Merry Christmas!

Yesterday, I stopped wrapping presents so that I could open my Tatting Forums Christmas exchange package. I was so excited to see that my package was from Patti Duff! My favorite is the tatted lanyard. I think I'm going to be working with my copy of Mini-Tats by Patti Duff in the new year! Thank you, Patti!

I still have packages to wrap, beds to make, kitchen to clean, an afghan to finish, and grocery shopping on my list for today. Joanne and Jan arrive today. Andrea, Jake, Lily, and Ella arrive either late tonight or tomorrow. Alison, Dan, Evan, Aidan, and Carol will all come on Saturday. We will have a houseful!

I don't see any tatting in my future until after the New Year... then I'll be going great guns! I'll be reading blogs when I can, but I probably won't be posting for the next week or ten days, so I'll take this opportunity to wish all my blogging buddies a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

O shuttle tree, o shuttle tree!

I needed a place to display some of my shuttles, and I didn't feel like washing my tatted snowflakes (they're quite dusty and dull looking, probably from being left on display since I bought the tree a few years ago). So, I now have a shuttle tree!

If I have time before family arrives for Christmas, I'll get those snowflakes washed and back in place. It should be a pretty sight!

Jackie's hanky

I finished Jackie's hanky about an hour ago, and I love the way it turned out!

The hanky is linen. It was one from a lot of hankies I won on eBay about a year ago. The white is much softer than the color that shows up on my monitor. The thread is size 30 Fincrochet that I purchased at the Lafayette Lacers Lace Day last spring. I think the thread is really soft, so it was perfect for this older linen hanky.

So, Jackie will have something old and blue for her wedding. I love making wedding gifts!

Reconnected!

Talk about withdrawal! Keeping in touch with my blog buddies has become such a big part of my life, that I think I was suffering far more than I imagined possible with no Internet access from home for nine whole days!

Yes, I have been doing my best to keep up by using my smart phone, but it just isn't the same. I NEED my computer!

One advantage to being disconnected was that I did a lot of reading. I read the entire Hunger Games trilogy in eight days. What a great series! I didn't realize until we went Christmas shopping this past weekend that the series is being made into a movie. I'm usually disappointed with movies after reading books, but I'm sure looking forward to this one!

I received a lovely surprise from madtatter80 this past week. Isn't this a beautiful little case? And inside...

a hand carved Sea Turtle Shuttle! The detail is amazing!

I also finished a beaded bag for a teacher at school, who's getting married New Year's Eve. This isn't Jackie's bag. I forgot to take a picture of hers. This is the one I made for daughter Joanne's wedding in August 2010. Somehow, they each turn out a little differently!

I'm almost finished with Jackie's wedding hanky. I'll take a picture as soon as I've finished.

Today I was really excited to receive my Christmas shuttle from Chris and Erin Hinton at The Shuttle Shop!

Isn't it angelic? Sorry... I just couldn't resist! : )

Feeling out of touch

I've only had about one hour of Internet access for the past week. I'm doing my best to keep up using my phone, but I'm losing patience! I hope my Internet provider fixes this problem quickly.

In the meantime, I'm reading and tatting as much as I can. I hope to be back online soon!

Christmas Giveaway Winner

Please forgive my late post. Our Internet service has been out since early Sunday morning, so I'm trying to post from my husband's iPad. I hope this works!

I really wanted to post the winner this morning so that it would be just like Christmas, but better late than never!

Oh, did you want to know the winner's name?

Drum roll, please...

Sharren - Tatting in Greenwood, SC

Congratulations, Sharren! I think I have your address somewhere, but would you mind sending it to me again? Thanks!

A big thank you to all who entered the drawing! I wish I could send a gift to each and every one of you!

Christmas is coming!

...and that always means presents under the tree!

What is that I see? Tatting goodies? I have to get a closer look...

Wow! An origami pouch, Lizbeth thread, and blinged Starlit shuttles! I guess it must be time for a Christmas giveaway!

Yes, dear friends, this is a Christmas giveaway. Just leave a comment on this post for your chance to win this entire Christmas set. That's right... only one lucky person will receive the whole shebang!

When will the drawing be? I'm thinking about December 6, Saint Nicholas Day. Good luck to all!

Baiduri

I've done it! I've completed the next snowflake, Baiduri, from Jon Yusoff's wonderful little book, Elegant Tatting Gems. This time I used size 40 Lizbeth, color #143 (Royal Wave), which was a gift from my friend Denise. Don't you just love the blue and white together? It looks so crisp and fresh!

Mid-day at the oasis...

is so much more fun than Black Friday crowds!

This isn't the greatest picture, but hey... I was holding my phone and taking a picture at the same time! From left to right... yours truly, Marilee, Sue Anna, and Jean.

