It was super on the HP one I had. The item had to be an inch thick for it to start to blur. Not so with these.

Well, I'm starting to yawn so will go to bed after all. The time changes tonight which I hate. I hate time changes anyway, but especially since we are on Eastern Time when we should be on Central Time. It seems like it is dark when I get up 9 months out of the year. If we were on Central, it would be light in the morning for more months. Okay, enough about that!

This is one of my favorite angel patterns, by Martha Ess. I tatted it for my friend and coworker whose birthday was Tuesday.

I have 5 more repeats for the sixth row on the beaded bag. Still have several rows to go. I can do about half a round per evening. The lighting is bad here but when I'm finished, I'll make sure it's color-true and clear.

I stopped at Trader Buck's on Monday night to see if that one booth vendor ever brought in her mother's shuttles and tatting stuff. This is about the 3rd time I've stopped and while they've added new stuff, none of it seems to be in the line of tatting or any kind of needlework. So...I end up buying other stuff in other booths! I love this Christmas tin. Only $1.00.

Inside, there were about two dozen crocheted snowflakes, big ones in big thread, all starched up very nicely. Unfortunately, I don't really care for them so will probably pass them on somewhere.

I loved this little vase - butterflies inside and out! I think it needs a little tatted doily to go under it ~ one that has butterflies around the edge.

There was this sweet old fashioned sort of shabby chic candy dish too. I believe this was $3.00. Everything else was $1.00 or less!

This plate has a stubborn sticker on it. I'll have to soak it off. I thought the flowers showed up better than they did. Have you noticed something about the lattice hole pattern around the outer edge? They are not consistent. Only one is evenly spaced in a 2/3/2 arrangement. All the others are 3/3/2 or 3/3/1, depending on the angle you view it from.

This is a close-up of the flowers on the plate.

I have just got to find a way to display all these romantic precious beauties!

Tatting Tea Tuesday 10/27/09

Who knew? The Tat Rap by The Tat Mafia

NOTE: Please REVIEW this before playing in hearing distance of children!!!! You may not want them exposed to some language.



That said, I'm totally unprepared for today's TTT. I have an angel scanned that I tatted for my good friend Paula Vitello whose birthday is today. She has the angel now but I didn't upload it before I left for work this morning.

So...I was going to show you the links to some of my favorite tea sites but then I found this video, which I think is amusing, so I decided to post it instead. I teafed it (teaf being a word from a non-tatting friend meaning to steal it from someone else's blog) from Tea Guy Speaks. You knew something like this had to come from a guy, didn't you? Actually, now that I look at his blog more, he has all kinds of videos on there about tea and music!

I guess I'll show the angel in another post. I'm also on my 6th row of the beaded bag. I test tatted another motif from the design tat course, but have not worked on my own drawing as I expected to do. My bad. I've been really tired lately for some reason. Must be the Autumn Haze coming over me. LOL!

I started physical therapy on my ankle and I'm amazed at how much better I'm walking in just days. No wonder people kept remarking that I was limping.

Well...off to an inspection!

Rubber Stamper Magazine Winner!

I chose this tea-for-one on my bookshelf at work. It's a favorite.

There were nine names to put in the cup. I checked just before noon for any stragglers and there was ONE. I took the cup down to the breakroom where friends were eating lunch and asked someone to draw a name for me.

And the WINNER is VALERIE from Val's Simple Passions!

Val, I'll send that right out to you as soon as I have a mailing address. I emailed you privately. Congratulations!

I was just glancing at my blog, the overall look of it and noticed the archives. I started blogging in 2003 and blogged 236 posts that year. I haven't blogged that many posts in a year since then and it wasn't even a full year! LOL!

The reason I mention this is because I've read posts from other bloggers, not just tatters, bloggers in general everywhere, who feel committed to posting every single day and then they beat themselves up when they don't. Why? I've always wondered that - really, why?

I write. I write a lot. I've written newsletters for various organizations and contributed articles to publications both lace related and work related. It finally dawned on me one day that I am an author, a published writer!

I always wanted to write a book and have taken writing courses and attended a few workshops or writer's gatherings but never really, truly, honestly considered myself a writer. Until that moment. It didn't even occur to me that I was published. I was never paid for what I wrote and I guess my definition of being published was actually about being paid.

I've had friends encourage me to write online where I could be paid, but I want the cold hard paper publication that can be seen when the power is off or the server dies. I suppose that belief or definition doesn't serve me all that well either, but there you have it.

Anyway....all that from a thought about posting. Well, I also got an email about NaNoWriMo. I have yet to finish a novel in the month of November. I haven't even really tried - I just tried to accomplish the word count by using my blog entries for that month. Maybe this time I'll write real stuff that goes together!

