Movin' on

Alison and the kids are down to visit for a couple of days, so I fit in as much tatting time as possible today. I think I made pretty good progress!

Ta da!

I finished round 8 today! I've started round 9, but I don't have enough done to make it picture-worthy. My idea for using the medallions that form rounds 10 and 11 won't work, because the motif ends with a chain. I could do some finagling and join new thread to tat the last bit of chain, but I have another idea for using the lace that I cut off, and I'd rather save it for that. More later... if my idea pans out!

Back to normal

After three days of being laid low by headache, I'm finally back to normal! However, I still haven't had much tatting time. We're helping daughter Alison remodel her bathroom, so we were gone all day Sunday. Today, daughter Carol caught the tidying bug, and I went over to help her with her clothes closet. I'm finding tidying to be quite exhilarating!

I am close to finishing round 8... yea!

No tatting Thursday

I didn't expect to get much tatting done yesterday, but I didn't get any tatting done yesterday... so sad!

I was feeling a bit off yesterday morning, so I worked on finishing up another dishcloth, which requires very little thought on my part. This one will be for me since there's a big blob of brown at one end. I used up a skein of I Love This Cotton, and when I joined the new yarn, I lost the flow of the color changes. I don't mind for me, but I wouldn't give this one as a gift.

I went to lunch with my friends Carol and Denise. We had a very nice time at a little Mexican restaurant in Lowell, Indiana. By the time I arrived home, I had a full-blown sinus headache and went straight to bed. I'm still feeling a bit off this morning, so I think I'll take it easy. I did read a little trick on the Internet that I remembered to try out this morning. I put ice water in the sink and stretched and clenched my hands for a few minutes. I went back to bed for about an hour and a half and the headache is gone! Now I need to regain some energy.

Pssst! Now it's Saturday, and I realized that I never published this post. The headache came back with a vengeance, and I spent most of the day in bed. Maybe I'll get a chance to tat tomorrow.

Tatting time

I had lots of tatting time yesterday and today, but I know I'll have very little time tomorrow. I still have quite a way to go, but I'm really enjoying the pattern of this round, which is similar to the round before.

I would have liked to have posted my progress yesterday, but my Internet went out for about 8 hours. It came back on right before I headed off to bed, but I was not in the mood to blog by then. Isn't it funny how technology has become such an important part of our lives?

Catching up

There's been little time for tatting the past two days. Yesterday we went to daughter Alison's house to help out with window washing, and today I went to daughter Carol's house to help with proofreading the next section of her master's thesis.

Despite having little extra time, I have managed to almost catch up to the point where I had to snip on Saturday. That makes me happy!

Overconfident

I finished another dishcloth before breakfast this morning, leaving the rest of the day for a bit of tidying and a lot of tatting!

I was feeling pretty good about round 7, and I forged on with confidence!

Apparently, I had too much confidence. I was not careful about checking my work as I was with round 7, and when I went to the ironing board, I noticed this glaring mistake just one pattern repeat past where I left off yesterday.

You know what I'll be doing next... snip, snip, snip! I think I may have to buy a new pair of scissors. Mine must be getting dull from all this snipping!

Laundry day

Years ago, a friend of mine told me that she liked to get her laundry done on Friday. That way she had the weekend free to spend with her family. It took me a while to jump on the bandwagon, but once I did there was no turning back.

Today while I was waiting for loads of laundry to finish, I set tasks for myself. It worked well!

I finished round 7 of the Jan Stawasz Masterpiece, and I did it correctly!

I also managed to start round 8. I'll be back to rounds 10 and 11 before you know it! ;-)

I'm losing it!

I showed up at Marlene's for my hair cut at 9 this morning. The open sign was not in the window, but I was 15 minutes early. I sat in the car for a few minutes and Marlene came out with a confused look on her face. I asked if I had the wrong day, and she said that my appointment was for last week! Honestly, I must have looked at the appointment card three times this week, and I never caught on to the fact that I was a week off on my dates. Some days I really think I'm losing it!