We met about 10:30 and shared stories, laughter, and tatting goodies until about 3:30. We had a vendor come up and ask us what we were doing. One of her customers thought we were knitting for her! Ha! Ha! The vendor had heard of tatting, but didn't take us up on our offer of a free lesson. We certainly had enough supplies with us!

Michelle, are you sitting down as you're reading this? I was able to teach Marilee how to tat a single shuttle split ring! Me! Can you believe it? Sue Anna jumped right in and taught us both a neat little trick to make the SSSR even more easily. I'll have to play with it to see if I remember what she taught us. Sue Anna is a treasure trove of information!

Jean is a newbie, and she spent quite a bit of time perfecting her flip. We were all thrilled that she made her very first ring while spending time with us! Unfortunately, Jean doesn't have a blog... yet! We'll have to keep working on her to get her to blog. I do think she's addicted to tatting. How could she not be with Marilee as her teacher?

Sue Anna surfed the Internet on her iPhone to check out Etsy and various blogs. She is so much fun to be around! I wonder if she knows I call her Sue Anna the Enabler when I'm at home? She enabled all of us to tat with very generous gifts of Lizbeth and hand-dyed thread. She even gave me some shuttles to bling. I know she's waiting for the Random Number Generator to choose her number!

Marilee shared some of her hand-dyed thread with us. Her colors are beautiful! She also graciously autographed our copies of her new book, Tatted Jewelry.

Here's Jean working on closing her very first ring!

I'm probably leaving something out, but we did have a wonderful day together! Ladies, thank you for driving so far so that we could spend some tatting time together!

A perfect match!

Did you see the pretty pendants that Jane's been making? I'm the lucky recipient of one of them! I wore it to school the other day with my new sweater, and oh... the compliments I received! Not on the sweater, mind you... on the pendant! I was very pleased to tell all of my admirers that my friend Jane made it for me. The kids were especially impressed by it, and I was asked questions about lace, England, and William Shakespeare... gotta love those teachable moments!

Thank you, Jane!

Success!

I'm not sure when I'll use a single shuttle split ring, but now I know I can! After our online Tat 'n Chat on Saturday, I was determined to master this technique. Despite my best efforts, I just could not make another ring.

Last night, I went to YouTube and found Karen Cabrera's video. Suddenly, everything clicked! Thank you, Karen!

Almas

I love this snowflake! It's Almas from Elegant Tatting Gems by Jon Yusoff in size 40 Lizbeth, color #163.

Don't look too closely, please. There are three, yes I said three, places where I forgot to join to a picot! I went back and sewed the "mistakes" together... after all, that's how tatters used to join pieces... and I think I did a fairly good job. However, I don't think I'll give this snowflake to a tatter. I'll give it to someone who doesn't know what she's looking at! : )

Tat 'n Chat

Somehow I lost the picture... must be that I'm a computer pro! ; )

This morning Michelle, Cindy, Dena, Teresa and I connected on ooVoo for some tatting and chatting. What fun! I learned how to make a single shuttle split ring!

Notice I said "a" single shuttle split ring... the top ring is a regular old ring. The second ring has a decorative loop. The third ring is only half a ring... somehow I lost the rest of it. The fourth ring is true single shuttle split ring... yea! With great confidence, I tatted a fifth single shuttle split ring. However, after I took the photo, I noticed that just like the second ring, it sports a decorative loop. I guess I need more practice!

It was a lot of fun! Thanks ladies! I really enjoyed spending time with you and learning a new technique. Now, if I could only find that picture...

There it is! Proof that we got together!

First snow

As I was leaving school yesterday afternoon, thick, wet clusters of snowflakes the size of quarters were falling. Our first snow only lasted for about 15 minutes, but it was enough coat the ground. I'm glad I took this picture this morning, because the snow was gone by mid-morning.

Keeping with the snow theme, I decided to work on Adan from Elegant Tatting Gems by Jon Yusoff. I was fortunate to be a test-tatter for Jon's book, and I think I've made this pattern three times now. I think I like it because it's so close to my grandson's name, Aidan. : )

I really like this color, #130, size 20 Lizbeth, but I think I'll tat my next snowflake in a different color... no sense in letting the other threads I have just lie there!

Good news!

Two Starlit shuttles hold one skein of HDT! Yippee!

Can you guess what I'm tatting? It's been a while, but I just gave four of them away, so I really need to tat some more. Yup... my favorite pattern... Mary Konior's Spinning Wheel glass mat!

This is size 20 HDT, but I lost the tag... again! I think this is one of LadyShuttleMaker's threads. I'm proud/ashamed to say that I have so much thread, that without a tag, I am clueless!

