Silk!

Karen's Halo from LadyShuttleMaker arrived Saturday! I was a little too busy to do any more than open the package on Saturday, and yesterday we were helping daughter Carol move. So last night I sat down with this beautiful silky-smooth skein, wound it onto a floss bobbin (found when cleaning the sewing room), and started tatting. I must have been tired... I had to retro-tat two rings and one chain (not all at the same time). I've never tatted with silk thread before... it's a dream! I will have to take care of that hangnail today, though. And Sherry was right... you have to be very careful when retro-tatting. The scan shows the color much darker than it is. If you click on the picture, you'll see the lighter color, but still not the true color. This is fabulous thread!

Mom, you'll have three silk crosses for the next stole! Ooops! Did I spill the beans? Mom is weaving two more liturgical stoles (sigh! I'm being "forced" to tat crosses), plus she's weaving for our next "secret" collaborative project... think green, purple, pink, flowers, butterflies...

Busy day!

My Saturday morning started out fairly normal. I did sleep in until 6:15. I know that's not sleeping in for many people, but it is for me! I had coffee with Dave before he went to work, and I had my Saturday morning phone call from Mom. Smooth sailing so far! But, as I was talking with Mom I realized how unhappy I was with the ring bearer's pillow I made for Tiffany. So, at 7:20 I started a new one. I was inspired by Melissa's post to do sort of a crazy patch with a rose pattern in the middle. By 9:00 I had a pillow top I liked... except the rose was kind of lost. It needed beading. The center of the rose was beaded by 11:00, but the outer petals of the rose didn't show up. I knew I didn't have time to bead them, but I did have time to embroider an outline stitch... no time to look up how to make a decent outline stitch, so I just started doing my own thing. Luckily, the bride doesn't embroider, so she doesn't know how poor my embroidery is! Embroidery finished by 12:00. Time to finish the pillow! I really should have done something more with the corners, but I didn't finish until 12:20 and I was still in my nightgown, hadn't eaten, and I needed to leave by 1:15! All's well that ends well! I arrived at the shower just in time, and Tiffany loved her gifts!




After the bridal shower, I hurried home, and Carol and I headed to my sister-in-law's house about 50 minutes away. Dave was helping with yard work... Karen has beautiful gardens! ...and we were invited for a cook-out. We laughed, and talked, sang oldies and jingles we remembered, ate delicious food, and got home about 11:00... way past my bedtime! I slept in again this morning... didn't get up until 6:00! ; )

Special mail!

I just went out to get the mail, and look at the wonderful surprise I found... a fabric postcard from Bonnie! I've never seen a fabric postcard before! Can you tell I'm excited? Bonnie also sent me a kit so that I can try making one! What a wonderful surprise! Thank you, Bonnie!

Shower gifts

Tiffany's shower is tomorrow, and I finally finished her gifts! (Tiffany was a kindergarten teacher at our school for the past two years, and I was her mentor.) The beaded crocheted bag is one of my favorite gifts for brides. It's from Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet, published by Leisure Arts. I made the bag before I broke my arm, so that was the first thing done, except for the drawstring, which I finished today. I made the hanky with tatted edging after my cast came off. The pillow didn't turn out the way I wanted, but that's what I get for waiting 'til the last minute!

Purple Punch Small Rosette

My Purple Punch thread from Marilee arrived today, and I couldn't wait to try it out! The pattern is Small Rosette from Easy Tatting by Rozella F. Linden. I love this color!

It looks a little funky, so I guess I'd better block it. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll see a truer color.

Mosquito magnet!

That's right... I'm a mosquito magnet. When I walk out the door, the mosquitoes think the dinner bell rang. I wanted to take lots of pictures of my garden, but I couldn't take the little creatures swarming around me!

Yesterday, Pat, Brenda, and I went on a garden walk in Crete, a beautiful little town about 15 minutes north of us. We attended a vendor fair, had a scrumptious lunch, and saw six beautiful gardens.


My sister Janet has had her garden as part of a garden walk before. Some day I'll post some pictures of her yard. Dave creates beautiful gardens, but he has to wait until his busy season is over before he can tend to our gardens. This year has been very busy for him, so gardening has taken a back seat. He has started decorating our porch. He planted two beautiful pots for me this spring. This one is in front of my sewing room. The other one is by the front door.


Our friend Connie was one of the vendors. She does amazing things with glass. I'm not sure if this little piece will stay here, but it's too pretty to just sit around waiting for a home!


