Have you seen?

There's a new shuttle on the block!

Here's a picture of my new Birdseye Maple Slider Shuttle from Elite Creations. It arrived today, and I like it very much! Yes, I am using both shuttles for my newest tatting project, and you can see that it's slightly smaller than the Moonlit shuttle, another favorite of mine.

What's the tatting project? I'll let you know later!

Arches

First, I'd like to thank all of you for your kind words yesterday! I'm resting and taking my medicine, so I'm confident that all will be well soon.

I was a little distracted over the weekend, so I forgot to post a picture of Paige's latest motif. I'm looking forward to getting back to school so that I can see what the kids have been tatting!

I finished Marilee Rockley's "Arches" doily in size 20 Lizbeth, #670. It's about 7" in diameter. This is for Mom, because red is her favorite color! 

I should have listened to Mom...

...but I didn't, and now I have shingles. Please, dear readers, if you had chicken pox as a child, ask your doctor if you are a candidate for the shingles vaccine, especially if you're over 60. Several months ago, Mom started asking me if I'd had the shingles vaccine. I hadn't, but I wasn't too concerned, because I've always been fairly healthy. That means nothing! The chicken pox virus lies dormant in your body, and can rear its ugly head many years later, and that's what happened to me.

Easter morning, I woke up with what I thought were spider bites on my jaw line. I don't mind spiders, but I don't like being bitten by them, so Dave and I spent last week doing some deep cleaning just to make sure there weren't any colonies of the little creatures, especially in our bedroom... not a sign of a spider!

There were two odd things about my spider bites: they were spreading, and they didn't itch. By Thursday my "spider bites" were painful at times. Saturday morning I decided that spider bites shouldn't be causing pain. Luckily, I was able to get in to the doctor, and I was told that I have shingles.

I'm on medication, and I go back to the doctor on Wednesday for a check-up. I can't be at school, because the shingles blisters are not all scabbed over and I'm contagious to anyone who hasn't had chicken pox or the chicken pox vaccine. Mom told me that she knows of people who have been hospitalized because the pain was so intense. The blisters that have scabbed over are incredibly ugly, and I read that they can cause scarring. If you Google images of shingles, I think you will be as shocked as I was to see what could happen.

Please, please, please... check with your doctor to see if you should have the shingles vaccine! 

I'm sure the word is out...

...that my dear friend Fox has moved her blog. Just in case you were unaware of the move, you can find her new blog here... http://tat-ology.blogspot.ca.

I'm getting ready to sit down and do some tatting. I haven't had a chance yet today, because I've been designing an order sheet for Dave's spring listings, which will really start booming at the end of this week... or so we hope!

Paige completed a motif of her own design today!

I know that Grace finished her six rings, and she chose an angel motif as her prize, but somehow I didn't get a picture.

I've spent some time decorating Boye tatting shuttles this week. I snipped off the pick tip, which I really don't like, and then I went to town! This is the first side.

This is the back side. As you can see, I didn't have enough of the first fabric to decorate both sides of all ten shuttles. With a little bit of planning, I could have had seven shuttles covered in the colorful fabric. I don't mind, though. I like them just the way they are!

Arches, Round 4

After snipping off my unfortunate mistake, I finally finished Round 4 of Marilee Rockley's "Arches" doily.

I've started the final round, and I hope to have it finished by the end of the week.

Peyton finished six rings, and now she's ready to tat a ring and chain pattern.

4th grader Zoe tatted 12 inches over the weekend. She's going to be concentrating on Fancy Pants now.

I've been busy decorating tatting shuttles. I just can't help myself! I'll show pictures when they're finished.

Tollway Tatters ~ Reggae Style

We were a small but happy group today...

Sue Anna, Barb, me, and...

a Reggae musician! Yes, he was right next to us, and he was playing and singing for four of the five hours we were together. He was a very talented musician. We liked him so much, we each bought his CD!

I finished Round 3 of Marilee Rockley's "Arches" doily last night, and this is what I chose to work on today... no pictures of that, though. With all the wonderful music in the background and the tatting and chatting with Sue Anna and Barb, I blithely snipped my threads and prepared to sew in my ends. The problem was, I hadn't finished the round. I was only half way there! I put it away and worked on my hanky edging. When I got home, I snipped off what I had accomplished today, rather than try to add new thread. It just seemed easier.

I wish I could remember who conquered rings yesterday. Doesn't this string of rings look nice?

And another young tatter has been working hard on long chains. The kids really enjoyed our after-school tatting class on Wednesday, so much so that they've asked when we can do it again. Can you feel my happiness from where you're sitting? :-)

37!

 It has been an unbelievably busy and exciting week... too much to blog about... but one of the most wonderful parts of this past week was the after-school tatting class today. Why? There were 37 students in attendance! We met for about an hour and had more fun than should be allowed. I meant to take a picture, but the time flew by and kids were headed for softball practice or home before I had time to remember my camera.

