Ho! Ho! Ho!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve! I thought I'd better catch up a little with my blogging. I probably won't be posting again before the New Year, so here goes...


On Monday we had our Soup Club Christmas party at my house... soup, snacks, and movies! Great fun! From left to right... Peggy, me, Edna, and Judy.


Yesterday I received a surprise package from Battatter... totally unexpected! Isn't the gingerbread house adorable? Thank you, Carol!


I received Jane's wonderful magnetic butterfly bookmark earlier this week. Thank you, Jane! It's fabulous! I've already put it to work. No, it's not a tatting book. I have a PIG mentality... Problem with Instant Gratification. I've been tatting, but I needed to finish something quickly, so I turned to crochet. It seems I'm doing a little bit of everything lately!


Robert in northern Iowa sent me this sweet little Christmas stocking ornament as a thank you for winning one of my blog giveaways. Thank you, Robert! I love Christmas stockings!


Yes, I have been tatting. I won this pretty little linen hanky on eBay. The original stickers were still on it. The original sold at a price of 6/$1.00. Amazing! The edging is from The Craft of Tatting by Bessie M. Attenborough. I think I found this book at Alibris, but it's been so long, I'm not sure. It's an old library copy. Oh, how I wish that the trend in the 70s had not been to dispose of dust jackets! I really would have liked to see what this one looked like. If anyone out there in Tatland has this book with a dust jacket, would you mind posting a picture? The thread is size 80 Lizbeth, color #121 Marble. The pinks in the thread and the hanky match perfectly! The shuttle is one of Chris Hinton's new Tatted Shuttles, an epoxy shuttle with tatting embedded in it. The tatting in this shuttle is by AnneB. The shuttle holds a ton of thread, and it's a joy to use!


Here are the crocheted motifs I've been working on... all finished Tuesday night and Wednesday morning! I have no idea what I'll do with them, but they're lovely little bits of lace, so who cares!? My mom made my blocking board for me several years ago. I bought a styrofoam board, and some gingham table cloth material, flannel backed vinyl. My mom's a whiz at stuff like this, so she put it all together, and I don't mind saying that it's probably my most used craft tool! Thanks, Mom!


Last, but not least, I was visiting InTatters this morning, and someone posted that she was having a problem understanding a bookmark pattern. I guess I was in the mood for a challenge! I printed off the directions, and started the bookmark this morning. It seems like a pretty straightforward pattern to me. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm using size 40 Lizbeth, color #116 (I think... I lost the tag). The shuttle is one of my decoupaged Sew Mates. I used sparkly Christmas fabric. I really like the combination of fabric and no point shuttles. Maybe I should come up with a shuttle-a-month for the next year! ; )

Well, if you've made it this far, I'm impressed with your stamina! I wish all of you a very merry Christmas, and a safe, healthy, and happy new year!