The colors of this rose bush just don't show up on the camera. It's an orange and red climber called Joseph's Coat. I had to have it, because Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is my favorite musical! I first saw it in Dublin, Ireland, the summer of 1974 when I was part of a summer study program at Trinity College. I've also seen it performed in Chicago starring Donnie Osmond, at the Kankakee Valley Theater, and at Governors State University starring Patrick Cassidy. I have three versions of the CD, and the movie. My daughters and I can sing the whole score... well, Carol and Joanne can... I mess up on the words a lot!


I also found this pretty little finial. I asked Dave to put it near my tatting fern as a marker. No, I'm not so lazy or so weak that I can't place a finial in the garden... it's those blasted mosquitoes! As you can see, Dave has just started working on this bed.


I love this copper-colored twirly thing... I don't know what you call them, but I can become mesmerized by things twirling in the breeze! I'll have to find a new home for this if I want it to twirl... it's too high to catch the breeze.

On the road again!

Just can't wait to get on the road again! I love that Willy Nelson song! And we were on the road again this weekend. We drove to Minnesota to visit daughters Andrea and Joanne. It was a mini family reunion. Daughter Alison and her family drove up Thursday. Daughter Carol was unable to be there because she was in a wedding... what an excuse! It was great fun to see the changes Andrea and Jake have made in their home since we were up last July... a deck and patio off the back of the house, a guest room, and an almost finished guest bathroom and family room. We got to see the apartment that Joanne and Jan are moving to... much closer to work, and a little bigger than the place they're in now. I know. I know. I should have pictures, and I did take my camera, but when I'm around family I tend to forget about taking pictures and just enjoy the company!

Dave and I were very sneaky... we sent the girls and their significant others out for dinner and a movie Saturday night, and we babysat the grandchildren! The squealing, the giggles, the hugs were unbelievably fun!

One of the reasons I like road trips is that I spend the time knitting new dish cloths for myself... and sometimes I knit them for friends and family. When I was cleaning my sewing room, I found that I have an abundance of cotton for dish cloths... and the ones in the drawer are pretty dingy looking! I did try to tat in the car, but the bumps in the road were just a little too much for me to handle, so I only tatted one bookmark... most of that was done at Andrea's while everyone else was sleeping. I tend to wake up very early in the morning, so it was the perfect pastime for me!

When I checked my e-mail and blogs this morning, I was very pleased and honored to see that I have been given the Arte Y Pico Award from Dave and Jo at Grizzly Mountain Arts. I am embarrassed to admit that I found out last week that I was also given this award in April by Sarah at A Gardener's Gazette. The message from Sarah was in my spam folder, which I never thought to check. So, my thanks to Dave, Jo, and Sarah for honoring me with this award!

There are 5 rules attached to this and they are:
1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award. http://arteypico.blogspot.com/
5) To show these rules.

There are so many blogs I love to read, and I know that the people I believe deserve this award already have it, but I'll list their blogs so that you can visit them and see why I love them so much!

LadyShuttleMaker
Grizzly Mountain Arts
Threads of a Tatting Goddess
Yarnplayer Arts
A Gardener's Gazette

Now, all I have to do is figure out how to post the picture of the award! When you see it, you'll know that someone helped me figure it out!

Cornelia update

I haven't spent much time tatting this past week... all my focus has been on organizing my sewing room! It is so nice to know where everything is and to have a cheerful place to sit and work. One of my pleasures is collecting... you wouldn't have guessed that, would you? I've always been fascinated by the sea, even though I'm scared to go in water deeper than my neck, and as a kid I read a book about whaling. So, I became interested in scrimshaw. Lucky me... my dad began collecting scrimshaw! These three pieces were given to me when Dad passed away, and I think they are the perfect addition to my sewing room!

Anyway, back to tatting... despite having to retro-tat (I missed an important join), I think I'm making pretty good progress with Cornelia. Guacamole and Citrus LIMON are blending well together. So, naturally, I'm thinking of how to blend other HDTs for some of Iris's doilies. I already have my next one planned out!

Finished!

Everything is organized! Now it just needs to be cleaned. Luckily, my daughter Carol was looking for a summer job, and I was fortunate enough to be able to hire her as my cleaning lady! That leaves me more time to tat, you know.

I can't believe how much stuff I had crammed into this little room. I found fabric that my mother gave me before she moved to Alabama 15 or 16 years ago. I was on a polar fleece jacket binge about 14 years ago, and I found enough polar fleece for 6 more jackets. I wonder who I thought was going to wear them? I had bags of yarn that I took when my mom offered them... they were just too good to get rid of... I'm going to pass them on to the nursing home. The ladies there were thrilled the last time I "cleaned" out my stash! I have plenty for the new home ec teacher to choose from... 25 bags!