I continue to tat on the beaded bag and am on the 5th round now. I plan to get back to the software lesson in the Design Tat group this weekend, as well as finish up winterizing. I'm itching to sew and embroider for some reason. All that magazine culling is making me want to do all those projects I've been putting off for one reason or another.

OH....I ordered two of those patterns from the little dress quilt blocks last week and they arrived on Monday! Fast! She told me they would be sent out by Monday. I keep finding tatting books or printouts too.

My lace guild is having a formal display through the Tippecanoe Arts Federation next year. We had to submit an application with photos to be accepted for an exhibition. Now I've got to figure out what I will make that will be "exhibit-worthy".

Okay, one last reminder for tomorrow's giveaway of the Rubber Stamper magazine! Post a comment on that entry which is HERE and you'll go in the hat for the drawing. Do not post anonymously. I have no idea who Anonymous is or how to contact Anonymous so the name, Anonymous, will NOT go in the hat. I'll draw it at noon on Friday. Hopefully that will give me time to contact the winner and verify a mailing address so I can get it in the mail on Saturday!

Someone asked about the occasion....no occasion, I'm just continue to declutter and this keeps it from getting too boring. Besides, maybe someone will make me one of those delightful tea cards that I will never have time to make for myself. (ulterior motive apparent now!)

Tatting Tea Tuesday 10/20/09 & Giveaway!

Look what I got! I was on a tea blog and happened to see some tea jewelry and thought....I want something like that! I have teapot earrings and you see those everywhere, though mine were made for me by a friend, so I didn't want that but perusing Ebay, I found this lovely vintage brooch which was on a Craft & Barrow card but the back of the pin says KC© and I haven't had time to look into it.

Til now....there are several companies that sell jewelry that have KC as part of their name, Kansas City being the most common and my best guess. The card the brooch arrived on didn't look like it originally belonged there. Although Kohl's might sell jewelry from the KC brand, I don't think it is Croft & Barrows. Doesn't matter as I love it as it is, but I got that "feeling" even when bidding that Croft & Barrow wasn't right. Don't know for sure though.

Now for the giveaway! I am still culling magazines and found this scrapbook stamping magazine which has several ideas for cards having to do with a tea theme. I don't have the stamps, time or inclination to ever make them, SO.....some lucky person who does gets to have this! I don't generally get a zillion comments like some people so I think I'm safe in putting the names in a hat and drawing one. That means, if you don't want the magazine but want to comment, just say you don't want in the drawing and I won't put your name in the hat. Make sure I can contact you!!!! I'll draw the name on Friday. You must comment on THIS post or I won't catch it.

Okay, one more thing. As I was going through another storage tub, I found yet even more printouts that I must assign to a binder or in the circular file. I found lots of OLD correspondence too, from my early tatting days. Remember that spiral bookmark in my pattern folder and I couldn't remember who made the original for me in an exchange? I found the email! It was Darlene Ulbricht. I wonder where she is now? The pattern actually started with the edging (I'd call it an insertion) from the book edited by Rita Weiss, Tatting Doilies & Edgings, on page 23 of my copy. These are a collection of patterns from 6 earlier publications that Dover put together and Rita edited. They range from 1920 to 1944 but I don't know which one it originally came from. Even so, the idea to tat it in two colors like that came from Darlene.

I'm having a busy day Tuesday, so this is written ahead and scheduled for Tuesday. Have a wonderful day sipping tea, nibbling on chocolate, and tatting away!

Lace Day in California

Just a quickie today!

I found this on the celtic tatters list and asked if I could post it here. The cut off for registration is earlier in the pdf flyer, but as you can see with Kathy’s email, the date is now December 18th. Great opportunity, don’t you think???

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Registration is now open for the 4th annual Winter Lace Conference.
http://www.hedgehoglacers.org/Winter_2010.pdf

If you think, by mid-February, you will be tired of all the cold and snow, then check us out. The Conference will be held in sunny Southern California on Presidents Day weekend, February 12-14,(OK, we do get rain on occasion).
The tatting teacher this year will be Debbie Arnold of DS9Designs. Debbie will also be bringing all of her wonderful thread.

Just write in tatting as your choice of class. Last year the tatting class was cancelled due to lack of interest, so when the organizers made up the brochure, they didn't plan for one this year. A few of us tatters talked them into adding the tatting class if we promised that it will be attended by at least 10 tatters. If we can't make the enrollment size it will be cancelled again and we don't want that, do we? If you would like to thaw out for a weekend, learn some new things in tatting (maybe even complete a project), eat way too much food, laugh too hard, and spend too much money, please sign up before December 18, 2009.

Kathy Lowe
Anaheim, CA
tgatekeeper1-at-yahoo.com
(replace -at- with @)