Today I chose to tidy my cleaning supplies, which are mainly stored in my laundry room. I almost wish I had taken a before picture of this cabinet. When I opened the doors, all sorts of things would fall out. I made a quick trip to the dollar store and bought some baskets, and then set to my task. I found quite a bit I could throw out... vacuum cleaner bags for a machine that's been gone for 10 years or more, empty boxes, almost empty bottles of all sorts of stuff... I was able to fill a whole garbage bag! Now that everything's tidy I know that I really don't need any more gardening gloves, batteries, or light bulbs. I guess that means I can buy more tatting supplies! ;-)

I finished three more lavender pillows today. I've now finished all of the pillows I cut out when Joanne and Sophia were visiting. I need to make some more so that I have enough for all the family members who want them. We'll have to see how long it takes me to get in the mood to cut fabric again!

I did take some time to sit down and tat this afternoon. It really is paying off to set small goals on this round. I tat a section that reaches from one of the medallions in round 5 to the next. Then I stop and check my work and give it a quick shot of steam. It makes me wonder why I didn't work round 7 this way the first time. It would have saved me a lot of grief!

I'm keeping a knitting bag by my chair. I've been meaning to give my daughters and my sister-in-law new dishcloths for Christmas for several years. I know they like them. Somehow I've managed to wait until it's too late to reach my gift-giving goals. I may not make it this year either, but at least I'm starting earlier!

Putzin' around

Today was another one of those days when I didn't think I had accomplished much until I sat down and thought about my day. I made beds, tidied up two cabinets, talked with my mom, my daughters, and my friend Denise, and I managed to finish up some crafting projects... not bad for a day of putzin' around!

My flax seed arrived, so I made three more lavender and flax seed pillows.

I finished another black and white dish cloth, giving me a set of three.

Doing some wrist exercises helped tremendously, so I was able to do a little tatting today. Thanks for the link to the video, Glenna!

Slow progress

I didn't get very far today. I think I've been overdoing it with the tatting, the result being one very sore wrist. So, I'm calling it quits for today. The good news is, I've reached the halfway point on round 7!

Snippings

I was asked to post a picture of the part I snipped off of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece, so here it is!

I carefully snipped each joining ring and gently pulled the remaining thread out of each picot, leaving lace that can be used for other purposes.

It looks kind of pretty all folded up!

I spent most of the day with daughter Carol, helping her proofread the second chapter of her master's thesis. So, I didn't get as far as I would have liked with round 7. It's probably a good thing that I didn't have more time to tat today as my arm is getting kind of sore. Maybe I should spend a day weaving! ;-)

Paranoia?

No, I think not. However, I am looking at my lace very carefully after every pattern repeat, and I'm double checking after every three or four. I'm also steaming after every three or four pattern repeats.

I'm pretty pleased with the progress I made today. I'm noticing the way the pattern flows better this time around. I'm pretty sure this is the row that gave me so much trouble back when I stopped calling it the Monster Doily and started calling it the Masterpiece.

It really wasn't difficult to snip off the lace at row 7. I have it set aside, and I will use it for something else, I just not sure what just yet. Luckily, I chose to buy a cone of thread to use on this doily, so I know I have plenty!

Where did I go wrong?

About a half hour ago I sat down to start the last pattern repeats for rounds 10 and 11. The space looked a little too big, so I counted... too many rings! It took a while for me to find the mistakes all the way back in round 7... three of them to be exact, right where you see the little blue bows.

I'm feeling a bit discouraged right now, and I'm kind of wishing I hadn't figured out how much time I spent on the pattern repeats. That's one heck of a lot of tatting to snip off, but it has to be done. I'm guessing I won't finish this doily before school starts as I had hoped.

Should I take a break from this doily, or should I fix my mistakes while they're fresh in my mind? I think I know the answer to that one!

Almost there!

I was able to finish another repeat on rounds 10 and 11 today. It looks like I'll be able finish these two rounds this weekend, unless I get distracted!

Keeping track of time

Today I decided to keep track of how long it takes me to tat one section of rounds 10 and 11. Since I tend to tat a little here and there throughout the day, I really had no idea. I was kind of surprised to see that it took me two and a half hours!

No I did not tat two sections today. I started last night, so I probably tatted about 1 1/3 of two sections today. Not bad, considering that I also worked on organizing my clothes closet today!