Don't worry... I won't run out of things to do. Each cabinet is still chock-full of fabric and yarn that I just couldn't part with, and I haven't cleaned out the guest bedroom closet, my closet, or my bedroom yet! I guess I'm free to sit down and tat now. I hope I don't fall asleep!

Dave and Jo, see my scrimshaw pieces from my dad next to the doorway? Just thought you might be interested.

Tagged!

TattingChic got me!

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person that tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Share 6 unimportant things about yourself.

4. Tag 4 people at the end of your entry.

Six unimportant things about me...

1. We've been living on frozen dinners since I broke my arm... or at least it seems that way!
2. I try to fill my gas tank when it's only down a quarter of a tank. My theory: I'm only paying the newly increased prices on a quarter of a tank instead of a full tank... works for me!
3. I had a chalupa and iced tea for lunch today... my sister's treat!
4. Mom and I are planning a new collaborative project!
5. I think my stash grew today while we were out shopping. I only bought 2/3 yard of blue felt and 4 Clover shuttles... honest!
6. I have a chip in my glasses, but I'm not motivated to go out and buy new ones... they're too expensive! Besides, I'd rather catch up to TattyCat and TattingChic... they each have way more tatting stash than I do! ; )

Who should I tag? How about...

Bonnie
Carol
Ellen
Sapna

Shuttle storage

How do you store your shuttles? These are my two shuttle storage boxes. The top one was a birthday present from my sister Janet. She drove down to visit me last night, and we went antiquing today. Janet found a pretty little green vase and a blue and white jar at the first antique store. At the second one, we found this nine drawer chest. All we had to do was buy some felt (blue... my favorite color!) to line the drawers and load it up! The tall case clock in the corner was my 50th birthday present from my parents. The table was my Grandmother Jones's dining room table. I remember when I was little that she and Grandpa Vin would sit on either side of the table without raising either of the dropped leaves. The leaves were only raised if there was company and they needed room for people to sit at the table. Isn't that a funny thing to remember?

The bottom picture is the shuttle storage that my dad made for me for Christmas two and half years ago. Mom and Dad had been up to visit in the summer, and I was showing them my shuttle collection, which was stored in little boxes here and there around the house. Dad had an idea of what he wanted to make, and when we visited them at Christmas I had a wonderful surprise! The top box has a glass cover so that shuttles can be displayed. I change the display around every once in a while. There are five boxes all together, and Dad inlaid little beads to number the boxes one through five. Mom lined each of the boxes, or I guess you could call them trays, with dark green felt... very elegant! I feel lucky to own such a beautiful display piece designed and made by my dad!

Celebrate good times! Come on!

I love that song by Kool and the Gang, and today I'm celebrating! One year ago today I posted my first blog entry after a little gentle prodding from Sherry Pence aka LadyShuttleMaker. I'd been buying shuttles from Sherry for a while and commenting on her posts... it just seemed natural to open myself up to a new challenge. Then, Sherry asked me to join the Tatted Ring of Bloggers. I hesitated only because I also love to knit and crochet lace, and I didn't think I'd have enough tatting to "qualify." Silly me! I'm so glad I joined the ring! I've made so many wonderful new tatting friends! Thank you all for your encouraging words and support, especially when my dad passed away and when I fell and broke my arm. I know that the continuous contact I have had with my family and my tatting friends over the past year has helped lift my spirits and kept me tatting!

My very special thanks to Laura Blanton, who has kept in touch with me by phone and snail mail as well as e-mail, and passed messages on to my other tatting friends when I was not up to it. Laura even became my virtual left arm for Jane's first TIAS! Harry the Hippo will always have a special place in my home!

Today is also my 56th birthday! Mom and I were talking last week. I asked her how it was possible that I have a 32-year-old daughter, not to mention daughters who are 30, 27, and 25! Mom said she wasn't sure, and it didn't seem possible that she has a 56-year-old (my sisters are 54 and 52, and my brother is 46)! Time does fly... 40 years ago my parents gave me what every 16-year-old girl in our area longed for... a Sweet 16 corsage of sugar cubes and tiny roses. I really didn't think I'd get one. School was out for the summer, and my birthday didn't fall on a Sunday that year, so where would I wear it? But Mom and Dad came through, and I was the happiest 16-year-old around!

Enough chattering... I have no pictures to post today. I've been too busy working on my sewing room. If I'd realized how much time it was going to take, I probably would have left it alone!

Completed liturgical stole

Mom finished the liturgical stole this morning and sent pictures. Isn't it beautiful? I tatted the crosses in Yarnplayer's "Golden Glow" size 20. The cross pattern is from Tatting Patterns by Lyn Morton.