I did get pictures of tatting throughout the week, though.

Fancy Pants

Fancy Pants

Fancy Pants

Alternating threads for Fancy Pants using two shuttles

A tatted bracelet

A tatted ring - alternating threads using two shuttles

Shelby's first motif, earning her one of Marty's shuttles

Tatted ring and bracelet

Long chain with picots

A long, long chain!

A tatted ring and bracelet

A tatted ring and bracelet

Owen's Fancy Pants

Fancy Pants

Grace's bracelet

Fancy Pants

Picots!

 As you can see, the kids have been very busy tatting!

And what have I been up to?

I finally finished round 2 of Marilee Rockley's "Arches" doily tonight! I looks like it needs a little blocking, but I'm too tired for that tonight. I think I'll take the Scarlett O'Hara attitude and think about it tomorrow... "After all tomorrow is another day!"

Good night, all!

Starting Round 2

I didn't get much done on Round 2 of my Arches doily (pattern by Marilee Rockley), but at least I started!

We had a busy day at school today. Third graders have been writing and illustrating their own books, and today one class read their books to the first graders. Tomorrow the other class will be reading their books. Having fun can sure be exhausting!

I'm off to bed... good night all!

Arches, Round 1

This was a nice, easy round to tat. I really like seeing the Victorian Red next to my grey pants. I actually considered using charcoal grey thread for this round, but when the ball of thread wasn't where I thought it should be, I continued with the red. I was just too lazy to continue looking!

Chains seem to be in fashion at Grant Park Elementary!

Today, I gave a lesson in blocking to a group of girls. Paige finished another motif. I showed the girls how to hide the ends of the thread, and then Paige thoroughly wet the motif. The girls watched as I pressed the motif into shape with my fingers. Paige carefully carried her motif back to class to dry.

Shelby is getting very close to finishing her motif. I can hardly wait to show it!

Starting another doily

I couldn't help myself. I'm really into doilies right now. I've been wanting to tat Marilee Rockley's "Arches" doily for quite a while, so after school today I took the plunge!

I decided to keep tatting with the Victorian Red. Now that I have the center finished, I'm ready for Round 1!

Molly has been perfecting her chains, as well as learning to make picots.

Grace is having trouble with rings, so she decided to practice her Fancy Pants and picots for now. There's nothing wrong with practicing the familiar before moving on to something new!

Russian doily finished!

I think it looks so pretty! It's about 8 1/2" in diameter, and I think the Victorian Red is the perfect color. The shuttle is one of my Handi-Wind shuttles from Grizzly Mountain Arts. It's one of my favorites!

If you'd like to make one for yourself, the pattern can be found in this book. Don't worry if you don't speak Russian. The diagrams are terrific!

Tatting by Myra Piper No. 2

Do you have favorite tatting books? I know I do. My all-time favorite is Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior, but following close behind is Tatting by Myra Piper.

Today I managed to finish motif #2 in size 20 Lizbeth, #171 Green Coral Sea.

The shuttle is from TattingShuttles in St. Petersburg, Russia. The shuttle is beautiful and light weight. I've been on a quest for Russian tatting shuttles since I purchased my Russian tatting book.

As a matter of fact, I'm searching for plastic jewel tone shuttles from Russia. I know I saw a picture of them within the past few weeks, but I didn't save the link. Does anyone out there know the shuttles I'm talking about? If so, do you know where I can purchase them? Somehow, I feel my shuttle collection is incomplete without them! ;-)

Tatting with Myra Piper

One of my favorite little tatting books is Tatting by Myra Piper. The directions are not written the way I like, and there are no diagrams, but I find the patterns easy to follow.

This is the first pattern in the book. Myra called it a snowflake, which I have difficulty doing. The perfectionist in me is looking for 6 or 12 points, not 9! ;-)

The thread is size 20 Lizbeth, #171 Green Coral Sea. I purchased tins online, and then found them available at Hobby Lobby. I'm trying to organize my tatting life, not very successfully. I used my newest shuttle from Banyek. This one is made of birch root, and I give Fox all the credit for my newest purchase!

Shuttle purchases have been booming! I'm sure there are parents wondering why their children "need" so many shuttles, but I haven't heard any complaints yet.

I'm so pleased that the kids keep practicing and choosing motifs from the treasure tins.

Alicia has taken to blinging shuttles, and I think she does a wonderful job! What's even better, she lends her shuttles to friends who have left their shuttles at home!

I give students a floss bobbin with each shuttle. That way they can have plenty of thread to work with when they get home.

Some of the kids have asked if we can have some after-school time for tatting. I guess I'd better put in a request to use the library so that we can have some more tatting time!