And then there were five...

which means I've reached the halfway point of rounds 10 and 11 on my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece! I don't think I'll finish this week as I hoped, but it's good to know I'm accomplishing as much as I am.

I worked some more on reorganizing today. It's amazing to see how much I've held on to that really is just cluttering up my home. Decluttering is a really good feeling!

Moving along

I now have four pattern repeats completed for rounds 9 and 10 of the Jan Stawasz Masterpiece! If I manage to finish one today, I'll be halfway finished with these two rounds... very exciting!

I've been inspired by The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I'm not going gangbusters, but I did manage to clean out three dresser drawers that had been collecting junk for years. I even found a pair of glasses with lenses so large, they must have been from the 80s. I'm pretty sure my prescription has changed since then! Marie states that discarding must come first, and she even gives categories to help keep you on track. I'm finding that her order of discarding is helping me stay focused. This will definitely not be a quick process, but I think I'll be happier with my home when I'm finished.

Why is it that I need a book to get me inspired? I'm not sure, but it works for me.

The party's over

...and we've had a wonderful time! Some of our family were able to come over to celebrate the 4th of July, and we all ate too much food... how unusual! We had a frisbee game and badminton set up in the yard, and we did try to play. However, Sophia decided that the games were hers. It was quite comical to see her trying to possess the frisbee, the racquets, and the birdies. She was definitely the center of attention!

I hope everyone had as wonderful a holiday as we did!

After the clean-up was finished and everyone else had left for home or bed, I managed to finish the next pattern repeat of rows 10 and 11 on the Jan Stawasz Masterpiece. I would love to be able to finish these two rounds this week. I'm not sure it will happen, though. Dave is on vacation and he has made a list of chores to accomplish around the house this week. I'm not usually directly involved in these chores, but I do accompany him on shopping trips, fetch things that are in the house when he's outside, and we will be helping out two of our daughters around their houses. Somehow, all of those little activities really take a bite out of my tatting time. Still, it is good to have goals!

Time flies!

Where has the time gone? I can't believe it's Friday already. Joanne and Sophia are leaving on Sunday, so I have to make the best of my time with them. Dave will be on vacation next week, which means my summer break is nearly half gone. Summers seemed to last forever when I was little, but not any more.

My order of flax seed arrived the other day, so Joanne and I made flax seed and lavender pillows. The flax seed is exactly what I needed to get the weight I like. However, the flax seed does not go very far.  One of these pillows is filled with the last of the buckwheat, making a total of ten buckwheat and lavender pillows. I only had enough flax seed for three pillows, and the flax seed was about 50 cents more expensive. Still, this project was less expensive than purchasing one pillow.

Joanne and I did some experimenting and found that the flax seed holds the cold much longer than the buckwheat hulls, and I read that the flax seed can hold its warmth for over an hour when the pillows are heated in the microwave. Look out family! This may be what you get for Christmas this year! ;-)

I finally got over the hump with rounds 10 and 11 of the Jan Stawasz Masterpiece. Now that I have the pattern and spacing fixed in my mind, I think I'll be able to complete these two rounds in good time.

My sewing room is not organized to my satisfaction yet, but it is organized enough that I feel like spending time in there again. Joanne spent time winding my odds and ends into neat little balls, which makes it much easier to see what I have. I started this piece with size 5 crochet cotton to form a hem edge. I did take the time to hemstitch it so that it won't unravel when I take it off the loom. Next, I used up some worsted weight acrylic that was left on a bobbin from a previous project. Each pass is one strand of the purple crochet cotton and one strand of the pink acrylic. I like the way the purple adds definition to the pink.

I've had an idea for a while about using fabric selvages to make a nice firm fabric for bags. So, I kept all the selvages from the lavender pillows and used them next. I'm continuing with the purple crochet cotton with each pass. I guess I'm really beginning to love purple!

It was a little chilly last night, and Sophia wanted to wear Grandma's hooded sweatshirt. Carol and Joanne were cracking us up with ET references, and although she had no idea what we were laughing at, Sophia giggled along with us. I sure am going to miss this little peanut when she heads home to Minnesota!