Stashaholics Anonymous

I need to become a card carrying member of SA... or maybe start my own chapter! I started cleaning out my sewing closet on Wednesday, because I couldn't find my Addi lace knitting needles. I know I put them someplace very safe and secure! I realized that I have a whole lot of stuff that I'll never use. I found a baby blanket that I started when Alison was pregnant with Eva. Today is Eva's 6th birthday... I think I'm a little late!

Anyway, I started dividing all my goodies into bags... what a mess! I have a bag of quilt fabric that I'm going to give to my friend Nancy. Her third grade students make butterfly pillows every year after they finish their quilt unit. I have three bags of acrylic yarn that I'm going to give to my friend Marilynn. She knits beautifully and is allergic to wool... can't even knit with it! I've become a yarn snob and only like to knit with fingering or lace weight wool. I force myself to knit with cotton so I can have the dishcloths I love to use. We'll have a new home ec teacher next fall, right out of college. I met her yesterday, and she said she would love to have some supplies to play with... I've set aside four bags of fabric and three paper bags of old patterns... some duplicates and I blush to say one triplicate! I have 3 bags of UFOs, one bag of yarn I just know I'll use some day, and a basket filled with enough flannel to make 32 baby blankets. I've started making the closet look neat, but the room is trashed!

TattingChic wanted to see my tatting supplies... well, some of them are on the two shelves you see close up. When I finish cleaning up this mess, I'll share prettier pictures. Of course, now that I'm in the middle of this major project, all I want to do is tat!

By the way, I also have trash, er... stash in the guest bedroom closet, my closet, and my bedroom. Oh, and the knitting needles... haven't found them yet!

Experimenting with color...

I bought these two threads, Guacamole and Citrus LIMON, from Sherry Pence aka LadyShuttleMaker a while back. I thought they would go well together, so I decided to use them on my newest Iris Niebach doily, Cornelia from Tatted Doilies. The rings are in Citrus LIMON, the chains in Guacamole. I'm not sure if my little experiment will work well, but if I don't try, who will?

Since I've already tatted Beatrice from this book, this doily won't count toward my personal challenge, but I don't care. I really like the concentration it takes for me to work on one of Iris's patterns. I tend to make many more mistakes when I think I have the pattern down pat!

Pineapple bookmark

I really set out to crochet a small doily, but as I was looking through my books I found this pattern, and it just called out to me! My friend Denise's favorite crochet motif is the pineapple, so I think of her whenever I see one. Denise has made several of the bookmarks from this leaflet, but this is my first one. I know this is not a typical pineapple color, but it still looks pretty to me!

Tatted flower bookmark

My apologies to Sharon Briggs... I did not follow her directions carefully, so I did not practice using a paperclip to make a beginning picot. In fact, since I didn't read the directions until after I finished the bookmark (I just looked at the diagram), I really didn't make this the way Sharon intended at all! I will do it again, following Sharon's written directions, so that I can learn something new! I also changed the end of the bookmark... I don't make very nice tassels, so I tatted a little motif instead.

This is "Flower Bookmark" from Transitions in Tatting from Flat to Floral by Sharon Briggs. I highly recommend this book. Sharon has written wonderful directions and helps the tatter move smoothly from very simple tatted pieces to more complex pieces. No, I haven't tatted them all, but I can tell from reading the book that this is true!

The thread is "Meadow" colorway from Bre-Aly Threads, size 20. Isn't it strange that the photographed color looks so different from the scanned color? Pay attention to the photo for a better idea of the true color! I used one of my old-faithful Clover shuttles. Oooh... another piece completed for my personal challenge! Yipee!

Focusing does pay!

I know I've mentioned before that I suffer from what my friend Denise calls "flights of fancy." Denise suffers from this malady as well, which is probably why we're such good friends! But, for the past two weeks I've done my best to stay focused on Stella Alpina, and that focused energy paid off! I'm so happy with the way this little doily (about 7 1/2") turned out! It's from Tatting Fantasia by Iris Niebach. I used Altin Basak size 50, color # 381. I loaded up four of my David Reed Smith shuttles, but only used three of them. Oh, darn! Now I'm going to have to find something to tat with that thread on the fourth shuttle! ; )

This one qualifies for my personal challenge!

Mystery thread

Sherry identified my mystery thread... Rainbow Sherbert! Thank you, Sherry! It does look good enough to eat!

For those of you who like bookmarks, I found this site http://www.bookmark-collector.com/ on my Google alerts this morning. I visited, because my tatted bookmarks are mentioned! I was so excited to see my little tatted pieces linked to this site!