While I'm very pleased with the amount of thread these shuttles hold, I am not a fan of the pic, but then I'm not really a fan of any shuttle with a pic. I tend to separate the threads when I'm joining to picots, and I find a crochet hook much easier to use. The pic is similar in size to the old Boye shuttles. It does not come to a sharp point like the Clover or Sew Mate shuttles. The plastic is closer in feel to the Sew Mates. If Handy Hands comes out with the same shuttles without pics, I'm afraid I will be forced to buy every color! : )

I really, really, really like the thread holder! I had forgotten that it came with a ball of size 20 thread, which is inside the holder. There's no choice in color, but who cares? It's a bonus in my mind!

All in all, I'm very happy with my new purchases. Now all I need is a little more time to tat!

Drum roll, please...

The winner of the November shuttle is Teresa! Congratulations, Teresa! Please let me know which shuttle you would like to have, and I'll mail it off to you ASAP.

It's pretty amazing that you share a birthday with my Dad. I'm sure he's looking down from heaven and chuckling over our love of all things tatting. Happy birthday to you!

By the way... is that red wine? ; )

What did you do this morning?

I opened my package that arrived from Handy Hands yesterday. I was too tired when we got home last night, so I decided to wait until this morning so that I could fully enjoy opening my package of goodies!

Yes, ladies and gents, I ordered the new Lizbeth Thread Holder (with a free ball of Lizbeth thread) and Starlit Tatting Shuttle! Let me tell you, the thread holder is fabulous! I love the way the ball of thread spins around on the pin. The thread comes out of a hole on the side... very smoothly, I might add!

The shuttle package even has a free butterfly pattern on the back! What's a girl to do? I just had to tat a butterfly this morning!

As you can see, the Starlit shuttle is much larger than my Once Nekkid Shuttle from Karrieann.

It's also larger than my Sew Mate shuttle from Lacis.

And, it's smaller than my Tatsy. I think this could be the perfect size shuttle to wind on my beloved HDTs for Spinning Wheel glass mats! I'll try tonight and let you know.

Yes, I did indeed tat the butterfly from the shuttle package this morning. What a great way to start the day!

I think I NEED all the colors... don't you? : )

P.S. - The drawing for my blinged November shuttle will be tonight. If you're interested in a chance to win make a comment on the November shuttle post.

November shuttle giveaway!

I got a little carried away with the glitter nail polish, but that's okay. I love the way these shuttles turned out!

I even decorated the backs!

Would you like a chance to win one? Leave a comment on this post for your chance. The drawing will be Wednesday, November 9 in honor of what would have been my dad's 80th birthday.

I don't think Dad understood my obsession with shuttles, but he did make me a beautiful display case that I cherish. I remember him telling me that I had to stop collecting shuttles when my display case was filled. Luckily, my sister Janet gave me another display case for my birthday a couple of years later, and my husband built a display case for me last Christmas. I wonder where my next display case will come from? ; )

Note: If you are interested in seeing my display cases and some of my shuttle collection, type "display case" in the search box for my blog.

Much too busy!

I've had very little time for tatting, but I did manage to complete this bookmark last night. The pattern is "Simple Bookmark" by Dianna Stevens. I used size 20 Lizbeth, color #130. This will be a gift for my friend Nancy, who is in awe of my tatting, and makes me feel like a superstar whenever I finish something!

Look what arrived today!

I'm so excited to have Marilee's new book! I'm taking it along the next time we get together. Maybe I can get her to autograph it for me! (I feel like such a tatting groupie!)

Adiratna

I suddenly have the urge to tat snowflakes! I think I'm going to try and work my way through Jon's wonderful book, Elegant Tatting Gems. I've already tatted over half the patterns, but I don't believe it's possible to have too many beautiful snowflakes!

This is the first pattern in the book, Adiratna. I used size 20 Lizbeth, color #130. I know it's not a traditional snowflake color, but white seemed so boring! : )

Spooky shuttle winner!

For some reason I can't get the Random Number Generator to show up in Blogger, so you'll just have to trust me.

The winner is...

#9 - Lenhen

Congratulations! Please send me your mailing info (DianeCademartori at gmail dot com), and I'll get your shuttle off to you as soon as possible.

Thanks for joining in the fun, everyone! Happy Halloween!

A spooky giveaway...

I haven't decided which shuttle I can part with, but one of these spooky little cuties will go to a lucky commenter. The drawing will be on Halloween.

Leave your comment on this post for a chance to win!

A gift in the mail

I won a drawing on Jon's blog, and my prize arrived today! Isn't that a lovely shade of green? I'm really looking forward to getting started with all these wonderful goodies. Thank you, Jon!

