Before and after

I finally managed to transfer photos from my iPhone to my computer. I have no idea what I did differently, but it worked and I am happy!

Here's what daughter Carol's fireplace looked like at the beginning of the project. It was a little too plain for her taste, and she requested a new mantel for Christmas. She did not get a new mantel for Christmas. However, after Christmas Dave decided to undertake the challenge.

The timing was not perfect for Carol. She's in the middle of putting together the high school production of West Side Story, but we did manage to squeeze in some time this weekend to complete the project.

Here's how it turned out... one wall painted, mantel in place, and one happy daughter! I wonder what we can do to contribute to the happiness of our other three daughters?

The winter storm never appeared. It started drizzling about an hour ago. This is very strange weather for northern Illinois in January! Feeling kind of lazy, I decided to catch up on Jane's TIAS.

I completed Day 5 with very little trouble...

but Day 6 almost did me in! I wonder if split rings and I will ever become friends? They didn't turn out too bad, but I did catch Dave glancing at me every once in a while when he heard me mumbling!

There was a question on InTatters today about Lyn Morton's 5th Book of Tatting Patterns. This is a book I look at every once in a while, and then I decide I don't have the brain power to do that much work. Today I decided to take the plunge and try the center flower, using up the last of my Hydrangea Dark HDT from Yarnplayer.

I know Camelias aren't blue and purple, but I wasn't concerned about color, just technique. The pattern was very easy to follow, but I'm not sure if I was tatting it correctly, because it was very ripply. A little pinning and steaming did the trick, and I think it looks just fine. I'm not sure I'm ready to undertake this project yet, so I think I'll put the book back on the shelf for now. It might make a good summer project!