I haven't had much time for blogging or tatting for the past week. My youngest daughter's father-in-law is visiting from Slovakia, and Joanne and Jan are driving down from Minnesota with Jan Sr. for a visit this Thursday. Dave and I have been busy getting the house in order. That has involved finishing window frames in the bedrooms upstairs, cleaning up the mess, and getting the rest of the house clean. Believe it or not, I even worked on my sewing room! I still have quite a way to go, but at least I can move around and work in there.

I am making slow but steady progress on my Yes-U-Can doily. I had wanted to finish it last weekend, but I guess I'll have to shoot for the upcoming weekend. : )

Tatted Jewelry by Marilee Rockley

I received my notice this morning that Marilee Rockley's Tatted Jewelry is available to order through Annie's Attic! I've placed my order. Have you? : )

Congratulations, Marilee! My next big thrill will be when they stop listing tatting under "Technique: Crochet."

Plum tuckered out!

No tatting Friday. No tatting Saturday. Sunday's not looking too good either...

This weekend was the first weekend of the Jaycee's Haunted Trail, and I was drafted as a volunteer. It was lots of fun, but I have no energy left! I never, ever stay up until 11, and that's when the trail ended!

Friday night was chilly and windy. I stood outside, braving the elements (luckily I had dressed in layers), taking tickets from 5:30 - 10:45. I talked with lots of people, and even told a ghost story to two little boys! I don't know if it was adrenaline, chill, or being over-tired, but the last time I looked at the clock, it was 1:45! Did I sleep in? Yup... I didn't get up until 6 a.m.!

Dave and I had lots of errands to run Saturday morning, and I decided to take a nap so that I could help again Saturday night. I slept from noon to 3:30... longest nap I've ever taken when I wasn't sick!

Saturday night was a little easier on these over-tired bones... I got to ride a hay wagon as a supervisor for most of the evening. Dave jumped out of bushes and scared people until his voice gave out. Guess who he scared the most? ; )

We were home by 11:30, and I did manage to sleep in until 6:45. I've been playing catch-up this morning... laundry, mail, housework... doesn't look like there'll be much chance for tatting today!

Yes-U-Can Doily Challenge - Tatting Progress Day 12

I only managed two more pattern repeats. I think I must be part bear, because I feel like I'm going into hibernation mode... always hungry, always sleepy!

After experimenting with different stitch counts, I think I like the instructions I have written. If you try my version, please let me know what changes you'd make. My version of the pattern can be found at the top of this page. This challenge has been a lot of fun!

Yes-U-Can Doily Challenge - Tatting Progress Day 11

I haven't made much progress, only two pattern repeats. I've been so sleepy this week that I find it difficult to keep my eyes open once I sit down in my chair!

If you take a really close look, you'll see that this last round does not have consistent stitch counts in each pattern repeat. I decided to make minor stitch adjustments to see what I like best. So, there are no mistakes in this round... it's a sampler round to see what I like best! ; )

Yes-U-Can Doily Challenge - Tatting Progress Day 10

I didn't get much tatting done yesterday, only two more pattern repeats...

but I did finish cutting squares for a new quilt!

Just for you!

Dear Tatting Friends,

Some of you have asked for my directions for the Yes-U-Can Doily. If you follow the link at the top of the page, you'll find my interpretation of the doily.

I'm not a designer, and my pattern writing skills leave a lot to be desired, so please be patient! If you do find any glaring mistakes, please let me know so that I can correct my copy of the pattern.

Enjoy!

Diane

Yes-U-Can Doily Challenge - Tatting Progress Day 9

I think I have the final round figured out! It took me three tries, and I may find that my stitch counts don't work, but it looks pretty good right now!

Yes, I have been writing down the pattern as I go. I don't know how to save it as a PDF. If you're interested, send me an email, and I'll be happy to share what I have written down. Please keep in mind that while I read patterns regularly, I've found that writing patterns is a royal pain in the neck! I make no guarantees that you'll be able to follow my notes!

Yes-U-Can Doily Challenge - Tatting Progress Day 8

The floral motif round is completed! Now for the real challenge... the final round!

Yes-U-Can Doily Challenge - Tatting Progress Day 7

Whoa! Did I click on something yesterday? Were there Blogger changes overnight? Has something been going on when I wasn't paying attention? The page for new posts looks totally different! Something new to get used to, I guess! : )

I can't believe I only have three motifs to go before the final round! With any luck, I'll get them finished tonight. Then I'll really have to put my thinking cap on!

Martha's new book arrived in the mail yesterday. There are some glorious designs and tons of new techniques for me to learn. I'm thinking of digging into my hand-dyed thread stash for these beautiful designs!

Yes-U-Can Doily Challenge - Tatting Progress Day 6

Three more flower motifs completed! The more I work on this doily, the more I love it!

Yes-U-Can Doily Challenge - Tatting Progress Day 5

Two more flower motifs! That means this round is 1/4 finished!

Slowly, slowly, slowly... it's coming together!